Twins Minor League Reliever of the Month: March/April 2025

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of Wichita Wind Surge

Developing relief pitching in an organization can be a challenging endeavor. For various reasons, some players are shifted to a bullpen role early in their professional careers. Other players are used in a multi-inning piggyback relief role to help other starters manage their workload. One of the biggest challenges for relievers is the small sample size associated with their performance. One bad outing can haunt a player’s numbers for the entire season. Here are the top four relievers from the season’s first month. 

Twins March/April Minor League Reliever of the Month
#4 - Paulshawn Pasqualotto (Cedar Rapids) - 7 G, 0.00 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 12 IP, 7 H, 3 BB, 9 K
The Twins selected Pasqualotto in the 12th round of the 2023 MLB Draft from the University of California, Berkeley. Last season, he split time between starter and reliever with mixed results, including a 6.66 ERA and a 1.65 WHIP. The Twins moved him to a full-time bullpen role for 2025, and the results have improved significantly. Cedar Rapids has used him for two innings or more in four of his seven appearances. All his appearances have come in the eighth inning or later. On April 16, he pitched the final three innings of a Kernels’ extra-inning win while limiting batters to two hits and striking out four. He’s improved his K% by 1.4% and reduced his BB% by 0.6%. To be a viable long-term reliever, he must continue to see an increase in his strikeout totals. 

#3 - Jarret Whorff (Wichita/St. Paul) - 7 G, 1.98 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 13 2/3 IP, 7 H, 4 BB, 18 K
Whorff went undrafted in the 2022 MLB Draft, but the Twins signed him to a minor league deal early in the 2023 season. He’s made some spot starts during his professional career, and the Twins haven’t been afraid to move him up and down minor league levels on a needs basis. He began the 2025 campaign at Double-A, allowing one earned run on five hits in 10 2/3 innings. Minnesota promoted him briefly to St. Paul for one appearance in the middle of the month, where he allowed two earned runs in three frames with five strikeouts. He’s held batters to a .149/.216/.319 (.535) slash line with three extra-base hits. His K% jumped from 24.5% last season to 35.3% so far in 2025 while also lowering his BB% by 1.3%. Whorff is performing well in the upper minors and could be a relief option for the Twins in the coming years.  

#2 - Kody Funderburk (St. Paul) - 8 G, 0.00 ERA, 0.56 WHIP, 10 2/3 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 12 K
Twins fans are familiar with Funderburk since the southpaw has made 40 appearances with the big-league club over the last three seasons. Minnesota took him in the 15th round of the 2018 MLB Draft, and he moved quickly through the organization in a left-handed relief role. Now, in his age-28 season, he’s in a group of relievers who will move up and down between Triple-A and the big leagues. With St. Paul, he’s posted strong numbers in what many considered a hitter-friendly league. Funderburk has a 32.4 K% and a 5.4 BB% while being especially dominant against lefties by holding them to a .592 OPS in 27 PA. The Twins will need Funderburk again at some point this season, so it’s critical for him to perform well at Triple-A. 

Twins Minor League Reliever of the Month - Mike Paredes (Wichita) - 7 G, 0.00 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, 20 2/3 IP, 10 H, 6 BB, 15 K
The Twins selected Paredes in the 18th round of the 2021 MLB Draft from San Diego State University. He split time as a starter and reliever early in his pro career before shifting to a full-time reliever role in 2023. In his relief appearances last season, he posted a 3.11 ERA with a 1.13 WHIP and a 23.2 K% while the Twins were comfortable moving him back and forth across three different levels. 

Paredes’ usage has been unique this season, as he has significantly more innings pitched than the other names on this list. He’s one of just two qualified minor league pitchers who have yet to allow an earned run in 2025. He has pitched three innings or more in six of his seven appearances, and he’s limited damage by stranding runners( 94.1 LOB%). Batters have been unable to make solid contact against him with a .143/.221/.143 (.364) slash line. Paredes has also done a tremendous job at limiting home runs, with no home runs allowed this season and single-digit homers allowed over the last two years (2.6 HR/FB%). He won’t have a zero ERA for the whole season, but he’s provided significant value out of the Wind Surge bullpen. 

Flaws will be exposed with any reliever throughout the season as sample sizes start to grow. Paredes, Funderburk, and Pasqualotto will allow runs sometime in the coming weeks. However, their strong starts have helped put their team in the first-half playoff hunt. For relievers, it's about limiting damage and keeping your team positioned to win. All four of these arms have lived up to that expectation in April. 

How would your ballot look for the month? Should any other relievers make the list? Leave a comment and start the discussion. 

 

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[mikelink45]

Are any of them good enough to help the Twins?

[Cody Christie]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Are any of them good enough to help the Twins?

Funderburk will help the Twins this season. The others likely need to show a little more strikeout potential to move up the organizational ladder. 

[DocBauer]

I was surprised to not see Spencer Bengard on the list. Then I checked his ERA and it makes sense. But his other numbers are very good for CR.

Honorable mention to Adams and Misiewicz at St Paul for having a good month. 

I haven't given up on Funderburk yet. I've seen enough of him to know his stuff plays. But he's got to be better against LHB, and just be more consistent when he's given his next opportunity. He's proven he can do the job at AAA, now he needs to take that next step of consistency.

[DocBauer]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Are any of them good enough to help the Twins?

A very good question. TBD is the easy answer. There's a number of arms drafted just in the last 3-4 years that will end up moving to the pen eventually. And that might be where you find your next wave of RP in the system, following the same route as Duran, Jax, Sands, Varland, etc. Adams might be the closest example.

But Parades, Wharf, and Posqualoto are all fairly recent picks from '21-'22 and '23. Despite being college draftees, they are still young enough to be pen contenders in the next couple of years if they keep this up.

As stated previously, I haven't given up on Funderburk yet. The stuff is there, but can he be effective against LHB and find greater consistency? His clock is starting to tick.