Keep An Eye on This Emerging 19-Year-Old Pitching Prospect

A little over two weeks ago, FanGraphs released their "Minnesota Twins Top 43 Prospects" list. As on most lists, Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and Brooks Lee inhabited the top three spots. However, The list quickly became unconventional, with Dameury Pena, Rayne Doncon, and Daiber De Los Santos (none of whom appeared in Twins Daily's 2024 Top Prospect Rankings) residing 10th through 12th. Various other attention-catching placements can be found on FanGraphs's list, yet none were more surprising than 19-year-old starting pitching prospect Adrian Bohorquez claiming the 17th spot.

What makes Bohorquez's placement interesting is that he is currently unranked in the following reputable platform's top prospect rankings:

• Twins Daily's Top 20 Twins Prospect Rankings
• Aaron Gleeman's 2024 Top 40 Twins Prospect Rankings at The Athletic
• Aram Leighton's 2024 Top 15 Twins Prospect Rankings at Just Baseball
• Jonathan Mayo's 2024 Twins Top 30 Prospect Rankings at MLB.com
• Baseball America's Updated Twins Top 30 Prospects, released just days ago

FanGraphs is always unique with its prospect rankings. For example, in 2023, they ranked then-30-year-old Double-A reliever Jordan Brink as the team's 33rd-best prospect. However, to find Bohorquez ranked 17th above well-renowned prospects like Tanner Schobel (21st), Ka'lai Rosario (30th), and Brandon Winokur (31st) is genuinely surprising. Beyond FanGraphs, the only other reputable source to place Bohorquez in their top rankings is Twins' prospect guru Tom Froemming, who has him ranked 28th. So, what prompted FanGraphs and Froemming to rank the hard-throwing righty so highly? Let's take a look.

Bohorquez, 19, joined the Twins after signing a minor-league contract with the organization on Jan. 15, 2023. The Venezuela-born pitcher was assigned to the Dominican Summer League (DSL) team in June, allowing a 5.25 ERA, 1.63 WHIP, and a .233 batting average over 24 innings pitched and posting an alarming 30-to-18 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Bohorquez struggled in his first cup of coffee in the DSL, which is expected of an 18-year-old making his first appearance in professional baseball. However, the now-19-year-old has jumped onto the scene in his second season in the system.

Upon being promoted to the Twins' Florida Complex League (FCL) squad, he has generated a 3.52 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and .171 batting average against, while allowing 19 hits over 30 2/3 innings pitched. He has also evinced a modest command improvement, posting a 34-to-14 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The steadily improving hurler topped out at 97 miles per hour in his most recent stretch relief appearance in the FCL, demonstrating the velocity necessary to be taken seriously as a prospect and potentially earn a promotion to Single-A Fort Myers.

Admittedly, it is hard to properly scout and assess Bohorquez's performance, pitch mix, and physical traits, as there is limited DSL and FCL video for the general public to access. Despite appearing in the video for only ten seconds, it is evident that Bohorquez (who is listed at 6'1" and 190 pounds at MiLB.com) has an imposing stature that should bode well for him as he continues to mature and develop. His frame doesn't have obvious projection for growth, but it's already a viable pitcher's body.

His best pitch is his fastball, which FanGraphs ranks 55/60 on their "20-80 scouting scale," meaning it is above average with the potential of being a true plus pitch. FanGraphs also ranks his curveball at 55/60, with his cutter sitting at 45/50, meaning it is currently below-average with the potential of becoming average. His most significant growth area as a pitcher is his command, which FanGraphs rates 25/55, meaning it is well below average but has a chance to get to above-average. Evidently, Bohorquez improving his command will be the deciding factor on whether he will rise through the ranks or fizzle out in the low minors.  

Those closely following Twins' prospects have witnessed the ascension of promising young arms like Simeon Woods Richardson, David Festa, Zebby Matthews, and Andrew Morris in the past two seasons. A sustainable pitching pipeline (buzzword, I know) ripe with homegrown talent is beginning to emerge, and having young, talented, hard-throwing arms like Bohorquez bloom this summer further emphasizes the encouraging state of the organization's long-term pitching depth. Bohorquez is an intriguing, hard-throwing starting pitching prospect who could eventually pop up on more Twins' top prospect lists if he improves his command and continues to pitch well for the FCL squad. If FanGraphs's Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin have noticed him this favorably, though, you can bet that teams with whom the Twins will be talking about trades this month have, too.

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!