Jorge Alcala's Puzzling Start

[Cody Pirkl]

Hopes were high for Jorge Alcala to return from injury in 2023. The velocity has been questionable, as has his role thus far. What might the Twins' plan be for the 27-year-old right-hander?

Image courtesy of Denny Medley, USA TODAY Sports

Jorge Alcala had a mini breakout at the end of 2021 and was prevented from building on it further due to injury in 2022. Headed into 2023, the hope was that he was 100% healthy and could pick up where he left off. So far it appears that may not be the case on multiple fronts.

Alcala looked locked and loaded coming out of spring training. His velocity had crept up considerably, and he looked flat-out dominant.

Alcala began his 2023 season with a shutout inning, but has pitched in a multi-inning role twice as well. His velocity is down from 2021 levels and more importantly from the 97.4 we saw this spring. The underlying numbers don’t look great despite his 0.00 ERA thus far. What can we make of it?

Velocity-wise, Alcala has long been a flamethrower even during his starting days in the minor leagues. His high 90s fastball has been a staple of his repertoire for years before his elbow acted up. After having it surgically cleaned up last season (arthroscopic debridement on his right elbow), his high 90s fastball has settled in around 95. A couple of ticks may not sound like much, but it can make a world of difference for a pitcher like Alcala who relies on blowing the doors off hitters more than command. That being said, heading to the Midwest spring weather after building up in the warm confines of Ft. Myers is a tough ask. It’s possible we see the velocity tick up as we did over time this spring, and therefore there isn’t much reason to worry yet.

The bigger question with Alcala is what the Twins think of him and what role he could play. Rather than setting him up to potentially take the reins on even a middle relief moderate leverage job, the Twins have used him as a multi-inning reliever in two of four appearances thus far. His most recent multi-inning excursion was a bit rocky and questionable on multiple accounts.

Alcala allowed just a single in his most recent multi-inning appearance on Sunday before ending it with a strikeout. He was asked to come back out for the 8th inning and threw 45 pitches in the outing. He issued two walks to lead off his second inning. He was clearly not as effective in his second inning. 

As high as Twins fans hopes were for Alcala coming into the season, that outing may have brought a moment of clarity. It's fair to wonder whether the Twins see the same potential in Alcala when they’re allowing him to rack up his highest pitch count since August of 2020 coming off of elbow surgery. That being said, he was inserted into a relatively high-leverage spot on Wednesday and spun a clean inning. It's kind of difficult to read how the Twins feel about Alcala, but it appears the ball is at least in his court.

The hope is still that Alcala can raise his mid-90s fastball into the upper 90s again, as he does still have a pair of secondary offerings to navigate any-handed hitter that comes to the plate. He may have to build that velocity up with sporadic multi-inning roles, which could be more difficult than doing so across strictly single-inning outings where Duran can give it his all on every pitch.

The reality is that present day, the perception among Twins fans and the organization may not quite line up. Alcala was never going to get very high-leverage spots right off the bat after missing nearly a full season, but the Twins don’t appear to be particularly inclined to set him up to earn that role. Instead he’ll have to earn his way up the hierarchy by outperforming other relievers the Twins see in the same vein such as Jovani Morán and Emilio Pagán.

At the end of the day, Alcala appears to be starting from scratch in regard to his status in the bullpen after missing nearly all of 2022. The Twins are doing him no favors in regard to easing him in and leaving the door open to work his way into high-leverage innings. He’ll have to earn it back himself. It all likely starts with the fastball velocity. Can Jorge Alcala bounce back to end of 2021 levels?

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[Doctor Gast]

IMO Alcala's success or failure will come not by 1 or 2 MPHs on his FB but on his development of his change up and his other pitches.

[jmlease1]

My guess on the multi-inning aspect is that they're looking at seeing if a longer outing will let him settle in and refine his command in a way that going out to get 3 outs won't? I don't know if that's going to work, but it's an interesting idea. 

