Where the Twins Top 30 Prospects from 2023 Ended their 2025 Seasons

It’s hard to believe 2023 was already three years ago. With so much time having passed since the Minnesota Twins ended their 18-game losing streak in the postseason, it’s time to look back on the players who were providing the spark of hope for the future beyond that season.

Let’s look at where they ended their 2025 seasons, from the majors to the lowest levels of the minors.

1. Brooks Lee

2025 Season End: Twins Active Roster 

Brooks Lee took a step forward in 2025, showing he’s capable of staying healthy for most of a 162-game season, playing in 139 games for the Twins. However, Lee was inconsistent at the plate throughout the season.

In June, he was one of the league's hottest hitters. He had a 19-game hitting streak, where he produced a team-leading .348/.375/.533 slash line with four home runs and 16 RBI.

However, Lee never hit above .219 in a month for the rest of the season. His overall numbers plummeted, and he finished with a .236/.285/.370 slash line and 5.9% walk rate to end the year.

Lee will be Minnesota's everyday shortstop to start the new season. Still, he had shaky defense down the stretch after the Twins traded Carlos Correa back to the Houston Astros. It’s unclear whether he will hold down the position long-term or find himself in a utility player role when Kaelen Culpepper is ready for his call-up to the majors.

2. Royce Lewis

2025 Season End: Twins Active Roster 

The Twins hope that Royce Lewis will continue to build off his second-half performance in the new year. After a dismal first half where he only had two home runs in 153 plate appearances, Lewis showed signs of his old self down the stretch, with 11 home runs, 39 RBI, and a .723 OPS.

Lewis admitted he rushed himself back from the injured list too early, after missing the first month of the season due to a pulled hamstring in a spring training game. Even after he played in 106 games last year, and 64 of Minnesota's 66 games in the second half, there are still worries around what Lewis’s health will be like in 2026.

If he can replicate or set a new career high in games played in 2026, it’s a sign Lewis is playing towards his long-awaited potential that we haven’t seen on a full scale since 2023.

3. Emmanuel Rodriguez

2025 Season End: Triple-A St. Paul

Perhaps no position player in the Twins system has been bitten worse by the injury bug than Emmanuel Rodriguez. Between aggravating thumb injuries, a hip, and a quad strain, Rodriguez was limited to just 65 games in 2025.

Rodriguez finished the season healthy in Triple-A St. Paul, playing in nine of their final 12 games. But the Twins wanted to have an extended look at him in the off-season, so he went on to play 18 games in the Dominican Winter League and crushed the competition with four home runs, 11 RBI, and a 1.063 OPS in 60 plate appearances.

If Rodriguez can build off his success in the Dominican Winter League and remain healthy for the first six weeks of the season, it won’t be out of the question that Twins fans can see him in the lineup by Memorial Day.

4. Connor Prielipp

2025 Season End: Triple-A St. Paul

The reigning Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year, Connor Prielipp, had his healthiest season to date since the Twins drafted him in 2022. Missing only one start due to a blister on his throwing hand in June, Prielipp pitched a career high 82 ⅔ innings between Double-A Wichita and Triple-A St. Paul.

Opposing hitters were able to make a lot of contact off him (.288 average), elevating his WHIP to 1.59 on the year. Still, Prielipp dominated opposing hitters with a 27% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate to demonstrate an effective command of the strike zone, despite the numerous hits allowed.

Prielipp’s healthy season in 2025 is encouraging for what’s to come in his career. While the Twins still haven’t commented on whether he’ll be a starter or reliever long term, given his extensive injury history, Twins fans should expect him to be a full-time reliever by the end of 2026.

5. Edouard Julien

2025 Season End: Twins Active Roster

2025 turned out to be another disappointing season for Edouard Julien.

He made the Opening Day roster but struggled whenever he was in the lineup, putting up a .198/.288/.319 slash line in 104 plate appearances. The struggles continued for him after they sent him back down to Triple-A on May 3. His bat didn’t heat up with St. Paul until June.

