Connor Prielipp Went from Bullpen Candidate to Rotation Building Block

[Cody Christie]

At the beginning of last winter, Connor Prielipp's future with the Twins was still an open question. After years of elbow injuries and an extremely limited professional workload, Minnesota's front office was considering whether his best path to helping the big-league club might be in the bullpen. His electric stuff could play in shorter outings, and a relief role might better protect an arm that had already undergone two significant elbow procedures.

Prielipp entered the offseason hoping to remain a starter. Rather than moving him into the bullpen, the organization gave him another opportunity to develop his arsenal. One important addition came in January, when he began incorporating a new curveball. That decision became one of the most encouraging developments of Minnesota's season.

Prielipp finished 2026 with 144 1/3 innings between the major leagues and Triple-A, surpassing his total from the previous six years. At the big-league level, he made 24 appearances, including 22 starts, and posted a 4.87 ERA with an 87 ERA+. He struck out 128 hitters (23.9 K%) across 125 2/3 innings in the majors, while recording a 1.29 WHIP.

Those numbers tell part of the story, but his development as a starting pitcher might be even more important. The curveball gave him another weapon to complement his existing repertoire. Major-league hitters managed only a .198 batting average against the pitch, and it generated 48 of his strikeouts, more than any other offering. By the end of the season, the Twins were no longer simply trying to find a way to get Prielipp's talent onto a major league roster. They were watching him establish himself as a starter.

Balancing Development and Workload

There was still a significant question surrounding how much the Twins could ask from Prielipp. He entered 2026 coming off a career-high 82⅔ innings in 2025. With his injury history, Minnesota needed to be careful about increasing that workload too quickly.

August provided another reason for the organization to monitor his progress. Prielipp made five appearances and covered 26 ⅔ innings, but he struggled to a 7.90 ERA. He allowed 31 hits and 13 walks. A particularly difficult outing against Philadelphia resulted in eight runs allowed over five innings.

The workload conversation was happening throughout the season. Earlier discussions had centered on whether Minnesota might eventually shut him down after reaching approximately 100 innings. That would have represented a cautious increase from his previous career high. Instead, the Twins continued to evaluate his progress and adjust his schedule. When possible, they stretched the rotation to give him extra rest between appearances.

Prielipp responded with one of his best stretches of the season in September. He covered another 26 2/3 innings and posted a 2.40 ERA, striking out 22 hitters while walking only five. Opponents hit just .194 against him during the month. Minnesota also used him in a pair of bulk-relief appearances early in September as the club worked through its rotation options and managed his workload. He returned to the starting role and had arguably his best start of the season with a seven-inning, two-hit shutout performance against the Angels on September 18.

When reporters asked whether the organization had changed its plans after seeing Prielipp improve late in the season, Twins GM Jeremy Zoll highlighted just how much he had accomplished.

“I thought that was one of the better stories of our year," Zoll said. "He added a curveball in January and pitched a whole season as a starter.”

The response also acknowledged that both accomplishments seemed uncertain when the season began. Prielipp deserved considerable credit for making them happen. His workload remained an ongoing discussion, though. Rather than establish one specific innings limit, the organization monitored his medical information, training and conditioning, and biomechanical reports. The goal was to recognize potential warning signs and adjust if necessary.

“If yellow lights start to pop up late in the year, then respond to that,” Zoll explained. They were prepared to take a different approach if needed, but Prielipp continued progressing.

What It Means for the 2027 Rotation

The Twins now appear much closer to treating Prielipp as a traditional starting pitcher. When reporters asked whether the team planned to turn him loose more next season, Zoll indicated that his thinking had shifted.

“Off the cuff, I feel like we're a lot closer to treating him as a traditional starter," he said. That doesn't mean Minnesota expects Prielipp to take every turn in the rotation for the entire season. The organization still believes additional recovery time will be important.

“Still feels like someone [for whom] baking in the extra days is going to be valuable, just because I don't think he should pitch on four days' rest 32 times,” Zoll said. 

The Twins will have several starting pitching options entering 2027. Joe Ryan, Pablo López, Taj Bradley, Bailey Ober, Dean Kremer, Zebby Matthews, and Mick Abel give the organization plenty of competition alongside Prielipp—although that assumes they all stay in place throughout the offseason. His emergence adds another legitimate option, even if the front office eventually makes a trade to address another roster need.

More importantly, Prielipp no longer profiles as a pitcher whose future might be better served by moving to the bullpen. He demonstrated that he can handle a full season as a starter, and his September performance offered a glimpse of what he could become with another offseason of development.

Minnesota still needs to be thoughtful about his workload. However, the organization has a much better foundation for planning his future than it did a year ago. Prielipp went from a pitcher whose starting future was uncertain to someone the Twins can reasonably envision taking the ball every fifth or sixth day. That's a significant change in just one season, and it could become an important development for Minnesota's rotation in 2027.

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What stands out about Prielipp’s 2026 performance? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

Image courtesy of Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images

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[Patzky]

Fans are going to hope for a Next Crop of pitchers like we anticipate we have of position players. Prielipp and Bradley fit the bill. Monitor him surely, but to me it seems like a bullpen assignment would be viewed as a regression; even if we trade no one there is still room for Prielipp in the starting rotation. If Joe Ryan or Bailey Over is traded, I'm not too sure that Pablo and Abel are up for an entire season of games.

