Twins

When Twins manager Rocco Baldelli announced that Joe Ryan will be making the Opening Day start for the Twins next week, it showed how much the team and front office believe in Ryan. Speaking of belief in Ryan, when the Twins traded catchers Mitch Garver and Ben Rortvedt last month, they showed their belief in Ryan Jeffers. 

Making his Triple-A debut, Twins pitching prospect Cole Sands looked the part of a star in what was a dazzling first outing. Unfortunately things got away from the Saints late as they dropped their first game of the season.

The pitchers and catchers for the Minnesota Twins have finally reported to spring training and position players are already filtering into the Fort Myers camp in advance of their mandatory reporting day later this week. The Twins will open their season in Baltimore on April 4, but from all that’s being written about the Twins, it appears there are only minor questions about the composition of the Opening Day roster and even fewer questions about the Opening Day lineup.

When Derek Falvey and Thad Levine took over the Minnesota Twins front office, they inherited a tremendous gift: the first overall pick, along with the largest signing pool ever, in the upcoming MLB Draft.

This gift was also a potential curse, because if they didn't get it right, the new top execs were going to be judged harshly on their choices in this first draft for many years to come.

We're still a long way from being able to make any truly meaningful assessments, but here in the early going, the team's decisions could hardly look better.

There's been so much written about Connor Prielipp here since he was drafted just over six months ago. The thing about Prielipp, is that, unlike so many others in his draft class, Prielipp has yet to officially throw a professional pitch. And despite our penchant for covering all the angles on every prospect, it would be hard to believe we've ever given this much press to anyone else without a single throw.

But there's a good reason for this.

The St. Paul Saints have three of the best hitting prospects for Minnesota at the top of their lineup and each looked the part tonight. Down in Florida, Kyle Schmidt flexed his muscles and pitching was lights out from Steven Hajjar.

There wasn't a ton of big offensive performances tonight on the farm for the Minnesota Twins affiliates, but Kala'i Rosario stole the show this afternoon in a Mighty Mussels loss. Cody Laweryson was dominant for the Wichita Wind Surge, and Cole Sands made a rehab appearance for the St. Paul Saints.

FT. MYERS – One Twins prospect that has gained significant attention this offseason is infielder Edouard Julien, who spent the 2022 season at Double-A Wichita. 

Identifying a team's top prospect can be challenging, but looking forward can provide even more excitement for a franchise's future. Here are the names that will be in consideration for the team's top prospect in 2024.

FORT MYERS, FL—The 2022 first-round draft pick is seeing plenty of action in early spring training, and building upon the stellar impression he made during last year's pro debut. Rocco Baldelli and Carlos Correa are among those who've taken notice. 

In 2020, Kenta Maeda ran the game and had the whole world talkin'. After a brilliant stretch of 11 starts, he was crowned the king of the Twins rotation. But Tommy John surgery has kept him out of action for nearly 18 months. What are reasonable expectations for King Kenta as he makes his triumphant return to his kingdom?

Just a year ago, Jordan Balazovic was a consensus top-100 pitching prospect and was at the top of Minnesota’s system. He dealt with injury and effectiveness to the point he no longer appears in Twins Daily’s top 15 prospects. It’s now or never for the right-handed hurler.