Twins Farm System Updates: Breaking Down the Updated Twins Daily Top 20 Prospects List

[Nate Palmer]

Image courtesy of USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The baseball season has passed the trade deadline, and the playoff push is in full effect. It's time to look at the shakeups on Twins Daily's latest prospect ranking list. One notable prospect left the organization via trade, and the recent draft picks have gotten some time under their belt, as well, giving us an early glimpse at what they look like as professionals.  

1. Walker Jenkins, OF, AAA (Previously #1)
2. Vahn Lackey, C, A (Previously #2)
3. Kaelen Culpepper, SS, MLB (Previously #3) 
4. Marek Houston, SS, AA (Previously #5)
5. Riley Quick, RHP, AA (Previously #6)
6. Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF, AAA (Previously #5)
7. Hendry Mendez, OF, AAA (Previously #10)
8. Eduardo Tait, C, A+ (Previously #7)
9. Gabriel Gonzalez, OF/1B, AAA (Previously #11)
10. Charlee Soto, RHP, A+ (Previously #12)
11. Carson Tinney, C, A (Previously #13)
12. Brandon Winokur, 3B/CF, AA (Previously #15)
13. Khadim Diaw, C/OF, AA (Previously #14)
14. Ethan Wachsmann, RHP, FCL (Previously #20)
15. Ryan Gallagher, RHP, AAA (Previously #18)
16. Brett Renfrow, RHP, FCL (Previously #16)
17. James Ellwanger, RHP, A (Previously #19)
18. Quentin Young, SS/3B, A (Previously #17)
19. Yasser Mercedes, OF, A+ (Previously Unranked)
20. Enrique Jimenez, C, A+ (Previously Unranked)

In the updated rankings, 18 of the 20 names will look the same, while two new names appear. Room was made for the new names through Kendry Rojas’s graduation from the list. Rojas has now tossed 29 ⅔ innings for the Twins while appearing in 12 games, although the left-hander is currently on the IL with the Saints. Dasan Hill left the Twins as the centerpiece of the trade for reliever Jeff Hoffman. Hill was No. 9 on our list before the trade and has joined Toronto’s High-A affiliate. Those subtractions created room for outfielder Yasser Mercedes and catcher Enrique Jimenez to land in the final two spots on the list. 

Top Risers
Right-handed hurler Ethan Wachsmann took the biggest jump (six spots) in this edition of the prospect rankings. He hasn’t even thrown a pitch for a Twins affiliate after being drafted in the 3rd round (79th overall) of this year's draft. As Wachsmann progresses through the Twins system, he'll need to learn to harness great raw tools and a fastball capable of hitting triple digits. Looking at the clay that's there to be molded, it's obvious why Wachsmann is thought highly enough of (at 18 years of age) to make the jump to No. 14. 

Three other prospects jumped three spots from their previous ranking. The highest-ranked of the bunch is outfielder Hendry Mendez, now at No. 7. Mendez has continued to produce at the plate in 63 games since his mid-season promotion to Triple-A St. Paul. The 22-year-old has hit .278/.378/.413 at the highest level of minor-league ball. Mendez is reaching a point where it's simply his batting handedness (left-handed) and primary position (outfield) holding him back from a call-up. 

At No. 12 is third baseman and outfielder Brandon Winokur. After starting the season at High-A, Winokur has now played 30 games at Double-A Wichita, where he's hit .262/.329/.448. Winokur’s offensive output plummeted to begin the month of August, but the 21-year-old has rebounded. He now holds a .706 OPS since the beginning of the month. Hopefully, this is the beginning of the adjustment trend we saw from the right-handed slugger-in-training as he adjusted to Low-A. 

Righty Ryan Gallagher ranks 15th. He had been pitching very well for the Saints until last week. In his two most recent games, Gallagher has allowed five and nine earned runs, respectively. Just before that, however, Gallagher went 5 ⅔ innings, allowed three hits, one earned run, one walk, and struck out seven batters. He held a 2.30 ERA and had 31 strikeouts to eight walks in his first handful of starts coming out of the All-Star break. This was an encouraging development from a rough initial introduction to the Triple-A level. Now, let’s hope that the most recent stretch isn’t a true regression to early-season Gallagher, but rather a blip on the radar. Overall, as a guy who isn’t going to wow with his velocity, Gallagher continues to check boxes and put himself in position to be considered for the major-league roster at some point. 