I really think Alcala just needs innings and appearance to get on track. He basically didn't pitch at all last season, and I think what we're seeing from him is a lot of rust from a guy who wasn't a fully developed pitcher in the first place. With Jorge Lopez and Griffin Jax both looking good on the right side, there's room for him to stick to mostly lower-leverage outings and get the rust out.

The biggest problem Alcala is having right now is with his changeup, a pitch he was just starting to get a handle on to neutralize lefties when he got hurt. I don't think he's found a comfort level with it yet this season and he needs it to be effective against lefties. The slider and sinker both look good, even if his command isn't there yet and the velocity is down a little on the fastballs. We'll see where he is at the end of May.

[twinstalker]

Mostly taking your word for it on the velocity drop.  Lots of variables at play that might not be adjusted for and can truly influence a small sample size with correlated basic outcomes.  

[mikelink45]

Too early.  Check in when it is May

[cheeseheadgophfan]

I like the way they are bringing him along.....came in the 6th inning yesterday in high leverage (1-0) game.  He had a 1-2-3 inning.  I think you will continue to see him progress as the year goes on.  One thing is clear...he seems to really like his slider at this point more than his fastball.

[Tyler from Oregon]

Very interesting article. I think I may have been feeling overconfident in Alcala due to the ERA. 

[Bickle19]

Honestly wondering what the point of this article is? He threw hard, hurt his elbow. Came back throwing hard in Florida and now hasn’t thrown quite as hard in Minnesota? You don’t get how they’ve used him, so you’re attempting to create a narrative that most likely doesn’t exist despite that fact he hasn’t given up a run? Fascinating.

[HerbieFan]

Geez, it's April 13.  Trevor Megill has proven that being able to throw 100 mph darts won't get big league hitters out without command and secondary pitches.  Alcala missed almost an entire year.  It should surprise no one that there are some command and velocity issues in the first two weeks.  I'm not a big fan of using him for multiple innings, but I'm more than willing to give him some mid-to-low leverage innings to let improve in both issues.  

[chpettit19]

Feels like a lot of assumptions being made off 4 games, and 14 4-seamers. Even if you add the sinker in he's thrown 33 total fastballs. Why are we worried about 33 pitches that he's given up 1 hit on? Way too early to draw any conclusions from anything.

The Twins came into the season with Duran, Lopez, and Jax set to be their 3 go-to high leverage arms. Their starters are going deeper into games so they've been able to use those 3 in the vast majority of high leverage spots. Not sure how else you expected Alcala to be used. Things are looking great so far. Him being a multi-inning weapon would be a good thing so I'm confused by reading that as the Twins not trusting him.

[Twodogs]

23 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

IMO Alcala's success or failure will come not by 1 or 2 MPHs on his FB but on his development of his change up and his other pitches.

I think you are 100% correct with this statement.  I'd also add in command.  If he can throw wherever whenever then he will be hard to hit.  But to the OP, I mean if Jax, Lopez and Duran are on fire why would you replace them with Alcala?  I mean if one of those guys had a bad week or two I'm sure Alcala will get a shot then, there is no real reason to remove one of those guys from their high leverage spots if they are handling those spots.  Let Alcala pitch in the spots they put him in and hope he does well.

[bird]

Lots of astute comments here, and I certainly have doubts that the Twins are doing no favors to Alcala as opined. As others have said, There can be a number of reasons we're reading the radar gun on 33 pitches and seeing a slight decrease in velo. Maybe they asked him to back off and focus on regaining command? Maybe it's part of a mutli-inning useage plan and they asked him to focus on refining his other critically important pitches. We just don't know, and On April 13th, it's premature to speculate.

[Rosterman]

He looked good enough in spring training to come north. Otherwise, might have left him behind to pitch in sunny Florida in basically rehab, to get back up to speed, so to speak.

Give him a litle more time. He has the stuff. You have to face real batters in real situations after a year on the injured list.