Tom Froemming

The Minnesota Twins are basically halfway through their spring training schedule. Let’s discuss a handful of Twins topics, including a number of injury updates and the first round of spring cuts. Also included are highlights of Ty France, Luke Keaschall and Jeferson Morales. Things close out with a Sire of Fort Myers update and a brief segment on what to expect from me in 2025. View full video

Hear ye, hear ye! ‘Tis time to take a look at any contenders who have emerged for the title of Sire of Fort Myers. It appears I may have cursed those I identified as the favorites entering camp, but some new names have surfaced. Image courtesy of (photos of Jeferson Morales) One of my favorite aspects of Sire of Fort Myers is learning more about players on the fringes of the big leagues. There are a number of players serving as depth in St. Paul who aren’t established as big leaguers but also long-passed their prospect days. These men are simultaneously just one step away from the top of their profession and the most overlooked players in all of professional baseball. A few of these unheralded kings have established themselves as names to know in the race for 2025 Sire of Fort Myers. Before we get to those players, there are a few items to address. First, eligibility. Sire of Fort Myers has to be a player who is either 1) Not on the 40-man roster, or 2) Has never played in the majors. So this means guys like Mickey Gasper and DaShawn Keirsey Jr. aren’t eligible. The next housekeeping item is to … gulp … check in on the players I deemed favorites. I have a poor track record of handicapping the race for Sire of Fort Myers, and this year’s disaster is looking particularly epic. Matt Canterino made one appearance before his shoulder turned to shreds. That was one more appearance than Yunior Severino has made. I assume he’s also hurt, though to be clear I haven’t seen any reporting on it. After all, if the Twins had no interest in getting Severino into spring games, they wouldn’t have made him a non-roster invitee in the first place. The final of the three favorites I picked, Anthony Misiewicz, hasn’t been quite as cursed, but he also has not put himself in contention for this year’s honor. One last thing we need to do before getting to the few under the radar names that have surged is to acknowledge a top prospect who has continued to impress. Luke Keaschall still isn’t quite fully recovered from Tommy John surgery, but he’s not letting that slow him down. Twins Daily’s No. 3 Twins prospect has posted a .267/.421/.533 line (.954 OPS) with a home run and a stolen base. He’s walked three times and struck out once in 19 plate appearances. If you’re a regular reader here, you’ve surely already heard plenty about Keaschall (but just in case, here are a few links). Let’s shine some light upon the other candidates who’ve made an early impression. Jeferson Morales is a 5-foot-8, right-handed hitter with experience in the outfield corners, time behind the plate and some limited looks at second base. The Twins signed Morales out of Venezuela back in 2016. He became a minor league free agent in the winter of 2023, but returned to the org. I believe that makes him the fourth most-tenured Twin behind only Byron Buxton, Griffin Jax and Jose Miranda. A line drive hitter, Morales was building momentum until a poor 2022 stopped him in his tracks. Last year, Morales finally made it out of Cedar Rapids after spending three years with the Kernels. He not only reached Double-A for the first time, Morales even earned a late-season callup to Triple-A. It was a small sample of 17 games, but he looked very comfortable in St. Paul, hitting .359/.433/.585 (1.018 OPS). Morales has managed to carry that strong finish into spring, as he’s hit .417/.500/.750 (1.250 OPS) in 14 plate appearances so far. Morales survived the first round of spring cuts, so it’s possible this redemption story comes adorned with a crown, cape and scepter before all is said and done. While the Twins have solid depth, making it difficult to envision Morales making a potential run at the big league roster. If everything breaks right for him, however, it’s easy to see how he could be a valuable complementary bench player if he continues to improve. Morales has hit lefties well, is faster and more athletic than Matt Wallner or Trevor Larnach and can serve as an emergency catcher. Again, the odds are very much against Morales ever cracking the