The Twins Keep Finding Pitching Talent. Why Can't They Unlock It?

[killercarewoliva]

26 minutes ago, old nurse said:

He said it, but it wasn’t true 

thank you for clarifying

[DJL44]

The one that still burns me is Ronny Henriquez. He was good in his audition but cut to keep Mike Tonkin. Randy Dobnak was kept on the Opening Day roster. Dobnak pitched mop-up once in a loss, his only innings that season. He was cut 5 days later. The Twins lost both Headrick (who still had options) and Henriquez to use Dobnak for one game, keep Matt Canterino on the 40-man and give Mike Tonkin another try.

[JBK]

2 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

This comment makes getting old more palatable.  I won't have to read this statement that randomly appears in almost every article at Twins Daily regardess of the topic.  This article was about the apparent inability of Twins' coaches to fully develop the innate talent of young pitchers.  Trading Varland has nothing to do with the development of of young pitchers.  I get it.  The Varland trade still pisses you off.  It still pisses off a lot of Twins' fans.  But it's a done deal and no amount of random bitching is going to change that fact.  Wait for an article about bad trades by the front office and then jump in.  I realize that you will probably write back that it's your right to say whatever you want - and you're correct.  But my intent with this comment is that I won't have to listen to it for that many more years.

Lighten up Francis

[Blyleven2011]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Brent Rooker, Ty Francis come to mind.  

Pagan wasn’t mentioned , he found more success with the reds , maybe not quite elite but pitched as a closer for them …

[TheLeviathan]

As mentioned earlier this does happen to all teams.  However, we don't have nearly enough reverse success stories it feels like.  The Brewers and Yankees (among others) can point to a lot of success stories and what do we have?

Kody Clemens?  

I think this speaks to a broken approach that I've been far from alone in complaining about: The Twins don't invest in upside.  They sign Josh Bell rather than Luis Arraez.  Or Murakami.  They sign Taylor Rogers rather than Sean Newcomb.  

Time and time again they choose "safe" or "blech" in favor of risk.  If you choose to never take risks, than you rob yourself of getting those surprise rewards.  

[Andy MacPhail]

It's frustrating to see homegrown pitchers stall out at the MLB level. Why do some go to a different place & they take off? In my observation, it's not necessarily bad coaching from the prior organization. Each player is unique & they might need a specific key from a different pitching coach that unlocks their potential that they aren't getting from the Twins. Twins seem do very well with pitchers that get their foundation from teams like TB- Odorizzi, Ryan, Bradley, & Gomez & MIA- Lopez. I've always advocated targeting these teams. Johan Santana became elite when he found the circle-change-up key that unlocked him. It might be personality that triggers something. IMO. it wasn't TOR that unlocked something in Varland; I could see that Varland could be a very good RP. Unless it was that they had confidence in him & he got the experience that he didn't get from MN. It might also be how they are managed.

[CoachDW]

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

The one that still burns me is Ronny Henriquez. He was good in his audition but cut to keep Mike Tonkin. Randy Dobnak was kept on the Opening Day roster. Dobnak pitched mop-up once in a loss, his only innings that season. He was cut 5 days later. The Twins lost both Headrick (who still had options) and Henriquez to use Dobnak for one game, keep Matt Canterino on the 40-man and give Mike Tonkin another try.

Henriquez is one that is a complete head-scratcher. In two seasons with the Twins (age 22 & 24) he pitched 30 innings, giving up 28 hits with 8 walks, 24 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.00 (ERA+ of 173 and 131).  The Twins waived him, he was picked up by the Marlins where he promptly put up a record of 7-1 with a 2.22 ERA (195 ERA+). In 73 innings, he gave up only 53 hits and 27 walks while striking out 98. All to hold onto Tonkin/Dobnak. Incredibly short-sighted.

The Twins also gave up on Steven Okert too soon, in my opinion. He was no youngster when the Twins acquired him, but he already had a strong track record of above-average relief pitching (ERA+ greater than 100 each year). There is no question that he pitched poorly with the Twins in 2024, having to adjust to a new experience being in the American League after spending his whole career in the NL and battling injuries (he was shut down in August). The Twins made no effort to re-sign him, and over the past two seasons he has combined for about 140 innings, giving up just 90 hits with 150 strikeouts and ERA+ of 135 and 194 with Houston.  Another bullpen arm who thrived prior to and after leaving Minnesota that did nothing when he was here.

