The 2025 Minnesota Twins season did not go as planned. A year that started with postseason expectations ended in frustration as the team stumbled to the finish line. Even so, there were individual bright spots that gave fans reasons to stay invested, and that’s what makes TwinsDaily’s annual Team MVP voting so interesting.

With the front office already pivoting toward reshaping the roster for 2026, this vote provided an opportunity to acknowledge the few players who carried their weight in a turbulent season. From emerging young contributors to established stars who managed to stay healthy, the ballot reflected both the hope and the frustration of Twins Territory.

Before diving into the top three, let’s tip the cap to a few guys who received votes and played meaningful roles this season:

Honorable Mentions

Luke Keaschall — In his rookie campaign, Keaschall hit .302/.382/.445 (.827) with a 128 OPS+ and 14 stolen bases in 182 at-bats.

Pablo López — Despite being limited by injury, López made 14 starts and posted a stellar 2.74 ERA, striking out 73 in 75 2/3 innings. 

Harrison Bader — The Twins acquired Bader on a one-year deal, and in 271 at-bats, he slashed .258/.339/.439 (.778) with 12 homers and ten steals before being dealt.

Kody Clemens — Clemens chipped in as a versatile bench option and had some key moments during the team’s 13-game winning streak. Overall, he posted a 96 OPS+ and was a team leader. 

All four made valuable contributions and earned recognition in the voting, but none secured a spot in the top three.

3. Ryan Jeffers
Jeffers secured third place in the MVP vote, and for good reason. Offensively, he put up a solid line of .266/.356/.397 (.752) with a 108 OPS+ over 119 games. His fWAR ranked second on the team, but his rWAR ranked 11th on the team behind Brock Stewart and Danny Coulombe. Defensive metrics continue to paint him in a poor light, but he’s still one of baseball’s best offensive catchers. 

On the offensive side, he made significant gains in Chase% (-10%), Whiff% (-2.5%), and BB% (+3.9%), with all three categories ranking in the 72nd percentile or higher. While his overall totals lacked the eye-catching peaks of the other two players on this list, his balanced contributions on both sides of the game made him a worthy third-place finisher. 

2. Joe Ryan
Ryan’s second-place finish was anchored in another season of pitching dominance. Ryan logged an impressive 3.42 ERA with a 125 ERA+ and 10.2 K/9.  He continued to be a horse in the rotation and earned an All-Star nod in 2025, a testament to his status among the staff.

His fWAR (3.1) and rWAR (4.5) were second only to Buxton among Twins in the 2025 vote. He finished in the AL’s top-10 in WAR for Pitchers (6th), ERA (10th), BB/9 (6th), K/9 (3rd), and K/BB (5th). He has a chance to get down-ballot votes for AL Cy Young, and it’s not hard to imagine his numbers being even better if he hadn’t struggled over the season’s final two months. In a down year for the club, his dependability held tremendous value, but he just fell short of being the team’s top overall player. 

1. Byron Buxton (Unanimous Selection)
Not even a healthy, thriving Buxton could save the Minnesota Twins from their demise in 2025. Amid the chaos of a 92-loss season, the 31-year-old center fielder authored one of the finest individual performances of his career.

Buxton slugged a career-high 35 home runs in a career-high 542 plate appearances, and he went a perfect 24-for-24 stealing bases, a dazzling combination of power and speed that made him one of the most dynamic players in baseball. After finally breaking the triple-digit games barrier in 2024 (102 games, his first time doing so in seven years), he upped the mark again in 2025 with 126 games played, setting career bests nearly across the board: hits, total bases, homers, triples, RBIs, runs, walks, and Win Probability Added.

It wasn’t just statistical accumulation, either. Buxton produced highlight moments that stuck with fans all year. Chief among them? Hitting for the cycle on his bobblehead day was a storybook accomplishment that felt ripped straight out of a marketing department dream.

Advanced metrics backed up his dominance. Buxton delivered 5.0 Wins Above Replacement (per FanGraphs), another career high that not only led the Twins but also ranked No. 9 among American League position players. To put it in perspective, that’s the highest fWAR by a Twins center fielder since Kirby Puckett’s 5.9 in 1992.

The fact that Buxton was the unanimous team MVP selection tells you all you need to know. In a season where nearly everything else went wrong for the Twins, he stood tall as the one constant. His year won’t erase the sting of 92 losses, but it did remind Twins Territory what peak Buxton looks like and why he remains the most indispensable player in the organization.

2025 may go down as one of the most challenging stretches in recent Twins history. Still, the MVP vote underscored an overarching theme: when the chips were down, Buxton continued to perform at the highest level of his career. Jeffers deserves credit for being the most consistent two-way contributor, and Ryan once again proved why he’s the anchor of this rotation.

How would your team MVP ballot look? Leave your rankings in the comments and start the discussion.