The Twins Are Moving On from Pete Maki. What's Next?

[Sam Caulder]

Image courtesy of David Richard-Imagn Images

The Twins are moving on from Pete Maki. After serving as Minnesota’s pitching coach since July 2022, Maki will not return to the coaching staff in 2027, the team announced Monday. Assistant pitching coach Luis Ramirez is also out, meaning the Twins will have a new set of voices overseeing their pitching staff next season. That decision is not particularly surprising, looking at the team's results this year.

A Change Was Coming

Since 2024, the Twins have finished 21st or worse in MLB in team ERA each season. They ranked 25th in 2026, and eventually, enough was enough. There have been plenty of individual bright spots along the way. Joe Ryan established himself as a legitimate frontline starter when healthy, while Pablo López has shown that same kind of upside during his time in Minnesota. But both pitchers have dealt with injuries, and the Twins have never quite been able to put everything together around them.

That distinction is important. Pitchers get hurt; that's baseball. But there's also no denying that the Twins needed more from their pitching staff, particularly outside of their top arms, and that simply didn't happen consistently enough.

Bailey Ober is perhaps the clearest example of that frustration. He entered the 2024 season as a dark horse Cy Young candidate after a breakout 2023 campaign, but that never materialized. Zebby Matthews has yet to establish himself as a reliable major-league starter, while the Simeon Woods Richardson experiment ultimately failed to produce the consistency Minnesota was hoping for. And that's really been the story of the middle and back of the Twins' rotation. Too much potential, not enough consistency. Too many "what-if" questions.

It Wasn't All on the Coaches

Still, I don't think it's fair to look at the Twins' pitching struggles and place all the blame on Maki and Ramirez. In fact, the bullpen had arguably been the biggest strength of Minnesota's roster not long ago. Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland and others had formed one of the better late-inning groups in baseball in 2025. Then, the organization blew it up.

Minnesota traded away several key pieces at last year's deadline, leaving Maki and the rest of the pitching staff with a bullpen that was a shell of what it had been the year before. Had that group remained intact, it's entirely possible the Twins would still be playing baseball right now. But it didn't, and the team did very little last offseason to replace that lost talent.

That raises a legitimate question about the decision to move on from the coaching staff: How much of the pitching staff's struggles were because of coaching, and how much were the result of the organization putting those coaches in a difficult position? There isn't a perfect answer to that question.

There's also another possible factor. Maybe Maki and Ramirez simply weren't Derek Shelton's guys. New managers often want to put their own stamp on a coaching staff, and if Shelton believes a different voice or philosophy is needed, replacing the pitching coaches gives him an opportunity to do that.

"Ultimately, as we assessed where things were at, we thought it was best-served to go with a new voice and restructure how our pitching coach department was gonna function," Jeremy Zoll told the press on Tuesday. "With each year that goes on, the game continues to evolve, and we're seeing an opportunity here to restructure things with some different skill sets and a fresh voice."

Barring an exceptional season from the pitching staff, it's possible this was a move that was always going to happen, regardless of how much responsibility Maki and Ramirez deserved for the results. That's all speculation, though. Regardless of where the blame belongs, the fact remains that the Twins will have new pitching coaches in 2027. The more interesting question now is what Minnesota should be looking for.

The Next Voice Needs to Unlock the Rotation

Minnesota's search has to start with someone who can get more out of the back of the starting rotation. There just hasn't been enough consistency there. The Twins should have several options to work with next season in the middle-to-back end of their rotation, including Taj Bradley, Mick Abel, Connor Prielipp and Matthews. All of those pitchers have shown flashes of stuff that can make them legitimate major-league starters.

What they haven't shown is that they can consistently turn that talent into production at the highest level. That's where the next pitching coach comes in. Minnesota doesn't need someone to completely reinvent the pitching staff. They need someone who can take the talent already in the organization and help turn more of it into reliable major-league production. 

"We think there's an opportunity to restructure things, to create a fresh voice and new message, and see real value in that and bring in a different set of strengths and weaknesses and how the team all functions," Zoll said. "I think we accomplished that this year on the hitting coach front ... But it's not to say that the people that we previously had in those roles—they've gone on to do really good things too. So, you're just trying to make it all fit for the group you have and the moment in time that you're at on that journey."