[mikelink45]

2 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Pagan wasn’t mentioned , he found more success with the reds , maybe not quite elite but pitched as a closer for them …

There are so many choices - Gil, Henriks, even Mahle - I like the potential of some of our young pitchers but wonder why we should have faith that they will maximize their potential? 

[Linus]

First thing is the notion Falvey was the architect of Cleveland’s pitching prowess is complete bunk. I’ve been saying it since he was hired: there is no evidence that he was responsible for the run of strong pitching in Cleveland. Certainly he was privy to the philosophy and principles of their pitching system but they were just fine without him and Cleveland’s expertise in this area certainly didn’t land here with Falvey.

The Twins have a schizophrenic history developing pitching during the Falvey era. The first part of his tenure he refused to use high picks on pitchers - they failed miserably drafting and developing homegrown pitchers. Ober, Jax and Varland are your success stories for homegrown pitchers in 10 years. 

However Falvey was very good at obtaining pitchers via trade. Once he acquired them they often improved with the Twins - think Ryan, Lopez and now Taj Bradley. Of course this acquisition method is far more costly than drafting and developing your own but the bottom line is he assembled some good rotations. 

His history with bullpens is even weirder. They obviously could identify pitchers who had something to build on but then were not able to complete the job. It also appears they have been poor at self scouting. You could assemble a great bullpen right now from guys they let walk let alone traded for nothing. So he gets an F, I mean an A, or a D+. The Twins have some talent depth for their rotation currently. It’s really important that we can form a solid rotation for several years from this group because down on the farm, pitching is bleak, barren and almost nonexistent. 

[Russ]

Need to evaluate and Develop it.  Which are shortcomings and not mentioned

[GNess]

Evaluating talent (scouting) and developing talent are two different skill sets. So it is not  a surprise that there is a disconnect. 

Part of effective evaluating is doing all you can to assess the drive and work ethic to improve. Not all prospects are  equally coachable - something that the team could demand, but it's easier to coach the eager and willing! (I don't want to judge character from afar, but I suspect. a number of Twins prospects were/are a challenge to coach.)

The Twins spotty record at developing talent is a reflection of inconsistent and ineffective instruction and creating a forward thinking culture of improvement throughout the organization.

[HerbieFan]

Great question Nick.  My dad and I talk Twins a LOT.  This is one of the things that has always bothered me.  You certainly hit on some of the best (worst?) examples in Megill, Hoffman and Headrick.  To me, Headrick is the most frustrating one of the three.  Megill was here, I believe, for one season.  Hoffman for a spring training.  Headrick, however, was in the organization 5-6 years.  He was right under their noses and couldn't see it?  Falvey was supposed to be a pitching guy....he was not.

[DocBauer]

I don't think it's as easy as Nick states in the OP. There certainly have been examples of the Twins not developing certain arms that found success elsewhere, but in some of those cases, the failure might be more on the FO than coaching. 

Would Megill have been better if they had just kept him longer? Or did the Brewers simply unlock something the Twins were unable to do? Pressly had already developed in to a good reliever for the Twins. (I didn't want him traded). Do we really know that he wouldn't have been just as good the next season if he had remained a Twin? Hoffman had a decent, though not great camp with the Twins. He had some helium and the Twins talked him up. But they decided to go the "safe" route by keeping a different arm instead of Hoffman's potential. 

Cutting Henriquez and Headrick were just very poor roster management and no vision for the future. Especially in the case of Headrick. This isn't an organization who has had a lot of LH depth the past few years. 

Varland was already on his way to becoming a very good reliever. So again, do we know he wouldn't have been just as good with the Twins in 2026?

I am not, and will not absolve the Twins for failing to develop some arms to their potential.

But there must also be a proper perspective here. The team turned Duran, Jax, and Thielbar in to high quality relievers. Weren't they the ones who also developed Pressly and Varland to begin with? They developed Ryan in to an All Star. They've improved Bradley to having his best season. (If he hadn't been rushed back from his injury, his season might have been even better). They turned a late round selection in Ober to a fine #3 rotation arm. 

