Twins’ top 10 minor league prospects — and updates on a half-dozen more

FORT MYERS, FLA. – When the Twins look back at their 2023 season and their playoff run, they’re thrilled with the way their player development staff prepared rookies for the major leagues.

Royce Lewis, despite all the time he missed, made an immediate impact. Edouard Julien turned into the club’s primary leadoff hitter. Matt Wallner was a key part of the offense. The rookie trio played a big part in the Twins’ second-half offensive surge.

It will be difficult for the Twins to replicate that level of success with their next crop of rookies, but they expect a few of their top prospects to contribute this summer. Here’s a look at the Twins’ top 10 prospects:

1. Walker Jenkins, 19, OF. Scouts see star potential in last summer’s No. 5 overall pick. He features a simple swing that generates huge power and limits whiffs. The 6-5, 210-pound lefthanded hitter is expected to begin the season at Class A Fort Myers, playing center field, and his performance will dictate how quickly he rises through levels. He was scheduled to return to minor league spring training games last weekend after dealing with a quad strain.

2. Brooks Lee, 23, SS. The son of a college coach, he’s a polished and well-rounded infielder. The 5-11 switch hitter was more productive as a lefty batter last year, spraying doubles to all parts of the field. He’s beginning the season on the injured list after he experienced back spasms in his last spring training game, but he will return to Class AAA St. Paul where he played 38 games last year. “He handled being a young player in camp just the way you would want to see a guy do it,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.

3. Emmanuel Rodriguez, 21, CF. He embodies the three true outcomes offensive approach with a lot of power, a lot of walks and a lot of strikeouts. He rarely chases pitches out of the strike zone — Julien-type plate discipline — and the Twins are challenging the 5-10 lefty batter to be more aggressive early in counts because his passive approach leads to many two-strike counts. “He hits the ball as hard as anyone,” Baldelli said. A consensus top-50 prospect, he will begin the season at Class AA Wichita.

4. David Festa, 24, RHP. A 13th-round pick in 2021, Festa has added velocity each year in the organization. His fastball averaged 95 mph in his season debut with the St. Paul Saints on Saturday, and he can draw a steady number of whiffs with his other two pitches, a slider and a changeup. Listed at 6-6 and 185 pounds, he worked on adding muscle in the offseason to prepare for pitching more innings. He looms as starting depth for the Twins this year.

5. Gabriel González, 20, OF. The centerpiece return from Seattle in the Jorge Polanco trade will begin the season at Class A-Advanced Cedar Rapids. A thick and stocky corner outfielder, Gonzalez stands out with his raw power and strong arm. Sometimes he swings too often at pitches out of the strike zone because he has the bat control to still hit them, but the Twins are working with him on becoming more selective. “He’s been super coachable,” said Twins farm director Drew MacPhail. “Awesome kid.”

6. Marco Raya, 21, RHP. The Twins have been cautious with Raya’s workload after he dealt with a shoulder strain in 2021. He hasn’t surpassed 65 innings in a season, and he threw fewer than 60 pitches in each of his 22 starts last year. He was sitting 95-96 mph with his fastball in a recent spring training outing with a high-spin-rate slider, a new 90-mph cutter, a solid curveball and a changeup that had good results last year. The 2020 fourth-round pick will return to Wichita. “He’ll start on a little bit of a limit and then as he builds up through April, then we’ll build him out to a full starter workload,” MacPhail said.

7. Charlee Soto, 18, RHP. Taken with the No. 34 overall pick in last year’s draft, Soto will begin at Class A Fort Myers. He doesn’t turn 19 until Aug. 31, but the Twins are impressed by the way he looked in camp. His fastball is up to 98 mph, and he has a good feel for a changeup. He made improvements to his sinker since he was drafted and he’s developing his slider. “As an 18-year-old in Low-A, it’ll be an aggressive assignment, but the stuff is pretty electric,” MacPhail said.

8. Austin Martin, 25, 2B/OF. Called up to the big leagues on Saturday after Royce Lewis’ injury, Martin brings a contact-oriented offensive approach. The No. 5 overall pick in 2020, acquired in the José Berríos trade with the Blue Jays, probably won’t hit for a ton of power, but he will draw a fair number of walks to use his speed on the base paths. His defensive versatility is another bonus.

9. C.J. Culpepper, 22, RHP. He was slowed because of a hamstring strain at the start of camp, but there was a crowd of scouts for his first minor league spring training appearance. The 2022 13th-round pick had his fastball top out at 96 mph, a big jump from where he was in college, while showcasing a 90-mph cutter and an 85-mph slider. He has a legitimate six-pitch mix and he posted a 1.73 ERA through his first 14 starts last year, mostly at Class A Fort Myers.

10. Danny De Andrade, 19, SS. A big international signing in 2021 out of Venezuela, he’s a stocky shortstop with increasing power. Preparing to start the season at Cedar Rapids, the 5-10, 190-pound righthanded batter hit well in minor league spring training games and looked fine defensively. “We worked a lot on the swing decisions with him,” MacPhail said, referencing De Andrade’s walk rate. “He showed a lot of improvement there last year.”

* Righthander Cory Lewis, who was the Twins’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2023 (2.49 ERA in 101⅓ innings), will have a slightly delayed start to the season because he experienced shoulder fatigue early in camp. He’s resumed throwing, but he will need to build up to a starter’s workload before he debuts in Class AA.

* Lefthander Connor Prielipp has pitched only 6⅔ minor league innings since he was taken in the second round of the 2022 amateur draft. He had elbow surgery last summer, and the Twins are hoping the Tomah, Wis., native will return in July or August.

* Brandon Winokur, the Twins’ 2023 third-round pick listed at 6-5, 210 pounds, was widely viewed as a potential corner outfielder during the draft. The Twins like what they’ve seen from him at shortstop, and he’ll continue to spend some time there at Class A. “He’s an incredibly athletic kid,” MacPhail said. “The arm is plus-plus and it’s a pretty compact throwing motion from the infield.”

* The Twins are impressed by second baseman/center fielder Luke Keaschall, their second-round pick last year. He rated among the top 10% of Twins hitters in contact rate and exit velocity during camp, and he’ll begin the season at Cedar Rapids. “He can really hit, man,” MacPhail said. “That’s the bottom line.”

* Righthander Darren Bowen, one of the four players acquired from Seattle in the Polanco trade, looked sharp in camp with a lot of swings and misses on his slider. He has an athletic build, listed at 6-3, 180, and his fastball is sitting in the 93-95 mph range.

* Jack Dougherty, a 6-4 righty, saw his fastball velocity tick up to 96 mph this spring, a notable jump from where he was with Ole Miss last year. He was a ninth-round pick in 2023.