New Additions:
19. OF Yasser Mercedes, High-A Cedar Rapids Kernels
Mercedes has, from the beginning, profiled as a power hitter. He's had to adjust to each level as he has advanced through the Twins system. After tearing up the DSL, it took Mercedes time to adjust to Low-A competition. To begin this season, Mercedes adjusted just fine, hitting .321/.439/.642, including six home runs and 11 stolen bases. 

Mercedes's bat has cooled again after a promotion to High-A Cedar Rapids. If he follows his normal developmental trajectory, he should rebound in time. What's really boosted Mercedes’s prospect stock is the fact that he's become a much better defensive fielder than was expected. He has moved himself from a projection as a power-hitting corner outfielder to having fringe center field capabilities. At the very least, this more athletic version of him looks like it could translate to above-average defense in a corner. 

A key stat to keep an eye on with Mercedes is his strikeout rate. In Low-A from 2025 to this season (2026), he improved it from 25.1% to 21.4%. In his first go-around at High-A, his strikeout rate has jumped back up to 29.1%. Considering that Mercedes is young for the level, it's an area of growth the Twins will be watching, to see if he can overcome it once again. 

20. C Enrique Jimenez, High-A Cedar Rapids 
After struggling with a finger injury early in the season, Jimenez returned to Low-A Fort Myers and put together a solid stretch. In 11 games, the 20-year-old catcher hit .314/.490/.514 for Fort Myers and earned a promotion to High-A Cedar Rapids. In 24 games there, he's still working to adjust to the new level, hitting .205/.340/.375. 

As a hitter, Jimenez hasn’t displayed great power and looks to be more of a line-drive hitter. Crucially, he commands the zone well and is willing to take walks, as evidenced by a 26.5% walk rate at Low-A and 20.7% across both levels of A ball he has played at this season. 

Defensively, Jimenez has proven to be a decent catcher, but long-term, the stocky catcher may become a candidate to move off the position. That could be even more true, as several catchers across the Twins system have quickly surrounded Jimenez. Considering where Jimenez is in terms of age and level, he has plenty of time to prove that defensive projection wrong and improve his craft behind the plate. The tough break for Jimenez and the Twins is that he looks to be done for the season, after experiencing a significant strain in his left hamstring. His season was cut short, but it's a testament to the progress he made that his prospect status hasn't taken a hit.

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[Eris]

I really appreciate these updates and the effort put into this. One item that would be helpful is if the previous rankings reflected the highest ranking of the prospect. For example, in Spring 2025, Rodriguez was the TD #2 prospect and being currently ranked 6th represents a fairly significant drop. Similarly, after acquired in the 2025 trade deadline Tait was the TD 4th ranked prospect ( this is from memory I couldn’t find the actual ranking). 

[MeleMouth]

Quentin Young is still on the list? A year from now, he's more likely to be DFA'd than to be promoted to AA. He has a 57% contact rate in low A and, after many experiments, the Twins haven't demonstrated the ability to improve a player's strike zone control. Plus so many errors! I guess the top value he brings is that with him in the field low A pitchers get more opportunities to work on their skills in game conditions.

[Nashvilletwin]

Keaschall, Lee and Culpepper look like promising graduates - keepers for the next core.

Depending on the lockout, 2027 is the year to see what we have at the major league level in Jenkins, ERod, Mendez, and Houston.  Ideally, Gonzalez rebounds and enters into that conversation sometime during the season. Jenkins and ERod need to break camp as the starting CF and RF (alongside Keaschall in LF) at a minimum.

As multi year college guys, maybe Lackey and/or Tinney will be ready to debut in ‘28.

’28 could see a very strong young core if a) we can keep the current three keepers (Keaschall, Lee, and Culpepper) on some sort of upward trajectory; b) at least two of Jenkins, Houston and Lackey are who think they are (it will be disappointing if all three aren’t successful); c) we find one or two legit major leaguers out of the other four top candidates; and/or d) we get an additional surprise (i.e. Tait, Winokur or Diaw possibly).

Add in a couple of vets (perhaps some subset of Buxton, Lewis, Clemens and Martin) and/or FAs (likely) and this could be the beginning of a very exciting and entertaining era for Twins baseball.  

