Cole Sands Has Been Weirdly Good

[Cody Pirkl]

Cole Sands is the most recent in a line of former starting pitching prospects to find their footing in the Twins' bullpen. He’s been nothing short of dominant in 2024, but in a very weird way.

Image courtesy of Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

As a former fifth-round pick, Cole Sands never had an elite pedigree as a prospect. His fastball was in the low 90s, but he limited walks and he had a plus breaking ball. The most obvious path for Sands in a relief role was to lean on his breaking ball, as we’ve seen with players like Griffin Jax. Sands is finding his success in a much different way.

The name of the game when it comes to relievers is typically to simplify their arsenal and focus on what they do best. Instead, as Cole Sands transitioned to a reliever, his pitch mix got more diverse. He introduced a splitter last year, throwing more than the breaking ball. In 2024, his most used pitch is a 90 mph cutter.

The cutter has drawn whiffs over 30% of the time, allowing an exit velocity of just 78 mph. Sands throws it just a touch more than his four-seamer, which has climbed up near 95 mph on average. That extra tick surely helps, but it’s fair to wonder whether the pitch also benefits from a more diverse arsenal to complement it. He has yet to allow a hit on the pitch.

The splitter is mainly used against left-handed hitters and has a 42.9% whiff rate. Between this and the cutter, Sands suddenly has two plus pitches to attack hitters with, not to mention the expected boost in velocity.

Sustaining this, though, will depend on whether Sands can improve on the breaking ball, his calling card as a prospect. The pitch has yet to draw a single swing and miss in 2024.

The question to consider at this point isn’t just whether Sands can continue with his performance; it’s what to do with him if it does. If he’s armed with a repertoire that includes a usable cutter, splitter, and curveball, he may be deserving of a chance to stretch back into a starting role and see what happens. There’s room in the Saints' rotation, and the Twins could certainly use the depth.

Is this to say that Cole Sands has established himself as a staple of their pitching staff? Not necessarily. The sample size is still tiny, and relievers are fickle. What we’ve seen so far suggests that he’s a different pitcher than the one the Twins drafted, or even the one we all watched just last year. 

Those who thought Cole Sands could succeed were probably picturing him doing it differently. Regardless of the expectations, Sands has been convincingly good. He appears to be taking the leap that some expected he could in recent years; he’s just doing it in a weird way.

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[LambchoP]

Will be interesting to see if he can sustain this early success. If so he could be another diamond in the rough type, like Brock Stewart last year.

[ashbury]

He seems to offer a much different look from some of his fellow bullpenners, and that can be a very good thing if he continues to thrive, with a little bit of a ripple effect.

[Hrbowski]

His spin direction has improved dramatically, I think his results are unsurprising given the improvement of his peripheral data. First is 2024, second 2023. 

[CRF]

Certainly a sign of the coming apocalypse.

[Jocko87]

Today I learned his name is Bryson.

This is the pitching pipeline, a 6 ft 3, 220lb college guy maybe figuring it out around age 26.  A solid 5 ish cost controlled years would be a huge win. He's Falveys type for sure.

[jimbo92107]

I don't see why this is "weird." Every pitcher finds his own way to adapt. Weird would be if he was throwing the ball behind his back. Sands has found a way to get guys out with a unique set of pitches. Heck the Twins have a guy in the minors that throws a knuckler - but not as his main pitch. Now that's odd, but still not weird. Let's hope Sands keeps on finding new wrinkles. It's always good to have a variety of approaches...if they work.

[Guest]

Nothing to lose by lengthening Sands out and swapping him with One-inning Louie in the rotation.  Could be a win-win....

[Doctor Gast]

I saw improvement in Sands during spring training & suggested for him to be part of the active roster as long relief, breaking camp before there were any injuries to the BP. As usual I was slammed. Sand has been steadily improving, I was pleasantly surprised how well he has been pitching this season. He has had problems with endurance so I'd keep extending the length of his outings in long relief until he's ready for a spot start here & there. I'd certainly not send him down at any time to be a SP. 

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, Cody Pirkl said:

He’s been nothing short of dominant in 2024

His good results are based on a BABIP of .154, a stat that fluctuates a lot in the early season, so batted balls have been finding gloves at a rate that isn't sustainable.  His 42.9% strikeout rate is beyond elite, but I'd hold off on crowning him Fireman of the Year quite yet.

[nicksaviking]

I honestly don't think it's that weird. This is the exact reliever profile the Twins have found success with for decades. Not just Jax, but Duffey, May, Rogers, Perkins, Duensing, Guardado, Hawkins.

The minor league starters who were just not quite good enough to cut it in the rotation at the majors have long been this team's bullpen success stories. I had my money on Winder pulling off the trick, but I had reasonable hopes that either he or Sands would prove to be useful.