MLB roster, but he’d fit in nicely around some of the other pieces the Twins have. He figures to spend plenty of time with the Saints this summer, so he’s a name to know for anyone who enjoys spending time at CHS Field. Unlike Morales, Allan Cerda is a newcomer to the org. Originally signed by the Reds, Cerda was their No. 14 prospect in 2022 per Baseball America and made it all the way up to Double-A that season. Unfortunately, he’s basically been stuck there since. Cerda was released by Cincinnati in late May and resurfaced with the Giants before becoming a minor league free agent at the end of the season. He signed a minor league deal with the Twins in December. Cerda has a .222/.360/.453 line over more than 1,300 minor league plate appearances (.813 OPS). The 25-year-old has mashed for the Twins so far this spring, posting a 1.364 OPS in 11 plate appearances. Cerda was not among the non-roster invitees, so his path to playing time might be his biggest obstacle in building a resume for Sire of Fort Myers. Not many Sire-eligible pitchers have had much opportunity to build their resume yet. Eiberson Castellano leads the way among that group with 4 2/3 innings pitched, but his performance has been uneven. The Twins Rule 5 pick has struck out an impressive seven batters over that stretch but also has a 7.71 ERA. Following Castellano are Travis Adams, Andrew Morris and Darren McCaughan with four innings each. Morris is the one who has made the most of his opportunities out of that group. Twins Daily’s No. 5 prospect has surrendered just one hit over four scoreless frames. And that’s without his typical excellent control, as he’s walked a pair of batters to go with a pair of strikeouts. Like with Keaschall, if you spend time around these parts you’re probably already familiar with Morris (but here’s another group of links just in case). He’s one of my personal favorites for his aggressive approach, strike-throwing ability and animated antics on the mound. Other standouts on the pitching side include Randy Dobnak and Jacob Bosiokovic. Dobnak has only made one appearance, but it was about as good as it gets. He dominated a lineup full of Atlanta regulars, throwing three shutout frames while striking out five. Dobnak was among the first spring cuts for the Twins. While that doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t see him get into any more spring games, it seems unlikely he’ll see enough opportunities to build a case for Sire of Fort Myers. Bosiokovic (pronounced boh-see-OH-koh-vick) is a phantom ballplayer. He managed to achieve his dream of making it to the major leagues, but he’s yet to actually play in an MLB game. The Cardinals called him up to the big leagues on June 30 last season but optioned him back to Triple-A five days later without ever getting him into a game. So it’s basically the same thing the Twins did to Drew Maggi back in 2021, though he eventually appeared in three games with the Pirates in 2023. Bosiokovic, a right-hander, is new to the org. Selected in the 19th round of the 2016 draft, he spent the first three seasons of his professional career as a hitter. The Rockies gave him a look as a relief arm the next season. That audition went well enough that the Cardinals selected him in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft in 2019. Bosiokovic struggled to stay healthy and wound up pitching in indy ball in 2023 to keep his career afloat. The Cardinals welcomed him back last year on a minor league deal, and he landed with the Twins on a minors deal in January. Bosiokovic is 31-years-old, has had quite the journey to this point and is still chasing his dreams. In 47 Triple-A appearances last year, Bosiokovic had a 5.56 ERA with 65 strikeouts in 55 innings. He’s thrown 2 2/3 perfect innings for the Twins this spring while striking out four of the eight batters he’s faced. Like Cerda, Bosiokovic was not a non-roster invitee, so it remains to be seen whether he’ll have many chances to further impress. With the Twins basically at the halfway point of spring training, expect the race for Sire of Fort Myers to pick up this coming week. Will Keaschall or Morris follow in 2024 Sire of Fort Myers winner Brooks Lee’s footsteps and become another top prospect to take the crown? Or will we see another under the radar name come from nowhere like Ryan LaMarre in 2018 and Ryne Harper in 2019? I’ll check back in next week with another update. View full article

