St. Paul Saints Opening Day Roster Littered with Top Prospect Talent

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St. Paul Saints Opening Day Roster Littered with Top Prospect Talent

Ted Schwerzler · Minnesota Sports Fan

Thu, Mar 26, 2026 ·

4 min read

Four top 100 prospects highlight MN Twins Triple-A roster

Derek Shelton and general manager Jeremy Zoll opted to keep veteran retreads like Trevor Larnach and James Outman on the 26-man roster . This, for now, keeps some talented outfield prospects in the minors. New St. Paul Saints manager Brian Dinkelman won't mind though, as his group is loaded.

The 2026 @StPaulSaints roster has been announced. Littered with top prospects.

Not great seeing Kendry Rojas starting the year on the IL. pic.twitter.com/zw9g1Frqq9

— Ted (@tlschwerz) March 26, 2026

Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Kaelen Culpepper, and Connor Prielipp are all consensus top 100 prospects. Each of them is healthy and ready to go, which is good news considering Jenkins missed time during Grapefruit League play with a hamstring injury.

Culpepper gets to Triple-A after finishing his 2025 season at Double-A Wichita. He batted .285/.367/.460 in 59 games with the Wind Surge. A strong start could quickly put him in consideration for a big league promotion depending on how Minnesota Twins starter Brooks Lee gets out of the gate .

Future Twins starting shortstop Kaelen Culpepper finds a gap and drives in a pair.

Absolute stud. pic.twitter.com/HFcGq5SskU

— Ted (@tlschwerz) March 19, 2026

Both Jenkins and Rodriguez are among the highest ranked prospect in the sport. Each of them has the capability to play centerfield, which makes them a logical replacement for any of the corner outfielders, as well as a rotation fit with Byron Buxton .

Prielipp was considered a potential high-upside bullpen arm but remained stretched out as a starter this spring. He'll need to dial in the command and control a bit more, but Prielipp is a high-octane lefty with legit strikeout stuff.

Other intriguing names to follow on the Saints roster include Alex Jackson , Aaron Sabato, Tanner Schobel, Kyler Fedko, Marco Raya, and Alan Roden . Roden will certainly be the first man up in the outfield as he was squeezed despite a .302/.362/.395 batting line this spring, solely because he had options remaining.

Minnesota Twins pitching prospect starts year injured

When the MN Twins sent Louie Varland (and Ty France ) to the Toronto Blue Jays , they did so because of the value believed to be tied into Kendry Rojas. The fringe top 100 lefty struggled when he got to Triple-A, and now he'll begin 2026 on the injured list with a hamstring strain.

Two things:

Kendry Rojas is rocking absolutely fire.

Josh Bell is going to be a problem at first base. pic.twitter.com/Kr3kFyiZ7U

— Ted (@tlschwerz) March 6, 2026

Rojas posted a 6.59 ERA with the Saints in 27 1/3 innings last season. The ball is different at Triple-A, which took getting used to, and he had to acclimate to a new organization as well. It's plenty sensible to suggest that could simply be an outlier for the 23-year-old. We'll need to see evidence of that though this season.

How long Rojas remains shelved remains to be seen. The hope would be that it's a short-term situation, and he can rejoin the rotation in short order. With John Klein, Andrew Morris, Zebby Matthews , and Prielipp already penciled in, the group Dinkelman has at his disposal is strong.

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