The Minnesota Twins minor league players of the week are Triple-A St. Paul right-handed pitcher Ronny Henriquez and Double-A Wichita outfielder Matt Wallner.
Ronny Henriquez was signed as international free agent by the Texas Rangers on July 3, 2017. Barely 5-10 and 150 pounds when he signed in 2017, he received just $10,000. But as a 17-year old he could already hit 93 with his fastball. Henriquez was acquired by the Minnesota Twins over the 2021 offseason in a trade with Texas, along with infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa, in exchange for catcher Mitch Garver. At the time of the trade Henriquez was rated the Rangers 15th best prospect.
Henriquez, 22, appeared in one game in relief this week for the Saints on Thursday at Louisville, pitching 4 shutout innings with four hits allowed, no walks and four strikeouts. Henriquez is 1-1, 3.80 ERA (23.2 IP, 10 ER) with eight walks, 27 strikeouts and a .236 opponent batting average in his last five games (3 starts) for the Saints. Henriquez’s numbers on the season are not nearly as good as he is 1-3 in 9 starts (13 appearances) with a 6.15 ERA and a 1.500 WHIP and his SO/W ratio is 2.71. Henriquez is on the Twins 40 man roster and according to MLB Pipeline he is the Twins 11th best prospect.
Matt Wallner a Forest Lake, Minnesota native was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 32nd round of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft from Forest Lake HS (Forest Lake, MN) and the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (39th-competitive balance) of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft from University of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg, MS). Wallner is a repeat winner this year having also won this award twice earlier this season. MLB Pipeline currently has Wallner rated as the Twins 8th best prospect.
Wallner, who was recently named to the AL Team for the SiriusXM Futures Game on July 16 at Dodger Stadium, played in five games for the Wind Surge, hitting .333 (6-for-18) with one double, two home runs, four RBI, four walks, a .458 on-base percentage and a 1.181 OPS. Wallner who did some pitching in college supposedly has a cannon for an arm and has been improving his defense of late. His 104 strikeouts in 325 PA’s this season are a concern but I would expect to see this left-handed hitting slugger in St. Paul before long.