What Should Minnesota Twins Do with Jorge Alcala?

[Matthew Taylor]

Image courtesy of © Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

On Saturday in Seattle, Jorge Alcala was handed a one-run lead in the seventh inning. Before that outing, the Twins had avoided using Alcala in a spot like that, as he had been relegated to low-leverage duty. Workloads forced him into this spot, though, and he promptly walked Cole Young, Seattle’s No. 8 hitter playing in his first major-league game. He then served up a two-run homer to J.P. Crawford. That was the difference between a win or a loss in the game.

Alcala now owns a 7.08 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP on the season. Since last year’s All-Star break, he has allowed 30 earned runs in 40 innings. That's nearly a full season’s worth of work with results that range from underwhelming to disastrous. It is a sharp decline from the promising start he had to 2023, and at this point, the Twins have clearly lost trust in him. He has been relegated almost exclusively to mop-up duty, with just six of his 19 outings this year coming in even moderate leverage. In three of those six, he gave up 4, 3, and 2 earned runs, respectively, providing little reason to believe he is turning a corner.

Yet, the Twins find themselves in a bind. Alcala is out of minor-league options. Sending him to Triple-A St. Paul would mean exposing him to waivers, where another team would likely scoop him up. His fastball still averages 97 MPH, and his pitch arsenal continues to generate strong expected stats. His expected batting average against is .193, good for the 96th percentile, and his expected ERA is a solid 3.25. There is evidence in the peripherals that the tools are still there, and certainly enough that a team would be enticed to give him a shot.

But results matter. For three straight seasons now, Alcala has not been able to turn his stuff into consistent, reliable production. The long ball continues to hurt him. He has not solved his struggles against left-handed hitters. And time and again, when given a shot in a meaningful moment, the results have gone the wrong way.

It raises a tough but necessary question: Is the value of Alcala’s upside worth the cost of carrying a reliever who cannot be trusted, especially in a bullpen that has been otherwise very good this year? With Danny Coulombe on the injured list, Kody Funderburk’s struggles have been tolerated because he is the lone left-handed reliever on the roster. Once Coulombe returns, Funderburk is a clear candidate to head back to Triple-A, with minor-league options making that decision a straightforward one—leaving Alcala as the one remaining weak link with no easy path to improvement.

If the Twins want to shake things up, they do have options. Right-hander Travis Adams has quietly put together a strong showing in St. Paul, with a 3.43 ERA and a 37:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 42 innings. Anthony Misiewicz has posted a 3.54 ERA and a 23:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 20 1/3 innings and would allow the Twins to have another lefty in the bullpen. Both pitchers could potentially fill Alcala’s low-leverage role with less risk and more upside.

Alcala is already making $1.5 million this year, one of the higher-priced arms in Minnesota’s bullpen. With another year of arbitration eligibility on the horizon, it is hard to imagine the team bringing him back for 2026 unless something drastically changes. At this point, there is little to suggest that change is coming.

Jorge Alcala still looks like a big-league pitcher on paper, but for a long time now, he has not pitched like one when it matters. If the Twins cannot trust him with real innings, and if the only role he serves is to soak up outs in blowouts, then maybe it is time to find out whether someone else can offer more, both now and in the future.

---

What do you think the Twins should do with Alcala? Would you keep trying to make it work, or is it time to move on? Share your thoughts in the comments.

View full article

[mikelink45]

Move on - sometimes a fix is not possible when you repeat the same things in the same places!  Talent yes, performance erratic, dependable - no.  Keep bringing up arms until we get what we need - that's why we have a minor league. 

[Cory Engelhardt]

ONLY came here to say; go check out Ronny Henriquez's numbers so far this year in the Marlins bullpen. He is looking like someone who got away too soon right now.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=henriq000ron

Hopefully Coloumbe is back asap. I'd also imagine reliever is on the checklist prior to the July deadline.

[DJL44]

Ask the pitching coach. If they think he can tweak a pitch or add another one, then keep him. If they don't have any confidence, then cut him loose. The line between effective and bad is very small for MLB relievers.

[TwinsDr2021]

35 minutes ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

ONLY came here to say; go check out Ronny Henriquez's numbers so far this year in the Marlins bullpen. He is looking like someone who got away too soon right now.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=henriq000ron

Hopefully Coloumbe is back asap. I'd also imagine reliever is on the checklist prior to the July deadline.

Well he is 5 years younger, and one could say the Twins choose the wrong pitcher?

Honest question would the Twins be OK with his 14 BB in 28.2 innings and he has only been give 8 saves chances and blew 2 of them (maybe that has to with how bad Miami is?)

