Matthews, Woods Richardson Climb Twins Daily's Updated Prospect Rankings

Over the past couple of weeks, we have had open prospect voting for Twins Daily writers and for the community. The results of the rankings have now been updated on the site. Here is a brief summary. 

The last time that we had a vote for Twins Daily’s Top 20 Prospect rankings was in February. In many cases, there was minimal change from the end of the 2023 season. Players acquired or lost in a trade can create change. Maybe a solid prospect does something remarkable in the Winter Leagues. Or maybe a report comes out about a pitcher at Instructional League suddenly hitting 99 mph rather than 95. Or an injured player works his way back. 

With the mid-May voting, we now have six or seven weeks of 2024 performances by hitters and pitchers. Some players get off to fast starts. Others start out slow. There are injuries and promotions. In other words, we all have more data points for helping us better rank those players. You can find all kinds of stats online, which is great. But you can also watch games online and see the players or attend games at minor-league parks. 

With that, we did have the Twins Daily writers rank their top 20 prospects first, and then we opened it up to the community rankings. We truly do thank you for taking time to rank prospects. Those rankings were used in conjunction with the writers vote in a formula to give us the updated rankings you can see today. 

Let’s get to some of the interesting things we find within the updated rankings. 

GRADUATION: Kody Funderburk
He wasn’t in the Top 20 prospect, but he received lots of votes last time. He has surpassed the service time limits. At about 40 innings, Simeon Woods Richardson is just a couple of solid starts from graduation as well. The only other “prospects” to spend time this year with the Twins are Austin Martin and Jair Camargo. Martin is at 76 at-bats, but since he has been a role player, he is likely to pass the service time threshold first. Camargo was only up for about a week, so he’s got plenty of “prospect-dom” remaining. 

BIGGEST RISERS: Simeon Woods Richardson, Zebby Matthews 
Woods Richardson was a top 10 prospect from the time he joined the Twins organization  in the Jose Berrios trade until he struggled mightily early in the 2023 season. He fell down to #20 at season’s end due to concerns about his control and lack of velocity. This year, he’s come back throwing harder, with a new arm angle, and much improved changeup and breaking balls. In addition, he has found success at times already this year in the big leagues which gets people excited. 

Of players who were not previously ranked, Zebby Matthews has made the biggest jump, up to #14 in this ranking. He had a very nice full-season debut in 2023, but in 2024, he has been really, really good. He made four starts in Cedar Rapids and now two starts in Wichita. Combined, he is 4-0 with a 1.31 ERA. In 34 1/3 innings, he has 43 strikeouts and is yet to issue a walk. By mid-season, he could easily be in the Top 10. 

BIGGEST DROP: Cory Lewis, C.J. Culpepper, Matt Canterino
Out of site, out of mind, I guess. In 2023, Lewis was one of the biggest stories of the Twins minor-league system. He was the Twins (and Twins Daily) Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Unfortunately, his season was initially delayed by an arm injury that was deemed fairly minor. However, a few weeks ago, he was shifted from the 7-Day IL to the 60-Day IL. Apparently that was enough for him to fall from #8 to #15. 

C.J. Culpepper was intriguing enough that Baseball America ranked him as the Twins #10 prospect before the season. Culpepper pitched in 86 innings over 21 starts. He had 89 strikeouts to just 31 walks. He split the season between Fort Myers and Cedar Rapids. In 11 Mussels stars, he posted a 2.33 ERA. In 10 Kernels starts, he posted a 4.99 ERA. He has missed some time already this season. In five more Kernels starts, he has a 3.38 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings. 

These two (along with Kyle Jones who had an appendectomy in spring training and is also on the 60-Day IL) have been overshadowed this season by Matthews and Andrew Morris, but both are still legit big-league talents. Lewis has the mid-90s fastball with a knuckleball. Culpepper has six quality pitches. 

Twins fans were so excited about the return of Matt Canterino after missing so much time with elbow issues and recovering from Tommy John surgery. He ranked #17. He pitched well in limited spring training appearances. We knew he would get a chance to make starts, but maybe he could work out of the Twins bullpen in August and September. When the season started, it was announced that he was going on the 60-Day IL with a shoulder issue. You just can’t help but feel bad for him. That said, if he is able to come back in the next few weeks or even a month, he could be used in the bullpen still, but we just don’t know. He fell from #17 to ‘outside the top 25.” 

