Connor Prielipp Is Learning the Hardest Part of Being a Major League Starter

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Twins always knew Connor Prielipp’s arm came with risk. That was part of the profile long before he reached the big leagues. A former first-round talent who underwent Tommy John surgery twice before establishing himself professionally, Prielipp’s path has never resembled that of a typical starting pitching prospect.

Now the Twins are asking him to do something he has literally never done before. Pitch every fifth day against major league hitters while carrying a workload that continues to climb into unfamiliar territory.

Friday night against Cleveland showed both the challenge and the upside. Prielipp’s outing began with immediate disaster as the Guardians loaded the bases against him in the first inning. A defensive mistake from Luke Keaschall opened the door for trouble before Rhys Hoskins added a sacrifice fly and Travis Bazzana launched his first career home run. What looked like it might become another short outing instead turned into one of the most encouraging performances of Prielipp’s young career.

After the rocky opening frame, the left-hander settled in completely. He dominated over the next four innings, piling up six strikeouts while allowing very little hard contact. Even though he was charged with the loss, only one of the four first-inning runs counted as earned because of the Keaschall error. More importantly, he pushed through five innings while throwing a career high 93 pitches.

“It wasn't my cleanest inning of all time, but the team needed me, and I was able to buckle down and get through five,” Prielipp said.

That quote probably explains exactly why the Twins are so intrigued by him. The stuff has always been there. The swing and miss ability is real. The fastball explodes at the top of the strike zone, and the slider can disappear underneath bats. The question has never been whether Prielipp has enough talent to start in the majors. The question has always been whether his body can withstand the demands it entails. Right now, the Twins are discovering the answer in real time.

Minnesota already appears ready to slow things down. Prielipp’s next turn in the rotation lines up with Thursday’s series finale against Miami, but the Twins have listed the spot as TBA. Everything points toward the organization giving him extra rest while carefully monitoring his innings and recovery.

“This is just being mindful of the player, because we really like him and believe in him,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said prior to Prielipp’s last start. “We have to be thoughtful that way. He will be monitored very closely, and I’ll presume it will happen for the foreseeable future.”

That balancing act is complicated because Prielipp’s current workload is unlike anything he has handled before. MLB.com’s Matthew Leach recently asked him how he was feeling physically with the demands of major league life, and Prielipp admitted that pitching every fifth day is difficult. That may sound routine for established starters, but for him, it is completely new territory.

Last season, Prielipp crossed the five-inning mark only twice in the minors. He topped 80 pitches only twice all year. In his last two major league starts alone, he has already surpassed 90 pitches both times. The Twins have also pushed him to complete at least five innings in three of his five starts. That jump matters.

Minor league pitching schedules differ from those in the majors. Mondays are typically off days across the league, which naturally creates more recovery time between outings. Organizations also carry larger pitching staffs because development matters more than squeezing every possible inning out of a prospect. Young pitchers are often removed early, regardless of effectiveness, simply to protect health and preserve long-term value.

There are clear benefits to that philosophy. Pitchers avoid unnecessary wear and tear during critical developmental years. Teams can gradually build strength while refining mechanics and pitch design. Organizations also gain more opportunities to evaluate multiple arms rather than overwork a single prospect.

Prielipp is probably a perfect example of why teams take that cautious approach. Given his injury history, there is a reasonable argument that aggressive workloads earlier in his career could have derailed him completely.

At the same time, there are downsides to modern pitching development. Pitchers can arrive in the majors without ever learning how to manage fatigue deep into outings or bounce back quickly between starts. Five innings and 75 pitches may dominate player development plans, but major league rotations still require durability. Starters eventually need to navigate lineups a third time, adjust when they lose command, and survive when their best stuff is not present.

Prielipp is learning those lessons against major league competition because the Twins do not really have another choice. Minnesota’s pitching depth has collapsed faster than anyone expected. Pablo Lopez is out. Taj Bradley is on the injured list. Mick Abel is sidelined. David Festa still has not contributed in the majors this season because of injuries. Simeon Woods Richardson has struggled badly enough, but the Twins have reached the point where there are few realistic alternatives available. What once looked like an organizational strength now feels dangerously thin.

That reality places additional pressure on Prielipp. Under normal circumstances, the Twins might have preferred to shelter him more aggressively. They could have skipped starts more often, capped outings earlier, or even shifted him into shorter bursts to preserve innings. Instead, they need him to hold together meaningful portions of the rotation. That creates both opportunity and risk.

The opportunity is obvious. Few pitchers in the organization possess Prielipp’s upside. Even Friday’s outing demonstrated how overpowering he can become once he settles into a rhythm. Over those middle innings against Cleveland, he looked every bit like the high-ceiling arm the Twins envisioned when they drafted him.

The risk is equally obvious. Every additional inning pushes him further beyond any workload he has carried before. Every five-day turnaround becomes another test his body has never experienced. The Twins are trying to develop a future starter while simultaneously relying on him to help stabilize a damaged rotation in the present. That is not an easy line to walk.