[Cory Engelhardt]

Just now, TwinsDr2021 said:

Well he is 5 years younger, and one could say the Twins choose the wrong pitcher?

Honest question would the Twins be OK with his 14 BB in 28.2 innings and he has only been give 8 saves chances and blew 2 of them (maybe that has to how bad Miami is?)

I agree, more I was just saying small samples can be telling. That's all.

Alcala has good looking stuff, but I agree a change of scenery may be right for him. And with a change of scenery, maybe he finds some level of success.

[jmlease1]

I've been one of the bigger Alcala Acolytes around here, but I'm running out of patience. I thought they handled him poorly last season, and overall he still had a pretty good season even with the bad blowup at a bad time. The WHIP looked good, the ERA+ was good, the WPA was good...he looked like a reliever who could easily handle middle innings and medium leverage situations, with potential for higher leverage outings.

This season he's been a mess. The WHIP is dreadful and the results have followed. A reliever can survive putting up some walks when they're K-ing everyone in sight, but while Alcala's K-rate has climbed a bit, he's nowhere near elite levels. Every bad habit has returned, and he's the most hittable he's ever been in MLB.

I'm fine with keeping him in low-leverage/mop-up duty for now...so long as the team thinks there's a mechanical fix or something that being worked on. If we're at the point where he just doesn't have the pitches to handle LH hitters (I had hope that the change-up might get there) and the team has no confidence in him...time to move on. Because sadly, we can't have even the last guy in the bullpen be someone that can only do mop-up work, especially when it's a guy like Alcala who isn't really designed for 2-3 inning stints.

I've been in his corner, but he might just be a fungible reliever, who is solid one year and bad the next. At age 29, with multiple seasons in MLB (he's technically had 7, but 2 of them has 2 appearances so...) maybe he just is who he is.

[Western SD Fan]

It does look like that Alcala just needs a change of scenery.  I was hoping he would improve as they had finally figured out how they were going to use him, unlike in 2024, where his usage was so erratic that it was tough to know what they expected out of him.  I don't see anyone trading for him at this point so we will just have to lose him to waivers.  I've said this for a while now, but the piece we seem to be missing in the bullpen is an arm who can go multiple innings of consistent relief pitching.  Maybe that is Adams, could be McCaughan or even Dobnak.  Or a short-term trade piece when the day comes.  I was thinking that would been one of either Varland or Sands.  Coulombe has filled that role in the past but would be unlikely to want to push it considering that he is coming off of an IL stint.

[mickster]

32 minutes ago, Western SD Fan said:

It does look like that Alcala just needs a change of scenery.  I was hoping he would improve as they had finally figured out how they were going to use him, unlike in 2024, where his usage was so erratic that it was tough to know what they expected out of him.  I don't see anyone trading for him at this point so we will just have to lose him to waivers.  I've said this for a while now, but the piece we seem to be missing in the bullpen is an arm who can go multiple innings of consistent relief pitching.  Maybe that is Adams, could be McCaughan or even Dobnak.  Or a short-term trade piece when the day comes.  I was thinking that would been one of either Varland or Sands.  Coulombe has filled that role in the past but would be unlikely to want to push it considering that he is coming off of an IL stint.

Kimbrel is in the Braves minor leagues and if anyone selects him to a MLB roster he can go.   I know he has had his issues, but he could replace Alcala now

 

[Danchat]

52 minutes ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

Well he is 5 years younger, and one could say the Twins choose the wrong pitcher?

Honest question would the Twins be OK with his 14 BB in 28.2 innings and he has only been give 8 saves chances and blew 2 of them (maybe that has to with how bad Miami is?)

He is striking guys out at a much higher rate than he was in our organization (12.6 K/9), he hasn't gotten close to that since A+/AA in 2021 when he was in the Texas farm system. I think we'd take the walks with the peripherals looking good.

Going 8 for 10 on "hold chances" is pretty good for a guy they got off the waiver wire.

[OvertheHill]

 I think I’ve seen enough of Alcala to know he’s never likely going to be consistently trusted in “high leverage “ situations. So what’s the point of dragging it out? I know all about the tantalizing “stuff”, but who knows where it’s going half the time? I’d rather learn something about the other pitchers in our organization than continue to be held hostage by Alcala’s “potential “. If he goes somewhere else and is successful, good for him. 

[Althebum82]

Ironic isn't it?  I sure seemed like Alcala was getting screwed last season when he would basically do everything that the Twins asked of him and then would be sent down.  This year is opposite.

[FlyingFinn]

Alcala is clogging up the pen. The Twins barely dare to try pitch him when the game means something (and it usually blows up in their face). We like to us the 8th spot in the pen to get a long reliever up for a few days. Very lucky (or maybe knowledgable) with Paddack pitching so deep in yesterdays game. It saved the pen. One of these days we are going to truly burn up the pen when a starter can't get out of the 2nd inning because we don't have that long reliever.