 

Rojas is the guy with a bigger question mark regarding reliever or starter. 

 

[Stew]

I don't think we trade Ryan o lopez . At least not till tade deadline. We have to see how Lopez comes back.hopefully Abel will be good. He's one of our future stars. As for Connor, he s our only lefty that starts. He seems pretty good at times. He should be the fifth starter.

[Ricky Vaughn]

I may be wrong but I don't believe anyone actually with the Twins ever said being a reliever was be being considered.

[Matthew Trueblood]

45 minutes ago, Ricky Vaughn said:

I may be wrong but I don't believe anyone actually with the Twins ever said being a reliever was be being considered.

Unsure if they did publicly or not. I can tell you for sure that it was under serious consideration within the front office, as of a year (or nine months) ago.

[Twinsrtheworst]

Actually, it was not under consideration even 12 months ago, let alone serious consideration. Player and front office had a pretty set plan of continuing to develop him as a started...period. Anything other than that is reckless speculation by TD and happens with close to 99 percent of the articles and comments. Reckless speculation.

[Patzky]

28 minutes ago, Matthew Trueblood said:

Unsure if they did publicly or not. I can tell you for sure that it was under serious consideration within the front office, as of a year (or nine months) ago.

Tell you what I'd take Bailey Ober over Cole Sands for that sixth bullpen spot. 

High Leverage .. Gomez, Hoffman, FA signing

Middle or multi innings .. Morris, Paredes, Ober (or Adams or better FA signing)

Situational.. Nance, Funderburk (or Minter if he's signed)

[Matthew Trueblood]

8 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Tell you what I'd take Bailey Ober over Cole Sands for that sixth bullpen spot. 

High Leverage .. Gomez, Hoffman, FA signing

Middle or multi innings .. Morris, Paredes, Ober (or Adams or better FA signing)

Situational.. Nance, Funderburk (or Minter if he's signed)

You have the conversation before you make the decision, but my guess is that Ober would be displeased with that plan, and you'd probably sooner non-tender him than move him to relief in his walk year unless he really bought in hard on the transition.

[saviking]

The shortened season will manage his work load.

[Cris E]

Quote

The Twins will have several starting pitching options entering 2027. Joe Ryan, Pablo López, Taj Bradley, Bailey Ober, Dean Kremer, Zebby Matthews, and Mick Abel give the organization plenty of competition alongside Prielipp—although that assumes they all stay in place throughout the offseason.

I think it goes Ryan Bradley Lopez Prielipp Kremer Mathews Abel and Ober is gone. That's seven deep with a few like Gallagher Culpepper Paredes at AAA and then the kids like Quick and Rojas and Raya and Festa and anyone else in line for a bullpen gig.

I expect Mathews to take the big step forward this year. He threw 130 IP in 23 starts to a 4.90 ERA last year.  But his 10 starts at home were 63 IP and a 2.57 ERA, while his road was 67 IP of 7.08. His July was terrible and he righted the ship in August, so there's a lot here to build on. 

All told it's enough to trade from.  Maybe a big shot like Ryan, maybe a steady reliable Kremer at a lower cost, certainly Ober is on the block. I expect a move once Jeffers' situation gets settled. (Even if he doesn't sign right away, if Boras just flat out says nothing below $60m I believe we'd turn away.) And this pile of arms should be enough to replace him with a guy that bridges to Lackey. 

[Cory Engelhardt]

4 hours ago, Matthew Trueblood said:

You have the conversation before you make the decision, but my guess is that Ober would be displeased with that plan, and you'd probably sooner non-tender him than move him to relief in his walk year unless he really bought in hard on the transition.

I'll go further and say that I don't see Sands for sure getting a bullpen spot, and I also agree that Ober is a starting pitcher, but probably for another organization in 2027.

[jmlease1]

They did a very good job in managing Prielipp's workload in 2026 and getting him through a full season healthy, which was quite an accomplishment based on his history. The only injury issue he had to deal with was a blister issue, which is not a significant concern to me.

Now, he'll need to improve the result to actually become a rotation building block, but he's on the right path. It'll be interesting to see if he was a bit unlucky last season (the underlying numbers suggest he was), and how he can improve. But there's a lot to like with him.

It was encouraging to see a guy who pitched so little be able to keep making starts all season and finish out strong. There's a reasonable argument that his last month was his best month. And I suspect the results against LH batters was a bit fluky; I would not expect him to have reverse splits again. he did a pretty good job keeping the ball in the park too.

Is he a lock for the rotation? As of right now...yes. I think he's ahead of Zebby, Abel will likely get rehab "prove it" time in AAA, and he's definitely ahead of Rojas. A rotation of Lopez, Ryan, Bradley, Kramer, and Preilipp is pretty strong. (though I would try and stack Bradley to pitch directly after Preilipp since Bradley showed a real ability to go deep into games and Preilipp hasn't yet)

[HerbieFan]

I think he's locked in as #4 or #5 starter for 2027 isn't he?  Plenty of starting depth to give him the rest he needs at times.