The Return of the Short King: Say Hello to a Different Danny Coulombe

[Nate Palmer]

While the Minnesota Twins are familiar with free-agent addition Danny Coulombe, a lot changed for the lefthander in his two seasons in Baltimore.

Image courtesy of © Eric Canha-Imagn Images

While the Minnesota Twins are familiar with free-agent addition Danny Coulombe, a lot changed for the lefthander in his two seasons in Baltimore.

Minnesota Twins fans know Danny Coulombe, in the sense that he has put on a Twins jersey in the recent past. Even though Coulombe was with the Twins club as recently as spring training 2023, however, he has developed into a considerably different pitcher in two short seasons. (Well, all seasons are short seasons for him, but you know what I mean.)

The lefty spent those seasons establishing himself as one of the better southpaw relief options in baseball. His strikeout rate jumped to 27.6% and 29.9% in Baltimore, whereas he posted a 23.7% at his best while in Minnesota. Those results helped Coulombe account for a 1.9 fWAR over his two seasons in Baltimore. He also accounted for 0.83 wins, according to Win Probability Added, in 2023, and a 1.77 WPA last season. It wasn’t just the results that changed for the now-35-year-old. He made some considerable changes to his pitch mix and arm angle. 

In Coulombe’s time with the Twins, he leaned most prominently on his slider and four-seam fastball. Last season, his two most-used pitches were a cutter and a sweeper. The cutter is completely new to Coulombe since leaving Minnesota, and the sweeper is an offering he just started throwing very sparingly in 2022. Those two pitches accounted for 58.5% of the lefty's pitches in 2024. 

Over the past two seasons, the sweeper has resulted in a 32.3% whiff rate (in 2023) and a 38.2% (2024). The cutter was similarly effective, with a 31.4% whiff rate in 2023 that dipped to 26.2% in 2024. The development and heavy deployment of those two pitches help to explain the uptick in his strikeout and strike-throwing skills the past two seasons. While it does help explain the improvements, it also feels like a fairytale that an MLB pitcher could completely retool himself in that way while performing at such a high level. 

Along with adding the new pitches, Coulombe also raised his arm angle slightly. Traditionally he had been between a 50-52 degree arm angle. Since leaving Minnesota that angle has increased to 56 degrees in 2023 and 58 degrees last season. That angle tells hitters to expect a high-rise, backspin four-seamer, but he really peppers them with a pitch that has abundant cut and with a sinker that veers the opposite way.

While this is technically the same guy that fans have seen before, he is returning with a very different look. As long as Coulombe can avoid any lengthy injury stints, he will help lock down the back end of the bullpen as (presumably) the primary left-hander, with a bit more strikeout ability than we saw his last time in a Twins uniform.

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[whosafraidofluigirussolo]

I like this signing, but it says something about the Twins' offseason and about our eagerness for action, that there are 3 front-pages news stories about Coulombe within a few hours of the signing being announced.

[Blyleven2011]

I wish him continued success and health in a  twins uniform  ...

[tony&rodney]

With a major league contract in his pocket, we welcome Danny and hope he is excellent as well as healthy for the 2025 Twins.

[rusty boots]

I have seen enough, the Twins are officially your 2025 World Series Champions 

[old nurse]

21 minutes ago, whosafraidofluigirussolo said:

I like this signing, but it says something about the Twins' offseason and about our eagerness for action, that there are 3 front-pages news stories about Coulombe within a few hours of the signing being announced.

They are trying to set a new record for how many different way they can say the same thing.  They still have a few more bloggers to go. 

[nicksaviking]

I don't think LOOGYs have a place in the game any longer.  IF they miss getting the left handed hitter out, they're forced to stay in there to get slaughtered against the right handed hitters. You HAVE to be able to get either handed hitter out.

Checking splits.......OK, yeah, I like this one.

