Platoon Piranha: Kody Funderburk Needs to Devour Left-Handed Hitters This Season

[Cody Schoenmann]

The southpaw struggled in his 2025 debut. That said, he will receive additional opportunities this season. When those opportunities arise, he needs to dominate against same-handed hitters.

Upon being recalled from Triple-A St. Paul early Saturday morning, Minnesota Twins left-handed reliever Kody Funderburk was thrust into action the same day, tossing two innings in the club's 0-4 loss against the Detroit Tigers. Funderburk struggled in his 2025 debut, sloppily allowing two earned runs, as illustrated below by Twins Daily's Jamie Cameron:

Beyond allowing a two-run home run to Tigers' first baseman Spencer Torkelson, the 28-year-old southpaw interestingly struggled against left-handed hitters, a trend dating back to last season. Here is how Funderburk fared against right- and left-handed hitters last season:

• vs. Left: 13 2/3 innings pitched, 64 batters faced, 15 hits allowed, zero home runs allowed, nine walks, 19 strikeouts, 1.76 WHIP
• vs. Right: 20 2/3 innings pitched, 97 batters faced, 26 hits allowed, four home runs allowed, six walks, 13 strikeouts, 1.55 WHIP

The Dallas Baptist product produced similar results in Triple-A, generating 1.62 WHIP over 22 left-handed hitters faced compared to a 1.22 WHIP over 38 right-handed hitters faced. The three-batter minimum rule has made left-handed specialty relievers an extinct player archetype. That being the case, modern southpaw relievers must perform well against hitters to just a roster spot. Despite needing to perform against hitters of both-handedness, left-handed relievers still generally excel against left-handed hitters, making Funderburk's performance last season an oddity.

As noted earlier, Funderburk didn't perform well overall. The concept of platoon advantage or disadvantage becomes meaningless when a pitcher is ineffective entirely. Still, even when he performed well in Triple-A and the majors in 2023, he was more effective against right-handed hitters. Funderburk is a true east-to-west pitcher, relying on his cutter and sinker over 60% of the time. He complements his fastball variations with a changeup and slider.

In the minors and his brief stints with the parent club, the 28-year-old southpaw's best pitch has consistently been his cutter. He often throws the pitch high and tight in the zone against righties. That being the case, the pitch runs in on right-handed hitters hands, minimizing their ability to generate competitive swings. Below is an example of him efficiently using his cutter:

 Funderburk also often employs his changeup against righties, a pitch known for being utilized by pitchers to attack opposite-handed hitters. He can throw the pitch low in the zone effectively, deploying it as a complementary offspeed pitch to his high-in-the-zone cutter. Unfortunately, he has yet to possess an adequate pitch mix against same-handed hitters. Ideally, his sinker would function as the fastball variation he could rely on against left-handed hitters. Unfortunately, the pitch has yet to become as effective as his cutter.

That being the case, left-handed hitters can crowd the plate, fight the pitch off, or hit in hard and in play for extra-base hits. His slider is an adequate complementary breaking pitch when facing lefties. However, the pitch becomes less effective when he's unable to attack the zone with either of his fastball variations. He will need to improve his sinker's effectiveness against same-handed hitters. If the pitch continues to generate unideal results, he will seemingly have to begin pounding his cutter against lefties, too. While a less-than-optimal outcome, the pitch could be effective against left-handed hitters, as it could employ a movement profile similar to that of a gyro slider. While he has yet to demonstrate an ability to do this, Funderburk might need to begin attacking same-handed hitters outside with his cutter (which he could throw high and low in the zone) and his slider.

Funderburk's window of opportunity to become a fixture of Minnesota's bullpen is closing. That said, he will likely receive extended opportunities with the club this season, even though his first appearance was disheartening. Danny Coulombe is entrenched as the club's primary left-handed reliever. Veterans Anthony Misiewicz and Richard Lovelady are intriguing lefties who could soon inhabit a bullpen spot with the parent club, too. However, given that Funderburk possesses a minor league option, the club will be more willing to move him back and forth between St. Paul and the parent club. Funderburk could have a future with the Twins. He is generally effective against right-handed pitchers. However, he must start overpowering same-handed hitters to become an entrenched figure in Minnesota's plans.

