Before we get to the list, let me quickly explain how I like to analyze starters. My balancing has shifted: previously, I emphasized innings, but I think that led me to overvalue older pitchers and downplay efficiency. You’ll see that has changed in this list. I’ve rewarded pure dominance, as I questioned how much I should value extra innings if the tradeoff is much worse run prevention.
Finally, defining a “starting pitcher” in the minors is somewhat nebulous, as bulk hurlers will often get time in as a starter, and reliever depending on what the team needs. My line is this: a relief outing isn’t completely thrown out, but it weighs less than a start. Let’s get to the honorable mentions.
Honorable Mentions:
Dasan Hill, A Fort Myers – 1.93 ERA, 9 ⅓ IP, 5.14 FIP, 31.6 K%
Dasan Hill survived an injury scare early in the month to continue baffling A-ball hitters as a teenager. That innings total is far too low, though, so he will have to settle for an honorable mention. Also, cut down on the walks, please.
Andrew Morris, AAA St. Paul – 3.81 ERA, 26 IP, 4.93 FIP, 19.1 K%
I don’t know if Andrew Morris deserves to be here given that he allowed a .349 batting average in May, but his run prevention was mostly solid, and he was legitimately nasty on the 18th, so here he sits.
Eli Jones, A Fort Myers – 3.74 ERA, 21 ⅔ IP, 3.52 FIP, 23.3 K%
An 8th-rounder out of the University of South Carolina in 2024, Eli Jones augured mild April success with a respectable May, totaling a pair of five-frame, one-earned run starts in the month.
Chase Chaney, A+ Cedar Rapids – 3.52 ERA, 23 IP, 4.79 FIP, 17.3 K%
Chase Chaney was a Cedar Rapids workhorse in May, pitching at least five innings in every start, with a trio of outings going six. There’s a dearth of Twitter videos from him this year, but his former team has a deep supply of cinematic shots of him pitching, so please enjoy.
5. Jeremy Lee, A+ Cedar Rapids – 3.12 ERA, 17 ⅓ IP, 2.26 FIP, 19.2 K%
Our first member of the list proper, Jeremy Lee rebounded from a dreadful April—one that saw three games with an ERA over 13—to post a truly impressive May. He tossed five innings of one-run ball on the 4th, stumbled a little on the 10th, and returned for an outing on the 16th shockingly similar to his one to start the month. He concluded May with a pair of solid relief outings. Add it all up and you get one of the best starting pitcher performances in the system. He only walked one batter all month!
Lee joined the Twins 13th-round pick out of South Alabama in 2023 (somehow he’s not the only Alabamanian who made the list). You may remember the school as the alma mater of Twins’ 70’s catching stalwart Glenn Borgmann. Lee crushed his competition at Fort Myers in 2024, yet found Midwest league hitters uninviting. Repeating the level might be the catalyst needed to jumpstart for success for the righty.
4. Trent Baker, AA Wichita – 3.18 ERA, 22 ⅔ IP, 2.32 FIP, 28.9 K%
Trent Baker might be the story of the minors so far. A Rule 5 pick from the Cardinals organization—on the minor league side, that is—Baker slid gracefully into the Wind Surge rotation, where he holds a season ERA of 2.84 across 44 ⅓ innings with peripherals that support his performance.
The turning point for Baker appears to be refined command. He walked 12% of batters in 2024 with the Cardinals’ AA team. So far, that total has been halved—he sits at 6% as of the beginning of June.
And he was tantalizingly close to ending May with an even stronger bid for starter of the month. His first four starts were excellent, but a four-run four-inning appearance on the month’s final day knocked his stats to merely great, not transcending. Still, his play so far has been inspiring. He looks to be a rock in the Wichita rotation.
3. Aaron Rozek, AA Wichita – 2.52 ERA, 25 IP, 2.95 FIP, 21.0 K%
Finally, a Minnesotan. The Burnsville lefty has been a regular in the Twins organization since being plucked from indy ball in 2021. Wherever the team needs him, he’s there: Rozek has at least 50 innings at three separate levels, with the bulk of his work coming as a Wichita Wind Surge. Shoot, he might even qualify for a pension with them at this point.
Rozek’s calling card has been length. Few in the system can gobble frames like he can. May was no different: he totaled the second-most innings of all pitchers mentioned in this article, accruing at least 13 outs in every outing. He topped out with a six-inning start on the 9th.
He’s also one to consistently tweet baseball thoughts if you’re interested in reading what a ballplayer has to say about the game.
Rozek was close to taking one of the top two spots. The question asked is this: how valuable is 6 ⅔ innings with about a 5.45 ERA, or 10 ⅔ innings with about a 4.36 ERA? Those are the totals that separate him from the players ahead. It’s an interesting debate, and I fell on the side of efficiency.
2. Christian MacLeod, AA Wichita – 1.47 ERA, 18 ⅓ IP, 3.09 FIP, 24.7 K%
It appears that Christian MacLeod decided allowing runs is for suckers, and MacLeod is no sucker. His season ERA is a miniscule 0.95, albeit across just 28 ⅓ innings as he started 2025 injured. Still, his numbers cannot be denied, and May was a deeply impressive month for the lefty.
A champion with the Mississippi State Bulldogs, MacLeod joined the Twins as a 5th-round pick in the 2021 draft. His pitching quality is evident; yet, injuries limited him to enter the season with just 164 ⅔ minor league innings. The lack of workload is the main factor that kept him on the outskirts of major prospect conversations. He was a tertiary mention at best.
He’s clearly healthy now. MacLeod started the month with a relative stinker before rattling off three straight scoreless starts, allowing just five hits in 11 ⅔ innings. Control was the only bugaboo in his game: the 25-year-old walked 13% of hitters in the month, as it seemed like the best strategy a batter could employ against him was to wait out a possible free pass. It hardly mattered; just three runners scored against him. He was so good that I’m still not entirely sure I made the correct decision in anointing him only the second-best starter of the month.
1. David Festa, AAA St. Paul – 1.26 ERA, 14 ⅓ IP, 1.35 FIP, 36.6 K%
Given his status at the beginning of the month, I’m sure David Festa himself wouldn’t have predicted that he’d win this award. The righty dominated 5 ⅔ frames with one earned run on May 6th, then missed his next start due to ominous “arm fatigue.” Fans groaned and prepared for the worst. Yet, the malaise subsided after two weeks, and Festa returned for 3 ⅔ successful innings, again allowing a lone earned run.
A phenomenal five-shutout inning start on the 29th concluded what eventually became a tremendous month for the youngster—one that saw a critical adjustment integrate flawlessly into his game.
Festa’s four-seam fastball had proven irresistible to major league hitters, who battered the offering with Ted Williams-like vigor. The pitch clearly wasn’t going to cut it, so Festa and the Twins worked to add a sinker into his mix. Evidently, he felt uncomfortable with the pitch early on, as he threw it just 10 times in the bigs, but recently he’s let the new weapon rip; Festa threw 22 of them in his last start—a third of all his pitches that day—as opposed to just 11 four-seamers. We will see what the pitch will do in the majors. Minor leaguers, however, have spoken through Festa’s stats, and they tell us this: they would rather see the New Jerseyian practice his craft in the big leagues.
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