The new prospect rankings can be found here, let’s go over the notable changes.
The Big Risers
Starting with the positives. Kaelen Culpepper, Dasan Hill, and Ricardo Olivar all jumped multiple spots in our rankings, with Culpepper moving to #4, Hill going to #6, and Olivar reaching #18.
Culpepper might be the prospect story of the year for the Twins. Taken 21st overall in the 2024 draft, the Kansas State shortstop has exploded in 2025, slashing .293/.385/.479 with the Kernels in 54 games. Even more exciting is his defense, which Eric Longenhagen calls “bold and creative,” as he harnesses his deft nimbleness and strong arm to impact the game as a plus defender. He was recently promoted to AA Wichita.
Perhaps as intriguing, is another 2024 draftee, Hill. Minnesota capitulated stylistically in selecting the prep lefty 69th overall before giving him 2,000,000 reasons to skip going to college. His raw stuff as a 19-year-old is unbelievable. His heater already sits in the mid-90s, and his off-speed stuff is generating swing-and-miss at an exceptional level. He currently holds a 1.65 ERA across 27 ⅓ innings with the Mighty Mussels.
The Big Fallers
There are only two ways to move up a prospect list: someone ahead of you either graduated or dropped. Unfortunately, the latter was the case for Charlee Soto, Marco Raya, and Cory Lewis (a bad month to be a pitcher, I guess.)
Soto flashed tremendous potential in his second season in the Twins’ system, but he last pitched on April 17th due to a right triceps strain. He was recently placed on the 60-day injured list.
Raya has been healthy… and that’s about the only thing that’s gone right for him this year. The numbers are gruesome: he carries an 8.66 ERA and 2.04 WHIP in 12 starts with the St. Paul Saints. Still, he’s only 22 years old and will have plenty of time to find his groove again.
It almost seems like the Lewis we knew was kidnapped and replaced with a much lesser version. The pitcher who dominated in 2023 and 2024 has been nowhere to be seen; Lewis claims a 9.09 ERA with the Saints in 2025. For his sake—and because we need to see another knuckleballer in the majors—hopefully, the rest of the season is kinder.
A legitimate catching prospect? In the Twins system?
2024 3rd-rounder Khadim Diaw enters our list as the team’s 16th-best prospect—and we’re even short-changing him if you ask Kiley McDaniel.
The first player of Senegalese descent to be drafted by a major-league club, Diaw moonlighted as a catcher while at Loyola Marymount but showed enough athletic potential for the Twins to select him 96th overall for a cool $597,500.
Longenhagn of Fangraphs writes that being “[l]anky and fluid, Diaw loads his glove from the ground and shows the actions to grow into being an average receiver and blocker, though his backhand is presently unreliable. His arm strength is playing below average, but he is quite accurate and is already doing passable work despite threadbare experience.”
Offensively, Diaw has been awesome in 2025. He’s slashing .302/.455/.431 with a 12.4% walk rate as a 21-year-old at A+ ball. Indeed, zone control is his calling card: across 714 combined plate appearances in college, summer league, and the minors, Diaw has struck out just 104 times.
Diaw does the Ricardo Olivar/early-career Daulton Varsho thing where he splits time between catching and playing the outfield. Given his atypical athleticism for a catcher, Diaw could become something special. If you’re looking for the team’s next big thing, he may be it.
All hail the 5’5” terror.
Payton Eeles hit his way onto the prospect radar in 2024 when he slashed .306/.435/.497 across three minor league levels, which included a lengthy look with the St. Paul Saints.
Eeles’ journey here has been incredible. He spent four years with D-II Cedarville before using his bonus pandemic season to transfer to Coastal Carolina, where he put up a .500 OBP as a fifth-year senior. 5’5″ fifth-year seniors don’t get drafted, though, so Eeles went the indy-ball path to finish 2023; he spent just six games as a Southern Maryland Blue Crab in 2024 before the Twins scooped him up. What a signing it may be.
Eeles has mainly played second base as a pro but has also spent time in the infield spots to his right, as well as the outfield. He bears a strong resemblance to a Mauricio Dubón-type, both in defensive utility and offensive profile. He missed the start of 2025 due to a knee injury yet is now back to playing with the Saints. Like Carson McCusker before him, he could see big league time because of injury, and because, well, a player with his profile needs to have a shot at the highest level.
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!