The Minnesota Twins released their 2025 Spring Breakout roster. This is a prospect showcase in which Twins prospects will take on those from the Blue Jays’ system. Unfortunately, both Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez will not be participating because they’re both nursing ankle injuries, but other Twins top prospects such as Luke Keaschall, Kaelen Culpepper, Brandon Winokur, Eduardo Beltre and many more are on the roster. View full video

Today’s batch of Minnesota Twins topics leads off with a Matt Canterino update followed by highlights of an impressive Randy Dobnak outing. That’s followed with some reactions to MLB Pipeline’s new Twins top 30 prospect list. I also circle back to talk some more about Chris Paddack and look at some nerdy stats. To close things out, I share some thoughts on the excellent The Diamond series the Twins produce on their YouTube channel. View full video

The Minnesota Twins have excess rotation depth, with veteran Chris Paddack penciled in ahead of up-and-coming arms. Should the team move The Sheriff to create an opportunity for David Festa or Zebby Matthews? Well, that may not be necessary. Let’s discuss Paddack’s recent spring training outing and his place on the roster. View full video

I get where you’re coming from, but to me there’s not much reason to prop up the integrity of the game in that way in Low-A. Everybody should want to win and you’d like guys putting their best foot forward, of course, but when you boil it down winning isn’t the ultimate goal there. I would react much, much more strongly if something like this happened in an MLB game.

Five months later, we have Derek Bender’s side of the story. In an article from The Athletic, Sam Blum (with an assist from Twins beat writer Dan Hayes) relays that Bender denies ever tipping pitches to opposing hitters, an allegation which resulted in him being released from the Twins. Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Derek Bender) The Twins drafted Bender in the sixth round in June and released him in September after he was accused of tipping pitches to opposing hitters while catching. Here is a link to the original report from ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan. There have been no additional follow-ups on this story until now. Today’s article from The Athletic is a great piece of reporting from a writer who took the time to visit Bender at his home. So while there’s room for us to react to the situation here at Twins Daily, it wouldn’t be appropriate to relay every detail of Blum’s report. Here are two major takeaways: 1. Bender denies ever giving any pitches away. 2. We still don’t have the full story from the other side. Since there is still an ongoing MLB investigation, nobody with the Twins was available to comment on the record. Among the people The Athletic tried to contact were Fort Myers manager Brian Meyer, numerous players and coaches from both teams involved in the game (including Mighty Mussels pitcher Ross Dunn, whose pitches were allegedly being tipped) and the home plate umpire. None of them were available to comment on the situation. While Blum was unable to get anyone with the Twins to go on the record, he cites an unnamed team source who told him Twins GM Jeremy Zoll conducted an internal investigation (apart from the ongoing MLB investigation) that resulted in the team no longer being able to trust Bender. As Blum puts it, “In their mind, this was no longer just a question of immaturity. This was a player they could no longer employ.” Bender was known as a bit of a maverick during his college days at Coastal Carolina. That mostly manifested in a light-hearted, pro-fun approach. He appeared to be well-liked by coaches and teammates, including Twins prospect Peyton Eeles, who played alongside Bender at Coastal Carolina for one season. Bender’s independent spirit seems to also lead him to go against the grain in other ways. This interview with The Athletic is a good example. Blum reports that Bender’s agency, Octagon, advised him not to speak on this subject until the MLB investigation is resolved. He obviously did not abide by those wishes, and has now been dropped by Octagon as a client. Taking Bender’s viewpoint, if he really didn’t tip any pitches, you can see why he would want to voice his side of the story. On the other hand, and maybe this is a stretch, but him going against the wishes of his agency may be viewed as another piece of evidence that he cannot be trusted. Bender’s messaging also feels a bit contradictory. Blum reports that Bender doesn’t fault anyone in the Twins organization and that he thinks “they handled it well.” For me, that’s confusing. If he didn’t actually tip any pitches, how in the world is being released due to that allegation considered handling it well? Bender also expressed to Blum his feelings that the Twins would never have taken this action had the allegations been toward a first-round pick. I have to agree with him there, to be completely honest, but it sounds more like sour grapes coming directly from him and makes me wonder why that’s part of Bender’s messaging at all. If he didn’t tip pitches in the first place, what does that matter what round he was drafted? Perhaps I’m over-analyzing things. While this article provides more insight into the situation, it appears we won’t have the full details until the MLB investigation has been completed. What’s now concrete is Bender denies ever tipping pitches. Maybe once MLB’s investigation is complete we’ll hear the full story from the other side. There will certainly be more details to come from this story, but the good news (at least in my opinion) is that this situation will not result in the end of Bender’s baseball career. As things stand, I understand why the Twins released Bender, but I was also hoping he’d get a second chance somewhere. He’s a 22-year-old who (allegedly) made a stupid mistake. There are men who have done much worse who are still allowed to be in Major League Baseball. Bender has a lot to prove, but the Brockton Rox of the independent Frontier League are going to give him the opportunity to turn things around this season. If he’s a model teammate and plays well, perhaps Bender will get another opportunity in affiliated ball. Not only did his former teammate Payton Eeles accomplish that feat of climbing from indy ball into signing a minor league deal with an MLB club, but fellow Coastal Carolina alum and current Twins prospect Nick Lucky did, as well. View full article

