Twins Daily Awards 2026: Most Improved

[Cory Moen]

Image courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

One of the more exciting awards we like to vote on at Twins Daily at the end of the year is the Most Improved award. The beauty of the award is that it depends on who you ask and what they value in a particular player's improvement. When looking at this award, is it important to focus on the player who went from a fringe player to a clear role on the roster, or on a young player who cemented himself and reached the potential he once had as a prospect? Our voters had differing opinions, but three names consistently popped up in their responses.

 

We’ll take a look at those top three vote-getters for the Most Improved award, and none of these names will be too surprising, if you look at where they were pre-2026 and where their roles sit now with the big-league club.

 

3. Yoendrys Gómez

 

Gómez is a player whom many Twins fans may not have known much (if anything) about going into the 2026 season. He started the year in the Rays organization. In nine appearances before he was designated for assignment on May 2, Gómez threw 17 ⅓ innings for the Rays, striking out 13, with a 6.23 ERA and 7.25 FIP. When the Twins acquired him, he was seen as a flyer, but it was clear that he had some upside, and boy, did he deliver. When the Twins acquired Gómez in a trade (for cash considerations) in early May, manager Derek Shelton said, “I mean it’s a big arm. It’s a guy we saw in Spring Training a couple times. We really liked him, but it just adds some velocity to our bullpen.”

 

The Venezuela native had much more success after the Twins acquired him and took hold of the closer role in the Twins bullpen, which was looking for any competent arm—especially early in the season. He went 21-for-23 on save opportunities and helped the Twins' bullpen become more successful, especially in the middle months of the season.

 

With the Twins, Gómez threw 49 ⅔ innings, striking out 52 and posting a 3.62 ERA and an even better FIP of 3.40. He became a reliable bullpen arm, even with some struggles down the stretch. Even if he doesn’t remain the closer into the future, he's proven to be a solid option out of the bullpen for Derek Shelton and company. It'll be interesting to see whether he's used mainly in the ninth inning, or whether he has opportunities in other roles while someone else takes on the more traditional closer role.

 

Regardless of the role he has in 2027, Gómez was a solid find for the Twins, acquired for very little (much like Kody Clemens in 2025). At 27 years old, he's under team control via arbitration through the 2029 season and will not reach free agency until after the 2031 campaign.

 

 

2. Taj Bradley

Another former Tampa Bay Ray, Bradley came over in a one-for-one swap that sent reliever (turned starter) Griffin Jax to Tampa Bay. He made his major-league debut at 22 years old in 2023 and appeared for the Rays from 2023-2025 before the trade. In 69 career appearances with Tampa Bay, he had his ups and downs, pitching to a 19-25 record with a 4.35 ERA and striking out 9.6 batters per nine innings. The Twins saw upside in him and thought he could take another step forward, and he proved them right.

 

Over his first three seasons, Bradley was worth 1.1 bWAR. This year, he took a clear step forward, posting 4.4 bWAR and throwing 178 ⅓ innings, a career high. In those innings, he struck out 205 hitters, becoming the 10th Twins pitcher in franchise history (and first since Pablo López in 2023) to record over 200 strikeouts in a season.

 

 

Another highlight of the year was Bradley recording the first immaculate inning in Twins history on August 25 against the Athletics.

 

1. Brooks Lee

Lee started the 2026 season as the 'Twins' starting shortstop and had his ups and downs, which led many to say he should move off shortstop to either second or third base. In late May, it was decided the Twins infield needed a shake-up, and as part of that, Lee shifted to third.

 

Luckily for the Twins, Lee had a great attitude about moving.

 

“I’m just getting my reps at third," he said at the time. "You never know what happens. It’s nice to have a home over there. Just to have a home anywhere in the infield and in the lineup, that’s the most important thing.”

 

This move also opened the door for the Twins to eventually call up top prospect Kaelen Culpepper, who made his major-league debut at shortstop in August.

 

“I thought I proved myself at shortstop with the plays I made," Lee said later, reflecting on the move. "For them to think I can be even better at third is a plus.” This proved correct, as Lee was named a finalist for the American League Gold Glove at third base this week. 