[farmerguychris]

Well - he's paid to be a professional pitcher, so shouldn't the expectation be that he should be good?  

[Patzky]

22 minutes ago, farmerguychris said:

Well - he's paid to be a professional pitcher, so shouldn't the expectation be that he should be good?  

Sure but hitters are paid too..

[gil4]

29 minutes ago, farmerguychris said:

Well - he's paid to be a professional pitcher, so shouldn't the expectation be that he should be good?  

He's not paid like a good MLB pitcher (yet). He's paid close to the minimum, like the AAAA/marginal pitcher that he was last year. If he's good, that's a bonus.  

[bean5302]

Sands struggled a lot in peripherals and analysis of his "stuff" in previous years while pitching as a starter/long reliever. If he performs as a short reliever, it's a fair indication that's where his value will stay. That said, the Twins are pretty strong in the bullpen already so maybe? I think the biggest problem is Sands hasn't gone more than 3 innings in the last two years so "stretching him out" will take more than the entire 2024 campaign.

[Dave The Dastardly]

With the current trend to pull starting pitchers after 4 or 5 innings and closer-types at one inning long relievers will be more in demand to fill the gap. I'd leave Sands right where he is; middle (long) relief.

[Jocko87]

1 hour ago, ashbury said:

His good results are based on a BABIP of .154, a stat that fluctuates a lot in the early season, so batted balls have been finding gloves at a rate that isn't sustainable.  His 42.9% strikeout rate is beyond elite, but I'd hold off on crowning him Fireman of the Year quite yet.

Is an ERA+ of 343 good?

Heck I'd take a third of that and call it a win.

[ashbury]

3 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

Is an ERA+ of 343 good?

Of course it is.  He's been nothing short of dominant; the article said so.  😀

[DocBauer]

Like @nicksaviking, I had hope that one of Winder or Sands would make the transition to a solid, quality pen option who could be that 8th man who wasn't just an innings eater who could "take one for the team", but a valuable 1-3 IP pen arm who could really contribute vs sitting on the bench for 10 days at a time...like last season.

But like ALL THINGS, with less than a month in to the season, let's pump the brakes a little on his potential greatness in the pen. The BAPIP is absolutely going to come back to earth, but that doesn't mean some of his other peripherals have to come down as well, or not appreciably.

His curveball has always been a really good looking pitch previously. So I'm really surprised he's used it so little at this point. Surely he and the Twins don't suddenly not trust it. Does he just know it's there if he needs it? Is he just concentrating on his splitter and cutter since they are working and he wants to continue being more "familiar" and comfortable with them?

Still only 26yo, I can see the idea of him moving back to a rotation option at some point, especially if the curveball is still there. It's a very "Tampa" kind of move, similar to journeyman and former Twin Zack Littell, who bounces around, changes his mix, and becomes a decent #5 SP option. IF the sweeper and splitter continue to PERFORM, and the curveball is STILL THERE, I can see a reasonable chance that Sands COULD get another rotation shot. But keep in mind that his FB is higher now in the pen and would probably drop a MPH or two back in the rotation. How does that affect his cutter and splitter? Sands is not OLD. He's just not a 30yo journeyman who's overcome injuries and reinvented himself as a pen arm. But sometimes, a guy just ISN'T a ML SP. And I'm not dismissing the idea that a return doesn't have some merit. But his FB is playing much better in the pen. He's got a pair of new pitches that, so far, look really good. We often talk about dialing down a pitchers repertoire to be more effective in the pen. And it's usually true.

But what's wrong with a guy who can throw 94 consistently for 1-3 innings with 3 solid secondary pitchers...who can't maintain velocity more than that...who could be an IDEAL 8th man in the pen? Every 2 or 3 days he's available for 2-3 IP to bridge a gap on a good day, or a bad day. If Sands turns in to that, as he's looked so far in SSSS, it's a huge win.

[Fatbat]

Such a fine line between failure and success.  He has always disappointed but if he has found his game, give him more innings that count! Its so cool to see guys that finally find success. Best if its still with the Twins instead of the O’s.

[Andrew Bryz-Gornia]

I'd say it's not weird. His sweeper and splitter have always had great movement. 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

23 hours ago, Minderbinder said:

Nothing to lose by lengthening Sands out and swapping him with One-inning Louie in the rotation.  Could be a win-win....

Behind SWR is Festa and Dobnak…

SWR looked great, I kinda want to see Festa, after that there’s nobody I want to see in Minneapolis at any point this season.

considering the average team uses 10 starters in a season, and this one has 7…. there is a lot to lose by making that swap.

if Louie isn’t a starter in Minneapolis, he needs to start in St Paul