The Minnesota Twins will have to rely on some of their minor league pitchers for their bullpen in 2026. They will use Marco Raya, John Klein, and Connor Prielipp in their bullpen at one point or another. Still, there are a few minor league arms who will give ample opportunity to earn roles in the starting rotation.

That includes Andrew Morris and Kendry Rojas, two recent 40-man additions alongside Klein and Prielipp. Morris and Rojas finished the 2025 season as a part of the St. Paul Saints’ starting rotation with varying results on the mound throughout the year.

Morris ended the 2025 season strong after missing nearly two months with a forearm strain, pitching to a 3.45 ERA and 0.77 WHIP in 31 ⅓ innings over eight outings. On the other hand, Rojas struggled after the Twins acquired him and Alan Roden at the trade deadline from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Louis Varland and Ty France. Rojas never adjusted to Triple-A hitting, pitching to a 6.59 ERA with a 15.9% walk rate and 2.19 WHIP.

Morris’s bounce back was especially encouraging, given that he was unknowingly tipping his pitches for most of his outings before he injured his forearm in mid-June. Morris would stop chewing his gum on off-speed pitches, but kept chewing whenever he was planning to throw a fastball. It was all a mental part of his game, which he was unaware of until a Twins official discovered it while reviewing video.

“I think the execution has been a little bit better,” Morris said on his post-injury improvements in September. “I think just being able to execute it glove side when I want to. That’s been the biggest thing.”

The numbers quantify Morris’s improvement, and mixing in his secondary fastballs into counts more often with his cutter and sinker. He improved his pitching by avoiding tipping pitches and improving his pitch mix, attacking righties and lefties in certain counts.

“I think it’s been nice to have two fastballs,” said Morris. “I think I didn’t use it much last outing because it was mostly a lefty lineup, so not as many of those. Just gives me more weapons to righties, just being able to use that, get early outs, as well as just throw some pitches that look like balls and end up as strikes.”

Now that Morris is in a better place going into the 2026 season, it’s a matter of figuring out how to get Rojas right. MLB Pipeline ranked Rojas as Toronto’s fifth-best prospect at the time of the trade, and they also have him as Minnesota’s fifth-best prospect.

The Twins remain confident in his ability to be a starter. He still has a mid-90s fastball and tons of swing-and-miss on it, as well as his three off-speed pitches: sinker, slider, and curveball.

Rojas’s pitch arsenal still makes him a strong candidate to be a starter once he breaks into the majors, and his time in Double-A was a sample size of his potential.

Rojas made four starts with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats and had a 3.86 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, two walks, and 30 strikeouts over 18 ⅔ innings. At his best, Rojas can generate plenty of swings and misses. If the Twins believe he can tap into more of that next season, he’ll get the chance to start in the Majors.

The Twins have a lot of starting depth in the majors with Pablo López, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Simeon Woods Richardson, Taj Bradley, Mick Abel, David Festa, and Zebby Matthews. Still, they will need Morris and Rojas to step up for opportunities in 2026.

They could trade one of Lopez or Ryan before Opening Day. Pitchers also frequently suffer injuries, and Festa is the leading candidate among these eight to transition to the bullpen as he heals from thoracic outlet syndrome.

If Morris and Rojas maximize their Triple-A starts, then they will get the opportunity to help the starting rotation at some time next season. And they’re both doing what they can to improve on their mistakes from 2025 to make their big league dreams become a reality.

“I think there’s always more to improve on,” said Morris. “You can always improve on execution, always improve on, especially execution, the sweeper, and just getting that in a good spot.

“I think there’s always a lot more I can do in terms of sequencing guys and learning how to read swings and stuff like that, and takes. There’s so much I’m trying to learn from the older guys as much as I can. So I think just watch and learn and hopefully make an impact next year.”