Opportunity in the Late Innings

[Cody Pirkl]

The Twins bullpen is incredibly short currently with several injuries to key contributors. While it could hurt the team, it could create long-term opportunities. Could any of the stand-ins pitch themselves into a future role?

Image courtesy of Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

At one point, the Twins had four pitchers in their bullpen who were essentially called up from St. Paul out of necessity. Brent Headrick was recently sent back upon Jorge Lopez’s return, and Josh Winder was replaced by Cole Sands who was activated from the IL. Three arms remain, and Thielbar and Brock Stewart are not quite on the verge of returning, there’s a short window for these guys to prove themselves.

Jordan Balazovic
Perhaps the likeliest candidate to find himself as a textbook reliever down the line, the Twins have already started the process of switching Balazovic to a traditional relief role

It’s a bit disappointing, but this is the path many pitching prospects take. Balazovic was being used as a long reliever in St. Paul, and the hope is that his stuff plays up enough to legitimately help in the late innings rather than bouncing up and down to Triple-A after making bulk inning appearances.

Balazovic’s stuff hasn’t shown through, as despite his sub 2.00 ERA, he’s not even struck out 15% of the hitters he’s faced. He has cut down on the walks significantly though, and his slider and changeup have drawn some whiffs. If he can harness the stuff that once made him a top starting pitching prospect, Balazovic could become a legitimate weapon in the bullpen down the stretch.

Oliver Ortega
Ortega was one of the Twins few waiver claims prior to the season and later passed through waivers and stuck around. Like Balazovic, the stuff hasn’t shown through in his brief MLB stint so far, but Ortega was dominant in St. Paul, pitching to a 2.22 ERA with an over 30% K rate.

He has a curveball and slider that each draw a whiff rate of at least 36% to pair with a fastball that’s been around 95 but has been in the upper 90s in previous seasons. It’s easy to see why the Twins took a flier, as even at 26 years of age, Ortega has all of the tools to become a valuable MLB reliever. 

Cole Sands
Most people think of the two inning, five walks performance from Sands on May 13, but he’s been great otherwise. Sands was working on a change in arm angle and has looked dominant at times. In St. Paul, he’s struck out nearly 35% of batters faced and struck out over a batter per inning in the MLB. The walks haven’t been an issue aside from the one outing and he’s avoided the homer-happy concerns that have popped up last year. 

Sands has leaned into a split finger this season to pair with his plus breaking ball and fastball that has ticked up near 94 mph now that he’s fully transitioned to the bullpen. He should in theory have a pitch mix to attack hitters from both sides of the plate, and given his success in Triple-A, it may just be time to see what Cole Sands can do to help the Twins at nearly 26 years of age.

The Twins lack of proven bullpen depth hasn’t hurt them as of yet, and hopefully the offense and starting pitching can continue to soften the blow of the injuries they’ve suffered. While they wait for some of their proven relievers to return, it doesn’t have to be all negative. There’s a chance one of these arms could come out on the other end of this as a semi-established option in the late innings. Do you agree? Does anyone stand out above the rest? Let us know below!

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[Twins_Fan_For_Life]

Relievers are so volatile.  Maybe one of these guys can fill a late-inning role for a few weeks.  There aren't many good options who are healthy at the moment. 

[FLtwinfan]

Any chance they see what they have in AAA? Funderburk? Big Lefty with good K numbers. Murphy? Has some big league time.  

[mikelink45]

Whatever the supply looks like they cannot continue to burn Duran with two inning stints - it isn't working.  Keep throwing in the arms until something clicks. 

[strumdatjag]

What about converting one of several starters?  Keuchel, Maeda, Varland … 

[MTV]

4 hours ago, strumdatjag said:

What about converting one of several starters?  Keuchel, Maeda, Varland … 

Varland has proven to be solid as a back-end starter, and still has #3 starter potential; he can be an innings-eater for this team for years to come and shouldn’t be moved to a bullpen role. Maeda has done very well since returning from injury but if he starts to struggle shifting him to the bullpen in the back-half of the year shouldn’t be all bad. Keuchel is an interesting option, I think the Twins could start experimenting him in the bullpen, but having him as starter depth wouldn’t hurt, especially considering his 0.64 ERA in 3 AAA starts. I think that Patrick Murphy and Cody Funderburk should be the top relief options for the Twins right now, and should just keep shuffling guys until something clicks. It worked for Brock Stewart, let’s see if anything else can surprise this team.

[Rosterman]

Funderburk is an option for the future. I still have hopes for Henriquez (long relief). Who knows what can be done with Dobnak.

[Doctor Wu]

One positive aspect to this season is that the Twins seem to have more depth in their system in regards to pitching. We have several good arms who could be called up and do a good job if needed, unlike in past years when we seemed to continually picking up pitchers that had been put on waivers or released by other teams. That said, we still may need another quality (not sure how to define "quality", but there you go) pitcher from outside the organization to bolster the bullpen down the stretch. 

[JD-TWINS]

Balazovic will stick!

HOPING that in later July we have some evolution to our “stretch run” Pen:

Balazovic - Moran - Stewart - Thielbar

Sands - Jax - Duran - (Ortega-Kuechel-Headrick-López) battling for 8th spot.

Do we get to add an arm in September - not sure of roster expansion rules?

[william]

i agree with FLTIWINFN been following Funderburk Big lefty good numbers lets see what he can doin the big leagues.