Do the Twins make Self-fulfilling Prospect Outcomes?

[Trov]

Over the last couple of years there has been a few minor leaguers that fans have wanted to "get a shot" and the Twins would keep passing them up, until they gave them a shot, if you want to call it that.  The question I pose is did they really give them a shot, or did they just give them a roster spot to prove they did not deserve it and could then justify to a fan base they can move on, or did they really know the player was just a AAA player all along? 

In 2024 DaShawn Keirsay Jr., a 4th round pick out of college, a few years prior was doing very well in AAA and fans wanted to see him at MLB level.  He was not really considered a top prospect at the time.  The Twins did call him up in September, where he got 3 starts out of his 6 games, put up not good numbers.  However we do not really count September call ups as a shot.  In 2025 he got his call up pre-September. He actually broke camp with the Twins. However, he was mostly used late inning defense or pinch runner, not even getting a chance to bat in 17 of his first 30 games that year, and 40 games of the team, meaning 10 games he never played at all. Of the games he did get to use a bat, only 8 he got more than one at-bat, and a few were only 2.  He started only 6 of those games.  Not much of a shot.  Sure he did not perform well in the few games he did get to hit.  He then got to start and play all of a few games where he only had 1 hit games.  Then he went back completely bench roll. Then he got just a few starts over the rest of his 40 games played about with again many being no at bats. 

In 2025 another outfielder Carson McCusker was getting pushed by fans.  A non-drafted guy, that was known for being very tall and having power. Fans want to see if his power would translate to MLB level. He was called up in May, had 5 games he played in, 2 starts but in only 1 game did he get to stand in the box more than 1 time, that was only 2 plate appearances.  They did not go well with strike outs in all but 2 and he did get 1 single. Then he went back to AAA for a single game in August where he got a single hit in 3 chances. Then in September he got called up when the team was trying to lose, and finally got some starts, 7, but still was only give 2 chances to hit in most of those.  The numbers on the season not good. 

This year, after a big 2025 in AAA, Kyler Fedko was an older player hoping to get a shot with the Twins. Fedko started in AAA and kept hitting just like he did last year, and fans kept wanting him to come up.  Again, like the others he was never a top prospect type guy.  He finally, got his shot recently with a call up in June. He was given 3 starts out of his 14 games, and mostly would get 1 chance to hit, if any. He got 19 PA in 14 games played. He has no hits, striking out just under half his plate appearances.  He did walk 2 times and got a sac fly.

Those are three players recently that were not top prospects, that put up strong numbers in AAA, but when called up hardly got to play, and when they did they failed.  Did they fail because they just are not good enough, or did the Twins set them up to fail?

Most teams will say they do not call up true prospects to ride the bench, and would rather they play every day down in minors than be the 4th OF type guy.  There is always talk about not getting regular playing time makes it hard to hit when you do get a chance.  It takes special guys that can just pick up a bat and hit cold off the bench all the time. So did the Twins do this to them because they wanted them to fail, or just expected they would fail?  

Personally, I think they did it expecting they would fail, because the lack of prospect thoughts on them.  This type of player needs to hit the ground running.  yeah, the team will see the BP, and see how an at-bat goes, but unless the no touted prospect comes out crushing, they never get benefit of the doubt. They have that extra hard hill to climb. When Jenkins gets his call, he will get starts, and he will be given several games to fail before they write him off at any point, and he will get multiple chances.  Sadly for the three mentioned above they may never get another chance in majors.  McCusker is in Japan, Keirsey is with Atlanta AAA team doing much worse than he did in St. Paul.  Fedko is back in St. Paul, and could get another call, as he is doing okay down there, but he will likely get passed by others again. 

Is it that they just were not good enough, or did the Twins never really give them a real chance?