Twins top pitching prospect? Prielipp to have UCL surgery (source)

OAKLAND -- Left-handed starter Connor Prielipp, the No. 3 prospect in the Twins’ organization per MLB Pipeline, will undergo surgery on his left ulnar collateral ligament on Monday with Dr. Keith Meister, a source said on Friday. The club has not confirmed the news.

The full extent of the procedure -- whether or not it will entail a full UCL reconstruction or a repair -- will not become clear until the procedure takes place. Either way, it will mark a second UCL procedure in three seasons for Prielipp, the Twins’ second-round selection in the 2022 Draft, who also underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021 while at the University of Alabama.

Prielipp originally went to the injured list in April, when the Twins described the issue as arm soreness and inflammation. At that point, they expressed little concern and hoped to build him back up, and Prielipp began a rehab assignment in June. The organization transferred him to the full-season IL on July 7.

Though Prielipp had wowed many in the organization with his stuff in the short time he was on a mound during instructional ball late in ‘22 and again in Spring Training in ‘23, the 22-year-old only pitched 6 2/3 professional innings this season across one start for High-A Cedar Rapids and one rehab start at the Rookie level.

“Man, he was outstanding in Spring Training,” president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said earlier this season. “The fastball-slider combo looked like it was much more advanced than we thought it was even when we drafted him.”

Once viewed as one of the top overall prospects in his Draft class and a potential front-of-the-rotation starter, Prielipp fell to the second round of last year’s Draft because of the arm concerns, as he did not throw a competitive collegiate pitch in ‘22 as he recovered from Tommy John.

Still, the Twins felt good enough about his pitch data and other information gathering to select him, and he delivered by showing the ability to land both his fastball and his lethal slider for strikes, as well as in making minor tweaks to add efficiency and carry to the fastball. But now, he’ll have to show it again after another surgery.