Jorge Alcala is Fighting the Battle to Win the War

[Ted Schwerzler]

Coming into this year the hope was that the Minnesota Twins could have one of baseball’s best bullpens. Unfortunately they dealt with injury issues out of spring training and it has taken a while to come together. Jorge Alcala though, has been nothing short of dominant.

 

When the Minnesota Twins traded closer Ryan Pressly to the Houston Astros for Jorge Alcala and Gilberto Celestino, it was the outfielder seen as a bit more of the prize. Alcala has bided his time, and survived a handful of arm issues, to now have this moment. Hoping this was going to be the year for him, he has surpassed basically all expectations.

Throwing 1 2/3 innings during the first game of Sunday’s Father’s Day doubleheader against the Oakland Athletics, it was Alcala that Rocco Baldelli called on following 6 1/3 strong innings from starter Bailey Ober. The fireballer came on and worked around a single hit while grabbing another strikeout and pushing his ERA down to 1.99 on the year.

Outside of just the injury issues, Alcala’s career has largely been held back by consistency. In recent seasons, as he has worked to get the arm healthy, finding and keeping the zone was something that Baldelli touched on again this spring. With 12 walks in 22 2/3 innings this year, it’s still not completely there, but keeping the ball in the yard and missing bats has never happened to this level for the Dominican native.

As the Twins have been known to do with pitchers over the years, velocity was added to Alcala’s bag for 2024. Averaging 96 mph last season, it wasn’t as though the outcome was unexpected, but this is a guy now sitting near 98 mph and touching triple-digits. At his previous best, Alcala was a capable big league reliever during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. In those years the velocity sat where it is now, but the top end of it was not the same.

Pairing the velocity with a slider producing plenty of bite, he’s back to generating chases and whiffs from opposing batters. A career-low whiff rate is aiding heavily into an ability to keep the ball in the yard, and for a guy still dealing with a decent amount of traffic, that’s definitely a good thing.

For Alcala too, the emotional and mental growth seen this year have to be noted. Despite being among the Twins best pitchers out of the bullpen to start the season, he had been used in curious fashion. For a guy who has dealt with such significant arm issues, it was odd seeing him go multiple innings and racking up pitch counts. Options to St. Paul happened seemingly out of nowhere, and he was forced to work through a reality that his role was constantly in flux.

Currently on a run of 11 2/3 innings, over ten appearances, while just allowing a single run, he’s putting it together. The 11/6 K/BB still leaves plenty to be desired, and that’s the part that Baldelli has constantly cautioned about. If traffic is only coming from free passes though, and Alcala is consistently able to dominate whoever steps in the batter’s box, then the opportunities for him to contribute will remain.

The Twins aren’t at a place where they should consider Alcala among the group of Griffin Jax, Jhoan Duran, or a healthy Brock Stewart, but having a reliable middle-inning reliever with upside is something the pen has been short on. Even a slight decrease in the walk rate will put Alcala up another level.

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[mikelink45]

I would not hold back - Duran has had issues this year, Stewart is always an injury risk.  I would but Alcala in and let him go. 

[SotaSports in NM]

I think it's a bit of a stretch to be calling Alcala dominant at any point this year. Dominant relievers don't allow 4 walks per 9. Having said that, I love Alcala and want him in the pen. I'm glad Rocco and Maki are finally utilizing him in the proper way, and I think he figures out his control in the future. 

We've seen how important it is to have good middle relievers and not just a top heavy bullpen, so we need him to continue to get better.

[Doctor Gast]

I consider Alcala as a setup man. I'm in favor of keeping our high-leverage RPs fresh especially Alcala who is coming off an arm injury. To ensure this we need long relief.

[bean5302]

47 minutes ago, SotaSports in NM said:

I think it's a bit of a stretch to be calling Alcala dominant at any point this year. Dominant relievers don't allow 4 walks per 9. Having said that, I love Alcala and want him in the pen. I'm glad Rocco and Maki are finally utilizing him in the proper way, and I think he figures out his control in the future. 

