Prospects are always an intriguing part of baseball, and something I’ve grown to appreciate more since I started writing consistently about the Minnesota Twins towards the end of 2021 with Twins Daily.
2026 will be my fifth season covering Triple-A baseball with the St. Paul Saints, and my second full season in the Twins press box. In the past five years, I’ve seen plenty of Minnesota’s top prospects pass their way through St. Paul, from the standouts in Royce Lewis to Simeon Woods Richardson to the prospects we thought would be cornerstones but turned into busts, such as Jose Miranda and Josh Winder.
So, with 2026 just a few days away, I thought I’d provide my insight with the first full breakdown of my top 20 prospects in the Twins farm system. Without further ado, here are my rankings.
Minnesota’s consensus No. 1 prospect, and a top 20 consensus prospect in all of MLB, Walker Jenkins, enters 2026 with the stage set for him to make his long-awaited MLB debut.
Jenkins finished the 2025 season as the youngest player to play in Triple-A at just 20 years old. While he had mixed results over his four-week stint with the Saints, putting up a .242/.324/.396 slash line with two home runs, 8 RBI, and nine extra base hits over 102 plate appearances in 23 games. They were far from the ideal numbers for an everyday player at Triple-A, but considering he was 7.3 years younger than the average age of International League pitchers in 2025, it’s a good floor to set.
Jenkins has shown he has all the makings of a five-tool player, but the big question will be if he can develop more power in his swing to become a 20-30 home runs a year guy in the majors. The International League will be a good place for him to test his power development out, which is why it shouldn’t shock many people to see him stay in Triple-A for the first two months of the season.
And in an ideal world where there are no injury setbacks, Jenkins is tearing up Triple-A pitching. The Twins could call him up as early as Memorial Day weekend to reinforce their lineup and give fans hope for the future.
Kaelen Culpepper tailed off at the end of the 2025 season after being one of the best hitters in Minnesota’s farm system from Opening Day through the end of July. But even a cold end at the plate to end the season didn’t stop him from earning the Twins Minor League Hitter of the Year honors.
As Minnesota’s lone 2025 MLB Futures Game representative, Culpepper was on a scorcher for most of the year, putting up a .315/.400/.506 slash line with 15 home runs, 52 RBI, a 10.5% walk rate, 15.9% strikeout rate, and 20 stolen bases between Cedar Rapids and Wichita through July 31.
Then things went cold for him from August 1 through the end of the year. He hit .223/.313/.377 with five home runs, 12 RBI, a walk rate that decreased to 7.5%, and a strikeout rate that jumped up to 21.1% over 147 plate appearances.
The end-of-season slump was not too dissimilar from how Culpepper performed at the end of 2024 after being called up to Cedar Rapids after just nine games in Low-A. He made better adjustments this time around, but the true test will be to see how he makes those adjustments at Triple-A to start 2026 before making a case to potentially be Minnesota’s everyday shortstop come the middle of the summer.
Culpepper has all the tools to become an all-star caliber infielder in the big leagues. If he can replicate what he did for two-thirds of 2025 for a full season between Triple-A and the majors, then the Twins can bank on him being a cornerstone for their infield for years to come.
3. Eduardo Tait
The Twins’ biggest return from the 2025 trade deadline fire sale, the 18-year-old catcher from Venezuela, Eduardo Tait, impressed many with his performance at High-A Cedar Rapids after arriving from the Philadelphia Phillies’ farm system.
Like Jenkins, Tait was playing against players much older than him, with the average age of Midwest League pitchers at 23.1. Tait’s numbers weren’t all too flash at the plate as he hit .250/.286/.408 with three home runs, 18 RBI, and a .694 OPS over 30 games with the Kernels after the trade deadline.
The numbers are far from ideal for a top 100 prospect. Still, given how young Tait still is, especially against much older competition, it’s a good floor to set for a full season at High-A in 2026.
Tait’s biggest tools per the scout grading system are his power and throwing arm, both grading at 60, while speed and fielding are his weaknesses, grading 40 and 45, respectively.
Tait will never be the fastest runner on the field, and his running skills will not be a priority in his game. But he is Minnesota’s top catching prospect. They’re banking on him for the future, since he has very little defensive versatility.
As long as Tait’s power and overall hitting abilities remain strong and he improves on his defensive game behind the plate, he could easily find himself as Minnesota’s best prospect by the end of 2026.
