MLB The Show 19: Minnesota Twins Player Ratings, Roster, Lineups, & Farm System

The Minnesota Twins were established in 1894 in Kansas City as the Blues. In 1901 they moved to Washington and became the Senators, before finally moving to Minnesota in 1961 and becoming the Twins we know today.

Despite all that movement the Twins franchise has been successful throughout its history. They claimed their first AL Pennant and World Series in 1924 and retained the AL Pennant in 1925 only to fall short. They returned to the World Series again in 1933 but couldn't claim the ultimate victory. They took two division titles in the 1969 & '70, but claimed their second World Series in 1987 behind 30+ homer seasons from Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti, and Tom Brunansky as well as strong pitching from Frank Viola. They went back to the World Series in 1991 and took their third title before disappearing from the playoffs for a decade.

In the early 2000's the Twins were a force. They won 4 AL Central division titles in 5 years from 2002 & '06, and another two in 2009 and '10. The likes of Torii Hunter, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Johan Santana made them a potent ball club but in the playoffs they made the ALCS just once, and were swept three times in the Divisional Series. Now the Twins are drifting in the middle of the American League. Can you bring them back to prominence and claim another World Series title?

*All stats correct at time of writing

Team Rating

MLB The Show 19 doesn’t provide a single team OVR to compare ball clubs like other sports games. Instead, you get a team ranking that gives you a placement within the Majors, while there are sub-rankings for various parts of your team like pitching and speed. This has the benefit of showing you exactly where a team sits within the league, but it doesn't show you the exact gap in performance between two teams.

The Minnesota Twins come into The Show 19's Franchise Mode ranked 17th. The strongest part of their team is their power which comes in at 11th, followed by their 13th ranked defense and speed. The weaker parts of the team are the contact (17th) and pitching (19th). However, none of those parts of the team are horrifically bad.

The Twins have a middling team budget of $146.5 million. That's a nice sum but it does mean you'll be shopping in the second tier of free agency while the richer teams take aim at any superstars that hit free agency. You will have enough money to retain most of your talent though. Who are the players that you will be looking to build around?

Eddie Rosario, Left Field (86 OVR)

Age: 27

Throws/Bats: R/L

Contract: 1 year/$4.2 million + 2 years arbitration

Secondary Position: 2B, CF, RF

Hitter Tendency: Pull Hitter

Best Stats: Arm Strength (95), Arm Accuracy (89), Durability (84), Contact vs R (78), Contact vs L (74), Power vs R (74)

Eddie Rosario was a fourth-round pick for the Twins in 2010. He got his debut in 2015, playing 122 games with 13 homers, a .267 average and an MLB-best 15 triples. By 2017 Rosario added more power, hitting 27 homers and he turned himself into a .290 hitter with better on-base skills too.

In The Show 19 Rosario has a terrific arm with the strength (95) and accuracy (89) to throw out runners everywhere. At the plate he has good contact skill (78/74) and nice power against righties (74). He also has the speed (65) to steal bases despite his skill at it being poor (17). 

Nelson Cruz, Right Field (86 OVR)

Age: 38

Throws/Bats: R/R

Contract: 1 year/$14 million

Secondary Position: LF

Hitter Tendency: Extreme Pull

Best Stats: Power vs L (99), Arm Strength (90), Durability (88), Power vs R (86), Contact vs L (83), Clutch (80), Contact vs R (79)

Nelson Cruz was an signed as a non-drafted free agent by the New York Mets but was traded twice before getting his MLB debut with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2005. He made just 7 plate appearances, walking twice and getting one double. In 2006 he was in Texas and played 41 games. He was eventually a full-time player in 2009 and showed his incredible power with 33 homers and his first All-Star appearance. Cruz's power took him to Baltimore in 2014 and then Seattle in 2015 before finally arriving with 360 homers in Minnesota for the 2019 season.

In The Show 19 Cruz power is elite (86/99). Along with that he brings solid durability (88) and good contact skill too (79/83). He is good in the clutch (60) and has nice discipline (73) at the plate. Cruz can't cover much ground anymore (15) but at least his arm strength (90) is terrific.

Jose Berrios, Starting Pitcher (82 OVR)

Age: 24

Throws/Bats: R/R

Contract:

Pitches: 4-Seam Fastball, Curveball, 2-Seam Fastball, Changeup

Best Stats: Break (86), Stamina (80), Velocity (76), H/9 (75), K/9 (72), Control (68)

Jose Berrios was a first-round pick for the Twins in 2012 and got his MLB debut in 2016, making 14 starts with a horrible 8.02 ERA. That year was something of a perfect storm, but in 2017 Berrios established himself as a nice starter, with a 3.89 ERA in 25 starts, pitching 145.2 innings with 139 strikeouts. In 2018 Berrios got his first All-Star appearance, making 32 starts with a 3.84 ERA and 192.1 innings with 202 strikeouts.

In The Show 19 Berrios is a solid starter. His break (86) is good and he has the stamina (80) to go deep in games. His velocity (76) is solid and his control (68) is ok. He doesn't have anything to blow hitters away but can be very consistent and won't just serve up meatballs for opposing lineups.

Minnesota Twins MLB Roster

In The Show 19 there can be some small fluctuation in a players OVR from save to save, however the underlying stats are always the same so the production and performance is often equal across saves. We will start our look at the Twins MLB roster with their position players and then move onto the pitchers.

The Twins MLB roster is made up of 13 position players and 12 pitchers. That's your 9-man lineup and a 4-man bench, and a 5-man rotation with a 7-man bullpen including your closer.