The Next Five: Andrew Morris (#21), Rayne Doncon (#22), Yasser Mercedes (#23), DaShawn Keirsey (#24), Rubel Cespedes (#25).
I admit, I begged the committee to increase our Top 20 rankings to a Top 25 list, but I lost. However, this group of five is as interesting and as exciting as maybe any of the other groups of five, even including #1-5. 

Morris was just promoted to Double-A and made his first start there on Tuesday night. In seven Kernels starts, he went 3-1 with a 2.15 ERA. He had 43 strikeouts and seven walks in 37 2/3 innings.  The former fourth-round pick is just 22. 

Doncon came to the Twins from the Dodgers in the Manuel Margot/Owen Miller trade. The 20-year-old started the season in Fort Myers. In 38 games, he hit .283/.374/.464 (.838) with 13 doubles and four homers. He was promoted to Cedar Rapids this week. 

Mercedes signed with the Twins in January of 2022 for $1.7 million. He hit .355 with a .975 OPS, 13 doubles, three triples, and four home runs. He also had 30 stolen bases. He struggled in his States debut last year, hitting just .196 with four doubles and four homers in 25 games. He also missed the final few weeks with injury. This season, he is now hitting .422/.480/.711 (1.191) with three doubles, two triples, two homers and seven steals in 12 games. 

Keirsey just turned 27, but he just continues to improve, and he’s been able to stay healthy. He has easily been the Saints best player this season. In 40 games, he has hit .282/.384/.513 (.897) with 10 doubles, four triples and six homers. He also has 11 steals. Not to mention that he’s certainly the best defensive center fielder in the organization (other than Buxton… probably). 

Cespedes was the Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Month in April and has continued to produce in May. The 23-year-old corner infielder is hitting .331/.414/.544 (.958) with 10 doubles, two triples, five home runs and 36 RBI. 

The Big Story: Injuries
If there is one big theme to the Twins farm system so far in 2024, it has to involve injuries. Looking at the updated rankings, #1 Walker Jenkins and #2 Brooks Lee have been out all year to this point. Jenkins hurt his hamstring early in Game 1. Lee had back spasms just before the season began. They both began their rehab time clocks in the FCL on Monday. 

#3 Emmanuel Rodriguez missed just over a week with a wrist issue. He didn’t go to the IL, but he missed seven or eight games. 

#5 Gabriel Gonzalez left a game with back spasms. He didn’t go on the IL until about 10 days later and he remains on the list. Then about two weeks later, Danny De Andrade sprained his ankle and went on the IL. 

#15 Cory Lewis has been out all season, which stinks after such a great professional debut a year ago. #17 Connor Prielipp had another elbow procedure done in the middle of last season and hasn’t pitched since. Matt Canterino pitched well in spring training and we were all excited to see him, but as the season began, we learned he was having some shoulder issues. I find it strange that Lewis and Canterino dropped seven or eight spots in our rankings while Prielipp moved up a spot. 

Again, thank you to all who ranked prospects this time around. We will re-rank again sometime around the draft. What do you think? Before or after?

And, what do you think of the updated rankings? What sticks out to you? 

Here’s one more look at our rankings. For more on each player, click here. 

#1 - Walker Jenkins (Fort Myers) - FCL Rehab
#2 - Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - FCL Rehab
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita)
#4 - David Festa (St. Paul)
#5 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – IL
#6 - Marco Raya (Wichita)
#7 - Charlee Soto (Fort Myers)
#8 - Austin Martin (St. Paul)
#9 - Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids)
#10 - Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers)
#11 - Simeon Woods Richardson (Minnesota)
#12 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita)
#13 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita)
#14 - Zebby Matthews (Wichita)
#15 - Cory Lewis (Wichita) - IL
#16 – Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids) - IL
#17 - Connor Prielipp (Cedar Rapids) - IL
#18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul)
#19 - C.J. Culpepper (Cedar Rapids)
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids)

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!