Twins Add Six Players To 40-Man Roster
The Twins have selected the contracts of left-handers Kendry Rojas and Connor Prielipp, righties Andrew Morris and John Klein, and outfielders Gabriel Gonzalez and Hendry Mendez, the team announced. They’re all protected from next month’s Rule 5 Draft.
Rojas, who came to the Twins alongside outfielder Alan Roden in the trade sending reliever Louis Varland to Toronto, is a 22-year-old southpaw (23 next week) who climbed three minor league levels in 2025, topping out with his first taste of Triple-A work. The Cuban-born lefty breezed through High-A and Double-A before running into some trouble in his first 32 1/3 innings at the top minor league level. He yielded 26 runs in that time (7.34 ERA) and walked 14.7% of his opponents.
Those struggles came in a small sample of nine Triple-A appearances at a time when most of the opponents he was facing were much older and further along in their development. Walks haven’t been a major issue for Rojas to this point in his pro career, however, and most scouting reports project that he’ll eventually have average command with the potential for three average or better pitches. Rojas could be in line to make his MLB debut next summer, so there was no chance the Twins were going to leave him unprotected.
Prielipp, 24, was a second-round pick in 2022 and might’ve been a first-rounder had he not been coming off Tommy John surgery at the time of the draft. Elbow troubles have further plagued the Alabama product since being drafted. He underwent an internal brace procedure in 2023 and, entering the 2025 season, had all of 30 professional innings under his belt.
Prielipp looked plenty healthy this past season, however, appearing in 24 games (23 of them starts) and missing plenty of bats with an above-average ground-ball rate. He posted a 3.65 ERA, 27% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate in 61 2/3 Double-A frames before showing some fatigue late in the season with a 5.14 ERA in five Triple-A games (four starts). He’s already drawn top-100 fanfare at FanGraphs and ESPN, and he’ll likely draw further consideration for such lists in the offseason. As with Rojas, there was never a doubt he’d be added to the 40-man today.
Morris, 24, doesn’t have the same ceiling as Rojas and Prielipp but is arguably the most MLB-ready of the bunch. He started 19 games (plus two long relief outings) in Triple-A this season and worked to a 4.09 ERA with a 22.4% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate. The 2022 fourth-rounder averaged 95.5 mph on his four-seamer in Triple-A this past season — up 1.6 mph from the prior year — and draws praise for plus command and a five-pitch arsenal that includes at least average grades on his heater, slider and cutter.
A Twin Cities native, Klein was an undrafted free agent who signed with his hometown club in 2022. He pitched 106 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, logging a combined 3.98 ERA. Klein, who’ll turn 24 in April, fanned 27.6% of his opponents against an 8% walk rate. He sits 94-96 mph with his sinker and four-seamer, complementing those fastballs with a cutter, curveball and changeup.
Gonzalez came to the Twins from the Mariners as part of the 2023 Jorge Polanco trade. He was a top-100 prospect at the time who struggled in his first season with the organization but bounced back to the tune of a .329/.395/.513 batting line as a 21-year-old between Double-A and Triple-A this season. He could get an MLB look in 2026.
Mendez was one of the team’s many deadline pickups, coming over in the trade that sent Harrison Bader to Philadelphia. He hit a combined .299/.399/.439 with more walks than strikeouts (13.6% to 13.2%) in 491 turns at the plate between High-A and Double-A. He’s a bat-first, hit-over-power outfield prospect who is generally considered to rank within the top 20 of a deep Minnesota farm system.
Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com first reported that Rojas had been selected.
Twins Notes: Miranda, Polanco, Prielipp
The Twins suffered another hit to their infield depth today, as they placed third baseman Jose Miranda on the 10-day injured list with a right shoulder impingement. In a corresponding move, the club called up outfielder Matt Wallner from Triple-A.
It’s been a brutal year at the plate for Miranda, who entered the season as the club’s starting third baseman but was demoted to Triple-A after slashing just .220/.275/.318 in his first 142 plate appearances this season. Since then, the Twins have been ravaged by injuries across the infield that prompted the club to give Miranda another look in the big leagues despite his meager .255/.326/.360 slash line at the Triple-A level. He ultimately recorded just 10 more at-bats in the big leagues before going down with injury, going 1 for 10 with a strikeout and no walks.
Now Miranda is joining fellow infielders Jorge Polanco, Nick Gordon, and Royce Lewis on the injured list. With that group out, the Twins seem poised to rely on Edouard Julien, Kyle Farmer, and Donovan Solano around the infield alongside Alex Kirilloff at first base and Carlos Correa at shortstop. Fortunately, reinforcements may be on the way in the near future. As noted by MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park, Polanco is poised to begin a rehab assignment on Sunday, indicating he’s nearing a return to the big league club. Polanco has played just 30 games this season due to injuries, and has struggled somewhat at the plate when healthy as evidenced by a .250/.291/.450 slash line (104 wRC+) that’s a far cry from the .272/.339/.455 (116 wRC+) he offered from 2018-22.
Polanco’s difficult year has allowed for the emergence of Julien, who has raked to the tune of a .279/.355/.515 slash line, good for a wRC+ of 140. With Byron Buxton entrenched as the club’s designated hitter and both Polanco and Julien limited to second base defensively, it will be a challenge for the Twins to find adequate playing time for both hitters. Last time Polanco was activated off the injured list, the club optioned Julien to Triple-A to allow both regular at-bats. Since his return to the big leagues on June 10, however, Julien has slashed a fantastic .324/.393/.568, underscoring his importance to the Twins’ lineup as currently constructed.
While Polanco’s return is certainly encouraging, Twins fans received much more concerning news today regarding the health of top pitching prospect Connor Prielipp. Per Park, Prielipp is slated to undergo surgery on his UCL next Monday, though the extent of the surgery won’t be known until the procedure occurs. The club’s second round pick in the 2022 draft, Prielipp has managed just 6 2/3 innings of work in his pro debut this season due to injuries. As noted by Park, this won’t be the first time Prielipp goes under the knife due to UCL issues, as the lefty underwent Tommy John surgery while in college back in 2021.