It's still only February but spring is very much in the air. The Minnesota Twins have played a few games down in Florida, and while the big names are just looking to get in their work, some of the guys on the fringes of the roster are very much worth paying attention to. In this video, we'll take a look at some spring training highlights of DaShawn Keirsey Jr., Eiberson Castellano and Cory Lewis as well as discuss Edouard Julien's defensive home and shout out an under the radar bat, Jeferson Morales. View full video

Happy spring training opener! On a day where we should be overjoyed by seeing lineups and box scores and listening to broadcasts for the first time in months, a cloud has developed over Twins Territory. It was reported this morning by Dan Hayes of The Athletic that Justin Ishbia has dropped his bid to buy the Twins. It's difficult to know what's going to happen moving forward, but here's my reaction to the news. View full video

The Minnesota Twins have shown a knack for turning unheralded college pitchers into either big leaguers or being on the cusp of the majors. The org is so flooded with these type of arms that they’ve overshadowed a name in the lower minors who is deserving of more recognition. Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Ty Langenberg) Ty Langenberg had a solid first full professional season in 2024 that could be a building block for bigger things. The Twins drafted him out of Iowa in the 11th round of the 2023 Draft. A lot of outlets and evaluators tend to look passed anyone taken that late, but Twins fans know better. Sure, Langenberg was an unheralded Day 3 pick, but he was taken a round earlier than Bailey Ober was drafted back in 2017 and two rounds earlier than David Festa in 2021. We've seen this movie. Given the Twins success with late-round college arms, it wasn’t difficult to imagine Langenberg being the next name to emerge. He just needed a shift in momentum. Langenberg didn’t have a great 2023, as his numbers at Iowa took a step back compared to the year prior and he struggled in the three minor league games after signing with the Twins. While he managed to eventually turn the tide in 2024, it took some time. Langenberg had a 5.75 ERA through his first four starts of last season, but just when it looked like there was little reason to pay him any attention, things clicked. He dominated his next five starts, prompting a promotion to Cedar Rapids. Langenberg’s overall performance on the season was more solid than spectacular, but we’re talking solid as a diamond here. He went at least five innings and threw 70 or more pitches basically every time out. That may not sound all that impressive, but here’s a look at how he stacks up against David Festa, Zebby Matthews, Andrew Morris, Cory Lewis and C.J. Culpepper: While dependability was Langenberg’s calling card in 2024, he also missed plenty of bats. Some of his stats don’t exactly jump off the page at first glance, but Langenberg was a Twins Daily Minor League All-Star and an honorable mention for the site’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year honors. Here’s a look at how his first exposure to the Midwest League compares to those other arms who’ve recently come through Cedar Rapids: This is about as apples to apples a comparison as you could make. All of these stats are from a Kernels pitcher originally drafted out of college in his first full professional season. Langenberg had a better ERA than Matthews, better WHIP than Morris, a higher K% than Festa, lower BB% than Lewis and was better than Culpepper across the board. So, what’s Langenberg working with? He features a balanced five-pitch mix and his best secondary is probably his changeup, though his slider is also coming along nicely. Here’s a look at some info from a couple of his starts with the Mighty Mussels (Statcast data is not available for Kernels games): Langenberg tends to pitch backwards, often featuring his slower stuff, but it’s not like he’s a noodle arm. He touches 95 mph with his four-seam fastball, though it sits more like 93 mph. That may not be as eye-popping for a starting pitcher as it used to be, but there’s no reason to seriously ding his prospect stock based on a lack of velocity. Something Langenberg and Morris have in common is a unique arm slot, they just go about it in completely different ways, with Morris having a high slot and Langenberg’s coming from down lower. With a sidearm action, Langenberg is able to effectively work east-west in the strike zone. The org seems to generally prefer north-south guys, so Langenberg could make for a nice compliment that offers hitters a contrasting look. I believe Langenberg deserves more attention, but I haven’t exactly rocketed him up even my own rankings quite yet. I currently have Langenberg as the No. 28 prospect in the system, but the only other places I’ve seen him ranked are at No. 37 on Aaron Gleeman’s list at The Athletic and No. 38 on Baseball America’s 10 Twins Prospects To Know Beyond The Top 30 in 2025. I may not be exactly gassing up the Langenberg hype train with my ranking, but he’s a guy I’m comfortable being the outlier on. (For my full 2025 Twins top 50 prospect list, check out the latest issue of We're Gonna Win, my DIY Twins zine.) Assuming he follows the footsteps of those before him, expect Langenberg to open 2025 back in Cedar Rapids, but the org will likely want to get him up to Wichita before long. If Langenberg has any kind of success there, you’ll be hearing a lot more about him. Double-A is such a proving ground that even guys without big prospect pedigrees tend to garner attention with an impressive performance at that level. Ty Langenberg has a durable arm, a deep arsenal and is coming off a rock solid 2024. He deserves to be mentioned among the intriguing arms in the Twins pitching pipeline. View full article

