Jamie Cameron

Love Prielipp. I had to leave out a guy or two for the hitter and pitching version of this (Culpepper on hitting side). For Prielipp, just the health piece this year. Long term, I think it's a role questions (SP or RP) but he should be locked into pretty small pitch counts this year so the role from the jump (at AA) will be start and pitch 2-4 innings.

Is Andrew Morris bigger than a bread box? Image courtesy of © Chris Tilley-Imagn Images Now that spring training is here, it’s a good time to take a look at some of the Twins' notable prospects, and a question facing each of them ahead of the 2025 season. In the first part of this series, we looked at hitters. Today, it's pitchers. Some of these development steps will seem obvious. Others will be less so. For ease of navigation, prospects have been listed alphabetically. Kyle Bischoff (RHP) Will an opportunity present itself in the MLB bullpen? Bischoff is a name you need to have on your radar. He’s a 6-foot-2, 25-year-old right-handed pitcher who has a real shot to make the big-league club in a relief role. It’s a sinker, cutter, slider, changeup profile, and he throws hard (sinker up to 97 mph in 2024). He moved all the way from Cedar Rapids to St. Paul last season, throwing 61 1/3 innings and maintaining a stingy 3.09 FIP. Bischoff struck out 30% of the hitters he faced in 2024, although his walk rate is a touch higher than you’d like to see (10%). It’s an MLB-caliber arm. It’s just a matter of opportunity and continued consistent performance matching up. Adrian Bohorquez (RHP) Can he improve his strike-throwing? Bohorquez is now a trendy low-minors arm (thanks, Cody Schoenmann). He has plenty of starter traits. His fastball has good shape, and he can really spin it. He struck out 31% of hitters in a short debut at Fort Myers in 2024, but also walked almost 15% of batters. Despite this, he maintained a 3.23 ERA (3.53 FIP) across the Florida Complex League and Low A. He’ll need to get his strike rate up from the low 60s to 65% or higher in order to keep starting, though. Matt Canterino (RHP) Will he get a clean run of health? This could have been the question for 10-15 different Twins prospects, but it’s most salient for Canterino. He’s now 27, and he hasn’t been able to make his big-league (or even Triple-A) debut due to a miserable run of injuries. Looking at Canterino’s minor-league numbers from 2022 (his last run of health) invites hype: 37 innings, 1.95 ERA, 35% strikeout rate. I’d leverage Canterino strictly as a reliever at this point. He enters 2025 healthy, at least, and should start the season at St. Paul Michael Carpenter (LHP) Will he become the next Twins breakout pitching prospect? You don’t take a pitcher in the 11th round and pay them high 5th-round money ($500,000) unless you are convicted on their ability. Carpenter was the NJCAA Pitcher of the Year, striking out 111 in 78 ⅔ innings. Pre-draft, his arsenal consisted of a low-90s fastball; a curveball with ample depth; and a changeup with good fade. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but he also offers plus control. I’d expect him to be in the mid-90s by the time he debuts. He’s a breakout pick for me in 2025. CJ Culpepper (RHP) Can he sustain his velocity deeper into starts? After recovering from a forearm strain that delayed the beginning of his season, Culpepper thrived. Across 58 ⅓ innings in 2024, he managed a 3.09 FIP, striking out nearly 27% of hitters and walking 7.5%. Culpepper, however, has a challenge to overcome: sustaining his velocity throughout his starts. To this point in his career, he's consistently a few ticks on every pitch when he goes through the order multiple times. It’s a problem he’ll need to solve if he’s going to continue to start. Jack Dougherty (RHP) Can he log a healthy season? You’d be forgiven for not knowing who Jack Dougherty is. He missed all of 2024 due to injury. Before he went down, however, he was throwing 96-mph cheese in live bullpens at spring training. Dougherty was drafted in the 9th round in 2023 out of Ole Miss. He’s 6-foot-4 and had a college résumé light on results but heavy on stuff and strikeouts. He’s another candidate to move quickly through the lower levels if he can return to good health. Ross Dunn (LHP) Can he continue his improved strike-throwing? Dunn was an atypical Twins draft pick, in that he showed a stuff-over-strikes profile in college at Arizona State. The left-hander had a patchy 2024. He didn’t generate enough whiffs (21.2% strikeout rate), and continued to walk too many (10.6% of opposing batters), although his strike-throwing was significantly improved from his junior year of college. His xFIP (4.46) was much better than his ERA (6.46). He’ll need to continue to shore up his control when he moves to Cedar Rapids. David Festa (RHP) Will he add a consistently usable fourth pitch? This question has already been answered for us, kinda, sorta. Festa added a sinker this offseason, hoping to work right-handed hitters inside. After some classification hiccups, he threw a few in his spring debut. Globally, Festa seems to be throwing from a lower, three-quarters arm slot in 2025, so it’ll be worth monitoring all of his pitch shapes. Adding a consistently usable fourth offering and forcing righties to cover a bigger zone moves Festa closer to the middle of the great stuff-wide arsenal continuum. Tanner Hall (LHP) Will he recover his command? The scouting report on Hall (4th round in 2023) said that he was an elite strike-thrower with an outstanding changeup. Hall walked an average of 5% of batters in college. In his first professional season, that almost doubled (9.6%). Hall has a very east-west movement profile (more unusual stuff for the Twins), and has a fastball light on velocity, so he’ll have to add a few ticks, regain his elite control, or both to thrive in 2025. Dasan Hill (LHP) Will he have a healthy, effective first full professional season? Prospect-loving Twins fans got their first look at Hill in spring training