Last year the Minnesota Twins experienced a youth movement that helped turn the season around while also introducing us to the next generation of stars.
Royce Lewis, Edouard Julien, and Ryan Jeffers all stepped up in big ways to help lead Minnesota to this deepest postseason run since 2002, but it was only the first wave of youth that is going to wash over the Twins’ roster. Guys like Simeon Woods Richardson, Austin Martin, and David Festa have made their debut (SWR is more of a re-introduction, but he’s finally stuck), and there’s more where that came from.
Brooks Lee is revving his engine at the gate ready to breakout and join the 26-man roster, and there’s a line of prospects behind him ready to do the same thing. Even if guys in the farm system are a year or more away from actually making an impact, the latest Baseball America Top 100 ranking is a reminder of how bright the future in Minnesota is.
Twins land six players in Baseball America’s latest Top 100 prospect ranking
Baseball America has once again updated its list of the Top 100 prospects in baseball, and the Twins now have six players that rank among the very best. Not only has David Festa officially been added to the list, but Zebby Matthews and Luke Keaschall both rose in the lastest ranking.
Player | Position | New Rank (July 3rd) | Old Rank (June 7th) |
|---|---|---|---|
Walker Jenkins | OF | No. 6 | No. 7 |
Emmanuel Rodriguez | OF | No. 14 | No. 16 |
Brooks Lee | 2B | No. 28 | No. 45 |
Luke Keaschall | OF | No. 48 | No. 66 |
Zebby Matthews | P | No. 54 | No. 100 |
David Festa | P | No. 93 | N/A |
Let’s not bury the lede here (he says, already this deep into the piece), every single Twins prospect in Baseball America’s ranking moved up.
This wasn’t the case last time around, as Brooks Lee sunk ten spots to No. 45 after having his season thrown off track by an injury. It’s safe to say he’s firmly back as his month of lighting up Triple-A St. Paul has resulted in a massive leap back to where we’re used to seeing him in prospect rankings.
Perhaps more impressive is what happened below the line of traditional Twins top prospects. We all know the hype around Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and Lee, but the rise of Zebby Matthews, Luke Keaschall, and David Festa might be the most exciting development of this latest update.
Both Keaschall and Matthews cracked the Top 100 in the last update but they were in the bottom half of the list. In less than a month, Keaschall has become a Top 50 prospect while Matthews is knocking on the door as well.
All of that is before we get to Festa, who is the only player out of the group to have actually made his MLB debut. He was called up in late June after Chris Paddack hit the IL and he might be taking a Wodds Richardson route as far as pitching well enough to keep his roster spot. He clocked in at No. 93 in Baseball America’s list, which makes him the fifth Twins prospect to be in both this ranking and MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list as well.
Not everyone listed is going to make an impact this season — and a few might not be on the team after the trade deadline. This latest ranking, though, is as clear an indication that the future has never been brighter in Minnesota than it is right now.
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