Baseball America published an article naming every MLB team's Minor League Player of the Year on Monday. For the Twins, their 2025 Minor League Player of the Year is the team's most notable prospect.
Twins' No. 1 prospect Walker Jenkins surprisingly named Minnesota's Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America
Outfielder Walker Jenkins, who ranks as MLB's No. 14 prospect per MLB Pipeline, was named the Twins' Minor League Player of the Year. Although Jenkins missed over two months of the season with an ankle injury, his numbers have been spectacular. In 84 minor league games this year, Jenkins has slashed .286/.399/.451 for a 136 wRC+ with 10 home runs, 56 runs, 34 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. He started the season with Double-A Wichita before being promoted to Triple-A St. Paul on Aug. 25. He also had 25 at-bats with Single-A Fort Myers during a rehab assignment earlier in the year.
While Jenkins' numbers have been impressive, they aren't good enough to be the Twins' Minor League Player of the Year, as an outfield prospect acquired by the Twins in the Jorge Polanco trade has had an overall better season.
Twins outfield prospect Gabriel Gonzalez, whom the Twins acquired in the Jorge Polanco trade, was robbed of Minor League Player of the Year honors by Baseball America in favor of Walker Jenkins
Gabriel Gonzalez, 21, struggled in his first season (2024) with the Twins organization, slashing just .255/.327/.379 for a 106 wRC+ in High-A. It appeared that he wasn't the prospect everybody thought he'd be, as the outfielder fell out of MLB Pipeline's top-100 prospects list after ranking No. 79 before last season. However, he has completely flipped the script this season to the point that he arguably deserved to be named Baseball America's Twins Minor League Player of the Year over Walker Jenkins.
This season, Gonzalez is hitting an outstanding .329/.395/.513 for a 148 wRC+ with 15 home runs, 66 RBIs and eight stolen bases across three minor-league levels. Gonzalez started the season with High-A Cedar Rapids before earning promotions to Double-A Wichita and Triple-A St. Paul, where he is currently playing. While climbing the minor league ranks typically takes adjustments, Gonzalez has managed a wRC+ of over 120 at each level of the minors he has played in this season. Jenkins has had a great season, but Gonzalez has been even better.