[Blyleven2011]

Consistency is the key word for acala  , he doesn't have it ...

Talented no doubt but pitching coach isn't unlocking his potential or it's just acala's head isn't screwed on tight  ...

 

[stringer bell]

31 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Consistency is the key word for acala  , he doesn't have it ...

Talented no doubt but pitching coach isn't unlocking his potential or it's just acala's head isn't screwed on tight  ...

 

He just doesn't have the command to be consistently good. Certainly he has enough stuff to get hitters out, but the meltdowns are too frequent to justify continuing in the Twins bullpen. Time to move on.

[Galen]

I've always liked his stuff...but...enough is enough 

[Vanimal46]

4 hours ago, Danchat said:

He is striking guys out at a much higher rate than he was in our organization (12.6 K/9), he hasn't gotten close to that since A+/AA in 2021 when he was in the Texas farm system. I think we'd take the walks with the peripherals looking good.

Going 8 for 10 on "hold chances" is pretty good for a guy they got off the waiver wire.

The fun part about the Marlins is they are eager to trade him away for other prospects at any time 

[Vanimal46]

We all know what the outcome will be for Alcala here. It’s time to let him go. Maybe he has an excellent year somewhere else down the road. If he does good for him! 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

7 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Ask the pitching coach. If they think he can tweak a pitch or add another one, then keep him. If they don't have any confidence, then cut him loose. The line between effective and bad is very small for MLB relievers.

The problem is Alcalá has neither command nor control of any of his pitches. He needed to reduce his arsenal to focus on pitching fewer pitches rather than “throw and pray”

[Aerodeliria]

I noticed on MLB.com that he couldn't throw his curve ball anywhere even close to the strike zone, and when his fastball was +96 it wasn't near the strike zone either, but when he dialed it back, he could throw strikes with the fastball. I suppose the hitters are completely ignoring the off speed stuff and sitting fastball when it's in the zone.

[Riverbrian]

He has hung Zeroes in 12 out of 18 appearances. That's not great but also not bad. 

The problem is the crookedness of the number when he doesn't hang a zero. He was charged with more than one run 5 of the 6 times that he didn't hang a zero. A 4 spot, A 3 spot twice, a 2 spot a couple of times. 

1.67 WHIP is too much foot traffic. 1.67 WHIP is playing with fire. 

13 of 92 batters faced reached a full count, I think that's a high full count ratio but I could be wrong. 

7 of those 13 resulted in walks. 

Command appears to be the culprit. He puts his back against the wall too often. 

 

 

 

 

[Jeff K]

Break out the launch coordinates and let him go.  Enough is enough.

[Trov]

He has always been someone that strikes me as a guy who struggles in higher leverage situations.  When the lead is generally big either way, more than a save situation, he tends to get outs, but when game is tight late and hitters seem to grind out at-bats more, he struggles. 

This was something LaTroy Hawkins had issues with, Hawkins still much better than Alcala, but Hawkins was amazing 8th inning guy, but you threw in the closer role he would struggle badly. I am not sure if it is Alcala stuff, or more his head when the outs are more important.  

[Trov]

19 hours ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

ONLY came here to say; go check out Ronny Henriquez's numbers so far this year in the Marlins bullpen. He is looking like someone who got away too soon right now.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=henriq000ron

Hopefully Coloumbe is back asap. I'd also imagine reliever is on the checklist prior to the July deadline.

I would not go crazy over nearly 30 innings pitched.  Pen guys can have great run only to fall to pieces.  They are so volatile.  We have seen our own team take scrap heap guys and have a good short run, and seen our own guys have great runs for periods on other teams.  Take Cano for instance.  We traded him for Lopez.  Lopez fell apart for us, Cano had great 2 seasons but is terrible this year.  

[Cory Engelhardt]

2 minutes ago, Trov said:

I would not go crazy over nearly 30 innings pitched.  Pen guys can have great run only to fall to pieces.  They are so volatile.  We have seen our own team take scrap heap guys and have a good short run, and seen our own guys have great runs for periods on other teams.  Take Cano for instance.  We traded him for Lopez.  Lopez fell apart for us, Cano had great 2 seasons but is terrible this year.  

I agree completely. More I meant I could see Alcala moving on from us and also having a good 30 inning run somewhere else. And you KNOW at that point there would be angry fans mad about letting him go.

WHEN THAT HAPPENS, remember this thread :)

[chpettit19]

25 minutes ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

I agree completely. More I meant I could see Alcala moving on from us and also having a good 30 inning run somewhere else. And you KNOW at that point there would be angry fans mad about letting him go.

