The Twins Have Unlocked a Different Version of Dean Kremer

[Sam Caulder]

Image courtesy of Peter Aiken - IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Minnesota Twins were active at the 2026 trade deadline, adding four arms to their pitching staff in an effort to strengthen a group that needed reinforcements for the stretch run. One of those additions was Dean Kremer.

Of the four pitchers Minnesota brought in, Kremer may have been the easiest to overlook. He arrived in Minnesota with a 6.50 ERA across 36 innings with the Baltimore Orioles, hardly the kind of surface-level production you’re looking for from a deadline addition. Clearly, though, the Twins believed there was more to unlock. So far, they most certainly have.

Through his first two starts in a Twins uniform, Kremer has allowed just two runs across 12 innings of work. He's surrendered only four hits and three walks while striking out nine, and he is coming off a dominant seven-inning performance against his former team. It would be easy to chalk that up to a small-sample-size hot streak, and there's certainly an element of that here. Two starts aren't enough to suddenly declare that Kremer has transformed into a frontline starter. But there are some legitimate changes behind the early success, and they offer a pretty good explanation for why the Twins have been able to get more out of him than the Orioles did.

For one, Kremer's pitch usage has changed noticeably. Before coming to Minnesota, Kremer leaned heavily on his splitter. It accounted for roughly 30% of his arsenal with Baltimore, and it was the pitch he went to the most. That hasn't been the case through his first two starts with the Twins. Instead, Kremer has leaned on his four-seam fastball, which has accounted for roughly 37% of his pitches. Meanwhile, his splitter usage has dropped to about 21%. That might seem like a relatively minor adjustment, but it’s changed the way the rest of his arsenal plays.   

Kremer has also significantly reduced his usage of his sinker. He was throwing it roughly 15% of the time with the Orioles, but that number has dropped to just 6% across his two starts with Minnesota. In its place, the four-seam has become much more prominent, and it's not difficult to understand why the Twins would want him throwing it more. His four-seam is a quality pitch, particularly when he’s able to get the kind of life he's shown in these first two starts. By using it more frequently, Kremer’s giving hitters a different look while creating better opportunities for his secondary pitches to play off of it. 

There has also been another noticeable change, particularly in Monday night's start: Kremer's arm angle appeared to be higher than it typically has been. That may not sound like a major adjustment, but it has had a meaningful impact on the movement of his pitches. Kremer's induced vertical break was up by roughly an inch on average across his arsenal over these two starts. An extra inch doesn't sound like much, but when you're talking about a baseball and the width of a major league bat, that inch can be the difference between a hitter squaring up a pitch and swinging underneath it. And there are already some tangible results.

The quality of contact Kremer has allowed in his two starts with the Twins has been extremely impressive. Opposing hitters have produced just a 34% hard-hit rate against him during that span, a strong indication that hitters haven't been consistently squaring up what he's throwing. That's especially important for a pitcher like Kremer, who isn't going to overpower hitters very often. His success is going to come from changing speeds, manipulating movement and keeping hitters from getting comfortable in the batter's box. The early results suggest he's doing exactly that.

In addition to his pitch usage and arm angle, there’s been an increase in swings outside the strike zone. Kremer's chase rate for the season is around 31%, but that number has climbed to roughly 36% across his two starts with Minnesota. Much of that increase has come against his splitter and cutter, which is where the changes to his fastball become particularly important. If Kremer can consistently get his four-seam to rise through the zone, hitters have to account for that pitch when they see it. When he follows it with a cutter or splitter that works down, he can create the kind of vertical separation that leads to awkward swings. The result has been a pitcher who is getting more swings outside the zone and weaker contact when hitters do make contact.

That's exactly the kind of formula the Twins were hoping they could find when they acquired him. Should anyone expect Kremer to continue throwing six innings of one-run ball every fifth day for the rest of the season? No, two starts are still just two starts, and opposing teams will eventually adjust. Kremer will have outings where his fastball doesn’t play as well, and his splitter and cutter don’t get as many chases or hitters find a way to square him up. But that doesn't mean the early results should be dismissed.

The Twins didn't acquire Kremer because they expected him to suddenly become an ace. They acquired him because they saw a pitcher whose underlying traits could potentially be improved, and they've already made some adjustments that appear to be working. That's a pretty encouraging development for a team that needs as much from its pitching staff as it can get.

With roughly a month and a half remaining in the regular season, Minnesota doesn't necessarily need Kremer to be perfect. They need him to be useful. If these changes allow him to consistently give the Twins quality innings while keeping hitters off balance, that could be incredibly valuable down the stretch. And for a team trying to make a playoff push, getting that kind of production from one of its more under-the-radar trade deadline additions could end up being a much bigger deal than it initially appeared.

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[PuckettPond]

Arm angle & pitch usage turns a pitcher from good to great.

[Derojo]

Long term, the Twins don't need Kremer to be a 1-2 starter. They need a quality 3-4 starter. The five slot and extended (six) reliever can be young guys with plus pitches that need to learn. I like the term "six" for the extended reliever, because he covers the team's six, so to speak when it's exposed.