The Twins Just Traded Two Prospects for AJ Minter. Was It Worth the Price?

Acquiring AJ Minter from the MetsTwins Daily's Top 20 Twins' prospects front office views this team. They're buying, and the return they sent to New York reinforces that idea.

In exchange for Minter, the Twins parted with a pair of infield prospects: corner infielder Billy Amick and middle infielder Bruin Agbayani. Neither player ranked among Twins Daily's Top 20 Twins' prospects, but both have intriguing offensive tools that made them attractive enough for the Mets to take a chance.

Let's start with Amick. The Twins selected him in the second round of the 2024 MLB Draft, and he should immediately become one of the best corner infield prospects in New York's farm system. There's a lot to like offensively. Across 86 games at Double-A Wichita this season, Amick launched 23 home runs while drawing 50 walks. That's a really appealing combination of power and plate discipline, and it's easy to see why another organization would believe there's more upside to unlock. He's split time between first and third base as a pro, although first base is pretty clearly where he fits best defensively.

The overall batting average doesn't exactly jump off the page, though. Amick is hitting just .217 this season, but that number probably undersells how well he's actually swung the bat. His .239 BABIP is unusually low, especially for someone who consistently hits the ball as hard as he does. You'd expect that number to normalize over time, which should naturally push the batting average higher.

Still, there's a reason the Twins were willing to move him. The bat-to-ball skills leave a lot to be desired. He's striking out at a 28.5% clip as a 23-year-old at Double-A, and that's a pretty concerning number. Ideally, you'd like to see more consistent contact against upper-level pitching at this stage of his development. And when you dig a little deeper, it becomes even more obvious.

Amick owns just a 63.6% overall contact rate this year. He's also not an especially aggressive hitter, so these aren't simply the byproduct of someone constantly expanding the strike zone. He's just swinging through pitches far too often. That doesn't mean he can't become a productive major leaguer; players with his kind of power can absolutely carve out roles if they make enough contact.

But his defensive profile doesn't leave much margin for error. He's probably not going to stick at third base long term, and while he's serviceable at first, that's a position where the offensive expectations are incredibly high. If the contact issues persist, his ceiling becomes much more limited.

Now let's talk about Agbayani, who is much harder to evaluate. The Twins selected him in the sixth round of the 2025 MLB Draft, but he just hasn't played much professional baseball yet. He suffered a throwing shoulder injury back in May and hasn't appeared in a game since May 12. Because of that, he has just 74 professional plate appearances since being drafted. So we're working with an incredibly small sample size.

But from what we've seen so far, he kind of feels like the complete opposite of Amick offensively. Agbayani already shows impressive contact skills for a 19-year-old. Across those 74 plate appearances at Low-A, he's struck out only six times while drawing 16 walks. That's an outstanding foundation to build from. He consistently puts the bat on the ball, controls the strike zone well, and has shown an ability to use the entire field instead of trying to yank everything into the pull side.

The biggest difference between him and Amick is the type of contact he creates. Agbayani puts the ball on the ground quite a bit. There are flashes of pull-side power when he gets the ball in the air, and as he continues to mature physically and add strength, you'd expect some of those doubles to eventually turn into home runs. But he'll probably profile as more of a hit-for-contact type of hitter than a true power bat.

Defensively, he's bounced around the infield, seeing time at second base, third base, and shortstop. Long term, though, second base feels like the most realistic fit. His range isn't particularly exciting, and his arm strength probably isn't enough for the left side of the infield. That's perfectly fine if the bat develops, but like Amick, there are still questions about where exactly he fits defensively.

Overall, the Mets are getting two very different offensive profiles. Amick brings legitimate power with some swing-and-miss concerns. Agbayani offers advanced contact skills but significantly less impact with the bat. They're both bat-first prospects who come with defensive question marks, just in completely different ways. Could one of them eventually become a productive major leaguer? Absolutely. Prospect development is unpredictable, and we've seen players make dramatic improvements after changing organizations before. But if we're being honest, the odds are that neither develops into a true impact player.

There's no guarantee either one even reaches the majors. The Mets clearly saw enough upside to take the gamble, and that's exactly what prospect trades are all about. But from the Twins' perspective, this feels like a worthwhile price to pay. Minter immediately upgrades a bullpen that desperately needed another reliable late-inning arm, and that's simply more valuable to Minnesota's playoff hopes than what Amick or Agbayani were likely ever going to provide.

Of course, projecting prospects is never an exact science. Maybe New York helps Amick cut down the strikeouts, and maybe Agbayani develops more power than expected. Maybe one of them eventually becomes an everyday major leaguer; that possibility will always exist. But based on what we know today, I like this deal for the Twins.

I love seeing this front office act aggressively instead of sitting on its hands. This team needed bullpen help, and they went out and got it without sacrificing any of their elite prospects. Hopefully, this is just the beginning. Because if the Twins are serious about making a postseason run, there should be more moves coming.

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