A New Era for Twins Pitching

The Twins' decision to move on from Maki and Ramirez isn't going to solve everything by itself. The organization still has to build a better pitching staff, keep its best arms healthy, and find answers for a rotation that has been far too inconsistent over the last several years. A pair of new pitching coaches should give Minnesota a chance to approach those problems differently. The team is likely to invest significantly in the pitching staff this winter; they need someone standing ready to make good on that investment.

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[LastOnePicked]

"We think there's an opportunity to restructure things, to create a fresh voice and new message, and see real value in that and bring in a different set of strengths and weaknesses and how the team all functions," Zoll said. 

So if I read this right, Zoll sees real value in bringing in a new set of coaching .... weaknesses ... as well as strengths? Really?

C'mon Twins FO - if we have to listen to what you say, you all should have to listen to what you say too. It's a small little goof, I know, but my experience in corporate America taught me that if you can't talk straight then you probably can't think straight.

I feel for Maki. He struck me as a fairly smart guy doing his best. Some of these arms really showed improvement. Prielipp actually got stronger as he went along this season. I can't help but wonder if the overall results here say much more about the Twins consistently horrid defense than it does about the pitching staff.

Not crazy to move on to a new coach, but Zoll better put more emphasis on finding coaching strengths than weaknesses.

 

[DJL44]

Shelton’s old pitching coach is currently the bullpen coach for the Reds.

[thelanges5]

Unfortunately, there has to be a scapegoat, but I’m not sold on how much impact these position coaches actually have. Just a new voice I guess. For example, Derek Shomon is the hitting coach for the White Sox and those young hitters look pretty good. Got fired with Popkins. 

[Ricky Vaughn]

I hope I'm wrong but Zoll's comment about baseball evolving leads me to believe the team will have 4 starters that go 4 innings and 4 relievers that can go 3-4 innings with the rest being 1-2 inning relievers.

 

[PuckettPond]

Will the Twins try the college route again?

[awmonahan]

Ultimately, I think this is about getting Shelton the pitching philosophy and coach(es) that matches his management style. 

But, I think they really did Maki a disservice. He can rightfully claim some credit for fully unleashing Pablo Lopez, getting Joe Ryan to an All-Star level, increasing Bailey Ober's pitch speed (which has come back down), and unlocking Taj Bradley. Work with Connor Prielipp and building the bullpen that was demolished also seem fair to stake a claim to.

By all means, they should get Shelton the system and people he wants/needs, but I hope they have a good plan. Because when the FO provided reasonable talent, Maki and team helped mold a great bullpen and a strong rotation. 

[bean5302]

Not sure Maki was part of the problem. He was handed a pretty raw and untalented roster of arms to work with. Prielipp and Bradley were big successes IMHO.

What's next? I'm assuming a new pitching coach who will be scapegoated by Zoll if Zoll sticks around.

[William K Johnson]

And I don' t think you can blame the SWR decline on him, as he has not been able to regain the promise he had several years ago when anyone else.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

I was slightly surprised by this. At times, Maki didn't have a lot to work with.

[CRF]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here...hire another pitching coach? 

[gman]

I think Maki did a good job. However the front office wants to spin it, they just didn't get enough pitching talent that would have been major league quality. Who ever they hire this winter, should get a good set of starting pitching arms. But the bullpen, they better plan on signing about 5 good arms.

[farmerguychris]

Pretty sure I expect a worse pitching staff next season in regards to whats next.

[Brandon27]

Just promote Hawkins from bullpen coach to pitching coach 

[HerbieFan]

What's Wes Johnson doing these days??

[DJL44]

17 minutes ago, HerbieFan said:

What's Wes Johnson doing these days??

Coaching Georgia to 3rd place in the College World Series 

[bean5302]

35 minutes ago, Brandon27 said:

Just promote Hawkins from bullpen coach to pitching coach 

I mean... if the Twins aren't going to give the pitching coach any talent to work with, it doesn't really matter if any reasonably qualified coach is holds the position.

[sweetmusicviola16]

I have no idea if Maki was a problem or if another guy will do better. No idea. But I am quite certain that improved defense will help whoever is the pitching coach. Very certain of that. 

