The Twins’ organization is home to four of the top 100 prospects in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline -- and the plan was for three of them to be lined up next to each other in the outfield for Minnesota’s Spring Breakout game on Saturday.

The centerpiece of it all, No. 10 overall prospect Walker Jenkins, was scratched from the game with a quad strain, as announced by president of baseball operations Derek Falvey on Thursday -- but Emmanuel Rodríguez (No. 42) and Gabriel González (No. 79) should still provide plenty of star power for the matchup against the Rays’ top prospects, which will be carried live on Bally Sports North, MLB.com and the At Bat app at roughly 3:05 p.m. CT.

“It's really exciting to be out there,” Rodríguez said through Twins interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. “Minnesota has a great future. Playing with those two guys, it's really exciting.”

Rodríguez, known simply as “Emma” to those around him, is perhaps closer to that future than the other two, considering he’s the only one on the 40-man roster and, thus, the only one who was in Major League camp this spring.

The 21-year-old made some noise with his bat before he was optioned out of camp and to Double-A Wichita on Tuesday, with a homer off Craig Kimbrel -- who currently ranks eighth on the all-time saves leaderboard -- and a subsequent bat drop that showcased Rodríguez’s immense raw power that couples with his extremely discerning eye at the plate.

That’s the skillset that led Rodríguez to a .240/.400/.463 performance for High-A Cedar Rapids last season, including 16 homers and 20 steals, an impressive return from a breakout 2022 in the making that was cut short by a left knee sprain sustained while sliding into a base that led to not one, but two surgeries on the knee.

“At that point, I was the lowest in my career, mentally,” Rodríguez said.

What brought him back from that nadir?

“After my second surgery, that's when my name started to get out there, and I made the top 100 list,” Rodríguez said. “That's when I realized that I was able to make the comeback, because there's kids that want to be like me, right? They want to be in the top 100. That's what pushed me and motivated me.”

That brought him back with a vengeance -- and after the normal adjustments of reaching High-A for the first time at just 21, a .421 on-base percentage in the second half paved the way to an .893 OPS following the All-Star Break, including a particularly strong finish in August and September.

“It's unique when you see a guy that can really look in the strike zone and shut it down early on a borderline pitch, 1-2 [count],” president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. “It's like, ‘Oof, that's pretty impressive.’ I don't know if that's taught. … I think it's a gift, and I think he's got it.”

He’s got it -- and he hones it, too.

“I practice a lot, especially the strike zone,” Rodríguez said. “I know what my strike zone is. That's what I do every day. It doesn't come naturally.”

The next step in Rodríguez’s development as he takes on the high Minors is a familiar one for those who tracked the similarly discerning Edouard Julien over the past two years: Make sure that elite plate discipline doesn’t turn him too passive, because it really is an uncommonly strong tool for a hitter of his age.

Rodríguez knows that, too. Like many hitters with some swing-and-miss to their game who reach deep counts, strikeouts are a part of his profile -- but perhaps he won’t get to that point if he’s more aggressive with hittable pitches. He says he has taken only “one to two swings” in the past, but an overall focus is, indeed, to take more swings.

Just ask Kimbrel -- those swings can do damage. And now that Rodríguez has had a taste of big league camp, he’s eager to build on it -- and the first step is in Spring Breakout.

“It does feel a little bit closer,” Rodríguez said. “I just need to stay healthy, and I'll handle the rest.”

“Yes, I am really a teddy bear. That’s what they say. But really, once I cross the line, like I said before, I have my mind clear. You understand? I’m locked in. And at the same time, I’m like a bear when it’s hungry. You know, a bear, when he’s hungry, he gets furious. I’m going to eat what’s in front of me.” -- Jhoan Duran, in the most recent episode of The Diamond (check it out!)

• Earlier in the week, it still didn’t appear to have been determined whether Rodríguez or Jenkins would start in center, with the other expected to play right. (González was expected to play in left.) Both are more than capable of playing the position and will likely develop there, but there’s also some thought that either could eventually move to a corner.

We unfortunately won’t get the answer to that for now -- but we might get a sense for that if Jenkins and Rodríguez ever overlap at a level in the coming years.

• One of the pitchers who was planned to feature most prominently in the game for the Twins is 18-year-old right-hander Charlee Soto, who did not pitch in an affiliated game after he was selected with the No. 34 overall pick in last year’s Draft.

Soto has been wowing early this spring on the back fields with his premium velocity, with readings of 98 and 99 mph that could perhaps tick up into triple-digits given the added adrenaline and competitive environment of the Spring Breakout game.

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