Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month - August 2023

[Matt Braun]

After taking a look at the best starters of the month, read about what their reliever counterparts did to stand out from the crowd.

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints

Relief pitching in the minors is weird. Not only are pitchers often shuffled between the rotation and bullpen, leaving the designation of titles obsolete and confusing, but their broad lack of command can lead to bizarre peripherals and misleading ERAs. It is far from uncommon to see a relief outing with three or more walks. Knowing this, let us cut through the fray, hopefully striking at a few names that rose from the control muck and grime, making themselves undeniable in their excellence.

Honorable mentions:

RHP Regi Grace - AA Wichita, 17 2/3 IP, 19.7 K%, 2.04 ERA, 3.33 FIP
Regi Grace’s ERA masks an ordinary strikeout rate; he also allowed multiple baserunners in every outing in August except one. The volume is excellent, though.

RHP Devin Kirby - FCL Twins, 11 2/3 IP, 35.4 K%, 3.09 ERA, 4.81 FIP
An undrafted signee out of the University of Connecticut, Devin Kirby struck out a whole bunch of batters but also walked a ton of them. 

RHP Kyle Bischoff - FCL Twins, 11 1/3 IP, 28.6 K%, 1.59 ERA, 4.48 FIP
Copy the previous text but change the college to “Michigan State,” and you have Kyle Bischoff’s August with the FCL Twins. 

LHP Jordan Carr - A+ Cedar Rapids/AA Wichita, 16 2/3 IP, 26.1 K%, 1.08 ERA, 3.77 FIP
2023 has been a dream for Jordan Carr. The lefty toasted Midwestern hitters all season, holding a tiny 1.48 ERA over 60 2/3 frames for the Kernels. 

The performance earned a recent promotion to AA—he’s made just one appearance there, as of August 31st—as the 25-year-old will now feel the joys of pitching in one of the most offensive-friendly environments in baseball. If Carr’s placement feels low, consider that he also hit four batters this month, artificially keeping his walk rate lower than it would have been if he just handed them four free ones. 

5. LHP Aaron Rozek - AA Wichita, 16 1/3 IP, 30.4 K%, 3.31 ERA, 3.05 FIP
Aaron Rozek may be the first player to make both the Starting Pitcher of the Month list and its relief counterpart. That’s… maybe not great, but at least it seems that he’s found a home in the bullpen.

August was a great month for the Burnsville native; Rozek allowed one or fewer runs in six of his seven outings (the one clunker was a start, funny enough), as he punched out over 30% of batters and kept the walks at an acceptable level. It’s been a true rollercoaster season for him, oscillating between domination and frustration, but his recent results may reveal a newer, better version of Rozek perfectly suited for the bullpen. 

4. LHP Kody Funderburk - AAA St. Paul, 13 1/3 IP, 36.5 K%, 2.03 ERA, 3.07 FIP
Kody Funderburk’s work in August was so notable that the Twins called him up to the majors to help provide middle relief depth down the stretch. He made two outings there—one excellent, the other dreadful. 

Nonetheless, Funderburk appears ready for the major-league challenge; the lefty crushed his AAA competition in August, striking out batters at a Haderian level while often acquiring more than just three outs. His sinker/slider/weird cutting fastball combination looks quirky enough to keep hitters on their toes, leading to batters wondering what in the world they just swung at. With nothing left to prove at AAA, this may be Funderburk’s final mention in this series. 

3. RHP Mike Paredes - A+ Cedar Rapids, 14 2/3 IP, 30.6 K%, 2.45 ERA, 1.92 FIP
A late 2021 draftee, Mike Paredes has now had back-to-back seasons with an ERA in the low 3s. The peripherals aren’t as sexy as other pitchers, but the run prevention has been tremendous—and it looks like Paredes found his strikeout stuff in August.

I originally had him off the list, but looking at his numbers, I had to find a place for him somewhere, even if I had full write ups for five other players. Paredes had a disastrous outing on the 16th, but was otherwise stellar for the Kernels, bringing stability to games with quality multi-inning outings. He even vultured three wins. The 22-year-old could very well find himself in Wichita in 2023. 

2. RHP Ricardo Velez - A Fort Myers, 15 1/3 IP, 40.7 K%, 1.17 ERA, 1.60 FIP
Pound for pound, perhaps no reliever was better in August than Ricardo Velez. He was dynamite for the Mighty Mussels, striking out batters at a rate reserved only for the truly elite bullpen arms. 

Born in Puerto Rico, Velez attended the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, an NAIA school originally founded as a women’s only institution with an attendance of around 800 (sorry, I’m fascinated by small schools like this). Anyways, Velez barely pitched in 2021 and 2022 in the Twins system before breaking out as a big-time punch-out arm in 2023; his strikeout rate on the year is over 30%. Velez probably should have taken the crown for reliever of the month, but the piece was written and the thumbnail was made before his final, outstanding outing on August 31st. Should have dominated earlier! In all seriousness, it was an incredible month for a pitcher off most peoples radar.

1. RHP Patrick Murphy - AAA St. Paul, 22 IP, 32.6 K%, 2.45 ERA, 4.18 FIP
The imposing hard-throwing Patrick Murphy was not your typical reliever in August; he made just one outing that didn’t go for multiple innings as the Saints tried to stretch him into a long relief weapon. 

It worked. Murphy dominated every multi-frame outing to the tune of a 1.29 ERA and 27 strikeouts over 21 innings. Armed with a fiery fastball and a sharp breaking ball, Murphy appears well-prepared to succeed if the Twins asked him to return to the majors; he owns just under 40 career major-league frames. If not, the Saints will happily watch Murphy gobble up innings with his impressive strikeouts rate and quasi-starter stamina.

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[FlyingFinn]

Seems like a person kind of knows which people are in the monthly minor league awards for the rest. As for the relief pitchers, I just don't remember each of their great short relief outings for the month so most of these guys on this list surprise me each month.

[DocBauer]

Have to confess I know nothing about Velez or Carr.  I'm going to have to start paying more attention to them.. Would like to know more about them and what they throw.

Like what I've seen of Funderburk so far, despite the one bad performance. While not on this list, I still think Headrick has flashed enough potential to suggest a viable LH pen arm in the future. While Thielbar is still very good, he's not getting any younger. Having arms like Funderburk, Moran, and Headrick as LH options for 2024 provides optimism from the port side. Does Rozek's conversion to the pen possibly offer a 4th young option?