The Minnesota Twins Bullpen Has a Left Handedness Problem

[Matthew Taylor]

The Minnesota Twins bullpen has a left-handed problem. At least, that’s the question worth asking as Opening Day approaches.

On paper, the Twins are lined up to carry a perfectly balanced bullpen in 2026: four right-handed pitchers and four left-handed pitchers. Symmetry looks nice in theory. In practice, it’s almost unheard of.

This offseason the Twins added three left-handed relievers: Andrew Chafin, Taylor Rogers, and Anthony Banda. They join Kody Funderburk, who entered the winter with a presumed bullpen spot after a dominant finish to last season. Over the final two months, Funderburk posted a 0.75 ERA across 24 innings, pitching his way into high-leverage consideration.

Four lefties. Four righties. Balanced.

But balanced doesn’t necessarily mean optimized.

Across Major League Baseball, only the Twins, Dodgers, and Brewers are expected to carry four left-handed relievers to start the season. That’s not a coincidence. In the era of the three-batter minimum rule, roster construction has shifted dramatically. The days of the pure left-handed specialist are largely gone. A bullpen arm can’t simply exist to neutralize one dangerous lefty in the seventh inning. He has to get through a pocket of hitters, and that almost always includes right-handed bats.  That’s where the concern starts to creep in.

Let’s look at the splits.

Rogers owns a career .746 OPS allowed against right-handed hitters compared to .569 against lefties. That’s a massive gap. He can still dominate same-side matchups, but righties have long presented problems.

Banda’s splits are even more pronounced. He has allowed a career .849 OPS to right-handed hitters versus .635 to lefties. That’s the profile of a pitcher you would prefer to deploy surgically, not someone you trust to navigate a mixed portion of a lineup.

Chafin has the most balanced career track record of the group, with a .671 OPS allowed to righties and .617 to lefties. But even he showed vulnerability last season, surrendering an .805 OPS to right-handed hitters. At 35, expecting improvement against opposite-handed bats may be optimistic.

Then there’s Funderburk. Despite his dominant finish last year, his career splits show a .768 OPS allowed to righties and .725 to lefties. He hasn’t displayed dramatic dominance over either side.

Individually, none of these pitchers are unusable. Collectively, the profile becomes more concerning.

Roughly three-quarters of hitters in today’s game bat right-handed. That reality makes stacking left-handed relievers risky unless those pitchers have the ability to neutralize right-handed bats consistently. The Twins did not go out and acquire elite, neutral-split lefties who can dominate anyone. They added a group of solid but unspectacular relievers whose biggest strength remains getting left-handed hitters out.

Under previous rules, a manager could leverage that skill. A lefty could enter to face one dangerous left-handed bat and exit. Now he must face at least three hitters unless the inning ends. That significantly increases exposure to the platoon disadvantage, especially in late innings when managers cannot always control the matchup pocket.

The construction also raises a broader roster-building question. The Twins waited deep into free agency to address the bullpen. By the time they moved, many of the premium right-handed options were gone. The arms available at their price point happened to skew left-handed, and the Twins leaned into it. Whether that was strategic or circumstantial is up for debate.

It’s possible the team believes the stuff will play up. It’s possible they trust pitch shapes and usage adjustments to minimize platoon splits. It’s possible they simply valued overall depth over handedness concerns.

But there’s no getting around the math. When half of your bullpen throws left-handed and most hitters bat right-handed, those pitchers are going to face tough matchups regularly. And with the three-batter minimum in place, there’s less room to hide.

A bullpen with four lefties is rare for a reason.

Are the Twins ahead of the curve, building flexibility others are ignoring? Or have they created an unnecessary vulnerability in a season where every late-inning edge matters? Do the Twins have a left-handedness problem? Leave a comment below and start the conversation!

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[TopGunn#22]

Good article Matthew.  Whether this was by design or not, once this reality of having 4 lefty's in the BP took shape, I was pretty certain the idea of trying Connor Prielipp out in the pen sort of went away.  As shattered as the Twins BP was after the the trade deadline, I kind of thought, with the track records of all the BP candidates in camp that we would end up with these 4 lefty's making the team.    

But it's going to be a little scary when Bobby Witt Jr. comes to the plate in a high leverage situation and one of these guys has to get him out.  

