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The Minnesota Twins added two prospects to their 40-man roster ahead of Tuesday's deadline to protect players from Rule 5 draft: Marco Raya and Travis Adams. In our article previewing this deadline, we had Raya at the top of the list in terms of likelihood, and Adams near the bottom. He's not considered one of the organization's best prospects (Adams is not in Twins Daily's top 20 or even MLB.com's top 30). As a mid-20s right-handed pitcher, his profile is robustly represented in the Twins system.
The addition of Adams to the 40-man roster above several other candidates serves as a good reminder that this decision is not so much about who your best prospects are, or even where your greatest organizational depth needs lie. It's all about who you actually expect other teams to target when the Rule 5 rolls around on December 11th.
Clearly there was a sense that Adams would be at real risk, despite a track record and rep that don't stand out at first blush. So let's take a closer look at what the Twins see in the righty, and what they feel other clubs might see.
Travis Adams: Background and Development
The Twins selected Adams in the sixth round of the 2021 MLB Draft as a college pitcher out of a Sacramento State. The first five players they drafted that year (Chase Petty, Noah Miller, Steve Hajjar, Cade Povich, Christian Encarnacion-Strand) have all been traded, leaving fifth-rounder Christian MacLeod and Adams the most highly-drafted remaining players from the class.
"Adams fastball ranges from 90-95 mph and has touched 97 at its best," shared Baseball America in their draft report. "He goes right after hitters with his fastball and gets plenty of swings and misses on it ... Adams is a good athlete with a quick arm and still has some physical projection left to add strength and throw harder in the future."
That last part – projectability to add bulk and velocity – has been a common trait for mid-round college arms drafted by the Twins, and we've seen it come to fruition time and time again, including with David Festa, a 13th-rounder from the same draft. But relative to Festa and many other arms in Minnesota's pitching pipeline, Adams has not posted especially impressive numbers as a pro: 4.54 ERA, 23% K-rate in 75 appearances (70 starts).
What to Like About Travis Adams
What Adams has been able to do is establish a strong baseline of durability, throwing 100 innings in his first season (2022), 110 innings last year, and 127 innings this year. Relative to many pitching prospects – including in the Twins system – there is little question about Adams's ability to hold up as a starter. He leads all Twins minor-leaguers in innings pitched since 2022.
He also showed a lot of improvement this year after struggling mightily in 2023 as a 23-year-old at Double-A, improving from a 5.66 ERA to 3.67 in 2024 to earn a late-season promotion to Triple-A, where he made four appearances. Adams didn't post huge strikeout numbers over the course of the season but he threw strikes and got ground balls.
From a repertoire standpoint, Adams is pretty conventional: four-seam fastball, changeup, slider, and curveball. In a spotlight interview with Twins Daily's Seth Stohs last year, Adams said his fastball “will sometimes cut, sometimes run, just kind of do its own thing from time to time.”
Turning 25 in January, he's ready-made MLB pitching depth, and while he doesn't seem to boast an especially high ceiling, that can change.
For one example, look no further than current rotation stalwart Bailey Ober. He was barely on anyone's radar when the Twins added him to their 40-man roster following the 2020 season. Look where he is now, four years later. I'm not saying Adams will follow the same path but this move makes him one to watch.
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