2025 St. Paul Saints Opening Day Roster Preview

While the Twins made their way to St. Louis on Tuesday evening, members of the 2025 St. Paul Saints roster had an early-morning flight to St. Paul. One of the biggest reasons for optimism for Twins fans is that they do have a deep roster. That is especially true in terms of arms who are (nearly) ready to contribute. 

Manager Toby Gardenhire has some new help on his coaching staff. Jonas Lovin, who has done a terrific job in Cedar Rapids the last two seasons, makes the move to St. Paul, where he and former big leaguer Carlos Hernandez (who has been in Wichita the last two seasons) will be tasked with the continued development of young pitchers. 

Shawn Schlecter is back as the lead hitting coach. Danny Marcuzzo is new to the organization, and will be a hitting and development coach. 

“A team is only as good as its next day’s starting pitcher.”

Starting Pitchers: David Festa (RHP), Zebby Matthews (RHP), Travis Adams (RHP), Marco Raya (RHP), Andrew Morris (RHP). 
Festa and Matthews made their big-league debuts in the final months of the 2025 season. They took some lumps, but they also showed why the organization is so excited about them. Matthews showed increased velocity this spring, and fans should be very excited about him. These two are ready if needed, and yet more development time at Triple-A is far from a bad thing for them. 

Also on the 40-man roster are Marco Raya and Travis Adams. Raya was a fourth-round pick in 2020 out of high school in Texas. Adams was the Twins' sixth-round pick in 2021 out of Sacramento State. Both have moved up the system steadily, though in very different ways. Adams is a horse: an innings eater with good control and improving stuff. Raya has been handled a bit, well, cautiously. However, he has had shoulder issues since signing, and he was able to make all of his starts in 2024—finishing the season with five shutout innings for the Saints.

Andrew Morris was a non-roster invitee at Twins big-league camp this spring, and was quite impressive in the innings he threw. Like Matthews, he began the 2024 season at Cedar Rapids and flew up to St. Paul. At this point, he is pretty much ready when needed. 

Relief Pitchers: Kody Funderburk (LHP), Anthony Misiewicz (LHP), Huascar Ynoa (RHP), Scott Blewett (RHP), Darren McCaughan (RHP), Ryan Jensen (RHP), Alex Speas (RHP), Kyle Bischoff (RHP), Jacob Bosiokovic (RHP). 

This group is a fairly typical Triple-A bullpen corps. Funderburk is the one in the group who is on the 40-man roster and has spent quite a bit of time with the Twins in the past two seasons. Misiewicz is the other lefty reliever. He has spent time in the big leagues each season since 2020. The rest of the bullpen arms are right-handed.

Scott Blewett, frankly, should be in the big leagues. He did a really nice job when called upon by the Twins in 2024. Darren McCaughan has been primarily a starter in his career. He has spent time with the Mariners, Marlins and pitched some for the Guardians last year. Ryan Jensen throws hard, and once in a while, he’s got some control. Same with Alex Speas. Jensen’s still looking to debut. Speas has made four big-league appearances over the past two seasons. Bosiokovic might be the more intriguing story to follow. The 31-year-old is yet to make his big-league debut. He’s pitched in Triple A three of the past four years, but was in independent ball for the 2023 season. He’s impressed in camp with some improved velocity. 

Huascar Ynoa was traded by the Twins to Atlanta in the infamous Jaime Garcia trade. He was still in rookie ball at the time. However, he debuted in 2019, pitched a bit more in 2020, and in 2021 became a fairly reliable starter. Then came the arm issues. He hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since April of 2022. But unlike others in this bullpen, Ynoa is still just 26 years old. 

Kyle Bischoff is another relatively young guy. He’s 25, and after going undrafted, he went to the United Shores Baseball League and the Twins signed him in 2023 from the Westside Wooly Mammoths. Last season, he began in Cedar Rapids and ended the year with the Saints. Another interesting story, to be sure. But interesting stories that are coupled with a fastball at 96 are even better!!

The hardest thing to do in sports is to hit a round ball with a round bat... and hit it squarely. (Addendum: Now try it when starters are throwing in the mid 90s, relievers throw in the upper 90s, and they all get a bunch of movement.)  

Catchers: Jair Camargo (25), Diego Cartaya (23), Patrick Winkel (25) 
Over the past two seasons, Camargo has played in 164 games for the Saints. He has posted a .765 OPS with 32 doubles, 33 homers and 114 RBIs in that stretch. He debuted briefly in 2024. Cartaya was generally viewed as a top-25 global prospect before the 2022 and 2023 seasons. He showed a strong bat and some good power numbers. His batting average and power production have been down the last couple of years in the top two levels of minor-league ball, but the potential is there. Definitely a nice waiver claim/trade to acquire him. Patrick Winkel isn’t on the 40-man roster, but he was the Twins' ninth-round pick in 2021 from UConn. He has moved up one level each season, until 2025 when he will return to the Saints after hitting .228 with 16 doubles and seven homers. 