[DJL44]

The problem is that they don’t have a RH reliever who gets people out any better than these lefties.

[Linus]

I doubt they go with four lefties. If they like Chafin, Fundy will go down. 

[Brandon]

I suspect the Twins will cycle through lots of arms while they try to figure out a core for their pen for 2027 and beyond.  The goal for this season is to be around.500 to keep things interesting for the fans while the Twins start to transition to more prospects.  2026 is the year of the yoyo for Twins players back and forth from the minors to the majors and back and forth...,..

[LambchoP]

They need more RH help. I don't know why they haven't signed Kopech. With his injury history and this late in the year he could probably be had for a minor league deal. Expecting Sands or Topa to close out games is laughable. If they're trying to prove to us fans that they want to be competitive, they should sign Kopech and then trade an OF and/or Jackson for a closer.

[Jim H]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

The problem is that they don’t have a RH reliever who gets people out any better than these lefties.

This is completely correct.  They don't have any dominant relievers right now. Maybe they will develop one of the failed starters into to one, but that will likely take awhile. It will be mix and match and hope to begin the season.

[OregonTwinsFan]

Getting ready for a train wreck.

[HerbieFan]

I just want the guys with the best chance to get people out.  If a guy like Rogers has a better chance of getting a righty out than "Waiver-Wire-Claim" righthander has of getting a lefty out....

[Nshore]

One sliver of hope is that Funderburk may have turned some kind of corner with better control.  Maybe he has a higher ceiling than previously thought.  Hey I said it was only a sliver.  The others are what they are.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

4 hours ago, OregonTwinsFan said:

Getting ready for a train wreck.

[Fatbat]

20 different guys will likely cycle thru the pen. Optimization left with Duran/Jax so we might as well pick any 8 and see who sticks around. 

[DJL44]

6 hours ago, LambchoP said:

They need more RH help. I don't know why they haven't signed Kopech

Kopech has been quoted as wanting to pitch for a contender.

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

Kopech has been quoted as wanting to pitch for a contender.

By early March, it would seem that contenders might as well be quoted as saying they don't want to pay the asking price for someone with chronic shoulder and knee inflammations..

[RaoulDuke]

The start of this season is just about serviceable MLB arms handedness be damned.  Keep the boat afloat while you figure out what vets still have it, what prospects are throwing well, what middle inning guys are able to tread water.

The whole season is a massive tryout to rebuild a pen that was stripped down to the studs.  If any of the vets pitch well they are most likely flipped at the deadline, if any of the prospects pitch well they will get tested in the later innings, if there is a logjam with starters some will get converted to see what they can do in a relief role.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

4 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Kopech has been quoted as wanting to pitch for a contender.

I contend that Kopech has a better chance contending if he signs some where, rather than staying at home this season. That's just my contention.

[Chembry]

13 hours ago, LambchoP said:

They need more RH help. I don't know why they haven't signed Kopech. With his injury history and this late in the year he could probably be had for a minor league deal. Expecting Sands or Topa to close out games is laughable. If they're trying to prove to us fans that they want to be competitive, they should sign Kopech and then trade an OF and/or Jackson for a closer.

Kopech only wants to pitch for a playoff team and that’s his focus.  He stated that on a podcast.  

[Chembry]

2 hours ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

I contend that Kopech has a better chance contending if he signs some where, rather than staying at home this season. That's just my contention.

Agreed, but that’s what he stated. He noted that he doesn’t want to pitch for a losing team and is pushing to be part of a playoff roster.  He may back down if teams don’t come calling.  But to me it sounds as if he would rather sit on the couch than pitch for 2/3 the MLB teams.

[mikelink45]

21 hours ago, LambchoP said:

They need more RH help. I don't know why they haven't signed Kopech. With his injury history and this late in the year he could probably be had for a minor league deal. Expecting Sands or Topa to close out games is laughable. If they're trying to prove to us fans that they want to be competitive, they should sign Kopech and then trade an OF and/or Jackson for a closer.

I enjoyed the first premise, but who would trade a closer for Jackson and Larnach/Wallner/Martin/Roden/Outman?  Closers demonstrated their value in te FA market.

