The Return of the Short King: Say Hello to a Different Danny Coulombe

Minnesota Twins fans know Danny Coulombe, in the sense that he has put on a Twins jersey in the recent past. Even though Coulombe was with the Twins club as recently as spring training 2023, however, he has developed into a considerably different pitcher in two short seasons. (Well, all seasons are short seasons for him, but you know what I mean.)

The lefty spent those seasons establishing himself as one of the better southpaw relief options in baseball. His strikeout rate jumped to 27.6% and 29.9% in Baltimore, whereas he posted a 23.7% at his best while in Minnesota. Those results helped Coulombe account for a 1.9 fWAR over his two seasons in Baltimore. He also accounted for 0.83 wins, according to Win Probability Added, in 2023, and a 1.77 WPA last season. It wasn’t just the results that changed for the now-35-year-old. He made some considerable changes to his pitch mix and arm angle. 

In Coulombe’s time with the Twins, he leaned most prominently on his slider and four-seam fastball. Last season, his two most-used pitches were a cutter and a sweeper. The cutter is completely new to Coulombe since leaving Minnesota, and the sweeper is an offering he just started throwing very sparingly in 2022. Those two pitches accounted for 58.5% of the lefty's pitches in 2024. 

Over the past two seasons, the sweeper has resulted in a 32.3% whiff rate (in 2023) and a 38.2% (2024). The cutter was similarly effective, with a 31.4% whiff rate in 2023 that dipped to 26.2% in 2024. The development and heavy deployment of those two pitches help to explain the uptick in his strikeout and strike-throwing skills the past two seasons. While it does help explain the improvements, it also feels like a fairytale that an MLB pitcher could completely retool himself in that way while performing at such a high level. 

Along with adding the new pitches, Coulombe also raised his arm angle slightly. Traditionally he had been between a 50-52 degree arm angle. Since leaving Minnesota that angle has increased to 56 degrees in 2023 and 58 degrees last season. That angle tells hitters to expect a high-rise, backspin four-seamer, but he really peppers them with a pitch that has abundant cut and with a sinker that veers the opposite way.

While this is technically the same guy that fans have seen before, he is returning with a very different look. As long as Coulombe can avoid any lengthy injury stints, he will help lock down the back end of the bullpen as (presumably) the primary left-hander, with a bit more strikeout ability than we saw his last time in a Twins uniform.