A prospect who’s had some of the worst injury luck in recent years, Emmanuel Rodriguez remains one of the best hitters when it comes to strike zone judgement in the entire Twins organization. Rodriguez still managed to have a .431 on-base percentage scattered across 65 games in 2025.
Rodriguez battled everything from aggravating his left thumb (not the thumb he had surgery on in 2024) to a hip strain and a hamstring strain in 2025. With so much time on the injured list, Rodriguez was cleared to play in the Dominican Winter League to showcase what he can do when healthy.
In just 18 games, Rodriguez ended up hitting .292/.417/.646 with four home runs and 11 RBI over 60 plate appearances. The small sample size has been encouraging. Rodriguez hasn’t lost all his skills with so much time away from the field, but the next challenge will be doing so over a full season.
Rodriguez has been on Minnesota’s 40-man roster for over a year now. If he remains healthy, while crushing Triple-A pitching to start 2026, he will be one of the first men up from St. Paul to the big leagues if anyone goes down with an injury. Staying healthy will be Rodriguez’s first test. Then, he’ll have to prove if his excellent strike zone judgement can work to his advantage with regular at-bats in the majors, or if it will be something pitchers exploit to their own advantage.
Before this past season, Connor Prielipp had only pitched in a total of 58 innings from 2020 to 2024 between his time at the University of Alabama and pro ball. So reaching 82 ⅔ innings in a single season and remaining healthy at the end of the season after 24 outings was a massive achievement for Prielipp. However, they overshadowed the underlying numbers, which he can still improve.
Prielipp had an impressive walk rate of just 8.5%, but his glaring weakness was giving up a lot of hits with a .294 opponents’ average on the season. But the good news is Prielipp’s opponents’ average declined from a .307 mark at Double-A to .253 in Triple-A. Now with a sinker added to his pitch arsenal, which already featured a devastating slider and changeup, Prielipp will have more options to attack hitters outside the zone in favorable counts.
Minnesota’s reigning Minor League Pitcher of the Year is coming off his healthiest season to date, missing only one start in 2025 due to a blister on his left hand. Prielipp’s durability in 2025 earned him the award, and now the next step is to see whether or not he’ll remain in a starter role in 2026 or move to the bullpen full-time and become an elite reliever.
6. Dasan Hill
Dasan Hill is Minnesota’s pitching prospect with the highest ceiling out of any in its farm system. He could be the best left-handed starter drafted and developed by the team since Frank ‘Sweet Music’ Viola. Hill was Minnesota’s second-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, and didn’t make his pro debut until April 5.
The lanky 6’5”, 165 lbs. lefty who just turned 20 on Christmas Day performed well at Fort Myers this season, pitching to a 2.77 ERA, with 68 strikeouts, and just two home runs allowed over 52 innings in 16 starts. He earned himself a call-up to High-A Cedar Rapids on August 11, and the league caught up with him as he had a 5.40 ERA in three starts.
Hill never pitched more than four innings in a start until his final one of the season on September 11. The Twins are slowly building up his workload so as not have him blow out his arm early, which is especially important while he’s still mastering control of the strike zone. While he had an impressive 31.1% strikeout rate in his first year of pro ball, he also had a high walk rate of 15%.
Hill will undoubtedly spend all of 2026 in Cedar Rapids to work on his strike zone command. If that becomes a stronger asset, his pitch arsenal – which already features a devastating curveball and slider – will dominate Midwest League pitchers.
Arguably the best defender in the Twins org right now, Minnesota’s top pick from this year’s draft, Marek Houston, was able to show off his leather in 24 games between Low-A and High-A to back this up.
Houston’s range and throwing arm will make him fit anywhere on the infield. The bigger questions are how his hitting develops and if he can stick at shortstop.
He finally showed glimpses of power in his junior year at Wake Forest, hitting a career high of 15 home runs before the Twins drafted him. However, in his first 24 games in pro ball, Houston only had one home run with the Kernels.
The power development is a long-term project for Houston, but Houston’s short-term goal for 2026 is to be an above-league-average hitter at High-A. Houston crushed the competition in Low-A with a .370/.424/.444 slash line in 59 plate appearances. Then, in High-A, his numbers dropped significantly with a .152/ .220/.239 slash line in 51 plate appearances.
It’s a small sample size to start his pro career, but Houston will have plenty of time in High-A this season to show off his strengths and areas to improve as a hitter.