WHEN THAT HAPPENS, remember this thread :)

 

32 minutes ago, Trov said:

I would not go crazy over nearly 30 innings pitched.  Pen guys can have great run only to fall to pieces.  They are so volatile.  We have seen our own team take scrap heap guys and have a good short run, and seen our own guys have great runs for periods on other teams.  Take Cano for instance.  We traded him for Lopez.  Lopez fell apart for us, Cano had great 2 seasons but is terrible this year.  

The Twins decided Ronny wasn't good enough after only 31 innings. Was that "going crazy over nearly 30 innings pitched?" 31 innings with a 1.161 WHIP and 2.90 ERA. 4.02 FIP isn't anything outrageous.

Alcala turns 30 in July, Ronny is 25 at the end of June. They gave Ronny 31 major league innings before he ran out of options and they had to make a decision on him at the age of 24. I don't think any strong statements should be made about Ronny yet, but his first 60 innings in the majors (roughly 1 season for a reliever) has him at a 2.56 ERA with 64 Ks and 3.73 FIP. Sounds like a major league middle reliever to me. The Twins mismanaged him in terms of roster decision pretty significantly. In the name of running out the Jay Jackson, Josh Staumont, and Trevor Richards of the world.

[stringer bell]

Relievers are fungible to the max. It is entirely possible that Alcalá could put up good numbers, but there are several others who are a better bet long-term. Since he can no longer be optioned, he doesn’t offer flexibility on the low-leverage side of the ‘pen.

He’s not ever been good enough to move to the front end of the BP. Adiós Jorge. 

[Riverbrian]

20 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

 

The Twins decided Ronny wasn't good enough after only 31 innings. Was that "going crazy over nearly 30 innings pitched?" 31 innings with a 1.161 WHIP and 2.90 ERA. 4.02 FIP isn't anything outrageous.

Alcala turns 30 in July, Ronny is 25 at the end of June. They gave Ronny 31 major league innings before he ran out of options and they had to make a decision on him at the age of 24. I don't think any strong statements should be made about Ronny yet, but his first 60 innings in the majors (roughly 1 season for a reliever) has him at a 2.56 ERA with 64 Ks and 3.73 FIP. Sounds like a major league middle reliever to me. The Twins mismanaged him in terms of roster decision pretty significantly. In the name of running out the Jay Jackson, Josh Staumont, and Trevor Richards of the world.

According to Roster Resource. Ronny is listed as the current closer for the Miami Marlins. Yeah it's the Marlins but still... he is currently closing for them.

28 innings pitched and 40 K's thus far in 2025. Decent WHIP and ERA. 

I'm not going to blame the front office for Miami finding a performer on the waiver wire... well not a full on blame anyway.

I would simply like to take this opportunity to point out that these decisions are hard and all front offices often get it wrong and Ronny seems to be a case where the Twins chose wrong. 

There were some roster complications to contend with in February especially in the bullpen.

Ronny was out of options.

They were trying to see if the Rule 5 Dude from Philly was worth keeping and that was going to take a 40 man spot until they decided to send him back to the Phillies. 

And there was 35 year old Michael Tonkin who was tendered a contract back in November so he gets a 40 man spot.  

I know this is a thread about Alcala but unless I'm reading this wrong which is possible. 

The front office decided to not only keep Alcala (Also out of options)... Which I would have been fine with at the time because of the stuff that Alcala possesses.

In addition the Twins kept a 35 year old Tonkin over Ronny and decided to experiment with a Rule 5 and send Ronny packing to the waiver wire. 

These types of mistakes that all front offices make are why I consistently ask for opportunity.

When the decisions are tough... Always choose the guy who is under team control for multiple years over a guy like Tonkin who will spend one year with the club and be gone.

If you choose to take the 35 year old... you better be right.   

 

 

[LambchoP]

I think he needs to go. He's a liability out there, as is Funderburk. Hopefully Coloumbe can come back soon and replace Fundy but as far as Alcala goes, time to give someone else a shot. Like someone said, Kimbrel is on a minor league deal with ATL, if we have him a major league deal we'd get him for cheap. He's looked good in the minors this year too. If we can't nab a high leverage guy, I'd go with a long reliever. Someone who can go multiple innings to cover any short starts, maybe SWR or Adams. Either way, Alcala and Funderburk need to go. Sure looks like we shouldn't have let Ronny Henriquez get away....

[jorgenswest]

I would stick with Alcala over any of the relief options in AAA. He was pretty effective in 2024and I think he has a better shot at matching that going forward than any of the other options.