Twins Turn to Cody Laweryson After Topa Injury

[Parker Hageman]

Image courtesy of Image courtesy of William Parmeter

The Minnesota Twins are down another arm. Justin Topa, who has been asked to carry more than his fair share of innings this season, is headed to the 15-day injured list with a left oblique strain, retroactive to September 9. For a bullpen that has leaned heavily on him — 54 appearances, 60 innings, a 3.90 ERA — the absence is another reminder of how fragile the relief corps can be in September.

Into the breach steps Cody Laweryson. His name won’t ring out across baseball circles, and there was a time when his ceiling appeared to be that of organizational filler. A 14th-round pick out of the University of Maine in 2019, he’s spent six seasons grinding through the system, never flashy, always steady. This year, he’s been more than that. Between Double-A Wichita and Triple-A St. Paul, Laweryson has delivered a 2.86 ERA in 34 games, with six saves and a penchant for missing bats.

The profile is intriguing in its simplicity. The fastball sits at 93–94 mph — hardly eye-popping — but the pitch plays, generating whiffs at a 28 percent clip in St. Paul, one of the best marks on the staff. Add a cutter at 85 mph that also misses bats at the same rate, and suddenly the unheralded right-hander carries a pair of weapons that could keep him in the big leagues.

Laweryson Calls Game!

Cody Laweryson strikes out Caleb Cali to end the game.

Final
ARK 7, WCH 15 pic.twitter.com/lWGj0dNHtL

— Wichita Wind Surge (@WindSurgeICT) May 18, 2025

Laweryson will wear No. 66 when he takes the mound at Target Field, likely against the Arizona Diamondbacks. If and when he does, it will mark the culmination of a long, unspectacular, but steady climb through the minors. Plus, he'll be the first native of Maine to play in the majors since Ryan Flaherty in 2019. For the Twins, it’s one more example of how September rarely goes as planned — and how opportunity, sometimes, finds those who simply refuse to go away.

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[Patzky]

Welcome! The Alcala number.. Do we have old 66 uniforms that need to get used?  Seems we are just kollecting Codys at this juncture. 

He could actually be in the future plans unlike Cabrera and others.. 

[big dog]

Good luck to you, sir, and congratulations!

[shimrod]

This is what we would have been seeing since the deadline if the Twins had any intention of contending next year. 

[DocBauer]

I believe this makes 9 picks from the Twins 2019 draft to appear in MLB, whether with the Twins or someone else.

Not a lot of stars from that class, but that is an interesting number.

Good luck Cody, the team needs all the pen help it can get.

[Danchat]

Nice, I was hoping to see him got a shot. Why not at this point?

[Patzky]

Abel doing alright tonight. Jenkins not quite there yet. 0/2 2K

[Patzky]

Yikes Royce that was horrible.

[Vanimal46]

2 hours ago, shimrod said:

This is what we would have been seeing since the deadline if the Twins had any intention of contending next year. 

Correct. Should have been spending all of these opportunities since July 31st on fringe guys already in the system. Instead of wasting the opportunities on DFA castoffs 

[Parker Hageman]

Quote

Seems we are just kollecting Codys at this juncture. 

Twins Daily has a handful of them as well...

[Sjoski]

Cody will be the 26th pitcher to pitch this season for the Twins.

Can anyone here even name 16 of them? 

More triva:

The Seattle Mariners set a Major League Baseball (MLB) record by using 42 pitchers in 2019. That broke the previous mark of 40 pitchers used by the Mariners in 2017 and the Texas Rangers in 2014. The Mariners used a total of 67 players in 2019, also a record.

[Dman]

Lawyerson has always had decent numbers, but when he gets hit he gets hit hard.  Will be very interesting to see how his stuff plays at the highest level. I wish him the best.

[DocBauer]

6 hours ago, shimrod said:

This is what we would have been seeing since the deadline if the Twins had any intention of contending next year. 

I don't mind their initial tactic, which was a combination of needing ANYONE for a couple weeks just to actually have 8 arms in the pen, and then grabbing a couple of waiver arms that at least had SOME stuff that they could unlock. MAYBE.

What I DON'T agree with is how LONG they auditioned some of those guys. If you want to keep Hatch as a middle/long guy fine. But Ohl and Adams should be getting 1 IP to see if they might be part of 2026. Laweryson should have been up September 1st, not waiting for someone to get hurt.

[Richmond Dude]

I met Cody and his father at spring training.  They were nice, grounded people.  I'm about the same age as his dad and it was really cool to see how proud and supportive he was of his son.  I'll be rooting for this young man.

[TNtwins85]

Love this move. He looked good last night. Even at 93-94 the pitch movement with the unconventional delivery looked quality reliever-esque. He located it well down in the zone. The cutter had decent movement but I was more impressed with his command of it. Was missing in the right spots. If the cutter could turn more into a sweeper this guy will pile up K’s with the command I seen last night.