Which Twins prospects might we see at Target Field before summer’s end?

FORT MYERS, FLA. – Mention the Twins’ starting pitching depth to club officials and the typical reaction from a coach or front office staffer is turning to look for a piece of wood to knock and then speaking with a hushed tone.

“It’s exactly what you want to see, but you don’t start smiling yet,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “No matter how many starters you have in any given moment, or guys you think you can turn to, you’re always on the edge of your seat trying to make sure you’re prepared for anything that could happen to your team.”

The Twins used 53 players last season, including 32 pitchers, so the 26-man Opening Day roster only includes about half the players who will wind up at Target Field in 2025.

The team does have a deeper starting pitching group than any time during Derek Falvey’s nine-year tenure overseeing the baseball operations department, and it could play an important role in the Twins' 2025 season. When pitching coach Pete Maki was mapping out spring training schedules for his pitching staff, there were only six guys who factored into starting pitcher buildups last year. This year, he was challenged to find innings for 11 starters.

David Festa and Zebby Matthews gained big-league experience when they were thrust into the rotation at the end of last season. Festa, 25, produced a 3.81 ERA with 69 strikeouts and 22 walks over his last 54 innings, and he added a sinker this offseason.

Matthews, 24, turned more heads than anybody during camp. With another uptick in velocity, he bullied hitters in Grapefruit League games. He permitted four hits in 9⅓ innings while compiling 12 strikeouts and one walk. Christian Vázquez, the veteran catcher, described the pitch mix as “nasty” and “electric.”

“They don’t just have upside,” Baldelli said. “They are already very good pitchers, and they really have a chance to be exceptional. Both of them.”

The next wave behind Festa and Matthews features Andrew Morris, Marco Raya, Travis Adams and Cory Lewis, and they all have experience pitching for the Class AAA Saints. When the Twins sought a rental starter at last year’s trade deadline, the 23-year-old Morris was constantly brought up by other teams.

Morris gave up two hits across seven scoreless innings during Grapefruit League games. He flashed even more velocity on the backfields later in the spring, hitting 98 mph with his fastball and 93 mph with his cutter.

Raya, 22, remains raw as a pitcher because he often worked with strict pitch counts, but his pure stuff is among the best in the Twins farm system with a good cutter and a sharp slider. Adams, 25, had a 3.05 ERA over his last 76⅔ minor league innings last year, and Lewis, 24, has intriguing potential with his mid-80s knuckleball. Lewis owns a career 2.50 ERA in 41 outings covering 180⅓ innings since he entered pro ball.

Lefthander Connor Prielipp hasn’t pitched above Class A, but his name comes up often as a dark horse for the Twins bullpen this summer. He has been limited to 30 innings since he was taken in the second round of the 2022 MLB draft because of elbow surgeries, but there are a lot of wide eyes and incredulous chuckles during his minor league spring training outings.

Prielipp, a 24-year-old from Tomah, Wis., features a 94-97 mph fastball with a vicious 90-92 mph slider. He’s the pitcher with arguably the most upside in the Twins farm system. He had an outing against Boston minor leaguers where he struck out seven of the 10 batters he faced, and another one vs. Atlanta where he struck out six of 14 batters.

“You know you’re going to have injuries,” Falvey said. “You know you’re going to have issues. You know things aren’t going to go exactly according to plan, but I think we’re in a better place” with the organization’s pitching pipeline.

The Twins should add two of their highest-rated prospects — second baseman Luke Keaschall and center fielder Emmanuel Rodriguez — to the lineup at some point this summer.

Keaschall was used exclusively as a designated hitter during camp as he recovered from Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery last August, but it’s his bat that will carry him to the big leagues. Last year, in 102 minor league games between Class A-Advanced and Class AA, he hit .303 with a .420 on-base percentage, 15 homers and 80 RBI.

“He’s a stud, man,” Carlos Correa said of 22-year-old Keaschall. “I think he will be up here very soon. He’s very disciplined and very meticulous with his preparation. He’s a great human being. He just wants to get better. You can tell and you can see it: He’s got a different aura about him.”

Rodriguez, 22, was sidelined for the first few weeks of camp because of an ankle sprain, but he hit .280 with a .459 on-base percentage in 47 minor league games last season, adding nine homers and 47 RBI.

It would take a monster season for Walker Jenkins, the 20-year-old drafted fifth overall in 2023, to push his way to the majors as he enters the year with minimal experience at Class AA, but he’s a special talent. His swing is reminiscent of Joe Mauer, and he hits for power yet rarely swings and misses.

Second baseman Payton Eeles, a 25-year-old who signed for $500 out of an independent league and mashed Class AAA pitching, could add to the infield depth once he recovers from an offseason knee procedure. Outfielder Kala’i Rosario, 22, didn’t hit for as much power last year, but he could factor into the outfield depth if he has a strong start to his minor league season.

When the Twins won the AL Central title in 2023 and advanced in the postseason for the first time in 21 years, the offense rallied in the second half of the season behind rookies Royce Lewis, Matt Wallner and Edouard Julien.

“On the position player side, do we have guys even beyond the initial wave, whatever the starting lineup looks on Opening Day, that we think are going to help us in a big way? Yes,” Baldelli said. “We’re going to need every single one of them to get to a good place.”