Julien was able to put up a .276/.415/.464 slash line with 11 home runs and 34 RBI in 70 games with the Saints, and returned to the Twins lineup following the fire sale at the trade deadline.

He didn’t provide much production in the Twins lineup following his return, hitting only one home run over another 104 plate appearances. Julien is out of minor league options in 2026, and it’s unclear whether the Twins will retain his roster spot before spring training is over.

6. Marco Raya

2025 Season End: Triple-A St. Paul

The 2025 season was one filled with turmoil for the one-time top right-handed pitcher in the Twins farm system. Marco Raya had a terrible stretch of seven starts from April 25 to June 5, where he allowed 27 hits, 16 walks, and 30 earned runs in 19 ⅓ innings.

The bad stretch all stemmed from Raya struggling with the mental side of the game, as he put it in his own words, midway through the year. Things went better for Raya after that bad seven-stretch start, when he split time between starting and in relief for the Saints.

Raya had a 4.37 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 20.6% strikeout rate, and 11.9% walk rate in 72 innings of work in 20 appearances from June 10 to the end of the season. Given how poorly Raya’s 2025 went as a starter and the depleted state of Minnesota's bullpen, he’s more than likely set to be a reliever full-time going into 2026.

7. Matt Wallner

2025 Season End: Injured List 

Matt Wallner’s 2025 season ended when he suffered an oblique strain, with just a week’s worth of games left on the schedule. Wallner had a bizarre season, to say the least. He missed half of April and nearly all of May with a hamstring strain. When he returned, he only seemed to connect for power, with six of his 14 hits from May 31 to June 29 going for home runs.

That seemed to remain the pattern for Wallner wherever he was in the lineup for the rest of the season. He would show up as a three-true outcome hitter, either walking, striking out, or hitting a home run, finishing the year with 22 home runs, 40 RBI, an 11.7% walk rate, and 29.1% strikeout rate.

Wallner will always be a power hitter prone to striking out most of the time, but his glaring weakness down the stretch seemed to be against fastballs over 95 MPH. If he can improve his hit tools against high velocity pitches, then he will return to his 2023 breakout form that helped propel the Twins into the postseason.

8. Simeon Woods Richardson

2025 Season End: Twins Active Roster

If any Twins starter showed encouraging signs for the future of their starting rotation after the fire sale, it was Simeon Woods Richardson. While he missed some time in August due to a stomach virus, Woods Richardson dominated in September, posting a 2.33 ERA, 2.54 FIP, 8.7% walk rate, and 34.6% strikeout rate in 27 innings over five starts.

Woods Richardson has shown he is capable of being a dependable, middle-of-the-rotation arm in the small sample sizes over his first two full seasons in the majors. The next step in 2026 will be for him to maintain that dependability over the full 162-game season and build up a workload stretching anywhere from 150 to 175 innings pitched.

9. Jose Salas

2025 Season End: Double-A Wichita

The top prospect the Twins received alongside Pablo Lopez in the trade that sent Luis Arraez to Miami, Jose Salas, had a considerable drop-off during his first season in the Twins system, hitting only .188/.263/.268 in 382 plate appearances in High-A Cedar Rapids.

Salas has slowly regained some of his form at the plate, hitting .236/.310/.422 with nine home runs, 40 RBI, and 17 stolen bases over 71 games between Low-A, High-A, and Double-A. Salas will only turn 23 on April 26 and still has plenty of time to figure things out as a utility infielder to get a shot in the Majors.

But his days as a top 30 prospect are long gone. Even if he can recoup some of that lost stock from the lower levels of the minors, he may not see more than a bench role if he reaches the majors.

10. Louis Varland

2025 Season End: Blue Jays Active Roster

One of the hardest goodbyes Twins fans have had to say to a fan favorite and locally raised player, Louis Varland, was the Toronto Blue Jays' workhorse of the 2025 postseason.