Again, not going to say the Twins haven't failed in some cases, or that they can't do better. But the biggest problem here, IMO, has been continued poor roster management by the FO. 

Keeping Pressly for a team that had a chance to compete the next season was a huge mistake. Trading Varland was seemingly a major mistake. Once again, did their new teams make them better? Or might they have been just as good the following seasons had they remained a Twin? I mean, Varland had a single full season as a reliever. Pressly was on an upswing. IMO, the problem wasn't development, it was trading a talented arm too soon they should have kept.

Henriquez showed some potential but wasn't kept as a young arm for the future. Exactly the same for Headrick. He showed potential, the Twins were short of LH options, but they just removed him from the 40 man. Why? And why not bet on Hoffman's potential when they publicly stated they liked what they saw? And let me add they just let Coulombe leave for nothing to sign elsewhere when he had performed well for them. Again, why?

You can't talk about proposed failures and not talk about the equal success stories as well. And you can't dismiss that some arms that appear to have done better elsewhere were originally developed  by the Twins, and might have been just as.good if they had been kept. I guess there's no way to ever know.

But I believe what we DO know is that in most/all of these cases, the greatest error is on the personel choices made by the FO where they ignored upside and potential far too often for what felt like a "safe" choice, even if it was an arm without upside. 

[Bodie]

22 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I think you mean Rick Anderson. Wes Anderson makes whimsical, eccentric films.

Easy to confuse as, at best, his staffs were also full of whimsy!

[JADBP]

On 10/9/2026 at 5:12 AM, Riverbrian said:

Front offices get it wrong often. Not just the Twins but all teams.

Front offices get it wrong a lot and they are making decisions on the margins as they try to maintain rosters with 26 man and 40 man limitations. 

Brent Headrick striking out 98 hitters in 78 innings for the Yankees should have never happened.

This is a LEFT HANDED pitcher with that ability. A left hander that you have had your exclusive eyes on for 5 years. In an organization that lives in fear of left handed batters facing left handed pitchers so it clearly understands the importance of LEFT HANDED pitchers... Yet they can't identify a pitcher with the capability of striking out 98 hitters in 78 innings when he is STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM and throwing with his LEFT HAND! 

It happens because the job is hard and front offices get it wrong quite often. 

Actually the Twins gave up TWO elite relievers that year, Brent Headrick and Ronny Henriquez.  They lost Brent to the Rule 5 draft and they just DFA'ed Ronny.  Brent should have been protected, no doubt, for all the reasons that you give. 

Ronny was a weird case, actually doing much better in his brief MLB stints than in AAA.  But, he had some promise and there is no reason why they just couldn't keep trying in AAA last Feb 5..  Instead, they just dumped him.  Miami quickly grabbed him and he went 7–1, 2.22 ERA with 98 strikeouts in 73 innings.  Unfortunately, he blew out his elbow and had TJ towards the end of the year.  

But, you are right, these decisions are tragic for small budget teams like the Twins!  They need those low cost up-and-comers to help round out the roster.  Don't even get me started on Varland, the worst Twins trade ever, but even if he was and AVERAGE RP, it was still a horrible trade because he was super cheap for another 4-5 years!  This is all on Falvey/Zoll....they made these decisions.  

I can imagine Falvey, caught up in the excitement of the hyper-active trading spree, when the phone rings.  "Hey, we will give you a couple buckets of balls for Varland..."  I can imagine Falvey thinking "This is genius...I will solve our outfield problems here and now, and get a great SP too!"  The bigger problem is that no one stepped up and said "NO WAY!  Varland is starting to shine in the BP and you just traded the entire BP away!  We desperately need him, he's cheap for a long time and he is doing well in the BP!" 

Varland had made 51 appearances in the BP for the Twins that year pitching to a 2.02 ERA and 47 K's.  But, no one stopped Falvey-least of all Zoll.  While it is an insane trade, perhaps the reason these boneheaded decisions are made by the FO is that no one steps up and says "Hey, that's a boneheaded decision!  Stop and think about this for a minute..."