[mikelink45]

I enjoyed the article and the Kopech love, but it would seem that MLB is not anxious to sign him.  But to sign a disgruntled pitcher late in ST reminds me of signing Lynn.  Pouting his way through the season his performance was forgettable. 

[thelanges5]

5 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

I enjoyed the article and the Kopech love, but it would seem that MLB is not anxious to sign him.  But to sign a disgruntled pitcher late in ST reminds me of signing Lynn.  Pouting his way through the season his performance was forgettable. 

I agree. It seems like his best chance to get to a contender would be to come to a bad team (Twins) and then get traded to a contender at the deadline.

[USAFChief]

A couple things:

1. "Roughly three-quarters of hitters in today’s game bat right-handed." 

I dont think that's accurate. Last year, for example, in the AL roughly 56% of PAs came as a RH batter. 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/split.cgi?t=b&lg=AL&year=2025

It gets a little wonkie with relievers, because of pinch hitting and managers ability to sometimes limit platoon exposure, but Chafin, for example, in his career has faces 1275 RH hitters and 1013 LH hitters. Even with the changes  brought by the 3-hitter minimum, last year Chafin faced 71 RH hitters, 72 LH hitters.

2. My belief is imbalance towards RH pitching has more to do with a scarcity of LH pitchers than a preference for RHed pitching. 

3. In any case, while the platoon advantage in baseball is real and persistent, ability trumps handedness. The bigger problem for the Twins pen isnt too many LHers, it's too little ability.

[ashbury]

3 hours ago, USAFChief said:

1. "Roughly three-quarters of hitters in today’s game bat right-handed." 

I dont think that's accurate. Last year, for example, in the AL roughly 56% of PAs came as a RH batter. 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/split.cgi?t=b&lg=AL&year=2025

Really good statistical nugget to remember.  It caught me by surprise.

For a moment I thought the assertion about "hitters" could be reconciled against "PA" - in the sense that LH PA might be more valued by manangers and maybe a statistical bias arises so that both statements could be true.   I used b-r's Stathead tool to count the number of major league batters with at least 1 PA in 2025.  There were 368 right-handers, 235 left-handers, and 70 switch-hitters, for a total of 673 (confirmed by Stathead if I remove the handedness qualifier, so at least these numbers add up).  How to count the 70 L/R guys?  Count them twice and you have 438/773 and 305/773, and we're back to 56% righties. Leave the switch hitters out entirely and it's 368/603 and 235/603 and it's 61% righties.  I can't see a way to come up with 75% hitters batting right-handed.

I suppose "hitters in today's game" could include the AAAA types who can't quite make the grade, or even the guys in the lower minors, and perhaps across the pro game the count of players could come out that way.    Could.

Or maybe the count comes from including pitchers (Chafin for instance is listed as batting right) as players, in a raw count of bodies.  Maybe.

But PA are the better way to understand how the game operates anyway.

Well played, Chief.

 

[USAFChief]

19 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Really good statistical nugget to remember.  It caught me by surprise.

For a moment I thought the assertion about "hitters" could be reconciled against "PA" - in the sense that LH PA might be more valued by manangers and maybe a statistical bias arises so that both statements could be true.   I used b-r's Stathead tool to count the number of batters with at least 1 PA in 2025.  There were 368 right-handers, 235 left-handers, and 70 switch-hitters, for a total of 673 (confirmed by Stathead if I remove the handedness qualifier, so at least these numbers add up).  How to count the 70 L/R guys?  Count them twice and you have 438/773 and 305/773, and we're back to 56% righties. Leave the switch hitters out entirely and it's 368/603 and 235/603 and it's 61% righties.  I can't see a way to come up with 75% hitters batting right-handed.

I suppose "hitters in today's game" could include the AAAA types who can't quite make the grade, or even the guys in the lower minors, and perhaps across the pro game the count of players could come out that way.    Could.

Or maybe the count comes from including pitchers (Chafin for instance is listed as batting right) as players, in a raw count of bodies.  Maybe.

But PA are the better way to understand how the game operates anyway.

Well played, Chief.

 

Yeah, I don't really think the actual distribution of LH/RH hitters matters much anyway. 

It's the actual batters faced. And that's gonna vary, of course, by pitcher and circumstance, but I don't think it ends up anywhere near 75-25.

