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The mass exodus of the Twins' relief corps has left the team with a decimated bullpen for both the short and long term. We’ve already seen them begin to scour the waiver wire for interesting arms, and several spots have been filled by veteran options who are unlikely to develop into much beyond this season. Two recently promoted arms are currently filling bulk roles, but could be prime candidates to take the next step toward being valuable relievers.
Travis Adams
We saw Travis Adams spin a fantastic start on Tuesday against Detroit, going five innings and allowing two runs while striking out seven. While that outing is worth celebrating, Adams is a tier below many of the current and up-and-coming starting pitchers in the organization in terms of prospect pedigree. It's possible he could develop as a traditional starting pitcher if he continues to be successful, but his path to grabbing a rotation spot in the future is narrow.
We’re unlikely to see Adams make many more starts this season, and even his role as a bulk reliever may be unnecessary as several arms are promoted and (hopefully) return from injury. His six-pitch mix is surely what made him a candidate for this role. Still, as the demand for a neutral innings filler declines, it may be an excellent opportunity for him to trim his repertoire down and focus on retiring hitters in shorter stints.
Adams’s bread-and-butter offerings are his four-seam fastball and slider. Both have whiff rates above 30% even in his stretched-out role. He throws a sinker, cutter, and curveball, all of which have been pummeled in the small sample of his rookie campaign. He’s gotten unlucky with his changeup, but this pitch looks solid, with a 25% whiff rate. That's his go-to pitch for retiring opposing hitters. Out of the bullpen, he would only need a fastball, slider, and changeup to navigate shorter stretches of opposing lineups, and any uptick in stuff in these short bursts could make a huge difference.
Cutting down on the repertoire and letting the stuff play up is a recipe for bullpen success that has played out plenty of times, and Adams is a prime candidate to make this transition.
Pierson Ohl
Like Adams, Ohl has been used as a bulk pitcher this season, and it’s helped him reclaim some of the shine that he lost in 2024. Ohl once looked like an intriguing find in the 14th round when he reached Double-A in 2023 and posted an ERA in the low 3s. Last season saw a significant step back in stuff across the board, however. In 2025, shortening his role allowed him to ascend to the big-league level, where he’s flashed his elite changeup at times.
Unlike Adams, Ohl doesn’t have much to trim off his repertoire. He’s turned to his fastball and changeup over 80% of the time. He currently looks like a one-pitch pitcher, making him the likeliest candidate to see his innings reduced as the rotation fills back out. The changeup is legitimately dominant, potentially to the point where he could be an effective one-inning reliever even right now. The question is whether he can take a step beyond that level.
Ohl’s fastball has averaged a shade over 92 mph so far, while getting absolutely shelled. Perhaps shorter stints can boost the velocity to the point where that pitch is at least usable. Ohl has also flashed a cutter (less than 10% of the time), with excellent results. If he can have some time to play with the pitch mix and find another offering to pair with a legitimately elite changeup, it’s easy to see how he could be highly effective out of the bullpen.
Despite the Twins’ previously elite bullpen being homegrown, such situations aren’t put together overnight. It’s often a winding path to the status of “elite reliever", or even “effective reliever". There’s no telling who will develop next for the Twins. Adams and Ohl should be given the opportunity down the stretch this season, and both have the kinds of indicators to look for in pitchers who successfully make this transition.
Do you agree that Adams and Ohl have what it takes to be part of the next effective Twins bullpen? Are there other arms we should be keeping an eye on? Let us know below!
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