The Minnesota Twins have the full squad at Spring Training down in Florida and some news is starting to trickle out of camp. Here's a rundown of a handful of items that stood out to me. Topics include Emmanuel Rodriguez, Carlos Correa's thoughts on the new-look Twins training regimen, Rocco Baldelli, Sire of Fort Myers and Edouard Julien. View full video

There is a winner picked every year. So far, there's always been someone worthy of honoring. Hopefully that trend continues. Correct, that was the expectation Keaschall himself set during an interview at TwinsFest. Despite not being on the big league side of camp, Eeles could still get into a decent number of spring games and build a case for Sire of Fort Myers. He would really have to make the most of his limited opportunities, but it's possible.

Hear ye, hear ye! ‘Tis time. A new Sire of Fort Myers shall be crowned this spring. Let’s take a look at the history of the award and go over this year’s top contenders for the crown, cape and scepter. Image courtesy of © Chris Tilley-Imagn Images This will be the seventh time we’ve crowned a Sire of Fort Myers. Can you believe it!? It feels like just yesterday we witnessed Sire LaMarre go from scrappy longshot to making the Opening Day roster and becoming the Hero In Puerto Rico. As a refresher, here are the past winners of Sire of Fort Myers: 2024 Brooks Lee 2023 Willi Castro 2022 Jhoan Durán 2021 Derek Law 2019 Ryne Harper 2018 Ryan LaMarre Players from all different backgrounds have taken the crown, from top prospects to journeymen reclamation projects. There’s also been an even split between hitters and pitchers over the years. Eligibility Sire of Fort Myers is all about focusing on the guys who have the most to gain from a great spring. How do we define that? Rigidly. To be considered for the crown, a player must either 1) Not be on the 40-man roster, or 2) Never have played in the majors. There are a few players every year who fit the typical Sire profile—guys who have a lot to gain from a great spring—but aren’t eligible. This year’s group includes Mickey Gasper (13 MLB games), DaShawn Keirsey Jr. (six) and Jair Camargo (five). Those three are worth monitoring this spring, but rules are rules. They’re on the 40-man roster and have MLB time, so they’re not eligible. Candidates Here are the guys on the 40-man roster who have yet to make their MLB debut: Travis Adams, Matt Canterino, Eiberson Castellano, Marco Raya, Diego Cartaya and Emmanuel Rodriguez. I typically look to this player pool when trying to identify a Sire of Fort Myers favorite, as these guys often get the most spring playing time. Despite that being the case, the only prior winners who fit this description were Lee and Durán. The Sire of Fort Myers often emerges from the shadows of big-league camp to achieve glory. Castro, Law, Harper and LaMarre were all signed to minor-league deals with zero fanfare. Harper hadn’t even pitched in the big leagues, entering his age-30 season. This year’s group of non-roster invitees features some of the top prospects (Luke Keaschall, Andrew Morris, Cory Lewis, etc.) and other familiar names who were already in the system in 2024 (Scott Blewett, Randy Dobnak, etc.), but there are also seven players new to the org. These outsiders might not be front of mind, but it’s possible one of them emerges to take the crown. So let’s get to know ‘em. NRIs New to the Org Darren McCaughan (mih-CACK-en) saw significant MLB time for the first time in what was a busy year for him. There are 27 different transaction lines from 2024 alone on his MLB player page. He was designated for assignment three times, traded twice, claimed off waivers once and signed a minors deal with the Twins, all in the same calendar year. The 28-year-old right-hander logged 42 innings and posted a 6.21 ERA in the majors with the Marlins and Guardians. He’s pitched 101 Triple-A games, all of them starts. The sweeper is McCaughan’s primary pitch, alongside a sinker that sits 89 mph. Anthony Misiewicz (mih-SEV-itch) might have the clearest path to a potential role on the big club of any of these NRI newcomers. He’s a 30-year-old left-handed pitcher with 131 MLB games