and went into a minor frenzy. The 6-foot-5 19-year-old is already up to 98 mph with his fastball, with an above-average slider and an improving changeup. It’s easy to dream of the vast potential here. The reality is, the Twins can and should take it slow with HIll in his first professional season. Throwing strikes and missing bats are the key indices, but as was true of Charlee Soto last season, the main goal for Year One with Hill is to get through a full professional season with his health intact and his confidence on the rise. Ty Langenberg (RHP) Can he find more consistent velocity with his arsenal? Langenberg was the Twins' 11th-round pick in 2023 out of Iowa and is one of the more likely players to make a significant jump forward in 2025. In his first pro season, he pitched 108 innings, holding a 3.28 FIP, striking out 25% of hitters and walking just 6.6%. That's really solid. Langenberg had some fluctuations in his velocity from start to start in the minors. The Twins will want to see consistency in a season in which he should spend the bulk of his time at Double A. Langenberg could be yet another back-end rotation option for the Twins in 2026. Cory Lewis (RHP) Does his fastball tick back up to pre-injury velocity? Lewis missed a bunch of time at the beginning of 2024 with a shoulder impingement and became a little lost in the shuffle amid the ascendance of Zebby Matthews and Andrew Morris. Lewis’s fastball has good shape, but it sat at 89 mph in his lone Triple-A start (likely due to being worn down at the end of a long season). He’ll need to live in the 92-94 mph range to factor as a starter in the big leagues. He sat around 89 again in his first Statcast-tracked outing of the spring, but that leaves plenty of time for him to ramp up into the low 90s. Christian MacLeod (LHP) Can he add a few ticks to his fastball? The Twins are excellent at helping pitchers add velocity, and they have several arms who could use a little more. Christian MacLeod is a 6-foot-4 left-handed starter with a Clayton Kershaw pitch mix and an outlier fastball shape. He got a smattering of Triple-A innings, in which his fastball sat at 89 mph. He’s an intriguing arm with good deception and some starter-type traits, but he’ll need a few more ticks on the fastball to have a big impact in the bigs. Zebby Matthews (RHP) Can he tighten up command of his secondary offerings and learn when to leave the zone? Matthews looked good in his first start of spring, with his fastball sitting around 97 mph. He's an elite strike-thrower, but doesn’t yet have elite command—that ability to locate the ball precisely and to achieve consistent movement patterns. Improved spotting of his secondary offerings is important. Knowing when, how, and where to leave the strike zone and induce batters to chase can help him maximize his diverse arsenal of pitches and become a lock in the Twins rotation for the next half-decade. Andrew Morris (RHP) Will a new pitch open up the outer third of the plate to right-handed hitters? Morris added a sinker this offseason (Hunter Brown, here we come). Similarly to David Festa, he wants something to establish the inner half of the plate against right-handed hitters. Morris and the Twins will be betting that this can help Morris generate more swing-and-miss with the stuff that breaks away from those righties. He’ll need to up the 19.6% K rate from Triple A to thrive when he gets a chance with the Twins—which could come this year. Jaylen Nowlin (LHP) Can he transition smoothly enough to become a bullpen weapon? I’ve bucketed Nowlin as a relief pitcher at this point. An 11.8 K-BB% isn’t going to work for a starter. Nowlin has plenty going for him, though. A good fastball that sits 93-94 mph and has touched 97 mph fronts the mix, augmented by a great power slider that sits in the low 90s from the left side. He’s probably organizational lefty relief pitcher No. 3, after Danny Coulombe and Kody Funderburk. Pierson Ohl (RHP) Can he generate more whiffs in Triple A? Before Matthews took off so marvelously last year, Ohl was the most remarkable strike-throwing Twins prospect. In three professional seasons, he’s never posted a walk rate higher than 4%. Ohl is a little light on velocity and struggles to generate the amount of swing-and-miss you want to see in a starting pitching prospect. He’ll start 2025 at Triple A, since he already has 189 innings under his belt at Double A. He’ll need to up the strikeout rate to factor into the Twins' plans. Dylan Questad (RHP) Can he find some consistency in the low minors? Questad, 20, was an Arkansas-committed right-handed prep pick out of Waterford (Wis.) High School. In the Complex last year, he generated plenty of strikeouts (26%) but had real control problems. He walked 29 batters in 28 1/3 innings. His professional career is in its infancy; look for strike-throwing progress in 2025. Marco Raya (RHP) Will he thrive the third time through the order? Raya has been in Fort Myers preparing for 2025 since early January. He talked early in spring training about expanding his arsenal to six pitches and working extensively on his changeup to combat platoon issues from left-handed hitters. The Twins will have to ease off the handbrake a little in 2025 and let Raya get after it the third time through the order. How will his frame and stuff handle an increased workload? Charlee Soto (RHP) Can we get a repeat order of 2024, please? The Twins' competitive-balance pick from 2023 is now receiving Top-100 prospect buzz. Soto was much better than his 5.23 ERA last season (3.23 FIP). He still has some work to do on control and command, but the fastball has been up to 100 mph early in spring training. Soto added a sinker and cutter in 2024. I’d take him running back similar results at Cedar Rapids in 2025, 100 times out of 100. Which Twins pitching prospects are you most excited to see this offseason? What are other questions facing Twins prospects this season? Feel free to add your own in the comments. View full article