He had become a dominant setup man in Minnesota's bullpen at the start of the year, which made him a highly desired trade candidate. Varland owned a 2.02 ERA, 23.9% strikeout rate, 6.6% walk rate, and 2.93 WHIP in 51 appearances with the Twins before the deadline. While things weren’t so great down the stretch in the regular season for the Blue Jays, he was an effective arm they depended on almost every night in the postseason.

Varland set a postseason record with 15 relief appearances in a single postseason. He owned a 3.94 ERA, 17 strikeouts, three walks, and four home runs allowed, half of which came in Game 3 of the ALDS against the Yankees. Varland proved to be a workhorse after his first full season in the bullpen; now it’ll be a matter of whether he can maintain the high workload as a reliever without losing his touch.

11. David Festa

2025 Season End: Injured

David Festa’s future in MLB looked questionable towards the end of the year, when they shut him down after a July 21 start at Dodger Stadium. He made one rehab start with Triple-A St. Paul on August 28, but exited early due to shoulder issues that landed him on the IL in the first place.

He was later diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, which has ended many pitchers’ careers. Fortunately for Festa, he did not have to undergo surgery for it and instead received Botox injections in his shoulder that helped to alleviate the issue.

Festa’s role in 2026 remains in question. As a starter in 2025, he owned a 4.44 ERA, 23.1% strikeout rate, and 8.3% walk rate over 48 ⅔ innings. He still has the stuff to be an effective starter, but thoracic outlet syndrome can make a pitcher’s arm fragile, even in the best of cases. Therefore, he could be considered an option for Minnesota's bullpen with how many vacancies are available to fill there.

12. Austin Martin

2025 Season End: Twins Active Roster

Despite having two hamstring injuries that limited him to just 35 games between Opening Day and July 31, Austin Martin was one of the better hitters in the Twins lineup after the trade deadline, carving out a nice role for himself for their plans in 2026.

Martin played in only 50 games, putting up a .282/.374/.365 slash line with a 12.2% walk rate, 17.1% strikeout rate, and 11 stolen bases. The most impressive of these numbers was the increase in walk rate and decrease in strikeout rate from their 2024 rookie numbers (7.8% walk rate and 18.3% strikeout rate).

Going into 2026, Martin seems pigeonholed to have left field as his only position on the depth chart. The Twins are not so high on his defense at second base or center field, limiting him to just 15 games at those positions in 2025. Still, if Martin can be an effective hitter at the top of the order with good speed on the base paths, he will find himself plenty of playing time in 2026.

13. Matt Canterino

2025 Season End: Triple-A Injured List

2025 was the third straight season Matt Canterino sat out due to another shoulder injury. Although he was removed from the 40-man roster and became a free agent in late April, the Twins re-signed Canterino to a new minor league deal covering 2025 and 2026.

2026 will hopefully be the year Canterino returns to the mound and shows what he can do as a reliever. The Twins were still trying him out as a starter when he last pitched in 2022. Still, given it’s been three and a half years since he was on the mound in a game. The Twins ought to do what’s best for his longevity and use him exclusively out of the bullpen.

14. Noah Miller

2025 Season End: Triple-A Oklahoma City (Dodgers)

Noah Miller was scouted as a defensive first shortstop when the Twins drafted him in 2021 and has remained that way since they traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Manuel Margot nearly two years ago.

Miller found his way up to Triple-A in 2025 after he had his best-ever hitting stretch in the minors at Double-A, putting up a .291/.336/.369 slash line in 111 plate appearances. The hot streak at the plate didn’t last long in Triple-A, as he would go on to hit .238/.269/.344 in 242 plate appearances.

With the Dodgers claiming Ryan Fitzgerald off waivers from the Twins, their shortstop depth puts Miller further back on the depth chart. If they need a defensive first glove later in the season, Miller might make his MLB debut with the Dodgers in 2026.

