An Updated Look at the Twins Daily Top 20 Prospects

[Cory Moen]

Image courtesy of Kason Huckaby, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Ryan Gallagher)

There are a few bigger changes to take a look at: specifically, who is moving up the rankings, who is moving down, and why that may be.

The top three prospects, Walker Jenkins, Kaelen Culpepper, and Emmanuel Rodriguez, remain unchanged. The first change in the rankings is that Connor Prielipp and Eduardo Tait flipped spots from the first ranking of the season. Prielipp was previously ranked #5 and is now ranked #4, and Tait was previously #4 and is now ranked #5.

This change is slight, and might mostly be because Prielipp has made his major league debut, and looked pretty good doing it. This does not mean Tait is not as good a prospect. He still has a very high ceiling, but is still a couple of years away from being seen at Target Field.

There are some other changes to the top 20 list, but let’s take a look at the biggest risers, who may have dropped in the rankings, and who is on the outskirts of the list, but could make an appearance by years end, due to one of the guys losing their prospect status, or because they play their way into being ranked higher based on their performance.

Biggest Risers

The first riser that someone will notice on the list is 2025 first round pick Marek Houston. Houston has played this year at High-A Cedar Rapids and hit .306/.371/.441 so far this year. The biggest question about Houston as a prospect was whether his offense would be good enough since he is said to be ready for the majors defensively. If he can continue to develop offensively, he will continue to rise on these lists until he makes his major league debut.

Another riser on the list is the other first-round pick from 2025, pitcher Riley Quick. At 22 years old, Quick started the year at Single-A and was called up to High-A after having three starts and giving up no runs. He threw eight innings and had 13 strikeouts at Single-A and was deemed ready to be called up to High-A Cedar Rapids. Quick has thrown  eight more innings and struck out 11 hitters, so he has continued to look the part. Because of this strong start, Quick rose from the #11-ranked prospect to #8. He has the potential to continue moving up the minor league ladder, and moving up quickly, no pun intended.

The last riser to highlight is pitcher Ryan Gallagher, who was not ranked in the top 20 when the year started and is now ranked #16. Gallagher was one of two prospects that came from the Cubs in the Willi Castro trade at last year’s trade deadline. Gallagher is currently with Double-A Wichita and has had a solid start to the season. He threw 18 innings over four starts, with a 3.50 ERA and 20 strikeouts, which earned him a call-up to Triple-A, where he has made two starts so far. He’s an intriguing arm and someone who fans could see at Target Field in the next year or so.

Biggest Falls

With Gallagher previously not being ranked, that means someone had to drop out. The unlucky prospect to drop off the list was Marco Raya. Previously a top pitching prospect in the system, Raya has struggled mightily in his transition to the bullpen this year. He has thrown 19.1 innings and struck out 20 hitters, but has an ERA of 7.91, with a decently high walk rate (12.6%), and has also given up five home runs.

Another prospect that has slid on this list is outfielder Gabriel Gonzalez. As you may or may not remember, Gonzalez was acquired along with Justin Topa in the trade that sent Jorge Polanco to Seattle. Gonzalez has a slash line of .183/.255/.380 to start the year, which is not what he, or the Twins, hoped for. Still just 22 years old, Gonzalez is playing at Triple-A, so there is no reason to give up on him yet, but he will have to turn around offensively to not continue sliding on this list.

The third player who slid on the list is second baseman Kyle DeBarge. Playing at Double-A, DeBarge has four home runs on the year, but his overall offensive numbers have been underwhelming, with a .593 OPS. Soon to be 23, DeBarge will look to turn his year around. One promising aspect of DeBarge’s season thus far is his 11 stolen bases over his first 29 games, so that’s something to keep an eye on if he is able to get on base at a higher clip.

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[jkcarew]

Most of the moves make sense to me.

Soto still too high for me. 12-15 range makes more sense to me until he’s actually able to pitch at least semi-regularly…and exhibiting health and the assumed upside. Can always move up from there if those things happen. IMO.

[Mike Sixel]

4 hours ago, jkcarew said:

Most of the moves make sense to me.

Soto still too high for me. 12-15 range makes more sense to me until he’s actually able to pitch at least semi-regularly…and exhibiting health and the assumed upside. Can always move up from there if those things happen. IMO.

Agreed. 

[DocBauer]

Always enjoy this lists, this early in the season or not. 

So Prielipp and Tait swapped spots. Not a big deal, and does make some sense with Prielipp off to a solid ML start, no pun intended. But Tait is performing very well in A+ this season. He keeps this up, hopefully continues to improve, he might be a 20yo at AA next year!

Regarding the mass of prospects at St Paul, though a couple are currently MIA, I have no worries and TONS of optimism. Rodriguez has been raking, even if his K's have been higher than desired. I really wonder if we would have had a Waller/Rodriguez "flip" by now if Emma hadn't banged himself up again. Jenkins was really starting to heat up, so his injury was very bad timing. (*NOTE: ALL ballparks should have PADDING across the OF! We have netting to protect the fans but we can't have universal padding to protect the players? Completely unacceptable!) While Gonzalez's slow start has been surprising considering his 2025 and his ST production, he's STILL barreling up the ball with 4 Dbls and 8 HR. I have no doubt he's going to start hitting. Mendez off to a good start isn't surprising. I still think there's some decent power about ready to rise to the surface.