Another prospect who had a well-made case for the Twins Minor League Hitter of the Year, Gabriel Gonzalez, recouped his lost stock from a down 2024 season. The Seattle Mariners traded him to the Twins as part of the package for Jorge Polanco.
In 2025, Gonzalez had a meteoric rise from Cedar Rapids to St. Paul, with a batting average of at least .316 or higher with each affiliate. He totaled a .329/.395/.513 slash line with 15 home runs and 66 RBI over 123 games this season. The rebound from a down season the year before earned him a spot on Minnesota’s 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.
With an outfield depth chart still littered with a plethora of left-handed hitters, Gonzalez is Minnesota’s best internal option to add more depth in the outfield from the right side of the plate alongside Byron Buxton and Austin Martin. He’ll be battling for an opportunity to get the call-up to the majors alongside Rodríguez early in the season if he rolls his hot 2025 performance into 2026.
Gonzalez isn’t expected to be much of a power-hitting threat in the majors. Still, he has strong contact skills that Minnesota’s lineup has been desperately missing on a full-time basis since it traded Luis Arraez to the San Diego Padres. That will be how Gonzalez can best serve the Twins long-term as a future corner outfielder, stringing together good at-bats at the top of their lineup.
9. Riley Quick
Riley Quick is the latest prospect from the University of Alabama to join Minnesota’s farm system.
Quick underwent Tommy John surgery in 2024 and pitched decently in the SEC, showcasing his healthy return to the mound in 2025. The 6’6”, 255 lbs. former college football recruit pitched to a 3.92 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, and allowed three home runs and 24 walks with 70 strikeouts over 62 innings in his junior season. He will be set to make his pro debut with Low-A Fort Myers this upcoming spring.
Quick joins the ranks of many towering right-handed college pitchers the Twins have drafted in recent years to develop into flamethrowers. Quick’s fastball has topped out at 99 MPH in college. After the Twins added velocity on pitchers such as David Festa and Zebby Matthews, they believe they’ll be able to do the same with Quick as he moves up the minor-league ranks.
10. Kendry Rojas
Minnesota acquired Kendry Rojas from the Toronto Blue Jays in the trade that sent Louis Varland and Ty France to the American League champions. Rojas was the fifth-best prospect in Toronto’s farm system, per MLB Pipeline, when the Twins acquired him. But a poor performance in Triple-A to finish out his 2025 season saw this lefty starter barely stay within the top 10.
Rojas had missed the first two months of the 2025 season with an abdominal injury, and pitched well when he was back on the mound. From May 30 to July 24, Rojas made nine starts between Rookie Ball, Low-A, and Double-A and pitched to a 2.45 ERA, with a 39.4% strikeout rate, and 4.4% walk rate. But after the Blue Jays moved him up to Triple-A on July 29, everything fell apart.
In nine starts at Triple-A to finish out the year, Rojas pitched to a 7.24 ERA, allowing 31 runs in 32 ⅓ innings, with his strikeout rate sitting at 20% and walk rate ballooning up to 14.7%. Rojas attributed some of his issues to not having a good feel for the baseball used at Triple-A. Still, his lack of command highlighted more of his flaws.
Both the Twins and Blue Jays likely rushed Rojas up to Triple-A. He only turned 23 on November 26. The Cuban lefty has devastating strikeout stuff with his changeup and slider, and has gotten his fastball up to 98 MPH. When everything is clicking right, he could be one of the best strikeout pitchers in the game. It’s ultimately about finding how to make those things click at Triple-A next season.
11. Hendry Mendez
The Twins may be getting the better end of the deal in the long term when they traded Harrison Bader to the Phillies. Hendry Mendez was already having a strong season in Double-A Reading before the trade. He was hitting .290/.374/.434 with eight homers, 46 RBI, an 11.5% walk rate, and 12.6% strikeout rate over 349 plate appearances before the trade.
After the Twins acquired him, all his slash line numbers improved. He hit .324/.461/.450 with three home runs, 24 RBI, a 19.0% walk rate, and 14.8% strikeout rate in 33 games after the trade.
The two biggest questions with Mendez moving forward are whether he will trade some of his contact skills for power and where he will play defensively long-term. Mendez has spent most of his pro career as a corner outfielder, but the Twins are looking to try him out at first base more often after he got some reps there in the Arizona Fall League.