Appreciate the response. This is where i feel like pre-draft scouting reports can be a little murky (although they're getting more data driven). I think Lee's pure bat-to-ball skills mased some of his warts (I still think he'll be a good player), Keaschall hasn't yet had a weakness surface (so cue a billion to come up in 2025 lol).

Totally fine (and I appreciate) the healthy skepticism, but Keaschall has skills that Lee has never demonstrated consistently. Specifically, Lee has always chased a lot, and as a consequence, never shown much consistent ability to walk beyond the lower levels.

Draft tandem Jeremy Nygaard and JD Cameron team up for a podcast to discuss prospects on their way to the big leagues and the MLB draft, produced by Theo Tollefson. Image courtesy of Thieres Rabelo In episode 70 of Destination: The Show, Jeremy, Jamie, and Theo dig into a slew of MLB preseason predictions. After breaking down a first look at left-handed pitcher Dasan Hill, the guys spend time predicting the winners of each MLB division, before predicting wild card winners and ultimate World Series Champions. The guys then jump into individual awards. They walk through MVP candidates, rookie of the year candidates, and Cy Young options in each league before making their picks. You can support the show by downloading it from wherever you get your podcasts, including iTunes and Spotify. If you enjoy the content, consider leaving us a five-star rating and review in addition to sharing or retweeting DTS-related content. You can follow us on Twitter @DTS_POD1, @Jeremynygaard, @J_D_Cameron, and @TheodoreTollef1. We’re now on Bluesky @destinationtheshow.bsky.social. You can also find full episodes and clips of our shows on our YouTube page @DestinationTheShow. View full article

