Longtime Prospect Marco Raya Finally Gets His Chance in Twins' Bullpen

It's finally happening. Marco Raya, who diehard Twins fans have heard about as a prospect to watch for a half decade, has been called up for the first time and is set to make his MLB debut, almost exactly six years after he was drafted out of high school at 17 years old.

Raya and left-hander Kody Funderburk are coming up from Triple-A St. Paul to join Minnesota's bullpen, the team announced on Wednesday. They're taking the spots of lefty Kendry Rojas and veteran Austin Voth, who both pitched in a blowout loss on Tuesday. Rojas has been optioned, while Voth has been designated for assignment.

Back in June 2020, when the pandemic shortened the MLB draft to just five rounds, the Twins used their fourth-round pick (No. 128 overall) on Raya. They knew it would be a while until the right-handed pitcher was ready to contribute in the big leagues, but they believed in his upside.

Due to injury, Raya's professional debut didn't come until 2022. He had a very strong year as a starter at Low-A Fort Myers and was ranked as a top-100 prospect in baseball heading into the next season. After cruising through High-A, Raya debuted at Double-A at 20 years old and experienced some struggles for the first time in 2023. He had a 4.27 ERA with Wichita in 2024 but continued to flash high-level stuff and made his Triple-A debut at the end of the season.

The results for Raya with St. Paul have mostly not been pretty, which has dulled his prospect shine. He had a 6.02 ERA last year, with 57 walks to go with 102 strikeouts in 98.2 innings. That marked the end of his time as a starting pitcher. This year, Raya moved to the Saints' bullpen and has a 5.54 ERA in 39 innings. However, he has a much better walk rate, and he's been on a heater lately after some rough outings in April and May.

In six June outings for St. Paul, Raya has thrown 8 scoreless innings with 4 hits, 0 walks, and 7 strikeouts. Stretch it back to May 6 and Raya has a 2.66 ERA in his last 23.2 innings, with 24 strikeouts and just a single walk issued. He's pitching as well as he ever has in the minor leagues, so he's earned this opportunity.

Minnesota Twins pitcher Marco Raya (85) during Spring Training on Feb 13, 2025 on Lee County, FL, USA. | Chris Tilley-Imagn Images

Still just 23 years old, Raya should have every opportunity to cement himself as part of the Twins' long-term bullpen plans. He sits 96 with his fastball and complements it with a sweeper, curveball, changeup, and a cutter that he's mostly ditched this year. The sweeper has excellent movement and is probably his best weapon. If Raya can keep up his recent run of control, he has the raw stuff to get big-league hitters out.

Rojas heads back down to Triple-A after starting against the Dodgers on Tuesday and needing 50 pitches to get through two innings. He threw just 25 strikes and walked three batters, but he also struck out four All-Stars (Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, and Shohei Ohtani) and only allowed one run.

After Rojas exited, the Twins basically punted on Tuesday's game by throwing out Voth, who has been mediocre in both the big leagues and Triple-A throughout his career. He was predictably hit around by the Dodgers for 11 hits and five earned runs over four innings. The only thing you can say is that he saved the Twins' bullpen a bit after scheduled starter Joe Ryan was pushed back a day.

Funderburk hasn't had great results in his 12 innings with the Saints this year, but he's at least cut down his walk rate. He's walked 16 batters in 18.1 innings with the Twins in 2026.

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