Sort of related to one of the weaknesses of platooning hitters...you can never really do it to the extent that you'd like. "Lefty mashers" end up facing a lot of RH pitching. 

[Riverbrian]

18 hours ago, USAFChief said:

A couple things:

1. "Roughly three-quarters of hitters in today’s game bat right-handed." 

I dont think that's accurate. Last year, for example, in the AL roughly 56% of PAs came as a RH batter. 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/split.cgi?t=b&lg=AL&year=2025

It gets a little wonkie with relievers, because of pinch hitting and managers ability to sometimes limit platoon exposure, but Chafin, for example, in his career has faces 1275 RH hitters and 1013 LH hitters. Even with the changes  brought by the 3-hitter minimum, last year Chafin faced 71 RH hitters, 72 LH hitters.

2. My belief is imbalance towards RH pitching has more to do with a scarcity of LH pitchers than a preference for RHed pitching. 

3. In any case, while the platoon advantage in baseball is real and persistent, ability trumps handedness. The bigger problem for the Twins pen isnt too many LHers, it's too little ability.

You are 100% correct. Ability is what you are looking for. You can't skirt the ability thing. Specialists are not that special. If you looking for specialists... you are not looking for special. 

I clicked your b-ref link. There is a filter activated. 

If memory serves. Total number of plate appearances in 2025 should be in the 180,000 range. 

Your percentages will be correct either way.

The actual league wide splits will be different. 

 

[jorgenswest]

On 3/2/2026 at 10:05 PM, Matthew Taylor said:

Across Major League Baseball, only the Twins, Dodgers, and Brewers are expected to carry four left-handed relievers to start the season.

I wonder if this is a big concern for the Brewers and Dodgers. 

[stringer bell]

For differing reasons all four lefty relievers should  make the Opening Day roster. Banda and Rogers are certainties as veteran bullpen guys, Chafin has performed well into his mid 30s and can opt of if sent to AAA and Funderburk finished 2025 very strong and has a 0.00 ERA so far in the spring. 

One would hope that the best arms are kept in this rebuilding bullpen and if that temporarily includes four left handers, so be it. The Twins need to find guys who can get hitters out no matter which hand they throw with. By May 1, odds are good that one of the veteran lefties is either injured or released, so having four lefties in the 'pen will likely be temporary. 

[nicksaviking]

On 3/8/2026 at 2:56 PM, USAFChief said:

Yeah, I don't really think the actual distribution of LH/RH hitters matters much anyway. 

It's the actual batters faced. And that's gonna vary, of course, by pitcher and circumstance, but I don't think it ends up anywhere near 75-25.

Sort of related to one of the weaknesses of platooning hitters...you can never really do it to the extent that you'd like. "Lefty mashers" end up facing a lot of RH pitching. 

Right, the opponent might have a 50/50 split of RH and LH hitters, but when they get to the Twins bullpen in the 3rd 6th inning, the Twins will be facing all the right handed hitters because of how their bullpen is constructed.

Having a bunch of lefties in the pen is going to make the other team do the opposite of what the Twins were hoping for.

[USAFChief]

36 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Right, the opponent might have a 50/50 split of RH and LH hitters, but when they get to the Twins bullpen in the 3rd 6th inning, the Twins will be facing all the right handed hitters because of how their bullpen is constructed.

Having a bunch of lefties in the pen is going to make the other team do the opposite of what the Twins were hoping for.

Well even with 4 LH relievers, that still leaves 4 RHers. As we should know, watching Rocco get outmanaged time after time, PHing for the platoon advantage in the 6th inning has a way of coming back to bite you in the, uh, upper backside of your pants.

I'm not going to worry about too many lefties. However, I AM terrified of the Twins pen.

[stringer bell]

8 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Well even with 4 LH relievers, that still leaves 4 RHers. As we should know, watching Rocco get outmanaged time after time, PHing for the platoon advantage in the 6th inning has a way of coming back to bite you in the, uh, upper backside of your pants.

I'm not going to worry about roo many lefties. However, I'm terrified of the Twins pen.

Having four lefties doesn't help the team because it fails to minimize the effectiveness of the left handed relievers. Almost by necessity they will face more right handed hitters than optimum and that makes all four of them less effective than they could be. Does that then make Funderburk less effective than, say, Dan Altavilla? Maybe.