After two successful (if incomplete) professional seasons, he's on the cusp of contributing at the major-league level. How has the Twins' 2023 draftee become a consensus top-75 prospect in baseball? What does it tell us about the Twins' player development strengths? Image courtesy of © Chris Tilley-Imagn Images "We’re shooting for somewhere between March 17th and 24th," Luke Keaschall said. That’s the window in which the Twins prospect expects to return to playing the field, in comments shared with reporters in the Twins' spring training clubhouse on Tuesday. He has an idea of where he'll be when that happens, too. "I’ll probably start at second base, as it’s easiest on the arm," Keaschall said. "Throughout spring training, we’ll build up to the outfield and everything else." Keaschall’s long-term defensive home is one of the few questions remaining in the polished profile of the Twins' 2023 second-rounder, who spent a significant amount of his 2024 season at DH while managing the elbow injury that was eventually fixed surgically. "I had good days and bad days, but you learn to manage it and find a way to help the team win," he said. Indeed, Keaschall contributed plenty in 2024, in stops at High-A Cedar Rapids and Double-A Wichita. He and the organization had already co-authored a plan to play every day and manage his injury for the majority of the year, before scheduling surgery to ensure a clear on-ramp to his 2025 season. When asked about the impact of his injury on his day-to-day ability to play, Keaschall kept it simple. "It helps you focus on what you can do well." What the 22-year-old right-handed hitter did well in 2024, was pretty much everything. Keschall was otherworldly at Cedar Rapids, hitting .335/.457/.544, with 19 extra-base hits in 44 games, good for a 181 wRC+. He wasn’t quite as incandescent at Double A, managing a .281/.392/.439 line with 8 home runs in 58 games before being shut down for surgery (138 wRC+). He was 23-for-29 in stolen base attempts across both levels, though. With the minor exception of a major but well-managed injury, it’s hard to imagine a better first two professional seasons for Keaschall, who will likely start 2025 at Triple-A St. Paul and has a shot to contribute to the big-league roster. I liked Keashcall as an option for the Twins before the 2023 MLB Draft, but turning a second-round pick into a consensus top-75 global prospect in under 18 months is an outcome the Twins couldn’t even have conceived of. So, how did we get here? What does it tell us about the Twins' player development strengths? What can we expect from Keaschall in 2025? Keaschall has one of the better approaches at the plate of any prospect I’ve written up. For ease of use, we’ll hone in on three important aspects of his skill set and nestle them in an MLB context. Extreme (and Improved) Patience Keaschall has made a significant reduction in his swing rate since college. In his junior year at Arizona State, he swung around 50% of the time (extremely aggressive). With the Twins, his swing rate was 38%. If we want an MLB comparison, only Juan Soto had a lower swing rate (among qualified hitters) in 2024 (36.9%). Simply not swinging as much isn’t necessarily a strength on its own, but in combination with Keaschall’s other skills, it becomes a major asset. This improvement speaks to the Twins' ability to coax better swing decisions from their players, and is an indicator of why they don’t shy away from drafting or trading for prospects with a high chase rate. Rarely Expanding the Strike Zone Speaking of chase rate. Keaschall’s overall chase rate was around 15% in 2024. That would be close to the best in the majors. That’s Lars Nootbar or Soto territory. Keaschall himself reflected on pitch selection as an important factor within his locus of control while playing through his injury. "If I swing at good pitches, I can stay productive," he said. "If I waste a swing on a bad pitch, I know it’s going to hurt." Can we assume a stable chase rate as Keaschall continues to progress to Triple A and the majors? No. However, the example is useful for contextualizing the degree of excellence in Keaschall’s approach. Bat-to-Ball Skill and Hitting the Ball in the Air with Consistency So Keaschall doesn’t swing much overall, and almost never swings at pitches outside the strike zone. What about when he does swing? Does he make contact? Where does that contact end up? Keaschall has great bat-to-ball skills. His contact rate of 81% in 2024 would put him in the top 30 in the bigs, next to names like Marcus Semien and Jackson Merrill. When he does make contact, it’s consistently in the air. Keaschall maintained a ground-ball rate of just 35% in 2024. That would be in the best 25 in MLB. Most hitters at the top of that list are monsters (Francisco Lindor, Yordan Alvarez, Mookie Betts, et al.) These MLB comparisons are crude at best, so let’s stitch this profile together. You have a prospect who doesn’t swing much, and rarely swings out of the zone. When he does swing, he makes contact at a good rate, and when he makes contact, it’s usually in the air. That’s a recipe for success, especially when you throw in average power and the ability to steal 20 bases. Keaschall’s approach yielded a 13% walk rate and 17% strikeout rate in 2024. More in a similar vein should be on the way in 2025. So, what should we expect from Keaschall in 2025? It’s likely that he makes his MLB debut. It’s likely that he adjusts relatively quickly. It’s likely that, in time, he’s a good enough hitter for his defensive position not to matter much. Keaschall should be about as low-variance a prospect as you can get, given his approach, his bat-to-ball skills, and the fact that he’s already proven it in the middle levels of the minors (with a torn UCL and all). As much as you can feel confident in prospect prognostication, Keaschall should be a low-risk, productive (2-3 win) everyday player, and soon. Keaschall himself said it best when asked where he sees his best defensive position, and perhaps about where he'll spend his time this year, geographically. "Wherever they want me to play, I like to hit." Twins Daily’s John Bonnes contributed reporting to this story. View full article

I'm going to Fort Myers next week so need a brief hiatus from these. But Carpenter is really intriguing. Maybe I can get some video of him in person...

