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Since taking over as leader of the Minnesota Twins front office, Derek Falvey has largely pieced together bullpens for manager Rocco Baldelli. Focusing on players with upside, and those considered to be on the fringes, Falvey has rarely spent heavily on relief pitching. Maybe that’s because the one time he did, with Addison Reed, it went sideways. Maybe it’s because he’s had such a strong record of success in identifying players who could provide just a bit more.
On Nov. 7, 2021, Brock Stewart elected free agency, rather than sticking with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization that made him a sixth-round pick back in 2014. Stewart had been a collegiate starter out of Illinois State, and it took a bit for him to find his groove. By 2016, however, he was turning heads at Triple-A, and he made his big league debut later that season. Pitching sporadically at the major-league level for the next four seasons, he struggled to find consistent success.
In the pandemic chaos of 2020, Stewart was never called upon. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021. That combination effected a long lacuna in his pro track record, but there was still something there. On Jul. 14, 2022, the Twins signed Stewart while he was rehabbing from surgery and assigned him to their Complex League team. Seeing something they thought was moldable, Minnesota opted to oversee his recovery and find out what they had to work with.
Stewart wound up pitching 14 innings in the Twins system in 2022, and while he showed signs of good strikeout stuff while limiting walks as a reliever, he was tagged for four home runs. According to conventional wisdom, command is one of the last things to return post-Tommy John surgery, and that seemed to coincide with pitch placement for Stewart.
With the Dodgers, Stewart leaned heavily on a fastball that sat in the low 90s. He had a slider that he didn’t use much, and then he would turn to a changeup that was largely a get-me-over pitch. The Twins tweaked that arsenal and (as they have often done for pitchers) added velocity. Once they had him pumping 97 mph fastballs (albeit a bit less often), they scrapped the changeup and added in a cutter. The slider still exists, but is a better pitch now with more sweeper-like action, and the cutter is thrown harder than the old fastball was. As a whole, the new Stewart arsenal constitutes an absolute weapon out of the bullpen.
In 41 innings for Minnesota over the past two seasons, Stewart has struck out a ridiculous 56 hitters while allowing a total of three runs. In 2024, he has generated a career-best chase rate, and his whiff rate remains dazzling. He’s filling up the zone and getting ahead more than ever, and he has become an imposing part of one of baseball's best bullpen triumvirates.
What Stewart is doing is not normal. Not only has he become the best version of himself after leaving affiliated baseball and undergoing major surgery, but it isn’t just a reinvention or quirky delivery that’s getting him by. He has put in the work to become an overpowering arm who gets on opposing batters and imposes his will on them. His four-seamer really doesn't have great shape, by modern stuff metrics, but it's hard enough to set up the sweeper, the cutter, and an exceptionally heavy sinker.
There’s no doubt Rocco Baldelli feels comfortable with Jhoan Durán closing down games, but we have seen plenty of evidence that Griffin Jax and Stewart are on an equal plane. It’s not often that the number-two or -three leverage guys grab the accolades throughout the season, and a guy nicknamed Beef Stew probably isn’t looking for them, anyway.
Regardless, the quality of Minnesota’s bullpen is as much about the top arms as it is the depth. They have guys who can get outs throughout the group, and there should almost never be a reason to fear while Stewart is here. For a guy signed to a minor-league deal, and who is not a free agent until the 2028 season, the Twins may never had this much juice from a squeeze ever before.
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