For now, the Twins appear committed to remaining cautious while still letting Prielipp compete. Extra rest periods will likely continue. Shorter outings may appear periodically, even when he is pitching well. Some inconsistency is probably inevitable as he adapts to the rhythm of a full major league schedule.

But Friday may have revealed why the organization is willing to take the risk in the first place. Prielipp got punched in the mouth immediately. He could have unraveled. Instead, he regrouped, attacked hitters, and delivered four outstanding innings afterward while reaching a career high pitch count. That combination of stuff, resilience, and competitiveness is exactly what teams dream about in a young starter.

The Twins just have to figure out how to protect it long enough for him to fully become one.

Are the Twins handling Prielipp appropriately? Should they have pushed him harder in the minors? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

 

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[tony&rodney]

Milwaukee will be a really good test of his pitching ability. The Brewers are a well coached team.

[jmlease1]

Here's the good thing: despite Tom Verducci pushing the concept, there really isn't any real research that shows that there's causation between and increase in innings pitched year over year and injury. They need to monitor his workload and make sure that his body isn't having bad reactions and they should be careful about his pitch counts and pushing him after high stress innings....but they don't have to go "welp, he's never pitched over 85 innings, so we only get him for 100 innings this season before we have to shut him down".

He's done well so far. He's not dominating, but he's not getting blown up either. You can see the upside, and he hunts Ks effectively. There's a few too many baserunners and I'm a little nervous about the 3 homers in the last two starts, but there's a lot to like.

[Patzky]

I know it's an article about Prielipp, but I got several paragraphs in and realized that his bad start in Cleveland paralleled the bad start we had Wednesday against Miami.

"..began with a defensive miscue by Keaschall..'' There's no defending SWRs pitching this season. But the opening inning spirals out of control twice in one week for the same reason. Does Luke need to do more pregame stretching exercises or something?

[tony&rodney]

6 minutes ago, Patzky said:

"..began with a defensive miscue

Defense is a real weakness for the Twins. It isn't as bad as at the beginning of the year so some progress is being made. The team needs a few of their players to vastly improve their offensive output to cover for their gloves or hope one of the "waiting for an opportunity" guys arrives filling both sides of a position player's job.

[Patzky]

22 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Milwaukee will be a really good test of his pitching ability. The Brewers are a well coached team.

The extra day of rest balanced against the Milwaukee v Marlins lineup... Do me no favors lol!

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

18 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

He's done well so far. He's not dominating, but he's not getting blown up either.

Very true. I'm just pleased that he was able to come up from AAA, throw more innings than expected, and not get shelled. I hope this extra day's rest will be beneficial in his next start, but at the same time, I hope they don't start pushing for 90-plus pitches each time out. Sure, the bullpen is weak, but we also need to be somewhat careful with our younger arms in the rotation. 

[Blyleven2011]

I'm okay with Prielipp getting extra days off , even skip a turn or if we had enough starters go to a 6 man rotation  , we don't have enough pitching to do that and we definitely don't have enough good bullpen arms  ...

Prielipp has performed quite well in his small sample of 4 starts , looking forward to his tonight's starts ...

It's nice to have a lefthanded starter in the rotation  ...

[jmlease1]

51 minutes ago, Bangkok Twins Fan said:

Very true. I'm just pleased that he was able to come up from AAA, throw more innings than expected, and not get shelled. I hope this extra day's rest will be beneficial in his next start, but at the same time, I hope they don't start pushing for 90-plus pitches each time out. Sure, the bullpen is weak, but we also need to be somewhat careful with our younger arms in the rotation. 

honestly I think that's going to depend on him. I expect they'll be very comfortable sending him out for 90 plus pitches...if they're spread over 6 innings. It's when he has those high-stress innings where he needs 25+ pitches to get through it that they'll be looking at the faster hook. If he needs 27 pitches to get through the 4th and is sitting at 70+ pitches, I wouldn't be surprised to see the bullpen take over. If he's at 75 after 5 and was efficient in his last inning, I won't be surprised to see him get the 6th.

They need to push him some in order to see what he can handle, but also need to protect his arm and avoid another big injury. It's a delicate line to walk. But so far he's doing well and has been able to get through 5 in 3 out of his 4 starts, throw 80+ pitches in all of them, and given the team a chance to win. The FIP is probably a better indicator of where he is over the actual ERA right now, so it'll be interesting to see which one has the most movement.

If we can get Bradley (who it sounds like is close) and Abel back the starting pitching depth starts looking solid again with Zebby also in the mix. Have to feel good about where Prielipp is right now, especially after so much injury trouble to start his career. Bullpen is not inevitable.

[rdehring]

For years I watched teams like Cleveland bring some kid up to make his first, or second start against the Twins and dominating for 5 or 6 innings.  Kept asking, why can't the Twins have pitchers like this?  Seems Prielipp may be that pitcher.

Do have a question, however.  Are pitchers like Prielipp going to have problems going deep into games when they have lots of high pitch at bats, leading to lots of K's?