The Twins offense is anchored by Eddie Rosario (contact R 78, power R 74) and Nelson Cruz (power L 99, power R 86). These two should do the most damage but they have plenty of support too. Miguel Sano (power L 80, power R 76), Lucas Duda (power R 81, power L 65), and CJ Cron (power R 70, power L 69) bring some the power to the lineup with Ronald Torreyes (contact R 75, contact L 75) and Marwin Gonzalez (contact R 70, contact L 64) bringing the contact skill while Jonathan Schoop (contact R 69, power R 66) is an all-rounder.

In the field Jason Castro (fielding 86) and Byron Buxton (fielding 82) are stars while Gonzalez (fielding 77) and Torreyes (fielding 74) make for a quality middle infield pairing.

The starting rotation is headed by Jose Berrios (break 86, stamina 80) who is a nice pitcher to have albeit not a true ace. Jake Odorizzi (stamina 78, break 78) is the #2 while Kyle Gibson (stamina 84, break 78), Fernando Romero (velocity 88, stamina 75), and Tyler Duffey (break 75, control 66) fill the back end of the rotation. Berrios and Odorizzi are nice arms to have in the rotation, and while Kyle Gibson is solid you can improve on Romero and Duffey in the #4 and #5 spots.

The bullpen is anchored by setup man Taylor Rogers (break 91, control 84) and closer Blake Parker (break 99, clutch 77). Around them is a former closer in Addison Reed (control 79, clutch 74) to help bridge to Parker while Mike Morin (break 76, clutch 69), Trevor May (velocity 83, clutch 71), and Trevor Hildenberger (break 90, control 76) can get outs too. Michael Pineda (velocity 78, control 76) is the long man in the bullpen but he can go into the rotation too.

Lineups

The Show 19 gives you four lineups to set. These are against right-handed pitchers with and without the DH and against left-handed pitchers with and without the DH. As the Twins are in the American League most of their games will be played with the DH in the lineup.

Against righties with the DH LF Eddie Rosario leads off, followed by SS Marwin Gonzalez and RF Nelson Cruz. 3B Miguel Sano hits #4 and 2B Jonathan Schoop is #5. 1B CJ Cron is next, followed by DH Lucas Duda, CF Max Kepler, and C Jason Castro. Without the DH Duda drops out of the lineup.

Against lefties with the DH CF Byron Buxton leads off with DH Ronald Torreyes next and RF Nelson Cruz in #3.3B Sano and LF Rosario are in the heart of the lineup followed by 1B Cron at #6 and 2B Schoop, SS Gonzalez, and C Williams Astudillo. Without the DH Torreyes is out of the lineup and Marwin Gonzalez is moved up to the #2 spot.

These are solid lineups but they can certainly be improved on.

Against righties with the DH we've left Eddie Rosario at the top, but Ronald Torreyes is coming into 2B in the #2 spot thanks to his contact skills. Nelson Cruz is staying at #3 and Lucas Duda will play the field and hit #4. Marwin Gonzalez drops to #5 followed by Jonathan Schoop who is at the DH spot. Miguel Sano, Max Kepler, and Jason Castro round out the lineup. Without the DH Schoop makes way for the better contact and fielding of Torreyes but he is a useful pinch hitter to have.

Against lefties Torreyes will lead off and Rosario and Cruz will follow. Miguel Sano is promoted to #4 with Schoop next. CJ Cron comes back into first base and hits #6 with Gonzalez at #7 and Willians Astudillo behind the plate and Byron Buxton in center field.

Farm System

The farm system in MLB The Show 19 can be a frustration. The fluctuations in OVR are also found in potential, which isn’t a problem in the Majors but for young players it can really affect how they develop. There are also some real life prospects missing from the game so you can’t just load up a list of the best prospects and go get them in the game. However, there are still some impressive and useful prospects in the Minors that can help the Twins move forward and become more competitive.

Juan Barrera, Starting Pitcher (71 OVR)

Age: 22

Potential: D

Throws/Bats: L/S

Pitches: 4-Seam Fastball, Sinker, Changeup, Slurve

Best Stats: Stamina (81), K/9 (79), Arm Strength (79), Arm Accuracy (72), Velocity (70), Break (66), BB/9 (62)

In the search for an upgrade in the rotation Juan Barrera is your best prospect in the Minors. He has good stamina (81) and both his velocity (70) and break (66) are ok for now with an expectation that they will improve with experience. His control (48) is the limiting factor right now but again, more time in the Minors will help with that.

Robby Paul, Left Field (69 OVR)

Age: 20

Potential: D

Throws/Bats: R/R

Secondary Position: CF, RF

Hitter Tendency: Whole Field

Best Stats: Durability (91), Fielding (77), Reaction (72), Power vs L (71), Baserunning Aggressiveness (65), Stealing (63), Speed (62)

The Twins outfield is pretty solid already, but you can never have enough prospects. One of the more exciting is Robby Paul. The 20 year old is extremely durable (91) and is good in the field (77), although his arm is poor (arm strength 39, arm accuracy 31). He's got the speed (62) and ability to steal (63) while his power against lefties (71) is already MLB-ready. He lacks any discipline (40) or vision (36) at the plate but that should come with more seasoning in the Minors.

Johnnie Bromberg, Relief Pitcher (66 OVR)

Age: 23

Potential: C

Throws/Bats: R/R

Pitches: 4-Seam Fastball, 2-Seam Fastball, Slider

Best Stats: Velocity (94), H/9 (67), BB/9 (60), Arm Accuracy (55), Control (52)

Johnnie Bromberg is a flamethrower. His velocity (94) is already MLB-ready but he lacks any break (47) and struggles with control (52). The Twins bullpen is solid but that can quickly disappear in one off-season so having Bromberg develop into guy that can get you three outs with more than just his enormous fastball will be key.