Let's continue our review of the Twins' 2024 MLB Draft class. If there's a player in the group who has the ability to see their stock skyrocket this year, it might be their second-round pick. Image courtesy of © Jonah Hinebaugh/Naples Daily News/USA Today Network-Florida / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Draft Context, Scouting and Signing We finally got our first look at Dasan Hill, the Twins' Compensation Round B pick from the 2024 MLB Draft (69th overall), in a video shared via the Twins Player Development account on Twitter last weekend, and boy, did he look impressive. The Twins had a healthy bonus pool ahead of the 2024 Draft. After the 21st overall pick, they had a compensation pick (33rd) for Sonny Gray turning down the qualifying offer and signing with the St. Louis Cardinals. Additionally, they had their second-round pick (60th) and a competitive-balance round pick (69th), to give them four in the top 70. After they selected college bats in Kaelen Culpepper, Kyle DeBarge, and Billy Amick with their first three picks, it felt inevitable that the Twins would turn to a prep player, and they did, with left-handed pitcher Dasan Hill. The Twins tend to choose their spots when leaning into left-handed pitching, and it seems they were very convicted on Hill. The pre-draft reports on the southpaw out of Grapevine, Tex. focused on how much Hill’s velocity popped the spring before the draft, his fastball ticking up from the low 90s to the 92-95 mph range. His pre-draft arsenal included a pair of breaking balls, with the slider sitting 78-83 mph and an upper-70s changeup. Some reports also focused on his projection. Hill clocked in a 6-foot-5, 170 pounds at the MLB Combine. Throw those ingredients together, and you have a fascinating arm. Fangraphs's Eric Longenhagen had Hill as one of the best prep pitchers in the class (24th overall), citing a ‘feel for location uncommonly good for a pitcher his size and age’. Ultimately, Hill had a wide range of pre-draft rankings, from 24th to 99th in the boards we track as part of our draft process at Twins Daily. That’s normal for a prep pitcher. He ultimately ranked 59th on our board. The Twins selected him at 69th overall and paid $2,000,000 to sign him away from his Dallas Baptist commitment (well above the $1,168,000 slot). In the first video we’ve seen of Hill since he signed, his fastball is now up to 98 mph. The changeup has added velocity; we get some looks in the video of it sitting around 85 mph. His slider, already considered an above-average pitch, is getting some silly swings in the clip. It’s tough to say (without any open-side view), but it looks like Hill gets down the mound well, too, and could have good extension, another trait that will help the arsenal play up. Expectations for 2025 Hill will be one of the Twins arms I’m most excited to follow this year. He’ll be 19 for the entire season, and Minnesota will likely take it slow with him—as they should. There’s a sneakily good crop of left-handed pitchers in the lower and middle levels of the minors for the Twins now, with Michael Carpenter also likely to make his professional debut in 2025. I’ll be monitoring three variables for Hill in 2025. First (and most importantly): can he stay healthy? This dwarfs the rest and is the only truly meaningful outcome for this season. Does he throw strikes consistently (or with improving consistency)? Does he show the ability to miss bats? If Hill can show even flashes of the latter two starter traits, he’s going to be an incredibly exciting follow in 2025. If you don’t believe in the Twins' pitching development pipeline yet, I don’t know what’s going to change your mind. View full article

We got our first look at Twins left-handed prospect Dasan Hill this week. His stuff looked incredibly exciting. What should we expect in 2025? View full video

Jenkins EV90 was around 104 mph, around 50th percentile for the level he was at in 2024 E Rod EV 90 was 110mph, the highest among top 100 prospects. Sorry if the wording was confusing.