 

 

Lee not only looked much better defensively at third than he did at shortstop, but improved quite a bit offensively. In his first two seasons at the plate, he posted OPS+ marks of 64 and 81, which are well below average and needed improvement if he was going to become a mainstay in the Twins lineup. He took a huge step forward in 2026, playing 156 games and hitting 24 home runs with 83 RBIs. He posted a slash line of .253/.300/.428, which was good for a slightly above-average OPS+ of 102.

 

Many believe there is more to come from Lee. In an interview with Dan Hayes of The Athletic, Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow (who has known Lee since the latter was a child) said, “He’s got TNT in his hands; he’s going to have years where he hits between 30 and 40 (home runs). This is the period of his life where he’s getting established, meaning he’s learning the opponents' pitching staffs. … I think he not only can hit 30 to 40 home runs, but he can win a batting title.”

 

That’s high praise from a person who has watched countless major leaguers over his long broadcasting career. If he continues to improve offensively and play sparkling defense, he can provide the Twins with tons of value in the future.

 

Lee, Bradley and Gómez each demonstrated (in different ways) how the Twins are capable of helping players improve and deliver unexpected value. They're all important parts of the team's future, as they look to return to the postseason next year after three years away. In the group, though, Lee stands out as one whose upside might not have been reached yet, and who might be back on a track toward (low-grade) stardom. That makes him our Twins Daily Most Improved Twin of the year.

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[Jacksson]

Clemens gets hosed again !!

[sweetmusicviola16]

I actually won't argue with Lee winning this one. He definitely improved and the team has a lot riding on him. But Clemens should have for sure gotten some consideration as well.

[strumdatjag]

23 minutes ago, Jacksson said:

Clemens gets hosed again !!

Clemons had a good 2025, so the bar was higher to become the most improved in 2026.   Brooks Lee is a better choice. 

[Andy MacPhail]

There is lot to be said about playing your natural position, when you play your natural position, everything seems to fall into place & 3B is Lee's position. When you struggle at a less than a natural position, you struggle everywhere. An observation. Lee has my vote.

[DJL44]

I have very little optimism that Lee will improve more than this. I think he’s peaked.

[DJL44]

Honorable mention to Ryan Kreidler and Travis Adams

[Linus]

I want some of what Krukow is smoking 😀. Both Brooks and Taj were worthy. Little less impressed with Gomez as he kind of tip toed through a minefield the second half.  We may have seen the best of him. I think Brooks and Taj have another level in them. Taj by adding a little better command and Brooks with better swing decisions. 

[MeleMouth]

I hope to be wrong, but Gomez looked like the clock struck midnight around June 30 and he turned back into a pumpkin.

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, MeleMouth said:

I hope to be wrong, but Gomez looked like the clock struck midnight around June 30 and he turned back into a pumpkin.

He had a very good July, didn't he?  Things went to pot in August.

[Parfigliano]

3 hours ago, Jacksson said:

Clemens gets hosed again !!

No peace!  No justice!

[Parfigliano]

Brooks "U ain't seen nothing yet" Lee.

[MeleMouth]

1 minute ago, ashbury said:

He had a very good July, didn't he?  Things went to pot in August.

He was incredibly lucky in July. 8.7 K/9 vs. 6.1 BB/9 is really bad, but his month was saved by unsustainable luck in a small sample of hard hit and barrel rates, along with a season high in LOB rate, a career low in FB rate, and a rare 0.0% of FBs turning into HRs. His xFIP and xERA were about 3 runs worse than his ERA.

These things balance out over time. Interestingly regarding Gomez, his overall 5.79 ERA for the second half is very close to his 5.82 xERA for this period. 

So, yes, his record was good in July, but warning lights were going off for a bunch of things under the hood. 

[MapleGroveTwinsFan]

13 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I have very little optimism that Lee will improve more than this. I think he’s peaked.

Why would a guy that is entering his prime years not improve? I agree he isn't likely to be a 5-6 WAR player but I see no reason he couldn't improve on his 2.4 this year. If the Twins are thinking on the same lines as you, than now is the time to trade him. 

