The MLB Rule 5 Draft is part of the Winter Meetings every year, but a few weeks beforehand, each team adds Rule 5-eligible players to protect other organizations from selecting them. The Minnesota Twins have 39 players who will be Rule 5 eligible this season, enough to fill a 40-man roster.
But not all these players will make the cut, nor will other teams select all of them to add them to their minor-league rosters. There are at least six names the Twins will likely add to their 40-man to protect from being snagged by another team.
One of the most consistent starting pitching prospects in the Twins organization, Morris shot through the system from High-A to Triple-A in 2024. However, he faced some setbacks in 2025. Morris struggled through a 10-game stretch from April 16 through June 12, where he had a .332 opponents’ average and 5.29 ERA in 49 ⅓ innings.
It turned out that Morris had been unknowingly tipping his pitches with how he was chewing gum on the mound. Whenever he was chewing, he’d throw a fastball, and he’d stop chewing on off-speed pitches.
Morris began to fix the issue before he went down with a right forearm strain in late June. He missed a month and a half, but finished the season on a good note, posting a 3.45 ERA, holding opponents to a .183 batting average, striking out 29 batters, and walking only four in 31 ⅓ innings over eight appearances.
Morris will start the 2026 season as one of the top starters in the Saints’ rotation. If he picks up where he left off at the end of the 2025 season, he will be one of the first starters the Twins turn to in their Triple-A depth.
At his best, Morris has dominant control of the strike zone and has the potential to be a stable middle-of-the-rotation starter. Even with his struggles this year, any team would take the chance to snag him in the Rule 5 Draft, which is why he will be a lock on their 40-man this offseason.
If Morris is an immediate lock for the 40-man roster, then so is Connor Prielipp, the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Prielipp had his healthiest season since high school in 2025, missing only one start due to a blister on his throwing hand.
Prielipp set a career high in almost every category: games (24), innings pitched (82 ⅔), strikeout percentage (27%), and walk percentage (8.5%). As encouraging as it was to see Prielipp pitch a full season with minimal injuries, it also gave the Twins and him a look at what he needs to work on to make his MLB debut in 2026.
He had a .288 opponents’ average and .394 BABIP. While Prielipp wasn’t allowing all too many walks, opposing hitters were sitting on his stuff to put in play, and now it’s a matter of getting more swings and misses off his stuff and allowing fewer hits.
Prielipp’s long-term future as a starter is still unknown. Given the extent of his injury history, it would make the most sense for him to be a high-leverage reliever in the majors. As of now, though, the Twins seem intent on keeping Prielipp as a starter until they can’t anymore, and now they’ll add him to the 40-man to keep him as an option for either the rotation or bullpen in 2026.
One of the best hitters in Minnesota’s farm system this year, Gonzalez’s 2025 performance ensured the Twins got better value on the Jorge Polanco trade. Gonzalez played in a career high 123 games between High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A, combining to hit .329/.395/.513 with 15 home runs, 66 RBI, and 38 doubles in 550 plate appearances.
When he was called up to Triple-A on Aug. 1, Gonzalez was the youngest player in the International League at 21 years old, until Walker Jenkins was called up a few weeks later. 2025 marked an encouraging turnaround from a 2024 season marred by injuries and subpar performance.
The Twins have desperately needed a great right-handed hitting corner outfielder on the major-league roster for years, and for now, Gonzalez looks to be their best option internally to play for the team in 2026. Any team would jump to select him in the Rule 5 Draft with the season he had this year, and the Twins should hope to see his performance in the minors translate to the big leagues next season.
The Twins got Hendry Mendez in the Harrison Bader trade with the Philadelphia Phillies, making him the newest member of the organization in this group. Mendez made a strong impact upon joining Double-A Wichita, hitting .324/.461/.450 with three home runs, 16 RBI, and four stolen bases in 33 games.
Even with a strong start to his new organization, the Twins sent Mendez to the Arizona Fall League to get a longer look at what he can do in the outfield and potentially as a first baseman down the road. He’s off to a decent start, going 6-for-20 with a home run in five games, keeping the hot bat going from the end of the season.
Mendez is the most likely of these six players to be added to the 40-man roster and not play in the majors in 2026. He’ll only be 22 on November 7, and just reached Double-A for the first time this year. Still, if Mendez keeps the hot bat going in 2026, he could make the case for a late-season call-up to bolster the Twins roster.
The stronger side of Minnesota’s catching depth is still in the lower levels of the minors. Eduardo Tait finished the year at High-A, and Khadim Diaw’s season with the Cedar Rapids Kernels ended on August 5 with a hamstring strain.
Olivar was at Double-A for all of 2025, playing in 93 games and splitting time between catcher and left field. Olivar hit .264/.356/.412, with 13 home runs, 59 RBI, a 12% walk rate, and 18.2% strikeout rate. With Minnesota’s catching situation uncertain beyond 2026, they will need someone to step up in the meantime before Tait arrives in the majors.
Olivar is their best internal option for that, and is likely to start his 2026 season in Triple-A, with hopes of reinforcing Minnesota’s lineup soon after.
The Brooklyn Park native, Klein, looks like a dark-horse candidate who could make Minnesota’s Opening Day bullpen out of spring training. One of many pitchers the Twins had on their “pitch four innings, every four days” plan, Klein had his best season in pro ball.
He pitched to a 3.98 ERA in 106 ⅓ innings with 128 strikeouts and 37 walks in 31 games between Double-A and Triple-A. Klein finds himself in a similar position to Travis Adams, a pretty standard minor-league starter who has the ceiling of an effective reliever in the majors.
Klein looks like the successor to the hometown hero in the bullpen after they traded away one hometown hero, Louis Varland, who’s now looking to win his first World Series ring with the Toronto Blue Jays. He has kept building his velocity up, reaching 97 to 98 MPH.
Minnesota’s bullpen has plenty of open spots going into 2026, and they’ll need to have their pitchers in Triple-A to step up. Klein is one of the leading candidates to do so, especially after he’s been added to the 40-man roster.
The Twins will have until Friday, Nov. 21, around 5 p.m. ET to make their decisions on who to add to the 40-man. Some players, like Morris, Prielipp, and Gonzalez, are locks to be added, but other names, like Tanner Schobel or Kala’i Rosario, are under consideration.