Thanks! Yeah I got kinda fatigued by the end and I had just written up Culpepper. I think he was off to a nice start. Lot's of assets in the profile. My projection if it all goes well would be above average hit and possibly average power. His chase rate was extremely high in college ~30%, so it's a matter of making good swing decisions. I think the Twins have a pretty established track record of accomplishing that with guys now, so that's what I'd monitor with Culpepper. A successful season would end in AA. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Spring Training is here. The Twins have a deep farm system ahead of the 2025 season. What are the key questions facing some of their most notable hitting prospects? Let's dig in and find out. Image courtesy of © Chris Tilley-Imagn Images This will be a two-part series: the first on hitters, the second on pitchers. Some of these development steps will seem obvious, others less so. For ease of navigation, prospects have been listed alphabetically. Billy Amick (3B) Can he sustain an improved walk rate? Amick posted a solid .763 OPS in an 18-game professional debut. He’s a power-reliant corner infield bat with hit tool risk. He managed an encouraging 15.6 BB% in his brief stint at Fort Myers. If he can keep it up, he raises his floor as a prospect significantly; a higher OBP would mitigate some of his swing-and-miss challenges. Eduardo Beltre, (OF) What do contact rates and swing decisions look like Stateside? It’s easy to get carried away with Beltre after his 2024 season. After being one of two marquee signings in the Twins' 2024 international free agent class, he hit .326/.453/.618 in the DSL with 11 home runs and a 177 wRC+ in 43 games. Insane! The reality is that there will be an adjustment to baseball Stateside. Beltre will see a dip in his outputs grounded in declining contact rates and a more stern test of his swing decisions. If he can mitigate the dip, the Twins could be onto something. Catchers Who is next in line? OK, this one is cheating, but I stand by it. The Twins don’t have much in the way of prospect depth at the catcher position. Can one of Khadim Diaw, Noah Cardenas, Andrew Cossetti, et al. take a significant step forward? The 2025 Draft has several catchers with first-round grades (look out for Luke Stevenson, Ike Irish, and Caden Bodine, as all three could move quickly through the minors). Kyle DeBarge (INF) Can he get consistent loft with his batted balls? The ‘Sonny Gray’ pick for the Twins at 33rd overall in 2024, DeBarge had a slow start in his pro debut. Despite a .655 OPS in A ball, he showed a discerning eye at the plate, solid swing decisions, and excellent bat-to-ball skills. DeBarge needs to lift the ball more, his average launch angle in 2024 was just 2 degrees. Lift the ball, and prosper. Daiber De Los Santos, (SS) Can he rein in the swing-and-miss? De Los Santos (a 2024 international signee) has a ton of exciting tools, including plus raw power (.460 SLG in the DSL in 2024) and plus speed (17 stolen bases in 47 games). He also has significant swing-and-miss concerns. A 31% strikeout rate before playing in the United States is a legitimate orange flag. He’ll need to continue to improve his approach and/or bat-to-ball skills to have a chance in affiliated ball. Khadim Diaw, C Can he stick behind the plate? Diaw was a young-for-the-class, defensively raw catching prospect taken by the Twins in the third round in 2024. It’s an offensive profile that’s driven by good bat-to-ball skills. He got off to a nice start in a small sample at Fort Myers (114 wRC+). Diaw shows signs of a good approach at the plate. If he can stick behind the dish, he could be a real find. Rayne Doncon, INF Can he keep up the quietly stellar production? Doncon might be the best-kept hitting secret in the Twins system. In 94 games played in 2024 across two levels of A ball, he hit .254/.342/.431, with 11 home runs—good for a 121 wRC+. His walk rate improved (by around 4%), and so did his defense. He's likely to start back at Cedar Rapids and could be one of the fastest risers on industry lists in 2025. Payton Eeles (INF/OF) Will the timing line up for him to get a chance with the big-league club? Eeles is now the worst-kept secret in the minors, thanks to some well-deserved acclaim this offseason. A .425 wOBA (155 wRC+) over 111 MiLB games in 2024 is an incredible accomplishment for an undersized, undrafted prospect. It’s great bat-to-ball skills and an exceptional approach at the plate (14.3 BB%, 14.5 K%), with fringy power. Will his exceptional performance meet with exceptional timing, to give him a chance at some run with the big-league team in 2025? Jaime Ferrer (OF) Can he rein in (slightly) an aggressive approach? Ferrer is a converted catcher who crushed for Florida State in 2024 (22 home runs, 1.083 OPS). After being taken by the Twins in the fourth round in 2024, Ferrer had a good start at Fort Myers (122 wRC+). He doesn’t walk or strike out much. It’s a slightly hyperaggressive approach, with good contact skills and solid power. Walker Jenkins (OF) Is there more power coming? I’m not one to