to his name, though he only appeared in one big-league game last season. He pitched to a 3.90 ERA and 1.28 WHIP in 55 1/3 Triple-A innings, with a 29.0 K% and 7.6 BB% in 2024. Lefties hit just .207/.253/.317 off him in the minors. He mainly throws an 88-mph cutter, a 93-mph fastball and 79-mph curve. Erasmo Ramírez is another NRI who has significant big-league time. Entering his age-35 season, Ramírez has 327 MLB games under his belt. He threw 20 2/3 innings out of the bullpen for the Rays last season, and in Triple-A, he had a 3.23 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 28.8 K% and 6.8 BB% in 53 innings. Though his starting days appear to be behind him, Ramírez still features a five-pitch mix. His 89-mph cutter and 91-mph sinker are the primary offerings. Alex Speas has had a cup of coffee in the bigs each of the past two seasons, amounting to four innings pitched. He’s a soon-to-be 27-year-old right-hander who was drafted in the second round by the Rangers back in 2016, one spot ahead of Pete Alonso and three ahead of Bo Bichette. Player evaluation is difficult. Speas has electric velo, topping out at 100.4 mph during his big-league time, but his command is basically nonexistent. He’s walked 19.6% of the batters he’s faced in 173 1/3 career Triple-A innings. Huascar Ynoa is a familiar name. He originally signed with the Twins out of the Dominican Republic, but was dealt to Atlanta before he even got out of rookie ball. That looked like it was going to come back to haunt the Twins, as Ynoa had an impressive 2021 season. He was expected to start Game 4 of the NLCS that year, but suffered a shoulder injury during pregame warmups and has never been the same. He had Tommy John surgery in 2022 and missed time with elbow inflammation last year. Ynoa pitched 29 2/3 innings over 14 games in the minors last year. The results weren’t encouraging (6.37 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, 17.8 K%, 10.1 BB%), but he’s still only 26 years old. Armando Alvarez made his MLB debut just shy of his 30th birthday last season. He played 16 games for Oakland after hitting .315/.407/.560 in 75 games for their Triple-A affiliate. Alvarez hits right-handed and can play just about anywhere in the field. He got a plurality of his reps at second base last year, but played everything but center field and catcher. Mike Ford is a three-true-outcomes hitter who appeared to have revived his career in 2023. He had an impressive 124 OPS+ with Seattle, slugging 16 home runs in 83 games that season. Ford failed to carry that forward, however, as he struggled mightily in 17 games with the Reds last year. He eventually refused an outright assignment and signed to play in Japan instead. He’s basically confined to DH at this point of his career, but has intrigue as a lefty bat with some pop. There are also several players the Twins signed to minor-league contracts who didn’t get an invite to big league camp, but who may still see some time in spring games. This will be more common when the team travels away from Fort Myers. Among this group of players is infielder Ryan Fitzgerald, right-handed pitcher Angel Macuare and former first baseman turned right-handed reliever Jacob Bosiokovic, among others. The Favorites Who will ultimately become 2025 Sire of Fort Myers is anybody’s best guess, but here’s one name from each player pool I consider the favorite. Matt Canterino I can’t quit Canterino. No matter how long it’s been since I’ve seen him pitch, the memories remain. The stuff is too good. There are several strong candidates among the pool of guys on the 40-man roster who are eligible, but he’s my guy. I realize Canterino has more rust on him than a junkyard Buick Riviera, but the arm talent is undeniable. Despite the injuries, the Twins have remained heavily invested. The front office has kept Canterino on the 40-man roster over the past two entire seasons, despite the fact that he hasn’t pitched in a single regular-season game over that stretch. He did pitch a couple of games last spring, striking out five of the 13 batters he faced. “You get a guy like [Canterino] healthy and on a little bit of a roll, you do not have to