[mikelink45]

I do not have faith in Gallagher, but we continue to need pitchers so we can hope.

What I would love to have TD present to us is a position depth - current MLB roster and prospects - for each position. 

[Coach]

Caden Kendle getting no love.

[MinnInPa]

still cant get over guys in the top prospect list that cant hit better than .250 in minors and have high 20-30% K rates

[DJL44]

42 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

What I would love to have TD present to us is a position depth - current MLB roster and prospects - for each position. 

Fangraphs has good depth charts

[DJL44]

15 minutes ago, Coach said:

Caden Kendle getting no love.

He’s clearly outperforming Winokur and Diaw at the same level. A glaring omission, should be in the 10-15 range.

[DJL44]

Ben Ross should be on the list instead of Young at the 18 spot.

[Possumlad]

I love TD & the work you all do, but man this is a bad list. A top 20 that includes Quentin Young and not Luis Fragoza? 

[MeleMouth]

33 minutes ago, Coach said:

Caden Kendle getting no love.

I would like to know more about him. Some of his stats suggest he is selling out for power and getting lucky in AA, but does he have the skill to make his swing succeed at higher levels?

[Road trip]

1 hour ago, MeleMouth said:

Quentin Young is still on the list? A year from now, he's more likely to be DFA'd than to be promoted to AA. He has a 57% contact rate in low A and, after many experiments, the Twins haven't demonstrated the ability to improve a player's strike zone control. Plus so many errors! I guess the top value he brings is that with him in the field low A pitchers get more opportunities to work on their skills in game conditions.

Being a high draft pick and the relative of two MLB players apparently gets you a boost in the ratings.  

He is young, but leads (trails?) all of minor league baseball with a 44.7% strikeout rate.  My guess is that the Twins will keep hoping and working on him until he is in his early 20's, but I can't see him being promoted up the ladder anytime soon.

[DJL44]

14 minutes ago, MeleMouth said:

I would like to know more about him. Some of his stats suggest he is selling out for power and getting lucky in AA, but does he have the skill to make his swing succeed at higher levels?

Usually AA is the level that weeds players out. Kendle should be in AAA, but they have a pretty full outfield.

[Peter Gravett]

1 hour ago, Coach said:

Caden Kendle getting no love.

He has certainly had a breakout year.

[Peter Gravett]

56 minutes ago, Possumlad said:

I love TD & the work you all do, but man this is a bad list. A top 20 that includes Quentin Young and not Luis Fragoza? 

Agreed on Fragoza's bat. How is he defensively?

[DJL44]

22 minutes ago, Peter Gravett said:

Agreed on Fragoza's bat. How is he defensively?

Meh

[Brandon]

In the previous rankings no one was ranked 4 but two prospects were ranked 5th 🤔

Also Rojas still has rookie status.  I forget the exact innings 45 or 50 innings and for hitters 130 AB or PA.  We should have the same standards here to be legit.

[LambchoP]

Lots of hitting to be excited about. I'd say the opposite with pitching. I'm glad we drafted arms heavily this year, but I think we should have tried to get some more upper minors pitching depth at the trade deadline. Larnach, Bell, Rogers should have brought back something....

[jmlease1]

Charlee Soto should not be this high. He's been injured for 2 years now, and you simply cannot be a top 10 prospect if you don't play. He may have a lightning bolt for an arm, but until he starts pitching again regularly (he's thrown 2 2/3 innings this year...in June) he simply needs to be put out of mind as a serious prospect. And I say that as someone who liked the pick, likes the player, and is rooting hard for him. But frankly he shouldn't even be on the list at this point, no matter what the theoretical potential is.

Same will hold true with Ellwanger if he can't get back on the field in 2027.

Otherwise? seems fine.

[mikelink45]

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Fangraphs has good depth charts

Would they be the same as TD projections?  Thanks for the note. 

[DJL44]

27 minutes ago, Brandon said:

In the previous rankings no one was ranked 4 but two prospects were ranked 5th 🤔

Also Rojas still has rookie status.  I forget the exact innings 45 or 50 innings and for hitters 130 AB or PA.  We should have the same standards here to be legit.

Rojas should be top 5 then.

[PuckettPond]

We need to get more high end arms. Getting it thru trades. Lets make this off season the winter of trades. A team can not get better by having the same players. Remember all our best pitchers and prospects have come via trades. Who was the last 1st round pitching pick that has made it to the Twins 26 man roster?