We've seen how important it is to have good middle relievers and not just a top heavy bullpen, so we need him to continue to get better.

Actually, they do sometimes. Flame throwing pitchers with great movement often have relatively high walk rates, but even seemingly borderline sky high walk rates don't matter if hitter can't touch your stuff.

It's how Nolan Ryan made the HoF as a starter. Led MLB in walks 7 times and has issued the most walks in MLB history by nearly 1,000. 2,795 walks issued, #2 is Steve Carlton 1,833 in similar innings pitched. Career BB/9 for Ryan? 4.7. Ryan never threw strikes. He never tried to throw stuff guys could hit. He was like Francisco Liriano, but healthy for a gajillion years.

Strike out a ton of guys, don't give up hits, and the BB rate can creep into the 4s while a pitcher, especially a reliever, can be dominant. Aroldis Chapman in his prime was up around 4 BB/9 regularly.
8 (27%) of the top 30 relievers in ERA this year have 4.00+ BB/9
4 (13%) of the top 31 relievers in FIP this year have a 4.00+ BB/9
3 (10%) of the top 30 relievers in xFIP this year have a 4.00+ BB/9
4 (13%) of the top 31 relievers in fWAR this year have a 4.00+ BB/9

Alcala doesn't just have this year's results on record, either. He was utterly dominant to end 2021 as well, and I think we're all seeing why Falvey and Co. kept tendering Alcala contracts even though he was in arbitration years and producing no value on the field due to injuries.

[bean5302]

Oh, also @Ted Schwerzler since I didn't see this obligatory post with:
 

Quote

Twins Daily is going downhill and these articles sure do stink, and why don't you write about something somebody wants to hear about? Must be a slow news days. This is the reason I'm never going to pay for content and I probably won't come to this site as much anymore! All these clickbaits!

I thought I'd put that in for you so it didn't feel like something was missing from the comments section, but you just couldn't figure out what it was, LOL!

[olerud]

Great article! 

[DocBauer]

I understand and appreciate the idea that you need 1 arm, hopefully 2, in your pen who can throw 2 innings and not just 1. But despite improvements and a hot start to the season, I NEVER understood Sands being used for 1 inning while Alcala was being stretched. Especially considering injury history and pure numbers that said Alcala was dominate in 1 inning stints. Sorry, but that's on Rocco.

THANKFULLY, Alcala is FINALLY being used the way he should be. The KEY to Alcala is not his velocity, or his slider, but his change just being average. It started to have bite in 2021 I believe? Any sort of OK change takes him from a good reliever to a potentially really good one.

Stewart changes the whole dynamic of the pen. But without him, Duran and Jax are clearly the top 2. And Duran can slide in to the #3 slot with Stewart out. Right NOW, Okert is OK as the #4. A rough outing the other day notwithstanding, Staumont is looking very good, with increased velocity, and I think is starting to look like a dependable option again. But to me, he's #5 right now because you need to slide the LH Okert in to a 7th-8th inning role. (He's not great, but he's solid). 

If you want to break it down to when guys SHOULD throw:

8/9: Duran and Jax

7/8: Alcala and Okert

6/7: Staumont and Funderburk 

5/6: Sands and Thielbar.

Obviously, it doesn't work quite this way. The Twins starters almost always go 5-6 innings. And day to day usage changes the pecking order. And with Stewart out, Alcala is a rung higher higher than he should be right now. But that doesn't mean he isn't good, potentially great, it just indicates how good Stewart is when healthy. 

I think we all have to remember that the "best bullpen in MLB" was a creation of pundits, and nothing the Twins ever stated. But despite injuries, the pen has largely been very good. They're even better with Stewart and SOMEONE from the LH side if Thielbar doesn't get his act together. That's why I say any trade ideas, IMO, a LHRP might be the 1st option to add. 

But even WITH Stewart, Alcala has shown what he is, and can be. And he should absolutely be in the top 4-5 BP arms at this point.