Minnesota Twins DVOA, Stats, & MLB Rankings

Minnesota Twins outfield prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez has had an inconsistent start to the 2025 campaign, logging five multi-hit performances and eight hitless efforts over his first 17 games, resulting in an uninspiring.231 AVG with no home runs and a 34.6 percent strikeout rate. A bright spot has been the Dominican's ability to draw walks, logging 13 of them thus far (16.7 percent). The Twins' second-ranked prospect (MLB No. 34) is expected to make his major league debut this season, but has played just 24 games at Triple-A, without much success. If the left-handed slugger can get on a roll, look for a call-up around midseason, especially with Minnesota's offense sputtering and in need of a boost.

The Minnesota Twins have essentially split the catching duties down the middle with Ryan Jeffers (152 starts) and Christian Vazquez (172) starts the last two seasons, but with Vazquez going 5-for-33 (.152) early on this year, the Twins are planning to give more playing time to Jeffers moving forward. Before Vazquez started a day game on Thursday, Jeffers had started three straight games and six times in seven games. "RJ is going to find a few more at-bats in the near term," manager Rocco Baldelli said. "See if we can get the offense going more than we've seen." Jeffers also broke out of his season-opening slump on Wednesday by going 3-for-5 with a double. He's now hitting .254 with no homers in his first 17 games, but his .682 OPS is better than Vazquez's weak .467 mark. Jeffers' expected metrics show he has gotten a bit unlucky. Defense is a different story, but the Twins are prioritizing offense right now, and Jeffers has the advantage.

Minnesota Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez (hamstring) has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list and will make the start on Friday against the Los Angeles Angels in Minnesota. Lopez is recovered from a right-hamstring strain that kept him out for the last two weeks. The 29-year-old should immediately be returned to starting fantasy lineups against an Angels team that has come back down to Earth after a surprisingly hot start to the season. In his lone minor-league rehab start for Triple-A St. Paul, Lopez made it through 63 pitches and 4 2/3 innings. It means that he might not go quite as deep on Friday night as fantasy managers might hope, but the matchup is still too good to ignore. Before his hamstring injury, the Venezuelan hurler looked good with a 1.62 ERA and 1.02 WHIP with 14 strikeouts and only two walks in 16 2/3 innings over three starts.

The Athletic's Dan Hayes reports that Minnesota Twins third baseman Royce Lewis (hamstring) will begin his minor-league rehab assignment on Friday with the Triple-A St. Paul Saints. Things were trending this way after Lewis didn't have any setbacks after sprinting on Monday and running the bases on Tuesday. Because the oft-injured 25-year-old has been out of action since the middle of March in spring training with a left-hamstring strain, his rehab assignment could be longer than normal, but there's also a chance he'll come off the injured list to rejoin the big-league roster at some point later next week. When Lewis does make his 2025 debut for Minnesota, young infielder Brooks Lee will head back to a bench role for the Twins. Lewis, the former first overall pick in 2017, has yet to reach the 20-homer mark since debuting in 2022, but he also hasn't played in more than 82 games in a season due to injuries.

The Minnesota Twins have optioned right-handed pitcher David Festa to Triple-A St. Paul. Festa was promoted to the majors to fill Pablo Lopez's rotation spot. However, with Lopez set to return to action this weekend, Festa will return to the top level of the minor leagues. Through three starts this season (13 innings), Festa held a 1.38 ERA with a 1.31 WHIP. During this minor stint, Festa struck out 15 batters and served up five walks. Last summer, the Seton Hall product made his MLB debut and posted a modest 4.90 ERA with a 1.32 WHIP across 64 1/3 innings of work. Fantasy managers should expect Festa to return to the big leagues when Minnesota needs additional depth in its rotation. However, given his modest showing, he is only worth holding onto in deeper AL-only redraft formats.