Can Emmanuel Rodriguez Hit His Way Onto Twins' Opening Day Roster?

As things stand right now, Emmanuel Rodriguez is probably on the outside of the Twins' projected Opening Day roster. The left-handed outfield prospect is dripping with talent, but his odds are hurt by the presence of fellow lefty outfielders Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach, James Outman, and Alan Roden.

With that said, the four names above aren't exactly established MLB stars. And if Rodriguez continues to hit the way he has to open spring training, he might just force his way onto the 26-man roster when the regular season rolls around.

Rodriguez hit his first home run of the spring on Sunday. Then he hit another one on Monday. Including the exhibition opener against the Gophers, he's 4 for 6 with two bombs, two singles, a walk, and a stolen base in his first three games this year in Florida.

The first spring homer for Rodriguez came on a 2-0 pitch from Braves minor-league righty Anderson Pilar. It went 349 feet out to right field.

Emmanuel Rodriguez has power for days 😤

MLB's No. 74 prospect (@Twins) crushes a towering homer in his first at-bat of Spring Training: pic.twitter.com/n3KALXaH0P
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) February 22, 2026

More impressive is Rodriguez's homer on Monday, which opened the scoring in the fifth inning of the Twins' 3-0 win over the Tigers. That one came off of Detroit lefty Brant Hurter, who has a career 2.49 ERA in 108.1 MLB innings. In 190 big-league plate appearances, left-handed hitters have a .559 OPS and one home run off of Hurter. Rodriguez's blast — which unfortunately wasn't televised — left his bat at 106.6 miles per hour and traveled 420 feet out to right.

Emmanuel Rodriguez homers for a second straight day, a monster blast. #MNTwins
— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) February 23, 2026

Rodriguez, who turns 23 in less than a week, has always been highly talented. The Dominican Republic native is entering his fourth year as a top-100 prospect in baseball. Since debuting for the Twins in rookie ball in 2021, he's slashed .254/.424/.488 (.912 OPS) with 50 homers and 59 stolen bases in 295 games.

The biggest issue for Rodriguez is simply staying healthy. He's only played more than 65 games in a season once, when he played 99 in 2023. First and foremost, Rodriguez has to remain on the field in order to deliver on his talent and prospect hype. He also probably needs to cut down his 30 percent strikeout rate at least slightly.

Emmanuel Rodriguez | Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints

If Rodriguez stays healthy and puts together a huge spring, there will be a strong argument for him to be on the Twins' Opening Day roster — and maybe even in a starting role. Wallner isn't going anywhere, but Larnach is a replacement-level MLB corner outfielder who could still potentially be traded. Roden and Outman have both thrived in the minors and mostly struggled in the majors.

Trevor Larnach: 442 games, .726 OPS, 101 OPS+, 3.2 bWAR
James Outman: 267 games, .710 OPS, 94 OPS+, 2.4 bWAR
Alan Roden: 55 games, .556 OPS, 53 OPS+, -0.6 bWAR

Even though Larnach has been in the big leagues for a while and Outman and Roden were acquired at last year's trade deadline, none of the three should necessarily block Rodriguez from reaching the big leagues if he's healthy and earns a spot with his bat over the next month. He's off to a strong start.