[mrguy]

I think what some people have already pointed out rings true: in some cases, it's really just time. Guys like Varland were already trending towards being VERY good and could've had that season with the Twins, but were sent away before the Twins could really get the full value of that. I'd say this is likely true about the current young guys who were called up over this season and last season. The twins and development coaches like Ryan Ricci, who basically moved up each level through the system with the current young MLB staff, made tons of strides in developing these guys in ways they absolutely would not have otherwise(the most obvious example being Prielipp being able to throw more innings in ONE season than he had his ENTIRE career up to this point). Are they going to immediately make impacts in their early 20s seasons? Probably not, but it's easy to recognize what talents they have and could develop in their young careers. If any of them got traded away and became good a few seasons from now, it wouldn't be surprising since the signs were there and the fault wouldn't be "twins can't develop pitchers," it's more the fault of "cheap/bad roster management made them cut their losses with these players before they could actually see the fruits of their labor" and to be fair, the twins aren't the only team who has made this mistake

[Riverbrian]

5 hours ago, JADBP said:

Actually the Twins gave up TWO elite relievers that year, Brent Headrick and Ronny Henriquez.  They lost Brent to the Rule 5 draft and they just DFA'ed Ronny.  Brent should have been protected, no doubt, for all the reasons that you give. 

Ronny was a weird case, actually doing much better in his brief MLB stints than in AAA.  But, he had some promise and there is no reason why they just couldn't keep trying in AAA last Feb 5..  Instead, they just dumped him.  Miami quickly grabbed him and he went 7–1, 2.22 ERA with 98 strikeouts in 73 innings.  Unfortunately, he blew out his elbow and had TJ towards the end of the year.  

But, you are right, these decisions are tragic for small budget teams like the Twins!  They need those low cost up-and-comers to help round out the roster.  Don't even get me started on Varland, the worst Twins trade ever, but even if he was and AVERAGE RP, it was still a horrible trade because he was super cheap for another 4-5 years!  This is all on Falvey/Zoll....they made these decisions.  

I can imagine Falvey, caught up in the excitement of the hyper-active trading spree, when the phone rings.  "Hey, we will give you a couple buckets of balls for Varland..."  I can imagine Falvey thinking "This is genius...I will solve our outfield problems here and now, and get a great SP too!"  The bigger problem is that no one stepped up and said "NO WAY!  Varland is starting to shine in the BP and you just traded the entire BP away!  We desperately need him, he's cheap for a long time and he is doing well in the BP!" 

Varland had made 51 appearances in the BP for the Twins that year pitching to a 2.02 ERA and 47 K's.  But, no one stopped Falvey-least of all Zoll.  While it is an insane trade, perhaps the reason these boneheaded decisions are made by the FO is that no one steps up and says "Hey, that's a boneheaded decision!  Stop and think about this for a minute..."

I still haven't forgiven them for Nick Anderson. 😉

If they make mistakes... and they make mistakes. Every club makes enough of these type of assessment mistakes to know... without a shadow of a doubt that they will make these types of mistakes. 

And if they know and they have to know... how can they lock in like they don't. 

[JADBP]

19 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

I still haven't forgiven them for Nick Anderson. 😉

If they make mistakes... and they make mistakes. Every club makes enough of these type of assessment mistakes to know... without a shadow of a doubt that they will make these types of mistakes. 

And if they know and they have to know... how can they lock in like they don't. 

Is that a justification for trading Varland or losing so much talent?  I just see the Twins making far more draft/trade/DFA money stakes than most teams.   

[Riverbrian]

Just now, JADBP said:

Is that a justification for trading Varland or losing so much talent?  I just see the Twins making far more draft/trade/DFA money stakes than most teams.   

It isn't really justification of either. At best it's acknowledgement of how hard it is pick talent out of a pile. The roster limitations leads to hard decisions. We had a pretty good bullpen when they dfa'd those guys. 

However... 

It's criticism. Ultimately... It's the choosing of a 35 year old Tonkin over young arms with potential.

I want them to choose potential talent over old and crafty. I'd like them to consider years of service over one year blah. They haven't been doing that and our development has been a pile of non-developed players for too long now.