15. Yasser Mercedes

2025 Season End: Low-A Fort Myers 

Yasser Mercedes was one of the more highly touted names from Minnesota’s 2022 International Free Agent signing class. Two of his first three seasons in Rookie Ball were really strong performances, and he started 2025 with high expectations of what he could do for the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels.

However, 2025 turned out to be a down year for the young outfielder. He played in only 99 games, missing some time due to a left oblique strain. When he was healthy, he didn’t perform well, hitting .199/.309/.331 with 11 home runs and 48 RBI over 440 plate appearances.

Mercedes just turned 21 in November, giving him plenty of time to figure out his rhythm at the plate. Still, he will need to decrease his strikeout rate from 24.8%. Mercedes will likely start 2025 in Fort Myers again with the opportunity to quickly climb up to Cedar Rapids if he has a hot start to the 2026 season.

16. Danny De Andrade  

2025 Season End: High-A Cedar Rapids

After having his 2024 season cut short due to a left ankle sprain that shut his season down in mid-May, Danny De Andrade was able to put together a fully healthy year with High-A Cedar Rapids in 2025. De Andrade played in 121 games with the Kernels, where he had a .229/.317/.387 slash line with nine home runs, 58 RBI, and 15 stolen bases.

De Andrade has been scouted as a slick, defending shortstop; he’s still likely to remain at the position for the foreseeable future. He will more than likely start 2026 with Double-A Wichita, with Minnesota's first-round pick in 2025, Marek Houston, ending his season in Cedar Rapids, and Culpepper all but guaranteed to be in St. Paul.

17. Tanner Schobel

2025 Season End: Triple-A St. Paul

Tanner Schobel has had an up-and-down career in the minors after the Twins drafted him in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft. But he came out swinging a hot bat in 2025 at Double-A Wichita, hitting .292/.372/.465 with seven home runs, 29 RBI, and seven stolen bases over 49 games.

That earned him his first call-up to Triple-A St. Paul on June 4, but he only played in 10 games with the Saints after leaving a game early on June 14 with a right forearm fracture. The injury cost Schobel nearly two months of playing time, and saw his numbers slump in his final 19 games of the year. He hit .214/.279/.286 with an 8.2% walk rate and 29.5% strikeout rate.

Schobel still has the strong makings of a utility infielder and will no doubt play that role for the Saints for at least half of the 2026 season. But if the soon to be 25 year old can replicate the start of his 2025 season in 2026, he will earn himself an opportunity in the majors.

18. Bryan Acuna

2025 Season End: Low-A Fort Myers 

Another member of the Acuna family who is stretching their footprint in the baseball world, Bryan Acuna, made it to affiliated ball this year after spending the past three seasons in Rookie Ball. Acuna had a decent start in the Florida Complex League, hitting .254/.420/.365 with one home run, eight RBI, and more walks (15) than strikeouts (14).

He was promoted to the Mighty Mussels on June 10, primarily playing at shortstop and third base. However, Low-A pitchers exposed Acuna’s strike zone judgement, where he had a 26.3% strikeout rate and 14.5% walk rate in 223 plate appearances.

Having just turned 20 in August, Acuna is likely to spend all of 2026 in Fort Myers unless he has a breakout performance that can move him up to Cedar Rapids.

19. Jose Rodriguez 

2025 Season End: MiLB Free Agent

When the Twins signed Jose Rodriguez out of the 2022 International Free Agent class, his big draw was the raw power he had and what it could mean for his future. He showcased that in the Dominican Summer League for his first season of pro ball, hitting 13 home runs, 49 RBI, 15 doubles, and posting a .966 OPS in 219 plate appearances.

But that power tool has been lacking as he’s moved up the system. Rodriguez has only hit 19 home runs over 648 plate appearances over the last three seasons. Since he was promoted to Fort Myers in 2024, Rodriguez’s overall numbers have plummeted to a .161/.252/.320 slash line, 32% strikeout rate, 12.8% walk rate, and lackluster fielding in the outfield.