squint too hard to see him getting a ton of swing and miss at the big-league level,” Rocco Baldelli told reporters in Fort Myers on Thursday. “He has to get back out there, regain the feel for who he is and what he's doing. Put a little bit of a workload on himself and we'll see where he's at.” Baldelli added that Canterino is a guy “we still have very, very high hopes for.” Any one of the other five players from the pool of guys on the 40-man roster who haven’t debuted would be a logical pick for the favorite. It’s just easiest for me to envision Canterino dominating opponents and turning in the near-perfect spring required to win Sire of Fort Myers. Yunior Severino Call this more of a hunch, but Severino is my pick among the NRIs with whom we’re already familiar. Wait, didn’t the Twins DFA him this offseason? Yes, but they brought him back on a minor-league deal. Though first base is his primary position, Severino got some work in right field with the Saints last year and still plays a little third base. Throw in the fact that he’s a switch-hitter, and Severino is basically a funhouse mirror version of Willi Castro, trading out the athleticism to play premium defensive positions for eye-popping power instead. Severino led the Twins' minor-league system with 21 homers last season, and before that, he was the co-leader in minor-league home runs in 2023. Consistency has been elusive, but Severino is an absolute force when he’s on. In a 50-game stretch from May 22 to Aug. 1 last season, Severino posted a .353/.454/.599 line for the Saints, with 12 home runs. He also had a completely manageable 22.5 K% to go with an impressive 15.9 BB% during that hot streak. Could he pull off something like that this spring? I think it’s possible. Defensive versatility should help Severino get plenty of looks. There’s a path to playing time for a first base/designated hitter option and corner outfield platoon bat. The smart money is on Severino spending another full season in St. Paul, but it’s not difficult to imagine him playing his way back into the big-league picture. Anthony Misiewicz Switching gears to the NRIs who are new to the org, Misiewicz is my pick. This guy has a decent MLB track record, and his pitch data mostly backs it up. Let’s not get too carried away—I understand why he was available on a minors deal—but this is a nice risk-free addition to the thin left-handed reliever group. The Twins brought back former multi-time Sire of Fort Myers honorable mention Danny Coulombe to replace the departing Caleb Thielbar as their primary bullpen lefty. Behind Coulombe, the only other lefty reliever on the 40-man roster is Kody Funderburk, who is expected to start the year in St. Paul. The Twins entered the offseason with Brent Headrick and Jovani Morán in this mix, but both are with new organizations now. While Misiewicz is currently nowhere near in position to break camp with the Twins, the lack of lefty relief depth makes it easy to imagine scenarios in which he makes it back to the majors. Coulombe hasn’t been the most durable guy, and Funderburk hasn’t established himself as a big-league arm yet. Given his relative proximity to a major-league role, I expect the Twins to take a good, long look at Misiewicz this spring. Final thoughts When you boil it down, Sire of Fort Myers is all about adding more substance to spring training games. It’s an additional storyline to follow, another excuse to pay attention. For the vast majority of players, spring is simply about getting in work. While established major leaguers have very little to gain or lose from their spring, some of these guys along the fringes are playing for their baseball lives. A big spring performance can be the spark that dramatically alters their careers. We’ve seen it before. Could it happen again? John Bonnes contributed to this report. View full article

To celebrate this release, here's a look at my top 10 Twins prospects for 2025 and some of what I wrote about them. The list in the zine goes all the way to 50 and includes profiles on each player. There are also articles from Lou Hennessy, Greggory Masterson, Cody Schoenmann and Theodore Tollefson. View full video