Mendez was one of Minnesota’s six additions to the 40-man roster ahead of the Rule 5 Draft. After a big season at Double-A in 2025, he’ll be starting 2026 in Triple-A with plenty of opportunity to see if he can hit more home runs.
12. Ryan Gallagher
Brought over in the trade that sent Willi Castro to the Chicago Cubs, Ryan Gallagher was having a strong start to his first season in pro ball. Still, he had some hiccups along the way once the Twins assigned him to Wichita.
Gallagher had a strong run in the Cubs system, making 16 starts and pitching to a 3.43 ERA, with a .220 opponents average, 28.5% strikeout rate, and 5.9% walk rate over 84 innings between High-A and Double-A.
However, his ERA jumped just over two full points in eight starts with the Wind Surge. It sits at 5.50, along with a significant increase in opponents’ average (.297) and a slightly lower strikeout rate at 21.9%. Meanwhile, his walk rate remained the same at 5.9% in 37 ⅔ innings with Wichita.
Gallagher was the Cubs’ sixth-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, and had already added a few ticks on his fastball velocity from 93 MPH when they drafted him to 95 MPH at the end of this year. His career path can go either way as a starter or reliever, depending on how results play out for him in the minors.
If Gallagher’s issues giving up hard contact continue from where they were to end the 2025 season with Wichita, they could turn into a valuable reliever long-term. But if the eight starts down the stretch were just a fluke, then Gallagher has a real shot of becoming a strong back-end of the rotation starter. He has a strong changeup and slider to complement his fastball.
13. Andrew Morris
Andrew Morris has been one of the most consistent starters in the Twins organization since they drafted him in 2022. 2025 turned out to be his biggest challenge yet, though. Hitters were knocking Morris around early in the year because he was tipping pitches based on how he was chewing his gum on the mound.
But Morris fixed his pitch-tipping issue by mid-June, only to land on the IL with a forearm strain for a month and a half after that. Fortunately, he pitched well at the end of the year after he returned from the IL on August 9. He pitched to a 3.45 ERA in 31⅓ innings while striking out 29 batters and walking only four over eight starts to finish 2025.
Morris’ final eight starts this season reassured his place as a starter for the Twins when he gets the call-up in 2026. He was another added to the 40-man ahead of the Rule 5 Draft. Out of all the pitching prospects the Twins have right now, Morris models out to be the most consistent middle to back-end of the rotation arm they can depend on.
Morris has dominant control of the strike zone and an arsenal that includes a curveball, slider, cutter, and changeup. Therefore, he will be an effective starter that the Twins can rely on when the opportunity arises.
14. Kyle DeBarge
If there’s one thing that makes Kyle DeBarge stand out more than any other Twins prospect right now, it’s his speed. DeBarge was second in the Midwest League with 66 stolen bases this season, and one of only three players in the league with over 50 stolen bases.
Between his speed and throwing arm, DeBarge makes the case for a strong middle infielder or utility man whenever he reaches the higher levels of the minors. But DeBarge still has to round out his game, especially at the plate. DeBarge had a decent walk rate of 12.9% in his first full season of pro ball, but only hit .237 over 543 plate appearances.
There weren’t many signs of power from DeBarge’s game, either, hitting only eight home runs in all of 2025, but he did have a respectable 65 RBI to complement the lack of power. If DeBarge can improve upon his hitting tools in 2026 with a bit more contact and power, then he can become a prospect who can do incredible damage at the top of the lineup, especially with his speed.
15. Quentin Young
Standing at 6’6”, 225 lbs. at just 18 years old, Quentin Young has all the makings to become an incredible power hitter in the majors, just looking at his build. The nephew of former Twins outfielder Delmon Young and Detroit Tigers first baseman, Dimitri Young, the Twins couldn’t pass up on Quentin Young while he was still available with their second-round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft.
Young debuted last year, playing just five games with the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels before their season ended, and went 2-for-17 with three RBI, two walks, and nine strikeouts. The Twins drafted Young as a shortstop out of Oak Christian High School in California, but he profiles more as a third baseman long term.
The next generation of the Young family will turn 19 in spring training and is expected to play out his first full season in Fort Myers. If he turns heads and puts up spectacular power numbers for the Florida State League, then he could make a case to appear in Cedar Rapids in the latter half of the summer.
16. Brandon Winokur
Minnesota’s other 6’6” infield prospect, Brandon Winokur, bounced around the diamond for the Kernels in 2025, playing 30 or more games at third base, shortstop, and center field. But his defensive value dropped when he shuffled around the diamond. Winokur committed eight errors in 371 innings at shortstop and seven in 247 ⅔ innings at third base.