[Andy MacPhail]

There were 3 observations that I made that I was displeased with the Twins pitching throughout the years. 1st, was able get pitchers from like TB & MIA, make tweaks & they take-off yet homegrown SPs get bogged down & don't meet desired expectations. 2nd, pitchers burning out which IMO is poor BP management & lack of pitching depth. 3rd, was pitching Ober & SWR when they were obviously not well enough to pitch & they never really came back. Now all 3 were probably not Maki's fault & were more Baldelli, Shelton, Falvey, Zoll & MiLB development's fault. IMO, Maki was fine, the firing was more, new management wanting their own guy in there. 

I really liked what CWS did, Their pitching was a disaster to start the season. They had a very young pitching group with a lot of very young SPs. Besides having an inexperienced rotation, they had a terrible BP. What they did was instead sending all their surplus SPs down to AAA & waste all their bullets there; they put them in the BP. They ignored MLB's "tabu" of using piggybacking, openers & BP games with their young SPs & made it work. They became a force, supported the rotation & helped CWS surprise the MLB world to make it to the postseason. This is more managerial than coaching but it's a philosophy that I wish the Twins would adapt.

[MeleMouth]

Derek Shelton should have detailed knowledge of the Pirates pitching development staff, which has produced a lot of good pitchers besides Paul Skenes, while working for a small budget team. It wouldn't surprise me if the Twins go that way. 

[nicksaviking]

I don't want any pitching coaches from Pittsburgh. They went a decade and a half making pitchers throw sinkers to induce contact instead of four seamers to get strikeouts and keep balls out of play. It was a stubborn old school approach that spat in the face of logic.

And seriously, we just spent six months complaining about the Twins infield defense.

 

[mikelink45]

Let's be honest - with all the coaches it still comes down to talent.  We did not have it. 

[KirbyDome89]

Hard to feel anything other than apathetic about this move (or this franchise in general) 

Is it an undeserved exodus? Eh, probably not but team ERA since 2024 is also a pretty flawed measuring stick given the state of the bullpen for the last 1.5 seasons. 

Is it Pete Maki's fault that Abel/Zebby/Festa types, or other later round picks a la Ober haven't provided high level production? If you're not going to invest heavily in pitching, at least at the prospect level, it's a pretty tough task to spin straw into gold.... 

[Western SD Fan]

10 hours ago, Ricky Vaughn said:

I hope I'm wrong but Zoll's comment about baseball evolving leads me to believe the team will have 4 starters that go 4 innings and 4 relievers that can go 3-4 innings with the rest being 1-2 inning relievers.

 

Something that concerns me was a philosophy that Miami was testing at the end of the season.  Having their starters throw out of the bullpen on their regular off start throwing session.  They had both Alcantara and Perez throwing out of the bullpen on their normal in-between start sessions.  I just hope that his not the evolution that Zoll is talking about.  

As for Pete Maki, I don't think he deserves all the blame.  It's hard to make something out of what looked slightly worse than a hog barn when it needed cleaning (the bullpen) or a starting rotation that was, at times, looked like a M*A*S*H unit in which the M really did stand for Mobile.  Sometimes it comes down to needing to hear another voice with a different set of ideas.  I can also see a scenario where the staff just wasn't listening to Maki anymore.  Wouldn't surprise me if Maki takes an assistant job for a year or so and is a pitching coach somewhere else.  Our hitting coaches seem to flourish once they leave Minnesota.

[S Bart]

I believe that Shelton's desire of keeping the pitchers in too long lost some games. He needs to be a better judge of when it is time to holdem or foldem. 

[MeleMouth]

13 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

I don't want any pitching coaches from Pittsburgh. They went a decade and a half making pitchers throw sinkers to induce contact instead of four seamers to get strikeouts and keep balls out of play. It was a stubborn old school approach that spat in the face of logic.

And seriously, we just spent six months complaining about the Twins infield defense.

 

The Pirates ranked sixth in pitching this year, despite a low budget and a down year from Paul Skenes. Their K rate was fifth and their average fastball velocity was first.

Besides Skenes, none of their top starters were first round draft picks, meaning they were succeeding in developing pitchers. They also have the second-ranked pitching prospect in baseball.

Whatever the Pirates did five or ten or fifteen years ago is not nearly as relevant as what they've done the last few years.