[DJL44]

5 minutes ago, PuckettPond said:

We need to get more high end arms. Getting it thru trades. Lets make this off season the winter of trades. A team can not get better by having the same players. Remember all our best pitchers and prospects have come via trades. Who was the last 1st round pitching pick that has made it to the Twins 26 man roster?

Here are the last 20 Twins pitcher first round picks

2025 Riley Quick

2023 Charlee Soto

2021 Chase Petty

2015 Tyler Jay

2013 Kohl Stewart

2012 Jose Berrios, Luke Bard

2011 Hudson Boyd

2010 Alex Wimmers

2009 Kyle Gibson, Matthew Bashore

2008 Carlos Gutierrez, Shooter Hunt

2005 Matt Garza

2004 Glen Perkins, Steven Waldrop, Matthew Fox, Jay Rainville

2000 Adam Johnson, Aaron Heilman

[Sampson5]

All due respect but how the hell is young listed here ? Ops in the 600s & striking out I believe close to 40% of the time ? Not to mention 30+ errors I'm sorry but 14 homeruns isn't enough to outweigh all the bad in his game currently. Ben ross should be in his spot imo if I'm being honest I don't think young is even a top 40 prospect anymore until he gets the k rate to a respectable level for a power hitter or starts hitting 30 homers a year to make up for the lack of every other aspect of the game. Honestly twins should be considering demoting him be clearly wasn't ready to play in low A yet which is tough for a pretty early draft pick again hopefully he turns it around but feel like he's on the list simply because of where he was drafted at this point 

[Dman]

I get the very real concerns on Young, but it is his first year and they pushed him to A ball early.  Lot's of young DSL hitters take some time to adjust to pro ball and Young still has plenty of time to make improvements.  I definitely can see dropping him out of the top 20 given the extremely high K rate and poor defense.  Still there is time for him to turn things around as he grows into his body.  He was always going to be power over hit and those types generally take longer to make it.

I do think we have to remember that lists are projection based not results based.  Young has tantalizing athleticism and power at a young age which generally puts them high on lists mainly due to potential. That being said with the K rate and contact rate at such poor levels dropping him does make some sense.  Even at a young age it is tough to overcome that level of swing and miss.  He could stand to hit the gym and focus on defensive positioning in the off season.

[DJL44]

3 minutes ago, Dman said:

I get the very real concerns on Young, but it is his first year and they pushed him to A ball early.  Lot's of young DSL hitters take some time to adjust to pro ball and Young still has plenty of time to make improvements.  I definitely can see dropping him out of the top 20 given the extremely high K rate and poor defense.  Still there is time for him to turn things around as he grows into his body.  He was always going to be power over hit and those types generally take longer to make it.

I do think we have to remember that lists are projection based not results based.  Young has tantalizing athleticism and power at a young age which generally puts them high on lists mainly due to potential. That being said with the K rate and contact rate at such poor levels dropping him does make some sense.  Even at a young age it is tough to overcome that level of swing and miss.  He could stand to hit the gym and focus on defensive positioning in the off season.

There are several other guys with solid athletic ability in the system who are performing a lot better than Young but aren't on the list.

[Dman]

1 minute ago, DJL44 said:

There are several other guys with solid athletic ability in the system who are performing a lot better than Young but aren't on the list.

I would also say there is some draft bias versus DSL players that move through FCL to A ball. We've seen several International guys get rated highly only to fall off quickly so I think they get discounted more than high school drafted players IMO.

Fragosa is about  the same age with much better stats than Young and Duran looked good in the complex league but has struggled at A ball.  There are others in his range so I get your point.  Still we know development is not linear and lists are potential based not results based which can leave younger players higher on lists than likely warranted.  It's just the nature of projection IMO.  There just aren't many young 6'6" 225 and move as well as Young does.  That's why he had steam for the back half of the first round.  Most teams didn't care for the bat though and so far that is not working out well for the Twins.  We'll see how he looks in a couple of years.

I'm fine moving him out of the top 20, but not giving up on him as a prospect.

[DJL44]

21 minutes ago, Dman said:

There just aren't many young 6'6" 225 and move as well as Young does. 

Fangraphs said he's added 20 lbs to his drafted weight