NORTH PORT, Fla. – For the first time this spring, the Twins cut players Monday who might very well be on the Major League roster before 2026 is over.
Minnesota sent out four of its top 10 prospects and six of the top 13, a list that included numerous players who made very strong impressions this spring. In total, nine players were sent out. Pitchers John Klein, Connor Prielipp, Marco Raya, Kendry Rojas and Andrew Morris, and outfielders Emmanuel Rodriguez and Gabriel Gonzalez were optioned to Triple-A St. Paul; outfielder Hendry Mendez was optioned to Double-A Wichita; and catcher Patrick Winkel was reassigned to Minor League camp.
Virtually every one of them did something to catch the coaching staff’s eye this spring, but at the top of the list were Rodriguez and Gonzalez on the offensive side and Rojas and Prielipp on the pitching side.
Rodriguez, the organization’s No. 4 prospect, showed a power and speed combination as well as impressive fundamentals in his first healthy Major League camp. Gonzalez’s pure bat-to-ball ability, meanwhile, definitely intrigued manager Derek Shelton.
“I told Emma this -- I think of everything that we've talked about baserunning in Spring Training, all the instruction we've done, he’s done the best job of it,” Shelton said. “The ability to be aggressive. … Little things like that, that are going to make him a good big leaguer, I think he really paid attention to. And that's important.”
Gonzalez (Minnesota's No. 7 prospect) hit a game-winning sacrifice fly on Sunday and then homered on Monday, showing the pure hitting ability that has fueled his rise through the system.
“It's fun to watch him hit,” Shelton said. “It's aggressive. You know he's going to get his swings off. There's no tentativeness to it, and he has the ability to put the ball on the barrel. … You don't teach what he has.”
On the pitching side, Prielipp (No. 5 prospect) and Rojas (No. 10 prospect) both showed their tantalizing talent, as well as the areas where they can still develop. Both lefties will continue to be developed as starters, because the possibility of even one of them reaching his ceiling as a starter is too exciting to ignore.
“We saw the good, the positives, the reasons that [as an] organization, we really like them,” Shelton said. “And then I think we also saw, 'OK, there's development areas.' And that's important, because in a short Spring Training, especially guys in their first Spring Training, if you only see the good, then you don't realize like when they go away, 'Oh, there is development.'”
Matthews seeks good strikes
Right-hander Zebby Matthews has always been a strike-thrower. Minuscule walk rates were his calling cards as he climbed the Minor League ladder, even before a velocity spike put him firmly on the radar as a future big leaguer.
However, Matthews throws, if not too many strikes, too many pitches over the heart of the plate. Then there can be a tendency to try to get too fine, which leads to walks. Finding the happy medium – throwing quality strikes on the edges of the zone – is a top goal for Matthews this spring. Over the past two years, he has the fifth-highest rate of true middle-middle pitches of any starter with at least 2,000 pitches in the Major Leagues.
The issue bit him again on Monday, when Matthews was charged with six runs in the first and was removed with two outs before reentering the game and allowing a single to lead off the second. But after that, he allowed only an infield single over the final 10 batters he faced.
“If you look at my numbers last year, I had a really high batting average on balls in play,” Matthews said. “Very high. So it’s partially trying to get to the corners early, but trying not to be too fine with it where you keep falling behind hitters. You want to stay aggressive on the mound. You want to keep that attack mindset. So that’s kind of a lot of what we’re working on here.”
Adams hurt
Right-hander Travis Adams will not pick up a baseball until at least Friday after suffering inflammation in his right elbow. Adams felt something when he was warming up for a scheduled appearance on Friday against the Braves, and was scratched from that appearance. Shelton said that an MRI “showed no structural damage,” but Adams will be held out of throwing for seven days.
Adams, a rookie last season, is a contender for a spot in the Twins’ bullpen, and would likely have a strong case if he’s healthy because he’s capable of pitching multiple innings.