criticize Jenkins for a lack of in-game power in his age-19 season (in which he reached Double A). His 90th-percentile exit velocity was merely average for the level, though. Adding some extra in-game thump is the one remaining question in a well-rounded offensive profile, buoyed by excellent swing decisions and outstanding bat-to-ball skills. Getting to 25-home run power would make Jenkins a superstar. Luke Keaschall (INF/OF) Where is his defensive home? Keaschall has gone from second-round pick to top-75 global prospect in roughly 18 months, hitting everywhere he goes. A slight drop in performance at Double A still brought about a 138 wRC+ (12 BB%, 19 K%, .832 OPS). Keaschall’s throwing was impacted by arm discomfort, which led to his season being cut short by Tommy John surgery. Will he find a home at second base, or is the outfield a more likely defensive home? He has the athleticism for either, the bat will play anywhere. Caden Kendle (INF) Will there be any SLG to back up a strong OBP? Kendle was the Twins' fifth-round pick in 2024 in a draft class that had more bats than expected. His offensive profile is carried by a strong approach and excellent hit tool. He got off to a strong start for Fort Myers in 2024 (118 wRC+, .370 OBP). Is there more impact in his bat than his small-sample .090 ISO suggests? Yasser Mercedes (OF) What does the adjustment to full-season ball look like? Mercedes is another toolsy international prospect who thrived in 2024 after an injury-shortened 2023 campaign. He crushed the complex league (151 wRC+, .989 OPS) in 2023, but looked overmatched (in a minuscule sample) at Fort Myers to end the year. Can he make the necessary adjustments to thrive instead? Carson McCusker (1B/OF) Can he repeat his impressive Double-A performance at Triple A? Carson McCusker stands out in a crowd. He’s 6-foot-8, and another Twins undrafted free agent success story. Despite being relatively old (2025 will be his age-27 season), he’s made his way all the way to Triple-A St. Paul. In 2024, he hit 15 home runs in 98 games at Double A (.846 OPS). The strikeout rate is alarming, but there’s a world where a continuation of his 2024 performance in Triple A and timing meet for him to get a shot with the big-league club. He’ll have to prove it in a larger sample first, though. Ricardo Olivar (C/OF) Can he get back to being an extra-base hitting machine after stalling at Double A? Olivar was tearing up the lower levels of the minors (150 wRC+ at High A), but then reached Double-A Wichita and stalled out. In a small 19-game sample, he managed a .623 OPS, with an increase in strikeouts and a decrease in walks. Olivar doesn’t really have a defensive home (he’s not a catcher and he’s a bad outfielder), so he’ll have to continue to mash when he repeats Double A to remain a viable prospect for the Twins. Dameury Pena (INF) Will his exceptional bat-to-ball skills stand up to A ball? Pena is a hit-tool-only diminutive infielder international signing (remind you of anyone?). It’s truly outlier bat-to-ball skills, who has struck out 18 times in 279 plate appearances over two professional seasons (6.5 K%). Those are Arraezian numbers, but his batting average fell precipitously even moving from the DSL to the FCL. He’ll have to continue to hit, hit, hit if he’s going to keep advancing. Emmanuel Rodriguez (OF) Can he maintain consistent aggressiveness over the heart of the plate? ‘E-Rod’ is a consensus top-25 prospect. His 110-mph 90th-percentile exit velocity last year was the best among any top 100 prospect. His 24.4% walk rate gives him a floor, backed up by above-average speed and better-than-advertised defense. In short, he’s closer to being the Twins' No. 1 prospect than their No. 3. Minnesota has worked with Rodriguez on being aggressive with pitches thrown over the heart of the plate. If he can maintain an optimal swing rate in these zones, he’s going to do damage, no matter how gaudy the strikeout numbers are. Kala’i Rosario (OF) Can his SLG overcome his K%? The 2023 AFL home run derby champ and Midwest League MVP had a 2024 to forget, managing just 67 Double-A games in a season cut short by injury. A strikeout rate north of 30% at that level doesn't bode well for a prospect with little defensive value, even with thump in his bat. If Rosario can’t take a step forward defensively, he’s going to need to be an otherworldly masher to overcome the extreme swing-and-miss in his profile. Brandon Winokur (INF/OF) Will late-season improvements carry over into High A? Winokur did exceptionally well in his age-19 season, managing a respectable .761 OPS in the tough hitting environment that is the Florida State League. A singular athlete, Winokur hit 14 bombs (36 extra-base hits) to go with 23 stolen bases in a toolsy profile. If Winokur can keep his strikeout rate in check (28% in 2024), he has a chance to be a power/speed profile at a premium defensive position (centerfield). Which Twins hitting prospect are you most excited to see this offseason? What are other questions facing Twins prospects this season? Feel free to add your own in the comments. View full article

