With it being Rule 5 protection day, there was a flurry of minor moves around MLB and the Twins got involved as well. Reliever Eric Orze, a casualty of the Tampa Bay Rays’ roster crunch, was acquired for minor league pitcher Jacob Kisting. Addtionally, the Twins protected a slew of their own prospects from the Rule 5 draft, adding LHP Connor Prielipp, OF Gabriel Gonzalez, LHP Kendry Rojas, RHP Andrew Morris, OF/1B Hendry Mendez, and RHP John Klein to the 40-man roster. The roster is now full at 40 players, though their will be plenty of moves to come as we get into the offseason.
Orze, 28, was solid for Tampa Bay last season, throwing 41.2 innings with a 3.02 ERA/3.46 FIP and a decent 22.5% strikeout rate and a bad 10.7% walk rate. For Orze to be an effective big leaguer, he’ll need to reign in his walks even more, but he also has a splitter that ranks among the league’s best. There’s plenty to like here if Pete Maki and the Twins’ staff can keep him in the zone more often. The Twins sent 22-year-old Jacob Kisting to the Rays, who threw 72 innings between Low and High A since being drafted in the 14th round in 2024.
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Now the prospects. First up is Prielipp, either the top or second-best pitcher in the Twins’ system depending on which outlet you refer to. The former second-round pick has all the tools to be a dominant MLB pitcher for years; the only thing holding him back is his health. Two elbow surgeries have limited him to just 112 total innings since being drafted in 2022, but has arguably the best slider in the minors while after holding a mid-90s fastball. Prielipp’s immediate path to success might be in the bullpen where his inning totals can be more easily managed, which Derek Falvey has already insinuated could happen as soon as next year, but should get a chance to move back to the rotation after he builds up his workload.
Rojas, 22, was acquired from the Blue Jays along with Alan Roden in the much-maligned Louie Varland trade. Rojas has a similar profile to Prielipp, but was largely ineffective after reaching AAA for the first time last season. In 32.1 AAA innings, Rojas had an unsightly 7.24 ERA and walked 7 batters per 9 innings, but also mixed in a good amount of strikeouts. Walks haven’t been a major issue for Rojas in the past, so the Twins are betting on the talent to win out. Either way, they couldn’t risk losing him mere months after acquiring him in the first place, so he gets his 40-man spot with a chance to contribute as soon as next year if he temporarily moves to the bullpen. Rojas is the Twins #5 prospect via MLB Pipeline.
Andrew Morris (#19 prospect) is the latest Derek Falvey special: a mid-round college arm who the Twins help add velocity and become a decent prospect. Morris had his first full season at AAA in 2025 and was fairly effective with a 4.09 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 93 innings for St. Paul. Morris likely would have been called upon for a few starts after the trade deadline, but he missed a good chunk in the middle of the season due to arm issues. He returned to make 8 effective starts over the final two months of the season and should make his Twins debut at some point in 2026.
We’ll wrap up the pitching prospects with John Klein, the wild card of the group. Klein is a local kid from Brooklyn Park who signed with the Twins as a UDFA in 2022 out of Iowa Central Community College and is not ranked at any major prospect outlet. However, Klein had a breakout 2025, throwing 103 innings between AA and AAA with a 3.98 ERA/3.25 FIP with a 27.6% strikeout rate and 8.0% walk rate. His relative anonymity meant there was a chance he could sneak through the Rule 5 process, but the flashy strikeout numbers and proven ability to pitch out of the ‘pen would have made him an easy draft-and-stash target for non-contending teams.
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On the offensive side, the Twins added a few notable bats, starting with outfielder Gabriel Gonzalez (#9 prospect). Gonzalez was a Top 100 prospect when he landed in Minnesota via the Jorge Polanco trade, but struggled with a back injury throughout 2024 and deservedly fell out of favor after a lost season with a .707 OPS at High A. He majorly bounced back in 2025, forcing himself up three minor league levels in a single season and combining to put up a .329/.395/.513 (.908 OPS) batting line between High A, AA, and AAA. Gonzalez has a similar long-term profile to recent Twins prospect Luke Keaschall. He makes a ton of contact and is very disciplined at the plate, but has a limited ceiling due to questions about his power and defense. However, as a right-handed bat who had a 1.022 OPS against lefties in 2025, he should get plenty of opportunities on a Twins team full of left-handed corner outfielders in need of platoon partners.
Finally, we have Hendry Mendez (#25 prospect), the big-bodied outfielder who the Twins acquired for Harrison Bader at the trade deadline. Mendez is a bat-first (potentially bat-only) prospect who currently is a corner outfielder, but will likely move to first base in the near future as the Twins started having him do work there after picking him up. Mendez also takes a contact-oriented, disciplined approach at the plate. However, unlike Keaschall or Gonzalez, Mendez has the body to tap into plenty of raw power if the Twins can help him get to it. He put up an incredible .324/.461/.450 batting line for AA Wichita, with more walks on the season than strikeouts (65/67 K/BB in 118 games). The hope for the Twins is they can get him to let loose a little more often with his swing. In a rare case for a prospect, more strikeouts might actually be a good thing for Mendez’s long-term development given his lack of ability in other areas of the game. Most importantly, this means the Twins have both a Hendry and a Kendry now on the roster.
Notable prospects left exposed to the Rule 5 Draft include RHP CJ Culpepper (#17 prospect), RHP Jose Olivares (#24 prospect), C/OF Ricardo Olivar (#26 prospect), OF Kala’i Rosario (#29 prospect), IF Danny De Andrade (#30 prospect), RHP Cory Lewis, and 2025 minor league breakout star Kyle Fedko. Of that group, Olivares probably has the highest ceiling and could be stashed at the end of a bullpen, but he also has never pitched above High A. The Rule 5 Draft will take place on December 10 in Orlando as part of the Winter Meetings.