Luke Keaschall and Zebby Matthews named 2024 Twins Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL, MN ¡ª The Minnesota Twins announced today that infielder Luke Keaschall has been named the 2024 Sherry Robertson Award winner as the Twins minor league Player of the Year and right-handed pitcher Zebby Matthews has been named the 2024 Jim Rantz Award winner as the Twins minor league Pitcher of the Year.
Keaschall, 22, hit .303 (115-for-379) with 21 doubles, one triple, 15 home runs, 48 RBI, 62 walks, 23 stolen bases, 80 runs scored, a .420 on-base percentage and a .903 OPS in 102 games across High-A Cedar Rapids (44 games) and Double-A Wichita (58 games). The 6-foot, 190-pound infielder ranked second among all Twins minor league hitters in batting average (.303, minimum of 300 PA), on-base percentage (.420, minimum of 300 PA) and OPS (.903, minimum of 300 PA); was also second in runs scored (80), tied for fourth in walks (62), fifth in home runs (15), tied for fifth in stolen bases (23) and sixth in hits (115). He was also named Twins minor league Player of the Week twice, on May 26 and July 14. Keaschall began the season with the Kernels and hit .375 (39-for-104) with eight doubles, five home runs, 16 RBI, 15 walks, three stolen bases, 25 runs scored, a .468 on-base percentage and a 1.065 OPS in 27 games in May, earning Midwest Player of the Month honors for his efforts and a promotion to Double-A on May 27. He earned Texas League Player of the Week honors on June 16 and played in the MLB All-Star Futures Game on July 13 at Globe Life Field, coming off the bench and playing second base, while going 0-for-1.
The Watsonville, California native was selected by the Twins in the second round (49th overall) of the 2023 First-Year Player Draft out of Arizona State University. He is currently ranked as the No. 3 prospect in the Twins organization and the No. 63 overall prospect in baseball, per MLB.com.
Matthews, 24, went 6-3 with a 2.60 ERA (97.0 IP, 28 ER), seven walks, 114 strikeouts, a .212 opponent batting average and a 0.87 WHIP in 18 games (17 starts) in the 2024 minor league season, split between High-A Cedar Rapids (4 games/starts), Double-A Wichita (10 games/9 starts) and Triple-A St. Paul (4 games/starts). The 6-foot-5, 225-pound right-hander led all minor league pitchers (minimum of 90.0 innings pitched) in strikeout-to-walk ratio (16.29), walks-per-9.0 innings (0.65) and WHIP (0.87) and ranked second in fielding independent pitching (2.31). He began the season with the Kernels and went 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA (22.2 IP, 4 ER), no walks and 28 strikeouts in four starts from April 10-May 3. Matthews was promoted to Double-A on May 5 and struck out nine batters in 6.2 innings (3 H, 2 R/0 ER, 0 BB) in his Wind Surge debut on May 9. He was promoted again to St. Paul on July 19, had his contract selected by the Twins less than a month later on August 13 and made his major league debut that night against Kansas City. Matthews was named the Midwest League Pitcher of the Week on May 5 and was a three-time Twins minor league Pitcher of the Week (April 14, April 28 and May 12); he was also named a Texas League Postseason All-Star and a Baseball America Minor League First-Team All-Star.
The Cullowhee, North Carolina native was selected by the Twins in the eighth round of the 2022 First-Year Player Draft out of Western Carolina University.
The Sherry Robertson Award, named in honor of the Twins¡¯ first farm director, was established in 1970 to recognize the top Twins minor league performer (player or pitcher) each season; since 2002, the award has strictly recognized the Twins Minor League Player of the Year. In 2002, the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year Award was established, named in honor of former Twins Minor League Director and Twins Hall of Famer Jim Rantz. Keaschall and Matthews, along with the other Twins 2025 award winners, will be recognized at the 21st annual Diamond Awards on Thursday, January 23, 2025 at The Armory in Minneapolis.
Additionally, the Riccardo Ingram Award ¨C given to the Twins minor leaguer who best exemplifies the four tenets of the Twins Tradition (passion, heart, hustle and fun) ¨C honoree this season is infielder Jake Rucker. Catcher Jair Camargo, infielder Ben Ross and outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr. have also been named Twins minor league Defensive Award winners.