100 percent agree. I think the treatment of Raya has accomplished the mission; get him close to MLB healthy. Now you gotta see what you got in 2025.

All these positive comments are giving me life this AM. Thanks for reading and engaging, y'all. Excited to see how he does in AAA in 2025.

Twins right-handed pitcher Marco Raya has always had the stuff to become a big league starter. He's always been handled cautiously by the Twins. What has Raya been working on this offseason? We dig in to find out. Image courtesy of © Chris Tilley-Imagn Images One on hand, mission accomplished for the Twins and Marco Raya . The 22-year-old right-handed pitcher enters 2025 spring training healthy and on the doorstep of the majors. On the other hand, there’s so much still to discover. It’s a regular occurrence that a prospect comes into spring training with something to prove. It’s a less frequent occurrence that the needed proof-point stems from organizational decision making, rather than player performance. That’s exactly where Raya finds himself, though. His pitch counts and workload have been carefully monitored since he experienced shoulder problems earlier in his career. Successfully so. Raya hasn’t suffered persistent injuries since. He’s coming off a career-high 92 ⅔ innings in 2024 and is likely to start 2025 at Triple-A. Raya pitched six innings just once in 2024, five innings just five times. The other 19 starts were all less than five innings. Raya was on fairly strict pitch counts in 2024 to ensure he got to the doorstep of the majors with as little wear and tear as possible. It leaves us with important unanswered questions; how will his arsenal stand up to going through a lineup the third time? How will his smaller frame stand up to an increased workload in 2025? If Raya exhibits any frustration at the slow progression of his workload and pitch counts, he doesn’t show it. "It’s just building up little by little," Raya told Twins Daily’s John Bonnes, "Taking care of my arm and building my body weight to support it." The Twins clearly feel that the time is now to take the training wheels off Raya’s workload limitations. He threw at least five innings in five of his last seven starts for Wichita and St. Paul in 2024, capping a solid season in which he posted a 4.05 ERA, 3.88 FIP, and struck out 24.6% of hitters, while walking 10.5%. Raya has focused his offseason on being ready for spring training. "I got here January 5th," Raya told reporters, early in spring workouts. "The past few years I’ve arrived around the same date." Raya isn’t just relying on thorough preparation ahead of 2025, he’s expanded his arsenal. "I’ve got six pitches: four-seam, two-seam, cutter, curveball, slider, and changeup." Much like Andrew Morris, Raya has been engaged this season in diversifying his pitch mix. Raya added a cutter last year, which became one of his best pitches, creating plenty of in-zone whiffs. This offseason, his focus has been elsewhere. "I’ve really been hammering the change up. I didn’t feel super comfortable with it last year, but it’s really come along." Raya relayed to Bonnes, clarifying that he wants a pitch which ‘separates’ and moves away from left-handed hitters more effectively. Monitoring Raya’s changeup will be one area of interest for Twins fans in 2025, as he struggled a little more than you might like to see against left-handed hitters. With an expanded arsenal of pitches and the pitch count handbrake being eased off, we’ll finally get a chance to see how Raya’s strong stuff might translate to a starting pitching role on the big-league team in an extended audition in St. Paul. Twins Daily's John Bonnes contributed to reporting for this article. View full article

Draft tandem Jeremy Nygaard and JD Cameron team up for a podcast to discuss prospects on their way to the big leagues and the MLB draft, produced by Theo Tollefson. Image courtesy of Thieres Rabelo In episode 69 of Destination: The Show, Jeremy and Jamie, dig into a full mailbag of Twins prospect questions. They start with questions on prospects at the top of the Twins system, asking what Emmanuel Rodriguez’ role with the big league club will be and what kind of performance markers Walker Jenkins would need to demonstrate to move to AAA. The guys then jump into pitchers most likely to move up multiple levels in 2025, the prospects they are most looking forward to seeing at Cedar Rapids and get Theo on to give his best guess at the Saints rotation to start the 2025 season. Finally, Jeremy and Jamie recap their favorite Twins drafts, predict which pitching and hitting prospects will have the best 2025, talk about Dylan Questad and try to identify the biggest weaknesses in the Twins system before closing on reasonable 2025 expectations for Charlee Soto. 0:00 Intro/Housekeeping 2:17 Spring Training Storylines 6:27 Listener Questions 7:05 E-Rod's Role With the Twins 12:08 Pitcher Most Likely to Advance Multiple Levels 22:06 Walker Jenkins to Make AAA? 28:42 Looking Forward to Cedar Rapids 36:48 AA and AAA Starting Rotations 48:30 Favorite Drafts 52:33 Most Likely Twins to Fall 57:39 Hitter and Pitcher to Have the Best Seasons 1:02:15 Outlook for Dylan Questad 1:05:50 Which Prospect to Get a Beer With? Greatest Weakness? 1:13:30 Reasonable Expectations for Charlee Soto 1:19:22 Closing Time You can support the show by downloading it from wherever you get your podcasts, including iTunes and Spotify. If you enjoy the content, consider leaving us a five-star rating and review in addition to sharing or retweeting DTS-related content. You can follow us on Twitter @DTS_POD1, @Jeremynygaard, @J_D_Cameron, and @TheodoreTollef1. We’re now on Bluesky @destinationtheshow.bsky.social. You can also find full episodes and clips of our shows on our YouTube page @DestinationTheShow. View full article

Kaelen Culpepper was the Twins first round pick in 2024 and got off to a solid start in his pro debut. What are his strengths and opportunities for improvement? What should we expect from him in 2025? Let’s dig in. View full video