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[tony&rodney]

Funderburk is a decent relief pitcher. It didn't seem like he slotted ahead of Brent Headrick in January but the Twins dumped Brent. Was he out of options? We won't expect many appearances from big Mark this season but hopefully he does ok when given his opportunities.

[Alex Wilde]

Why was Funderburk kept over Headrick? Seems like an odd choice to me looking back. Headrick has better raw stuff no? He was a starter all of the way through AAA. Obviously very small sample size but started the year solid for the Yankees.

[Althebum82]

Wow, what an elevated analysis and perfect video find.  It is unfortunate that he has been relegated to shuttle rotation duty after showing so much promise and dominance on his way to the big club.  The good news here is that a mistake made in letting Coulombe get away has been reversed and the Twins are not relying on Funderburk beyond the role that he plays.

Although SSS so far it appears that Misiewicz (who really has an unimpressive body of big league work going back to 2020) may fit in well with this organization's bullpen usage as well.

But hopefully Funderburk can sooner rather than later find the right pitch mix to improve his less than desirable performance against same handed hitters.

[stringer bell]

Two things about Funderburk have stood out to me since he has played with the Twins. First, he really has struggled with the first guy he faces--really not a good thing especially for a relief pitcher. Secondly, his command seems to come and go. When Kody is around the plate, he's very effective, but far too often he is in hitters' counts and then his stuff doesn't play. Does that relate at all to relative ineffectiveness against left handed hitters? I don't know.

[stringer bell]

9 hours ago, Alex Wilde said:

Why was Funderburk kept over Headrick? Seems like an odd choice to me looking back. Headrick has better raw stuff no? He was a starter all of the way through AAA. Obviously very small sample size but started the year solid for the Yankees.

I don't think Headrick had any options remaining and he also was coming off a injury wrecked 2024 season. I am of the opinion that left handed pitchers should be hoarded a bit by the Twins since they have had so few on the major league roster the last few years, but I think it was a defensible judgment call to try to get Headrick through the DFA process instead of Funderburk. 

[mikelink45]

I am concerned about him and Alcala. Neither of them seem to have the consistency that we need to have for a relief pitcher that we can count on in tight gains.  

[mikelink45]

Looking at Headricks stats with the Yankees. He could be a Miss again in the evaluation of   pitchers. Just like Cano with the Orioles. Does this reflect a weakness in our evaluation process?   

[Linus]

His control is not good. If you look at him objectively he has given no indication that he will consistently produce in the big leagues. 

[USAFChief]

Funderburk doesn't have the command to consistently pitch effectively in the show. He doesn't have the quality of stuff to overcome that weakness. 

I doubt he ever will. 

Just a space filler.

[LambchoP]

I just don't think Funderburk is a guy you want to rely on. Minor league depth at best. Coloumbe should be solid, but until Prelipp is ready, we could probably use a second lefty from outside the organization. Aj Puk would have been a perfect pickup for us last year.

[Patzky]

The Orioles stole Blewett.. we have to tread carefully with this bullpen churn business. 

[bean5302]

That heat map showing Funderburk all over the place is the issue. He seems to have zero command, and even limited control. Not sure why that is, but until he can start throwing his pitches where he needs to put them, he's going to struggle.

[Linus]

1 hour ago, Patzky said:

The Orioles stole Blewett.. we have to tread carefully with this bullpen churn business. 

I would rather have Blewett than Funderburk and it ain’t even close. 

[Patzky]

34 minutes ago, Linus said:

I would rather have Blewett than Funderburk and it ain’t even close. 

Better hang into the others in the same position, is what I'm saying.