The Minnesota Twins added a handful of prospects to the 40-man roster to protect them from next month’s Rule 5 Draft, while also making a trade for a Tampa Bay Rays reliever with a history of racking up strikeouts in the minors.
Minnesota traded minor league right-hander Jacob isting to the Rays for right-hander Eric Orze. The 28-year-old pitched in the big leagues with the Rays last season, posting a 3.02 ERA with 40 strikeouts and 19 walks in 41 2/3 innings.
In the minors, Orze was a strikeout machine. At Triple-A last season, he had 37 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings. At Triple-A in 2023 and 2024, he combined for 165 strikeouts in 122 2/3 innings.
He’s virtually a lock to make the Opening Day roster after Minnesota traded away so many relievers — Louis Varland, Griffin Jax, Danny Coulombe, and Jhoan Duran — ahead of last season’s trade deadline.
Meanwhile, the players the Twins added to the 40-man roster include left-handed pitchers Connor Prielipp and Kendry Rojas, right-handers Andrew Morris and John Klein, and outfielders Gabriel Gonzalez and Hendry Mendez.
Rojas (No. 5), Gonzalez (No. 8), and Prielipp (No. 9) are all among the top-10 prospects in the organization, according to MLB Pipeline.
The players who could be swiped from the Twins in the Rule 5 Draft are pitchers CJ. Culpepper and Jose Olivares, utility man Ricardo Olivar, outfielder Kala’i Rosario, and infielder Danny De Andrade. All of them rank between 17th and 30th in the Twins prospect rankings from Pipeline.
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