On December 28, Sunday Notes led with a look at how seven of the nine position players expected to start for the Minnesota Twins next season were drafted by the club in the first or second round. (The column also cited homegrown numbers for several other organizations.) Derek Falvey, the twins’ president of baseball operations, was quoted extensively in the piece, providing perspective on how the current roster came to be.
Today we’ll hear from Twins GM Jeremy Zoll, as well as Falvey, about a quartet of first- and second-round picks that have yet to reach Minnesota. One is a middle infielder, three are pitchers, and all are among the team’s top players. I asked about each of them when the leaders met with members of the media at the Winter Meetings.
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“It was Kaelen’s first full season and he had a great year,” Zoll said of the 23-year-old shortstop Kaelen Culpepperwho the Twins drafted 21st overall out of Kansas State University in 2024. “He was between High-A and Double-A, and we couldn’t have asked for much better. We’re very happy. He had the opportunity to go to the Futures Game.”
“He’s playing mostly shortstop, but he’s also getting some early work at second and third base, as well as a little bit of game exposure at both spots. We’ll continue to let that play out through spring training and into the season. We’ll figure it out exactly in terms of placement and proximity. We always kind of let the player dictate that with his performance, but he’s put about the same amount of pressure on us.” [as anyone] in terms of us wanting to keep him moving and keep him challenged.
Culpepper hit .289/.375/.469 with 20 home runs and a 133 wRC+ in 517 plate appearances between High-A Cedar Rapids and Double-A Wichita.
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“Good question,” Zoll said when asked about the possibility of the Twins moving up the 21-year-old right-hander Riley Fastwhom they selected 36th overall last summer out of the University of Alabama. “We had him pitching in Fort Myers after the draft, so we have to take him into affiliated ball and into a full season. But we’re really excited about Riley. We were really excited about him being available at that spot – we weren’t sure if he would even be there – but we want to get him settled in, and we’ll go from there.”
“I’ll add something to that,” Falvey interjected. “With the draft now being in the calendar year, especially with those college pitchers who have thrown a fair amount, it’s hard for them to get going again. So that first year is kind of an introduction to pro ball. The next year we have to look at, ‘What does the season look like?’ It made the track a little bit different on that than maybe before. We’re not going to rush any of those guys; We are going to ensure that they get a good foundation.”
As Zoll noted, Quick did not pitch for an affiliate after being drafted and signed by the Twins. He recorded a 3.92 ERA, 3.49 FIP and 25.9% strikeout rate in his junior year at Alabama.
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“We’re excited about Dasan,” Zoll said of the 20-year-old southpaw Dasan Hillwho was drafted 69th overall in 2024 out of Grapevine High School in Texas. “He did a really good job missing bats. His changeup went really well. He had an incredibly high swing-and-miss [rate] on that field. The breaking balls were a project during spring training and continued to improve as the year went on. Easy velo from the left, and it looks like it’s going to be a full four-pitch mix.
“We’re happy to keep pushing him. We challenged him in High-A at the end of the year. He knows he needs to be in the zone a little more. That’s going to be a big thing for him, staying ahead of hitters and staying ahead a little bit. He’s got a really bright future. His body is projectable and will continue to fill out.”
“He’s 19 and just getting started,” Falvey added. “The change is really good – it’s a weapons field – but so [Zoll] said: There is a lot of maturing to come with this child. You understand not only how to pitch, but his body and physicality.”
Hill made his professional debut last summer and posted a 3.19 ERA, 3.35 FIP and 31.1% strikeout rate over 62 innings pitched between Low-A Fort Myers and High-A Cedar Rapids.
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“We feel like Connor has taken a really good step forward this year, racking up as many innings as he has,” Zoll said of the 24-year-old southpaw. Connor Prielippwho was drafted 48th overall out of the University of Alabama in 2022. “We’re excited to get him into our early program in Fort Myers and work on completing the development of his mix. That early spring training will be informative as we try to map things out for the year and figure out what’s best for him and for us.”
“The most important thing was to let him collect the innings,” Zoll said, in response to a follow-up question from The Athleticsby Dan Hayes. “Obviously, we worked really hard to keep his workload under control. We wanted to help him throughout the year. The innings were pretty short in the first half. We kept trying to find a way to get him to five or six innings, and for some reason he had an inning that he just couldn’t get out of. But then [for him] It was really encouraging to end the season on a high note, even eclipsing those numbers on a few occasions.
“The ability to use all three of his pitches… when we want to [him] To explore a fourth, he also started tinkering with a sinker at the end of the season. There are a few different adjustments – now that he’s been able to put together a full season – that we can try to push a little further, to see what happens.
Prielipp posted a 4.03 ERA, a 3.54 FIP and a 27.0% strikeout rate over 82 2/3 innings between Double-A Wichita and Triple-A St. Paul.
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