The minor-league calendar is getting tight, and that’s exactly when prospects can make themselves impossible to ignore. In Fort Myers and St. Paul, three Twins prospects are doing more than just keeping pace - they’re putting together stretches that stand out.
Kendry Rojas, Luis Fragoza, and Merphy Hernandez are each taking a different route, but the common thread is production. Rojas is settling in as a Triple-A starter.
Fragoza is mashing his way through the Florida State League. Hernandez is pairing speed with enough offense to land in the Fort Myers record book.
Rojas’ path has been the most direct reminder that development doesn’t always move in a straight line. After signing with the Blue Jays in 2021, he climbed steadily through that system before landing with the Twins in last season’s Louie Varland trade, a deal Minnesota made with his starting-pitcher upside in mind. His first Triple-A look after the trade was rough, but this season has brought a much different version of the left-hander.
Against the Iowa Cubs for the second time in a week, Rojas worked through traffic early, letting the leadoff man reach on a single in each of the first three innings. He stranded two runners in the first and one in each of the next two frames, then settled in and retired the side in order in the fourth.
The final line was sharp: four scoreless innings, four hits allowed, one walk, five strikeouts. He needed just 52 pitches, with 40 of them going for strikes, and generated 13 swings and misses on 34 swings.
The recent run has been even more encouraging. Since being demoted at the beginning of August, Rojas has made three starts, thrown 11 innings, and allowed only one earned run.
He has struck out 11 and walked two, while holding opponents to a .180/.220/.256 slash line. At 23, he’s still young enough that this kind of stretch matters, especially for a pitcher Minnesota still views as a starter.
Fragoza’s rise has been built on a very different kind of momentum. He signed with the Twins for $77,500 in January 2024, showed promise in the Dominican Summer League as a 17-year-old, then ran into some bumps in the Florida Complex League in 2025. This year, though, he pushed quickly from the FCL to Low-A Fort Myers and has become one of the most dangerous bats in the lineup.
That was on full display during the week of August 10, when Fragoza was named Florida State League Player of the Week. In five games, he hit .667/.800/1.583 with a 2.383 OPS. He finished second in the league in home runs with three, walks with seven, extra-base hits with five, runs with nine, stolen bases with seven, and total bases with 19.
That hot streak fits the bigger picture, too. Through 59 games, Fragoza leads the Mighty Mussels in batting average at .322, slugging percentage at .607, OPS at 1.005, and RBIs with 51. He’s gone from an international signing with some upside to one of the most productive young hitters in the Twins’ lower levels.
Hernandez has taken a different route to his breakout. He was part of Minnesota’s 2024 international signing class and spent 49 games in the Dominican Summer League that year, batting .276/.390/.417 with 36 stolen bases and 12 extra-base hits. His first full Stateside season didn’t go nearly as well, as he managed only 16 games in 2025 and posted a .589 OPS.
Minnesota sent him back to the FCL to start 2026, and that reset paid off quickly. He put up a .934 OPS in 10 games there before moving to Low-A Fort Myers, where his speed has become impossible to miss. Earlier this week, Hernandez stole his 40th base of the season, becoming the first Mighty Mussels-era player, dating back to 2020, to reach that mark.
That puts him in rare company overall, too. Only four players in franchise history since 1992 had previously hit 40 steals in a season, with Ben Revere the most recent after swiping 45 in 2009.
Hernandez has done more than run wild, though. Over his last 11 games, he’s hit .368/.429/.500 with three extra-base hits and 14 stolen bases.
For the Twins, this is the kind of late-season snapshot that matters. Rojas is showing Triple-A poise and starter traits.
Fragoza is forcing his way onto the radar with one of the better bats in the Florida State League. Hernandez is blending game-changing speed with better offense than he’s shown before.
None of it guarantees anything down the road, but all of it is worth watching as the season winds down.
In Other News...
Twins Make A Surprising Roster Choice As Playoff Questions Grow
With playoff questions beginning to hover around the roster, the Twins made a curious-looking move by adding catcher David Bauelos from the St. Paul Saints and bringing him to the majors. The decision gives Minnesota a fourth catcher on its 26-man roster, a choice general manager Jeremy Zoll framed as a matter of flexibility as much as anything else, with the club already carrying three catchers and looking for ways to keep its options open.
The move also says something about how the Twins are balancing the present and the future. Rather than push top prospect Walker Jenkins into the mix, the organization opted to leave him in Triple-A for more development, even as the major league roster takes on a little more protection behind the plate. Bauelos may not be in line for immediate playing time, but his promotion shows Minnesota is willing to use an uncommon roster wrinkle to give itself another layer of coverage as the season enters a more uncertain stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Just Sent A Message With Sweep Of First-Place Braves
Wednesdays finish at Target Field gave the Twins another reminder that this group can make noise even when it is still trying to settle in. Culpepper turned in the first three-hit game of his career, and Minnesota used his timely bat to help fuel a 6-4 win over the Braves, finishing off a three-game sweep of a first-place club. His work in the middle innings helped get rallies moving, including a go-ahead run in the fifth that shifted the tone of the afternoon.
Minnesota kept pushing from there, adding insurance in the seventh and then leaning on strong relief pitching to hold the lead in the eighth. For a Twins team looking to stack meaningful wins early, sweeping Atlanta at home carried the kind of weight that goes beyond one afternoon in the standings. It also left Culpepper's breakout performance and the way the lineup responded as the bigger takeaway, even with plenty of season still ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Already Have An Early Catching Debate Worth Watching
The Twins have spent the early part of the summer getting a close look at two of their most intriguing young catchers, both of whom are already logging regular work for Low-A Fort Myers. Vahn Lackey and Carson Tinney, the clubs top two 2026 draft picks, are off to very different-looking starts, which is part of what makes the situation worth following. Lackey has brought steady plate discipline and athleticism, while Tinney has flashed the kind of raw power that tends to stand out immediately in the lower levels.
For now, the comparison is more about traits than finished products. Lackeys early line includes a .205 batting average and a strong ability to control the running game, while Tinney has paired a lower average with patience and some legitimate thump. Both are still early in their pro development, and the Twins are in the useful position of letting the two catchers build their cases side by side before anything resembling a long-term answer has to be made. [Read more 🡒]