While there were occasional moments of the once-promising power in 2025, Rodriguez’s eight home runs in 250 plate appearances weren’t enough for him to remain on the roster. The Twins released him on July 28 and has not received an offer since.

20. Ronny Henriquez

2025 Season End: Miami Marlins Active Roster 

The Twins DFA’d Ronny Henriquez after they signed Danny Coulombe nearly a year ago. The Marlins claimed him to bolster their own bullpen, and it turned out to be one of the best moves for their 2025 season.

Henriquez made 69 relief appearances for the Marlins and pitched to a 2.22 ERA, 3.15 FIP, 1.09 WHIP, with a 32.9% strikeout rate, and 8.9% walk rate over 73 innings of work. The breakout season from Henriquez turned him into one of Miami's most dependable relievers and set him up for a larger role in 2026.

Unfortunately, no one will be able to see him pitch in 2026, though. Henriquez underwent a UCL reconstruction surgery in December.

21. Jordan Balazovic

2025 Season End: Triple-A Toledo (Tigers)

After finishing 2024 abroad in the KBO, Jordan Balazovic returned stateside and spent the entire 2025 season with the Toledo Mud Hens. Balazovic pitched decently, holding opponents to a 3.75 ERA with 23 walks, 53 strikeouts, and a 1.46 WHIP in 57 ⅔ innings over 37 appearances.

The Tigers only signed Balazovic to a one-year minor-league deal, and they didn’t extend him at the end of the season. He remains on the free agent market for any team looking to add bullpen depth going into spring training.

22. Misael Urbina

2025 Season End: High-A Cedar Rapids

Misael Urbina spent his third consecutive season with the Kernels in 2025. He performed well below average in his first two seasons in Cedar Rapids, but improved his numbers at the plate to a career-best .247/.357/.404 slash line in High-A, along with four home runs, 35 RBI, a 13.8% walk rate, and 16.8% strikeout rate over 75 games.

Despite the improvements, Urbina elected free agency at the end of the 2025 season and remains unsigned. He won’t turn 24 until April 26, and could still bolster a team in need of outfield depth with their Double-A affiliate.

23. Alejandro Hidalgo

2025 Season End: Double-A Wichita

Alejandro Hidalgo has had a tough go as a starting pitcher since the Twins acquired him in the trade that sent Gio Urshela to the Los Angeles Angels at the start of the 2022-23 off-season. Hidalgo missed all of 2024 with a right shoulder impingement, which set him back a year in his development.

He finally made it up to Double-A Wichita this year, but his numbers at Cedar Rapids weren’t spectacular before the call-up. Hidalgo had a 5.43 ERA and 1.43 WHIP in 63 innings of work, but had a decent strikeout rate at 27.9% and an 11.8% walk rate over 17 starts.

Those helped earn him the promotion to Wichita, but his numbers dropped in Double-A. There, he had a 9.55 ERA, a 1.98 WHIP, 29 hits allowed, 13 walks, and 21 strikeouts in 21 ⅔ innings over seven starts.

Hidalgo has a good command of the strike zone with effective strikeout pitches, but his overall numbers have suffered from pitches that fall into a hitter's wheelhouse. He’ll likely start 2026 in the Wind Surge starting rotation, but if things don’t continue to improve, they could move him to the bullpen full-time.

24. Rafael Cruz

2025 Season End: Injured/Retired

The younger brother of Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz, Rafael Cruz was another international prospect who flourished in Rookie Ball, but struggled once he reached affiliated ball.

He last played in 2024 with the Mighty Mussels, where he put up a .194/.225/.276 slash line with no home runs, 10 RBI, and three stolen bases over 27 games before the Twins released him on May 28, 2024.

25. Brent Headrick

2025 Season End: New York Yankees Active Roster

Claimed off waivers by the New York Yankees on February 11 last year, Brent Headrick had a strong 2025 season when healthy, but dealt with two injuries that kept his time on the mound limited to 17 appearances in the majors.

