Kyle DeBarge doesn’t exactly blend in. When the Twins prospect takes the field in his No. 8 uniform, he tends to look like he’s been through a storm, and he plays with the kind of edge that makes every movement feel urgent.
“I just try to play as hard as I can every single day,” DeBarge said. “I want to have the dirtiest jersey on the field that day.”
That approach has been part of his game since Louisiana-Lafayette, where he spent three seasons and helped a program that reached the NCAA tournament each year he was on campus. The energy there was constant, with head coach Matt Deggs pushing an all-out style that turned batting practice into something closer to a live game.
Deggs has seen plenty of players come through the program since taking over in 2019 - 13 have been drafted since then - but he says DeBarge stood apart. The Twins prospect was a consensus All-American in 2024, and his coach put him in rare company.
“He’s the best leader I’ve ever had,” Deggs said of DeBarge, whom he went on to compare to other sub-6-foot standout hitters like Alex Bregman and Dustin Pedroia.
“The kid just has ‘it’ - whatever ‘it’ is, he just has it. Not the biggest, strongest or fastest, but by far the biggest belief and confidence internally. He knows he’s going to win at whatever he’s doing.”
DeBarge doesn’t shy away from that mindset.
“I want to win more than anybody on the field,” DeBarge said. “If I'm developing not to win in the Minor Leagues, and then you get to the big leagues and you expect to win, it's not gonna work out.”
Minnesota made him the 33rd overall pick in the 2024 Draft, a selection the club gained after losing Sonny Gray in free agency. That made DeBarge the highest pick in program history, and he has moved through the system at a steady one-level-per-year pace, spending the entire 2026 season at Double-A Wichita.
The first test at that level was not smooth. DeBarge hit .221 with a .677 OPS, and his contact rate fell to 71.7 percent, more than five points lower than it had been in 2025 at High-A Cedar Rapids. Even so, he still swiped 41 bases, giving him 107 over the last two seasons - the most among Twins Minor Leaguers.
The Twins still wanted more at-bats for him, so they sent him to the Arizona Fall League with a clear goal: find a swing that works and get comfortable with it. So far, the results have been strong.
In 14 games, DeBarge is hitting .367/.500/.571 with seven steals. He has struck out at a 23.4 percent clip, but he has also drawn 12 walks and piled up five extra-base hits.
“He’s [found] a swing adjustment that’s a good blend of his strengths - contact, putting the ball in play - with getting the ball off the ground some and has found a good balance and repeatable swing,” said Drew MacPhail, the Twins’ director of player development, of DeBarge to MLB.com’s Matthew Leach. “We’re feeling really good about where he’s at.”
Offense may still be a work in progress, but DeBarge’s glove is already established. He won the 2025 Minor League Gold Glove Award at second base, and this year he kept expanding his defensive range. With Double-A Wichita, he started games at shortstop, third base and left field, and he has also spent plenty of time in center field with Salt River.
That versatility fits the kind of role the Twins have leaned on under manager Derek Shelton, and DeBarge says he enjoys the challenge.
“I like the fun aspect of it,” DeBarge said of being a defensive Swiss Army knife. “It’s difficult, but I think it's gonna help me in the long run, especially if it could help [me] get to the big leagues and then to stay in the big leagues.”
For now, that’s the destination. But DeBarge isn’t about to tone down the way he plays to get there.
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