Yasser Mercedes spent so much time in Fort Myers that his move up the ladder felt overdue. For three straight seasons - 2023 through 2025 - the Twins prospect kept circling back to the organization’s southwest Florida hub, and even after a scorching start to 2026, he opened the year there again before finally earning the jump to High-A Cedar Rapids.
That promotion meant something to him.
“I was really excited because I was there for like three years,” Mercedes said. “To get the promotion was really special.”
Mercedes, now Minnesota’s No. 17 prospect, arrived in the system with plenty of shine. The Twins signed him for $1.7 million in January 2022, and he was already regarded as one of the top outfielders in that class.
He announced himself quickly too, putting up a .955 OPS in his Dominican Summer League debut after signing. From there, though, his development settled into a long run of familiar stops in Florida: instructional league, the Rookie-level Florida Complex League, the Florida State League, and repeated spring looks in Fort Myers.
When he finally got to Cedar Rapids, the numbers didn’t travel with him in quite the same way. Mercedes hit .232/.320/.409 in the Midwest League, though the power remained real enough - 12 homers in 88 games - and the strikeout-to-walk line told its own story, with 116 strikeouts against 39 walks.
The Twins weren’t shocked by the uneven transition. They’d already seen him struggle in his first FCL look and again after moving into full-season ball, which is part of why they sent him to the Salt River Rafters in the Arizona Fall League.
“We’ve noticed he has a bigger level adjustment when he moves up than most guys,” Twins farm director Drew MacPhail said. “So we wanted to expose him to better competition before going back to High-A next year, to prepare him for that.”
The organization sees the Fall League as a place to keep stacking at-bats and keep smoothing out the rough edges. MacPhail pointed to Mercedes’ improved body control this season as one reason for the offensive jump, while also noting the swing habits that can still drag him off track.
“The priority is getting at-bats,” MacPhail said. "He’s dealt with bail at points in his career and he did a much better job keeping his center of mass over the plate this year, which I think contributed to his breakout in A ball.”
Mercedes also brought value with the glove, where he handled center field well enough to keep the long-term conversation open. The Twins will want him to keep building physically if he’s going to stay there, and that same development should help on the bases. He was the most prolific runner in the organization in 2026, swiping 52 bags and getting caught only eight times.
“I worked a lot with some of the coaches from our team on learning how to steal a base,” Mercedes said, “how to take whatever you can take from the pitcher, like any signs, anything, and take advantage of that.”
Mercedes isn’t the only Twins prospect using Arizona to get extra work this fall.
Kyle DeBarge, 2B/SS, was the club’s No. 33 overall pick in the 2024 Draft and has already spent one season each at High-A and Double-A. Speed is the carrying tool - he stole 107 bases over those two seasons - but his offensive game has been more uneven, with walks in the mix and strikeouts too frequent for a true sparkplug profile. He’s also shown enough versatility to handle four positions at times.
Jacob McCombs, OF, joined the organization as a seventh-round pick in the 2025 Draft after a strong sophomore-eligible year at UC Irvine. He got into only 67 games with High-A Cedar Rapids, so the Fall League gives him a chance to make up some of those lost reps. He can cover all three outfield spots and hits left-handed with an aggressive approach built for contact and some raw power to grow into.
On the pitching side, the Twins sent several arms looking to get back on track or simply get more innings.
Ross Dunn, LHP, spent two years at Florida State before transferring to Arizona State for his junior season and signing with Minnesota as a 10th-round pick in 2023. He made just one start in 2025 before Tommy John surgery, then returned this July. The rust is still there, but he has shown a low-90s fastball and an 84-85 mph slider since coming back.
Cesar Lares, LHP, signed for $10,000 shortly after the 2022 international signing period opened and reached full-season ball by 2024, logging 81 Florida State League innings that year. Tommy John surgery late in 2024 wiped out his 2025 season, and after returning in late May he finished with 44 1/3 innings. He’s now working to sharpen a four-pitch mix that includes a low-90s fastball, a low-80s slider, a 75-76 mph curve and a low-80s changeup.
Cleiber Maldonado, LHP, also lost the 2025 season to elbow surgery and threw only 15 innings this year. Across his career, he has 111 1/3 innings since debuting in 2021. He works as a reliever, can reach 97 mph with his fastball and pairs it with a low-80s breaking ball that misses bats.
Jake Murray, LHP, took a different path to the Fall League. He moved from junior college to Campbell University in 2022, missed the 2024 season after internal brace surgery, and then signed as an undrafted free agent after pitching in Campbell’s rotation at age 24 in 2025. In his first full season, he worked out of the bullpen for Single-A Fort Myers, striking out 13.4 per nine while walking 6.8, with a fastball that reached 96 mph and a mix of secondaries that helped him generate a 1.61 GO/AO.
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