At the plate, Winokur’s game is all about power. He showcased that in 2025, hitting 17 home runs along with 68 RBI. However, he had a low 8.3% walk rate, a 24.8% strikeout rate, and a batting average of .226 on the season, which kept his OPS below .700 in 122 games this past year.
The Twins sent Winokur to the Arizona Fall League this year to get more reps. He only came away with a .192/.277/.315 with just two home runs and 12 RBI over 83 plate appearances.
Winokur is a boom-or-bust prospect with his bat. If the power is there, then he’s a credible threat to any type of pitchers he’s facing. Still, if it’s not, then pitchers can exploit it for high strikeout numbers against him. His long-term defensive home is also likely to be in the outfield, with rough defensive numbers at third and shortstop this past year.
17. Charlee Soto
2025 was a lost season for Charlee Soto because the Twins shut him down after just three starts with High-A Cedar Rapids. His season shutdown was originally due to a triceps injury. However, in August, he had surgery to remove a partially detached bone spur in his throwing arm.
Before his season shut down, Soto had three excellent starts with the Kernels. He pitched to a 1.38 ERA, with 15 strikeouts, four walks, and only nine hits allowed in 13 innings of work.
Soto only turned 20 on August 31. He’s still ahead of many other players his age for the level he’s playing at, and the Twins will likely run back their plans to let him pitch a full season with the Kernels this next year. If his arm heals well and is just as dominant as it was before the surgery, then Soto could even have a chance to reach Wichita before his 21st birthday.
Still, Soto has lost a lot of his prospect stock. He had been ranked as a top 100 prospect by some national outlets coming into 2025. But because of his lost stock, he’s the best Twins prospect to have the biggest rise on this list and many other prospect lists in 2026.
18. C.J. Culpepper
Rattled by injuries the past two seasons, C.J. Culpepper has still been at the top of his game when healthy on the mound. He was limited to only 59 ⅓ innings over 17 starts in 2025 due to an undisclosed injury. Still, he pitched to a 2.43 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, along with a 21.2% strikeout rate, and 12.4% walk rate.
Until this season, Culpepper has had an impeccable command of the strike zone. However, in 2024, he suffered an undisclosed injury and a forearm strain. He may have lost some of the sauce on his stuff. Still, Culpepper’s fastball averages around 94 MPH and can still top out at 98 MPH, with a slider, curveball, changeup, and cutter in his arsenal.
Culpepper’s biggest test for 2026 will be to see if he can remain healthy for a full season. If injury woes still plague him, then it’s likely he’s converted to a relief role before he reaches the majors.
19. James Ellwanger
The latest draft pick by the Twins out of Dallas Baptist since Kody Funderburk, James Ellwanger had an effective junior year to land as their third round pick in this past year’s draft.
Ellwanger had a decent season in Conference USA, pitching to a 3.98 ERA, with 39 walks, and 95 strikeouts in 63 ⅓ innings. He features a slow but uniquely shaped curveball that sits in the low 80s, with his fastball averaging 93-94 MPH. Like many of Minnesota’s draft picks who are pitchers in recent years, Ellwanger has yet to make his pro ball debut as he worked out on the back fields of Minnesota’s spring training complex in Fort Myers.
Ellwanger and Quick will both start the 2026 season in Fort Myers’ rotation with the opportunity to show what they have as starters.
20. Billy Amick
Billy Amick was off to a hot start in 2025, hitting .342/.475/.447 with 12 RBI and a 15.2% walk rate over his first 21 games. But there was no power in his swing to start the year, and with an oblique strain right as the calendar flipped to May, he wouldn’t hit his first home run of the season until July 2.
Power was one of the tools that made Amick stand out when the Twins drafted him out of the University of Tennessee in 2024. He had 23 home runs, 65 RBI, and a 1.026 OPS over 292 plate appearances in his junior year. Still, over 343 professional plate appearances, he’s only had seven home runs.
Amick will have another chance to show off his power in the Midwest League this next season. Fortunately, he hit well enough for contact with a .307/.417/.450 slash line for 2025. If Amick loses his power for contact, then he’s not a complete bust. Still, with that being the standout in his swing when the Twins drafted him nearly two years ago, it’s one course that will need to be tracked in his development as he moves up their minor-league ranks.