The Minnesota Twins minor league players of the week are right-handed pitcher Ronny Henriquez and infielder Jermaine Palacios and both are with the Triple-A St. Paul Saints.
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. He is currently rated as the Twins 11th best prospect. This is the second time ths season Ronny Henriquez has won this award.
Henriquez, 22, appeared in one game in relief for the Saints this week versus Iowa, pitching 4 shutout innings, allowing five hits, no walks and four strikeouts. The Bonao, Dominican Republic native has gone 1-1, 3.12 ERA (26.0 IP, 9 ER) with eight walks and 29 strikeouts in his last six games (4 starts) for the Saints. Henriquez is currently on the Twins 40-man roster.
The Twins signed Jermaine Palacios out of Venezuela in September 2013 and then in February of 2018 traded him to Tampa Bay for pitcher Jake Odorizzi only to resign him as a minor league free agent this past February. Palacios was called up by the parent club Twins and appeared in 8 games in May and June. The 26-year old Palacios was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Palacios is number 26 on the Twins MLB Pipeline list.
Palacios, 26, played in six games for the Saints this week, hitting .409 (9-for-22) with one double, three home runs, five RBI, three walks, a .500 on-base percentage, an .864 slugging percentage and a 1.364 OPS. The shortstop’s week included a two-homer game on Friday versus Iowa and three multi-hit games. This year Palacios has played all four infield positions and both corner outfield positions.