[jmlease1]

38 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I don't think LOOGYs have a place in the game any longer.  IF they miss getting the left handed hitter out, they're forced to stay in there to get slaughtered against the right handed hitters. You HAVE to be able to get either handed hitter out.

Checking splits.......OK, yeah, I like this one.

that's the biggest reason to like this one: while he's death on lefties, he's still quite effective against righties. Okert did the job very well last season against lefties, but gave it all back against righties. I agree with you: the LOOGY is dead (and it will not be missed, IMHO).

Let's just hope he stays on the field. Missing nearly 3 months makes me nervous, and I'm guessing Balto felt the same way or they would have brought him back. But when he pitches, he's a quality bullpen piece.

(it is a little sad that Danny Coulombe is the most interesting thing we have to write/talk about here these days though)

[sampleSizeOfOne]

5 hours ago, rusty boots said:

I have seen enough, the Twins are officially your 2025 World Series Champions 

And there was much rejoicing. Officially!

[ashbury]

4 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

I don't think LOOGYs have a place in the game any longer.  IF they miss getting the left handed hitter out, they're forced to stay in there to get slaughtered against the right handed hitters. You HAVE to be able to get either handed hitter out.

Checking splits.......OK, yeah, I like this one.

Hardly any different than for batters.  Be productive against opponents from one side, don't be unplayable against those from the other.

[nicksaviking]

8 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Hardly any different than for batters.  Be productive against opponents from one side, don't be unplayable against those from the other.

Agree, but thus far there aren't rules against pinch hitting.

Though Baldelli sure seems to be pushing it to the point where the league may WANT to make a rule about it.

[ashbury]

53 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Agree, but thus far there aren't rules against pinch hitting.

Though Baldelli sure seems to be pushing it to the point where the league may WANT to make a rule about it.

AKA the Margot Line.  "To pinch hit, you must be hitting better than the guy you are replacing."

[DocBauer]

He was my #3 choice, as I stated elsewhere today, but still a good addition. I wish we had kept him 2 years ago. But maybe we're getting a better pitcher back than he was then. Sure seems like it.

Just hoping we can keep him healthy for the full year. The pen feels more complete now.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

The Twins just improved an already really good bullpen by signing lefty Coulombe.  If the Twins keep Jeffers and Vasquez (smart, experienced, catchers) and C-4 plays his usual sterling SS and somebody is placed at 1B who can catch errant throws  from 3B and 2B ,and Buck plays CF then  all the starting pitchers for the Twins should be rejoicing.

[JD-TWINS]

19 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

that's the biggest reason to like this one: while he's death on lefties, he's still quite effective against righties. Okert did the job very well last season against lefties, but gave it all back against righties. I agree with you: the LOOGY is dead (and it will not be missed, IMHO).

Let's just hope he stays on the field. Missing nearly 3 months makes me nervous, and I'm guessing Balto felt the same way or they would have brought him back. But when he pitches, he's a quality bullpen piece.

(it is a little sad that Danny Coulombe is the most interesting thing we have to write/talk about here these days though)

It does seem curious that Baltimore did not pursue him at this relatively small $$ amount. Why?

[stringer bell]

1 hour ago, JD-TWINS said:

It does seem curious that Baltimore did not pursue him at this relatively small $$ amount. Why?

Two things to remember are that he's 35 coming off arm surgery and that he has no options--he can't be taken off the roster without being exposed to being claimed. If he is the second lefty in a 'pen, having flexibility is important. That was his situation in Minnesota and when the Twins wanted him to start out in St. Paul (on a minor league contract) to start '23, he took advantage of the upward mobility clause in his contract. 

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, JD-TWINS said:

It does seem curious that Baltimore did not pursue him at this relatively small $$ amount. Why?

It might be pride effin' with Coulombe too. Balto balked at the $4M (YMMV on whether that was good or not) and after the rejection he may not have wanted to come back ("screw those guys!") even if the money was similar. This happens a fair amount when teams decline to offer arbitration or pick up an option, I think.