The Minnesota Twins have a core of players they want to build around. While bringing in players from the outside to accomplish that goal is an option, promoting prospects with bright futures also remains a choice. Twins outfield prospect Gabriel Gonzalez recently received a shoutout from Jonathan Mayo, Jim Callis and Sam Dykstra of MLB.com in a recent article.

“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster for Gonzalez, who once was a Top 100 prospect with the Mariners. He fell off the radar a bit when he hit .255 with a .707 OPS in his first year with the Twins after coming over in the Jorge Polanco deal. He erased that this season while putting a lower back issue that limited him in ’24 behind him, raking across three levels and reaching Triple-A. Gonzalez finished with a system-leading 149 wRC+, a .330/.397/.514 slash line and a K rate of just over 14 percent,” the article — which is about prospects who broke out in 2025 — stated.

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The 21-year-old outfielder is the team’s No. 8 overall prospect. He is a quality hitter who is still developing his power at the plate. Gonzalez doesn’t run especially well and he’s continuing to improve his fielding, but he features a strong throwing arm. His skill set suggests he could make an impact at the MLB level as a corner outfielder someday.

According to MLB.com, Gonzalez’s MLB ETA is set at 2027. Could we see him at the MLB level earlier than that? Anything is possible, but he likely won’t contribute on a consistent basis until the ’27 campaign.

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The Twins are surely hopeful that he can find a way to add more home run potential to his game, though. As mentioned, he is not an especially great base-runner or defensive presence, so Gonzalez is going to have to produce at the plate in order to truly become someone the Twins will consider for an everyday role.

Gonzalez’s overall ability to hit the baseball is intriguing, and he does arguably offer the ceiling of a star player. He needs time to develop, but Twins fans will want to closely monitor Gonzalez’s growth in the minor leagues as he continues to take steps forward.

If everything goes according to plan and he finds consistency, Gonzalez could become a reliable starter in the outfield for the Twins in the future.