The Minnesota Twins have announced that Double-A Wichita right-handed pitcher David Festa and High-A Cedar Rapids outfielder Emmanuel Rodriguez as minor league Pitcher and Player of the Week for week 16.
David Festa a New Jersey native was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 13th round of the 2021 MLB June Amateur Draft from Seton Hall University (South Orange, NJ). MLB Pipeline currently has Festa rated as the Twins 8th best prospect. Read more about Festa here.
He appeared for the AL Team in the 2023 SiriusXM Futures Game in Seattle over the Major League Baseball All-Star break and pitched 1.0 inning. The 6’6″ righty has made 15 starts this season and has a 2-2 record with 62 innings pitched allowing 60 hits while striking out 80. This is the second time he has won this award this season.
Emmanuel Rodriguez a Santiago, Dominican Republic native was signed by the Minnesota Twins as an undrafted free agent on July 2, 2019. Rodriguez was a top 10 prospect on MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 international prospects list for 2019-20 when the signing period opened up in July of 2019. The Twins were all in, giving the toolsy outfielder $2.75 million to sign. MLB Pipeline currently has Rodriguez rated as the 59th best prospect overall and has Rodriguez as the Twins 2nd best prospect. You can learn more about Rodriguez here. Like David Festa, Rodriguez has also won this award earlier this season.
This past week Rodriguez, 20, played in five games for the Kernels, hitting .375 (6-for-16) with one double, one triple, one home run, five walks and a 1.316 OPS. In 2023 Rodriguez is slashing .228/.393/.434 which is well below his career numbers. Rodriguez spent some time this spring on the IL with a left abdomen strain.