But let's give K-Pepper a little more attention. He's 23yo, in his 2nd full professional season, and is more than holding his own a little over a month on his AAA debut.  If you are someone who is disappointed at a quad slash line of .252/ .337/ .463/ .800 with 7 Dbls, 8 HR, and 7-0 on SB on May 13th I can't imagine what you were expecting a little over a month in to his AAA debut.

So let's talk about Houston for a moment as well. The question surrounding his bat, when drafted, wasn't a decent eye or contact principles. The question was a surge in power, and could he sustain it. (BTW, he's NOT a small man at 6' 3" and 205lbs). And a lot of his HR surge took place at his home park, which is a bit of a bandbox. There was worry that he got off to a fast start at Ft Myers, and then sort of tanked in a promotion to CR. I wasn't concerned. I've seen this before for a player in his 1st full professional season. K-Pepper kinda did the same thing. 

So far so good in 2026. His quad slash line is .283/ .351/ .408/ .759 with 4 Dbls, 1 Trip/ 3 HR/ and 8-1 in SB. To me, this is very encouraging. While his college numbers of almost 1-1 in regard to BB vs K was outstanding, that's pretty tough to duplicate at the professional level. He's roughly 3-1 so far this season. Not bad. He possesses actual HIT ability, with a decent eye, solid bat control, some speed, and reportedly runs the bases well. OH, he's also got a glove that is ML ready NOW. I believe he's got 30 Dbls and double digit HR power in him, to go along with double digit SB ability. Again, he's not a small man. And I think he's going to HIT decently.

But let's be fully honest here. If he ONLY hits around .250 with an OB% of .315, produces 30-ish Dbls, a few Trips, and 8-10 HR and 15-ish SB with his defense he's not only a REGULAR, but a DAMN GOOD ONE. I think he's got the potential to be a little better than that. Not great, but a little better. That might make him an All Star at some point, FWIW.

Quick looks AMAZING. I've stated many times the Twins might have gotten a steal here. While his leverage would almost disappear if he went back to school for a final year, he also might have thrown so well that he'd be a top 10-15 pick. It sounds like his recent pull from a game was a blister, or a cramp issue, and nothing serious. I'd be surprised if he wasn't in AA to finish the season.

Can we pause for a moment regarding Ellwanger? In his SSSS before his IL stint, he was everything Quick has been. Does anyone have ANY IDEA what's going on with him currently?

Players rise and fall on these lists all the time. But I'm a little miffed that Rojas dropped at all. In ST he flashed what he might be with tremendous stuff. Even in his very brief Twins debut...not overwhelming...he still FLASHED the arm the Twins are so excited about. I'm not sure how many realize he's very similar to Prielipp in regard to injuries limiting his MILB IP and production to this point. But similar to SWR when acquired, the Jays seem to be almost over aggressive when promoting arms. He was at AAA when the Twins got him. Now, it's on THEM to have decided to KEEP him at AAA instead of rewinding and maybe move him down to AA. But if you've watched him, you can see the STUFF. I absolutely DON'T want to disrupt his growth and progression. And our FO and coaching staff is OBVIOUSLY not the same, but for a team DESPERATE to build a bullpen, it's not hard to consider letting Rojas be part of the pen now, as Santana and Liriano did previously, and then move back to the rotation later. 

Someone moves up, someone moves down.

It's kinda funny that Gallagher moves up, deservedly so, and Winokur moves down just as he gets on a hot streak, lol. (Yes, I understand some of the articles are prepared days in advance).

Just to cap things off, I've got a few observations outside the top 20.

MERCEDES just got his promotion to CR after DESTROYING A- at Ft Myers. This kid is a potential 5 tool international signing who only SEEMS to have been around forever. He's ONLY 21yo and looks like he just might be figuring it out. 

AMICK is a reasonable age 23yo in his 2nd full MILB season. In 2025 it looked like he could HIT and have a good OB%, but he lost his power. He went to the AFL, and to say he was horrendous would almost be a compliment. Personally, I really wondered if there was something wrong with him, or did the Twins just totally blow his selection in the draft. 

I still have questions about Amick. I never saw him going to AA after such a horrible AFL. And his current quad slash line of .246/ .333/ .518/ .851 with 4 Dbls, and 9 HR doesn't get me overly excited. BUT, I feel like I'm watching a player actually making real time adjustments where he's learning a balance between power, contact. and potential OB ability.  I'm not overly optimistic, but I think there is a solid MLB player there in a couple of seasons.

My only other comment is it's really hard to follow EVERY LEVEL of the system. Even more so these days where the DSL and the FCL just sort of just transition to the FSL. And it's gotten difficult to follow all the kids at Ft Myers these days. But there's more than a few 19-20yo kids at Ft Myers that MIGHT prove the Twins are headed in the right direction in regard to the International market. 

 

[twinstalker]

Houston is 22 playing in A+ with a non-power profile striking out 22% of the time.  Exactly what about him is worthy of rising up the ladder?  The hitting stats he's put up are the least that would be expected of a first rounder at his age playing in high A the year after being drafted.  The strikeout rate will kill him.

Raya and DeBarge were never top 20 prospects in my book for reasons laid out previously.  DeBarge was a wasted pick.  You have to be able to hit in college to hit in MLB, and not just against the small school pitching you saw.  He couldn't touch the better ones when they played bigger schools.  It matters.

[Scott51104]

Good job Mendez

[LambchoP]

Really excited about Quick. I still think we could use some higher end SP prospects. Anyone know what's up with Charlie Soto? Dasan Hill?