I also don't understand how a guy that has 3 years of major league experience entering his age 26 season can't improve but so many on this site think a guy that is 26/27 with little to no major league experience or success will (Roden for example, or any number of guys like Fedko, Sabato)

[jmlease1]

Gomez did well, but relievers are such small samples that it's hard to know whether it's true improvement or variance driving their success. I would have had Clemens 3rd; he was solid last season, but this year was good regular and took another step forward that wasn';t just playing time. Suspect Clemens gets discounted for being 30.

I think Lee is the right choice: he went from being a poor SS to a quality 3B in the same season, not just improved from last year, but he also added 20-odd pts to his OPS+, cracked 25 homers, put health issues to bed (whatever might have been going on with his back and/or shoulder seems to be in the rear view after being able to play 2 full seasons) and has himself locked in as the starting 3B.

Bradley would not have been a bad choice, to be clear: career highs in basically everything and locked himself in as a top of the rotation guy. It sort of feels liek Bradley maybe gets a little short shrift because you could always see the talent and it maybe felt like he didn't get "better" just more consistent...but isn't that a part of real improvement, being able to do it day in and day out, instead of just flashing it from time to time?

I probably go: 

1. Lee
2. Bradley
3. Clemens

But no bad choices in these three, IMHO, whichever order you have.

[MeleMouth]

13 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I have very little optimism that Lee will improve more than this. I think he’s peaked.

What's your evidence that Lee has peaked?

[Cris E]

14 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I have very little optimism that Lee will improve more than this. I think he’s peaked.

OK, but he improved (see title) and he was quite good. This wasn't a Brady Anderson spike either. It feels like a sustainable level of performance: good glove, professional at bats, hammer the mistakes you're offered.  

He'll never be our only all-star, he's not THAT good, but if he's the seventh best guy on the roster we can win a lot of games.

[DJL44]

44 minutes ago, MapleGroveTwinsFan said:

Why would a guy that is entering his prime years not improve? I agree he isn't likely to be a 5-6 WAR player but I see no reason he couldn't improve on his 2.4 this year. If the Twins are thinking on the same lines as you, than now is the time to trade him. 

I think his defense is basically as good as it can get at 3B, given his athletic ability. He’s maxed out.

His statcast batting metrics are all blue except for striking out and they’re basically the same as they were in 2025 and 2024, which means he was a little lucky in 2026 and is due for regression more like his career line of .242/.289/.390. His strength is making contact and putting the ball in play. His weakness is doing damage on pitches in the zone. 

[DataNerd]

16 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I think his defense is basically as good as it can get at 3B, given his athletic ability. He’s maxed out.

His statcast batting metrics are all blue except for striking out and they’re basically the same as they were in 2025 and 2024, which means he was a little lucky in 2026 and is due for regression more like his career line of .242/.289/.390. His strength is making contact and putting the ball in play. His weakness is doing damage on pitches in the zone. 

The main improvement is he started pulling the ball in the air more.  He had the 12th most pulled FBs in baseball last year, after being 91st in 25 (8.2% of PAs in 26, 5.7% in 25).  Every single player does significantly better than their expected stats on pulled flyballs, so I would expect xwOBA to underrate him, the question is how much.

[MapleGroveTwinsFan]

34 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I think his defense is basically as good as it can get at 3B, given his athletic ability. He’s maxed out.

His statcast batting metrics are all blue except for striking out and they’re basically the same as they were in 2025 and 2024, which means he was a little lucky in 2026 and is due for regression more like his career line of .242/.289/.390. His strength is making contact and putting the ball in play. His weakness is doing damage on pitches in the zone. 

He was tied for 5th among all Major League third basemen with a +6 OAA, 4th in DRS, and 9th in Fielding Run Value, and if he only played 3B he would rank in the top few in the american league in dWAR.

So yes he isn't likely to improve much if at all at defensive, but how much could he?

He had 52 extra base hits with a .428 SLG, the top ten for qualified 3B, there is some chance he could improve there. His biggest issue is his .300, if he can improve on that, and just stay the stay on the other things he is almost an all star type player. 

His OPS+ has went from 64 to 81 to 102, he isn't likely to have to jump 17 points again, but even a jump of 10 with his defense and he is more than a solid everyday major league player, and maybe that is what you meant when he can't improve.