He pitched well with the Yankees, posting a 3.13 ERA in 23 innings of work, along with a 3.83 FIP, 7.6% walk rate, and 32.6% strikeout rate. He ended the year on the IL with a left forearm contusion. However, he’s expected to be healthy once it’s time for pitchers and catchers to report to spring training.

26. Ariel Castro 

2025 Season End: MiLB Free Agent 

Ariel Castro was ranked as the 11th best International Free Agent when the Twins signed him in the 2023 International Free Agent draft class, but his promise never showed over the last three seasons in Rookie Ball.

Castro struggled to hit above .206 in any of his three seasons, and his numbers hit rock bottom in 2025, with a .104/.256/.260 slash line, three home runs, 14 RBI, 13 walks, and 43 strikeouts over 41 games. He was released from the FCL Twins on July 29.

27. Ricardo Olivar

2025 Season End: Double-A Wichita

One of the better offensive catchers in the Twins system, Ricardo Olivar, had a decent season in 2025, spending all of it at Double-A Wichita. Olivar put up a .264/.356/.412 slash line with 13 home runs, 59 RBI, an 18.2% strikeout rate, and 12% walk rate over 407 plate appearances.

He has not primarily played behind the plate; he’s played 90 games in left field over his professional career. Olivar will likely continue to split his playing time between catcher, DH, and left field as he enters 2026.

Twins fans should also expect to see him start his season in Minnesota this time around with the St. Paul Saints, after having a productive year at the plate in Wichita.

28. Sean Mooney

2025 Season End: Retired

After missing significant time on the mound in 2022 to recover from nerve entrapment in his collarbone, Sean Mooney only pitched nine games in 2023 before officially retiring from professional baseball.

Mooney was a 12th-round draft pick by the Twins in 2019 out of St. John’s University in Queens, New York. He had a decent minor-league career, pitching to a 3.18 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, with 58 walks and 166 strikeouts over 110 ⅓ innings, but eventually suffered too many injuries to keep playing.

29. Ben Ross

2025 Season End: Double-A Wichita 

Ben Ross has had a steady climb through the Twins system since they took him in the 5th round of the MLB Draft in 2022. While he has shown promising power at every level of the minors, his contact skills have come at a cost to them.

Ross put up a .219/.308/.363 slash line with 14 home runs, 60 RBI, 18 stolen bases, an 11.2% walk rate, and a 22.7% strikeout rate over 120 games with the Wind Surge in 2025. Ross has been primarily used as a shortstop, climbing up the minors. Still, he has also played a significant number of games at third base and center field.

If he can find a way to improve his contact skills, he could make a case to add his versatility to the Triple-A lineup in St. Paul at some point in 2026.

30. Jaylen Nowlin

2025 Season End: Double-A Wichita

After making his Triple-A debut at the end of 2024, Jaylen Nowlin only had two games with the Saints in all of 2025, spending most of the season in the Wind Surge bullpen.

Nowlin came up through the system as a starter. However, with so many starters in the upper minors, they moved him to the bullpen to see what he can do with a smaller workload. Nowlin made 39 appearances for the Wind Surge and pitched to a 4.96 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, with 40 walks allowed and 59 strikeouts over 52 ⅔ innings.

The Twins will keep Nowlin rolling as he is one of the few left-handed relievers they have in the upper levels of the minors. If he can regain better control of his command in 2026, then he can turn into an effective one-inning lefty reliever for the Saints.

2025 Season’s End Totals

On MLB rosters: 8

On MLB/MiLB injured lists: 3

In the minors or other pro ball: 15

Free agents or out of professional baseball: 4

Only four players from this former group of top 30 Twins prospects have found their way out of baseball completely at the end of 2025.

Minnesota's outcome with these top 30 prospects from 2023 has been mixed. Still, several of these players will be looking for opportunities in 2026 to play pivotal roles in turning the franchise around after a 70-92 record in 2025.