With baseball's Rule 5 draft only three weeks away, the Twins made sure they won't lose two of their best starting pitching prospects to another team.

Righthanders Marco Raya and Travis Adams were added to the Twins' 40-man roster Tuesday, protecting them from the Dec. 11 draft, which allows teams to pluck eligible minor leaguers from each others' systems.

Raya, 22, started 24 games for Class AA Wichita and one for AAA St. Paul last summer, posting a combined 4.05 ERA while striking out 103 batters in 97⅔ innings. Taken in the fourth round of the 2020 draft, Raya missed the 2021 season with shoulder fatigue but has made 64 starts in the three seasons since.

Adams, 24, was Raya's teammate at Wichita for five months, then started four games for the Saints in September. The Twins' sixth-round pick in 2021, Adams made 22 starts and 26 total appearances, compiling 118 strikeouts and a 4.39 ERA over 127 innings.

The additions of Raya and Adams bring the Twins' roster to 37. The Twins haven't lost a player in the Rule 5 draft since 2020, when the Tigers claimed outfielder Akil Baddoo, and the Orioles added righthander Tyler Wells. Both players debuted in 2021 and have remained in those teams' systems ever since.