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Twins have a whopping five top prospects in latest Baseball America's Top 100

Minnesota saw two more players get added to their haul of Top 100 prospects.

By Josh Hill

Cedar Rapids Kernels' Luke Keaschall (44) throws to first base against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers during their baseball game Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, Wisconsin.
Cedar Rapids Kernels' Luke Keaschall (44) throws to first base against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers during their baseball game Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, Wisconsin. / Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin /
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The latest Baseball America Top 100 prospects ranking is officially out, and it's nothing but fantastic news for the Minnesota Twins.

All over the list there were changes from what we saw before the season, most notably the adjustment of Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes taking over the No. 1 spot. Jackson Holliday used to occupy that spot but dropped down a bit after his struggles after getting called up were juxtaposed against the overwhelming amount of success Skenes has experienced since debuting.

Only one of the remains in the Majors, too.

Neither of those guys play for the Twins, though, but Minnesota clocked in with a total of five prospects in the latest ranking. That's two additional players than the team had in the preseason ranking and is the surest sign yet of how bright the future is.

Twins land five top prospects in latest Baseball America Top 100 ranking

Of the three players the twins already had three players in the last Top 100 ranking, two of them managed to move up.

  • Walker Jenkins
  • Emmanuel Rodriguez
  • Brooks Lee
  • Luke Keaschall
  • Zebby Matthews

Nobody had a bigger leap than Emmanuel Rodriguez, who jumped all the way up to No. 16 after getting ranked No. 53 before the season started. He's hitting .298/.479/.621 with a 1.100 OPS despite missing a handful of games due to injury.

He's hurt again, which only makes his success so far this season at Double-A even more of a tease. There was some chatter among fans of Rodriguez leaping all the way from Wichita to the Twins, but for now we'll all have to settle for his rise in the rankings.

E-Rod wasn't the only Twins player to move up. Top prospect Walker Jenkins, despite missing a bulk of the season so far, jumped up six spots to No. 7 overall.

Jenkins has only managed to play in nine games this season, but all indications are that he's officially back from his injury. Evidence of that can be seen by him slashing .393/.514/.571 with a 1.085 OPS so far, which is exactly the display of power the Twins want to see.

Brooks Lee was the only top prospect the Twins had who fell in the latest ranking. He dropped ten spots, but that's more a reflection of how he's missed most of the season due to injury than anything else.

It's also a bit concerning that the common thread between Minnesota's top prospects is their injury history, but thus is life for Twins fans.

One name that sticks out is the one that's not on the list. Gabriel Gonzalez is a Top 100 prospect in MLB Pipeline's latest ranking, but Baseball America doesn't have him on their list. He's still full of potential, but Gonzalez hasn't stood out in ways that Kaeschall has and isn't rising as fast as Matthews.

That doesn't mean we've heard the last of Gonzalez, rather it seems to imply that if he can take some steps forward it would mean the Twins having six top prospects in the next ranking.

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