Minnesota Twins farm system ranked among best in MLB

The Minnesota Twins have one of the best farm systems in Major League Baseball, according to ESPN's updated rankings following the draft and trade deadline.

The Twins are ranked No. 4 overall, trailing only the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays, and Baltimore Orioles. Minnesota's updated dollar amount for its unrealized talent is projected at $292 million.

Minnesota ranked 9th overall in the preseason ranking with a dollar amount estimated at around $241 million.

Here's what ESPN's Kiley McDaniel said about the team:

"The Twins have moved up in these rankings because they haven't graduated anyone of note with the same three guys still in the top half of my Top 100 from the preseason addition and they also have had some notable arrow-up prospects including 2B Luke Keaschall and RHP Zebby Matthews. By this time next year, I'd expect [Walker] Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez and Keaschall to be in the upper minors with a chance to debut as the next wave of impact talent.

"The Twins didn't make many moves at the deadline and their draft class was solid, headlined by college shortstops Kaelen Culpepper and Kyle DeBarge. One player to keep an eye on is LHP Connor Prielipp, a 2022 second-rounder with positive early results as he returns from an internal brace procedure on his left elbow after a Tommy John surgery in 2021."

Headlining Twins prospects is Jenkins, who is ranked as MLB's No. 5 overall prospect. McDaniel had Jenkins and Rodriguez as the No. 9 and No. 10 highly-regarded prospects, respectively.

The 21-year-old Keaschall, a 2023 draft pick taken 49th overall by the Twins, continues to ascend at breakneck speed. Minnesota's No. 5 prospect was promoted to Double-A Wichita in May and has continued to mash while seeing time at first and second base, as well in center field.

Matthews, 24, is another fast-riser as he's gone from High-A Cedar Rapids to Triple-A St. Paul in a matter of months. The 2022 ninth round pick is the club's sixth overall prospect and has struck out 109 batters across all three levels of the minor leagues this season.

The Twins also had a solid draft class that included shortstop prospects in Culpepper and DeBarge.

Rankings are done via FanGraphs calculating the surplus value. First, the site uses historical data to determine what each prospect would do in the MLB if they are called up. Then, the system uses the projection to determine what each player would make during their six controllable years as MLB players. Finally, the site adds up the value to reach the surplus value for each organization.