After Twins' Deadline frenzy, these new prospects slot into Top 30

MINNEAPOLIS – With nine separate trades over four days, the Twins drastically reshaped both their Major League roster and their farm system.

Starting with the Monday trade of Chris Paddack and going all the way through Thursday’s seismic Deadline stretch that included Carlos Correa’s return to Houston, Minnesota traded 10 players from the Major League roster, acquiring 10 prospects and Minor League players, including six who join the team’s Top 30.

The Twins added a wide range of players, in particular bolstering the catching and pitching depth in the organization, and added both volume and some top-end talent. Here’s a look at the six ranked prospects.

Eduardo Tait, C, High-A Cedar Rapids, No. 4
Acquired in: Jhoan Duran trade with Phillies

Pipeline scouting report: A left-handed-hitting backstop, Tait has already displayed some impressive hitting traits. He finds the barrel consistently and makes a lot of hard contact. He’s capable of driving the ball to all fields and can hit the ball out everywhere, showing good power for such a young age. Like many young hitters with pop, he can get a little pull happy at times but should be able to learn to trust his natural strength and bat speed as he progresses.

While Tait’s overall defensive game is a work in progress, there's reason to believe he’s headed in the right direction after showing a lot of improvement behind the dish last year. He sets up well and his receiving has gotten better to the point where the Twins think he could be an average defender in the future, pairing nicely with his plus arm.

Organizational fit: Tait is here for his bat, and the potential in that bat is elite. He’ll get every opportunity to stick at catcher, but the hope is that even if he doesn’t, he’ll hit enough to be a special player.

ETA: 2028

Mick Abel, RHP, Level TBD, No. 6
Acquired in: Jhoan Duran trade with Phillies

Pipeline scouting report: Abel still possesses many of the qualities that made him a top Draft prospect, with four or five quality pitches coming from his 6-foot-5 frame. After dipping a little bit in 2024, he was back up to averaging nearly 96 mph on his fastball at the time of the trade in '25, topping out at 99 with his four-seamer, while missing a decent amount of bats with it. He also added a two-seamer that generated more contact on the ground. In 2023, his curve, now thrown in the 81-84 mph range, was the better of his two breaking balls, but last year his mid-80s slider was a more consistent option, especially in terms of landing it for strikes, though the curve missed more bats in 2025. He can sell his upper-80s changeup with sink well.

While he hasn’t taken the steps forward he would have liked, it should be noted that Abel was one of the youngest pitchers in the International League and has been pitching most of this season at age 23. He’s worked on his arm swing and delivery so he can be more on time, which had allowed him to find the strike zone more consistently, at least earlier in the season, giving hope he can still reach his ceiling as a big league starter.

Organizational fit: Abel could arrive very quickly, perhaps even stepping right into the starting rotation sooner rather than later. At a minimum, there could be opportunities in the bullpen. The Twins love big, hard-throwing righties, and that’s what he is.

ETA: 2025

Kendry Rojas, LHP, Triple-A St. Paul, No. 7
Acquired in: Louie Varland/Ty France trade with Blue Jays

Pipeline scouting report: Because of injuries, we’re still yet to see what the 22-year-old left-hander looks like when he’s fully stretched out, given that his career high in innings is 84. All other signs are encouraging, though, with his fastball continuing to tick up this year, averaging 94-95 mph and touching 97 after hovering closer to 90 a couple of years ago. He’s also throwing his slider and changeup a bit harder, sitting 86-87 mph, with the former being his predominant secondary pitch. His challenge for now will be developing and maintaining a starter’s routine and carrying that top-end stuff past 100 innings.

Rojas’ growth has been incremental over the years, but it’s all adding up now to one of the more intriguing left-handed pitching prospects in the Twins' system. From here, he needs to develop his routines and master everything that goes into pitching between his start days. He’s started to show that he can handle the challenge of the upper levels, and if he can stay healthy, he could be ready to touch a big league rotation in 2026.

Organizational fit: The Twins are extremely enamored with Rojas, who will start at Triple-A but will instantly be on the radar for a team that suddenly has a lot of innings to be covered. He’s now the most advanced left-handed prospect in the system.

ETA: 2026

Ryan Gallagher, RHP, Double-A Wichita, No. 16
Acquired in: Willi Castro trade with Cubs

Pipeline scouting report: Though Gallagher has added about two mph to his fastball at the beginning of his pro career, working at 90-93 mph and topping out at 95, the quality induced vertical break and command of his heater are more notable than its velocity. He has advanced feel for an upper-70s changeup with good depth, showing the aptitude to miss bats in the zone and also get chases with it. He also has an effective low-80s slider and will mix in a mediocre upper-70s curveball to give hitters a different look.

Gallagher has a strong 6-foot-4 build and repeats his simple delivery well. He locates his fastball wherever he wants and provides plenty of strikes with his changeup, though he doesn't land his breaking pitches consistently. He comes with a high floor as a likely No. 4 starter and shouldn’t take too long to impact the Twins’ big league rotation.

Organizational fit: Gallagher provides needed high-floor depth for a system that has a lot of high-ceiling, risky pitching prospects.

ETA: 2027

Hendry Mendez, OF, Double-A Wichita, No. 20
Acquired in: Harrison Bader trade with Phillies

Pipeline scouting report: A 6-foot-3 left-handed hitter, Mendez has some traits in the box that are easy to like. His batted ball profile is good, limiting swing-and-miss and chase and registering a solid hard-hit rate (43.1 percent). The one thing he needs to do is learn how to get the ball in the air more, after registering a ground ball rate over 60 percent in '24, and 52.7 percent in 2025 at the time of the trade, so he can get to some of his raw power.

An average runner at best, Mendez is a fringy outfield defender who is serviceable in a corner. He’s played more right field than anything but left might be the best spot for him when all is said and done. He’s just 21 for the 2025 season so there is hopefully time for him to take his approach and contact skills to the next level to give him the chance to grow into an offensive profile of an every day corner outfielder.

Organizational fit: Mendez features a very Twins offensive profile, as a hitter with excellent control of the strike zone, and he’s put some of those skills together this year at Double-A.

ETA: 2026

Enrique Jimenez, C, Single-A Fort Myers, No. 24
Acquired in: Chris Paddack trade with Tigers

Pipeline scouting report: Jimenez isn’t a big body behind the plate at 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds, and his presence at the plate fits accordingly. He has a good eye for the strike zone, though he can be prone to passiveness as a hitter at times, and makes contact with a quick swing and short levers. Using a slightly open stance, there is some solid raw bat speed and strength for him to tap into in the future. Though he’s had more at-bats hitting left-handed, he’s been more effective in limited at-bats from the right side off southpaws. Defensively, he commands the game and handles pitchers well, and he answered the challenge of the running game in the FCL well by throwing out 33 percent of potential base stealers in his two summers combined.

While the Tigers were dealing from an area of depth behind the plate, the Twins have had some difficulty developing backstops in recent years. Jimenez doesn’t offer a huge ceiling, but he does give Minnesota someone with a fairly decent floor as a potential big league backup, even though he’s still far away from reaching that role.

Organizational fit: Jimenez brings catching depth to an organization that was in need of it. It will be intriguing to see how he handles the jump from short-season ball to full-season.

ETA: 2029