 

[DJL44]

7 minutes ago, DataNerd said:

The main improvement is he started pulling the ball in the air more.  He had the 12th most pulled FBs in baseball last year, after being 91st in 25 (8.2% of PAs in 26, 5.7% in 25).  Every single player does significantly better than their expected stats on pulled flyballs, so I would expect xwOBA to underrate him, the question is how much.

That’s great, but there isn’t any upside left  to tap. I suppose he could go from 12th in pulled flyballs to #1 but it’s far more likely he ends up back in the middle of the pack.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, MapleGroveTwinsFan said:

If the Twins are thinking on the same lines as you, than now is the time to trade him. 

I don’t see why. They don’t have much depth in the infield. Why not keep him and let him put up Joe Crede type seasons for the next few years?

If they sign a free agent 2B this offseason and Culpepper is pushed to 3B by Marek Houston, then perhaps you look at trading Brooks Lee. There are a few dominos left to fall in that scenario.

[MapleGroveTwinsFan]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

I don’t see why. They don’t have much depth in the infield. Why not keep him and let him put up Joe Crede type seasons for the next few years?

If they sign a free agent 2B this offseason and Culpepper is pushed to 3B by Marek Houston, then perhaps you look at trading Brooks Lee. There are a few dominos left to fall in that scenario.

Because if he is at his peak, why hold onto a guy you think will get no better, Max trade value? The Brewers traded 26 year old Caleb Durbin who was 3rd in ROY last year for Harrison and Hamilton Durbin who is great defensively but average offensively. 

[Cris E]

17 minutes ago, MapleGroveTwinsFan said:

Because if he is at his peak, why hold onto a guy you think will get no better, Max trade value? The Brewers traded 26 year old Caleb Durbin who was 3rd in ROY last year for Harrison and Hamilton Durbin who is great defensively but average offensively. 

Because finding average guys is hard.  Because having stable pieces in your roster is important. Because removing an established player for a prospect introduces the very weakness you want to dispell.

And let's be clear about that example of Durbin for Hamilton and Harrison: Lee is no one's idea of a ROY candidate with many yeas of control left.  The return on a good glove, 105 OPS+ dude at 3B is not going to change the roster like that trade did.

[DJL44]

35 minutes ago, MapleGroveTwinsFan said:

Because if he is at his peak, why hold onto a guy you think will get no better, Max trade value? The Brewers traded 26 year old Caleb Durbin who was 3rd in ROY last year for Harrison and Hamilton Durbin who is great defensively but average offensively. 

I guess if the objective is to always sell players at max trade value. At some point they need to try to win the division.

[MapleGroveTwinsFan]

4 minutes ago, Cris E said:

Because finding average guys is hard.  Because having stable pieces in your roster is important. Because removing an established player for a prospect introduces the very weakness you want to dispell.

And let's be clear about that example of Durbin for Hamilton and Harrison: Lee is no one's idea of a ROY candidate with many yeas of control left.  The return on a good glove, 105 OPS+ dude at 3B is not going to change the roster like that trade did.

I wasn't the said who said he wasn't going to improve (I don't think you did either), but if the Twins think he won't improve, possibly stagnant or even worse yet not be as good, then you trade that type of player while he is at the top of the trade value. Holding onto a league average player for stability isn't improving the team. I would add I think Lee would have as much if not more trade value, being a former 1st round pick that has improved every year and former top prospect and won't be a free agent until 2031. 

[MapleGroveTwinsFan]

2 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I guess if the objective is to always sell players at max trade value. At some point they need to try to win the division.

Is it trying to win, when you have a player that you think 

"defense is basically as good as it can get at 3B, given his athletic ability. He’s maxed out.

His statcast batting metrics are all blue except for striking out and they’re basically the same as they were in 2025 and 2024, which means he was a little lucky in 2026 and is due for regression more like his career line of .242/.289/.390. His strength is making contact and putting the ball in play. His weakness is doing damage on pitches in the zone. "

and you holding onto that player? 

I think he can and will improve so I wouldn't be trading him, but if I thought like you do, I probably would try to package him with Ryan to team looking to upgrade at 3rd and starting pitching. Maybe the Yankees, Seattle, Philly, or the Padres/Blue Jays who could move him to second) the two of those should return some pretty nice pieces and use the money saved from Ryan and the money Tom P says they want to spend on a pitcher or three.