Also with some potential offense, this group is going to be relied upon to work with the organization’s top pitching prospects. It is definitely noteworthy that the Twins didn’t go out and sign a 32-year-old defense-first catcher in the offseason. They believe in all three of these guys. 

Infielders: Yunior Severino (25), Armando Alvarez (30), Ryan Fitzgerald (30), Mike Ford (32) 
Yunior Severino has seemingly been around a long time, and yet he is still just 25. In 2023, he ended the season in St. Paul, and led all of minor-league baseball with 35 total homers. He was added to the 40-man roster, but then 2024 was disappointing. He came on strong to hit .254 by season’s end, and he had 21 doubles and 21 home runs. However, he also struck out 154 times. He was taken off of the 40-man roster, became a free agent, but quickly returned to the Twins. 

The rest of this group is filled with minor-league free agents. Ford has been around a long time. He’s got at least some MLB service time all the way back to 2019 when he debuted with the Yankees. A 17th-round pick in 2016, Alvarez made his big-league debut in 2024 with 20 games with the A’s. Fitzgerald went undrafted out of Creighton and began his pro career in independent baseball. The Red Sox  gave him an opportunity and he spent six seasons with that organization. Last year, he played for Omaha (Royals Triple-A). 

Outfielders: Carson McCusker (26), Emmanuel Rodriguez (22).
Rodriguez came to spring training healthy this year after missing so much time last year with hand, thumb and wrist injuries. Unfortunately, he sprained his ankle early in camp so we didn’t get to see him play. We did get to see a lot of Carson McCusker in spring games. He was used frequently in late innings of big-league games. At 6-8 and 250 pounds, McCusker has a ton of power potential. Signed in 2023 after parts of three seasons in independent baseball, McCusker split 2024 between Wichita and St. Paul and hit .282 with 30 doubles, four triples and 19 home runs. 

Utility: Austin Martin (26), Jeferson Morales (25), Luke Keaschall (22), Anthony Prato (26)
Martin was the final player optioned by the Twins this week. He just turned 26, and it appears that the Twins don’t feel excessively comfortable with him in the infield or in center field. He played 93 games with the Twins a year ago and will likely spend more time there this year. The best thing for his career might literally be to make him as versatile as possible. Play him at four infield positions and three outfield positions. He isn’t going to be a great defender, but he’s a great athlete and could be adequate anywhere on the field. But, how will he be utilized in St. Paul and prepare to get back to the big leagues. 

Luke Keaschall jumped up prospect rankings with a strong offensive game through four-and-a-half months. He hit for average, took quality plate appearances and took walks, and showed a lot of doubles and home run power. He had Tommy John surgery, but he is now back to getting some time in the field. He should get time at first base, second base and maybe even some center field. 

Jeferson Morales was recently named the 2025 Sire of Fort Myers after putting up an impressive showing throughout camp. He played 20 games and hit .375/.460/.531 (.991) with two doubles and a home run. He played quality defense in both corner outfield spots and at second base. He was invited as a catcher and caught bullpens before full squad workouts began. He ended 2024 with 17 games in St. Paul where he posted a 1.018 OPS with seven doubles, a triple, and a home run. 

Injured List: Payton Eeles (25), Will Holland (26)  
Payton Eeles was the tremendous story of the 2025 Twins minor league season. Unfortunately, he had what some have called ‘minor’ knee surgery. He had a cartilage issue that needed to be worked on. We know that the Twins will be conservative in bringing him back. Hopefully Eeles is able to not push too hard to speed up the timeline. 

Will Holland was off to a strong start with the Saints a year ago. He missed about a month with a hamstring strain in May. He came back and continued to rake, showing power and, as always, speed. Unfortunately, his season came to an abrupt end in late June with an ankle fracture. He did play in some spring, big-league games this year, but he will begin the season on the Injured List. 

Twins Daily’s 2025 Top Prospects in St. Paul
#2: OF Emmanuel Rodriguez
#3: IF Luke Keaschall
#5: RHP Andrew Morris
#6: RHP Marco Raya 

It is exciting to see a Triple-A starting rotation filled with homegrown talent especially since 60% of the big-league rotation developed in the organization. Add in two of the top three hitting prospects in the organization and you've got a lot of reasons to spend a lot of time at CHS Field in 2024. 

As the summer moves along and things that happen during a baseball season happen, players will move up and down. There are likely to be injuries. But if that happens, then it is likely that Saints fans will see more of Cory Lewis and Christian MacLeod who each made one late-season start in St. Paul in 2024. Connor Prielipp could arrive in St. Paul relatively quickly. Other recent draft picks such as Kyle Jones, C.J. Culpepper, Ty Langenberg, and Tanner Hall could arrive later in the season. And, Walker Jenkins spent the final week of the 2024 season at Double-A Wichita, so he could play in St. Paul this year too. 

Take me out to the ball game! 

Interested in learning more about the Minnesota Twins' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!