Week in Review: Rough Around the Edges

The Weekly Nutshell:
After wrapping up spring training, the Twins headed to Baltimore to officially kick off their 2026 regular season against the Orioles. Entering this campaign with their lowest expectations in years, the Twins came out of the gates with a fairly solid series against the O’s but dropped two of three while derailed by some familiar foils: lack of timely hitting, sloppy defense and questionable decision-making. Still, it was an altogether fairly impressive showing with a number of strong individual performances and positive takeaways. Let’s dig in.

Weekly Snapshot: Thurs, 3/26 through Sun, 3/29
***
Record Last Week: 1-2 (Overall: 1-2)
Run Differential Last Week: +0 (Overall: +0)
Standing: T-3rd Place in AL Central (1.0 GB) 

Latest Game Results

Game 1 | BAL 2, MIN 1: Ryan Deals But Timely Hits Elude Lineup

• Twins hitters: 1-12 RISP, 3 GIDP

Game 2 | MIN 4, BAL 1: Lewis Home Run Helps Lift Twins to First Win

• Bradley: 4.1 IP, 1 ER, 9 K

Game 3 | BAL 8, MIN 6: Ober and Abel Knocked Around in Piggyback Effort

• Abel: 3.1 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 4 BB

NEWS & NOTES

Ahead of the season opener, the Twins placed David Festa and Travis Adams on the 15-day injured list. Both right-handers are dealing with arm issues and facing opaque return timelines. Of course, Pablo López was already on the 60-day IL and will miss the season after undergoing elbow surgery. 

HIGHLIGHTS

Joe Ryan had a bit of an odd spring. A minor injury scare affected his ramp-up and robbed him of a chance to compete at the World Baseball Classic. He threw only 12 innings in Grapefruit League play. But on Opening Day, he showed no signs of ill effect. The righty was in top form on Thursday at Camden, peppering the zone with his signature fastball while also mixing in a slow bending curve that kept opponents in shambles. 

Ryan held Baltimore off the board for 5 ⅓ innings, striking out seven with one hit allowed, and probably would’ve gone deeper if not for the Twins opting to play it safe on pitch count (85) following his disrupted spring. 

The stellar season debut from Ryan was good to see, but hardly surprising. This is what we saw from him for most of last season, and what we’ve come to expect. The same goes for Byron Buxton, who was an electrifying force in the opening series, repeatedly making things happen with his legs. In the opener, Buxton tripled before scoring Minnesota’s only run of the game on a Luke Keaschall sac fly. On Saturday, he again scored their lone run by:

• Beating out an infield single (originally called out, and reversed on challenge)
• Tagging up and taking second on a fly ball to center
• Taking third on a pickoff error by Adley Rutschman
• Scoring on a sacrifice fly by Josh Bell

That is the definition of manufacturing a run, and it epitomizes the unique advantages Buxton brings to the table. When he's healthy and playing, this team can entertain. And if he gets a some help, they can win.

We all expected Ryan and Buxton to be the leaders of this pitching staff and offense, respectively. They looked up to the task in B-More. But if the Twins as a team want to B More than also-rans (eh??) they’ll need some others to step up. 

As such, Royce Lewis’ opening series delivered a major jolt of energy. He struggled on Thursday but bounced back with a big home run on Saturday and launched another on Sunday. It’s clear that Lewis needs to earn the full confidence of new manager Derek Shelton, who’s been batting him eighth in the lineup and pulled him for a pinch-hitter in a key spot late in the first game. But Lewis is starting to rebuild his own confidence and that’s the crucial first step. 

Taj Bradley is another player looking to put previous struggles behind him and harness his natural talent — with major implications for the team’s outlook. And while his first start of the season on Saturday was far from perfect, Bradley’s overpowering arsenal was on full display as he racked up nine strikeouts with one run allowed in 4 ⅓ innings. The fastball was nearly touching 100 and the diving splitter was giving the Orioles fits. A promising start to a very important season.

A couple other strong performances from the opening series worth highlighting:

• Tristan Gray made his first start at shortstop on Sunday and made an excellent first impression, delivering a three-run double in his first AB as a Twin and following with an RBI single later in the game. It was a bit of a surprise to see Gray make the team out of spring as backup infielder over Ryan Kreidler and Orlando Arcia, who both went to St. Paul. Gray's intriguing bat is a major reason, and we got a glimpse in this game. 
• The much maligned bullpen had a very solid showing in the opening series, allowing two runs in eight total innings (if we don’t count Mick Abel’s piggybacking appearance on Sunday). When Bradley had to come out in the fifth inning on Saturday, the relief corps stepped up in a big way, with five pitchers combining for 4 ⅔ shutout innings to protect a lead. Probably Shelton deserves some credit for his maneuvering there as well.

LOWLIGHTS

One of the biggest concerns for the Twins entering this season was Bailey Ober’s sub-par spring velocity coming off his worst season in the big leagues. He barely cracked 90 MPH in camp, and that will make it awfully hard to succeed against MLB hitters, even when you’re 6-foot-9 with an outstanding changeup and good control. We were all wondering: once the games started mattering and the adrenaline truly kicked in, would Ober be able to find another level of juice?

The answer, it turns out, is basically no. Ober found a little more velo against the Orioles compared to most of his Grapefruit starts, but his four-seamer still averaged under 90 MPH and he couldn’t generate whiffs. He struck out just one Baltimore hitter, dancing through three scoreless innings before Tyler O'Neill took him deep on an 89 MPH fastball in the wheelhouse for a three-run homer. I’ve pretty much given up hope on Ober tapping into the 92-93 range where he sat when at his best, so it’s really a question of whether he can dial in the craftiness and command to be at least somewhat effective in this new reality. On Sunday, that was the case until it wasn’t.

Abel, who came out of the bullpen in the fifth to cover the back half, had the opposite problem. The velocity and stuff were there but he was all over the place and had nonstop traffic on the bases, yielding five runs on eight hits and four walks in 3 ⅓ innings. It was a shame to witness in the aftermath of such a fantastic spring showing that saw Abel seize a rotation spot in large part because his control was so crisp. On Sunday, he was missing his spots by a mile. 

Was he thrown off by the piggybacking usage? It’s possible, but we saw plenty of this from Abel last year when he posted a 6.23 ERA. Whereas Bradley was able to survive a lack of polish and precision in his first 2026 outing, Abel was not. 

Brooks Lee is another important player whose challenges from last year spilled over into the start of the new season. Starting at shortstop on Thursday and Saturday, Lee went 0-for-6 with three strikeouts and frankly looked horrible at the plate and in the field. His strike zone control remained non-existent and his limited range was evident as grounders bled through the infield. The redemption tour is off to a rough start, but hey, it’s only two games. 

Despite some disappointing individual performances, Twins players generally did enough to win this series. The team was undone in large part by repeated lapses in defense, decision-making and fundamentals: Austin Martin throwing to third instead of second, multiple players running into outs on the base paths, Matt Wallner wasting the team’s last challenge. The hope was that a new managerial voice might help shore up some of these short circuits that plagued the 2025 club, but so far we haven’t seen much to indicate Shelton’s oversight will produce much cleaner baseball than Rocco Baldelli’s did. To me, that’s not a surprise, since the players have hardly changed. We’ll see if they can iron some things out going forward.

TRENDING STORYLINE

While the Twins were kicking off their season in Baltimore, the St. Paul Saints got started in Indianapolis with a lineup full of high-profile names and key prospects. The Saints lineup features Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Kaelen Culpepper, Gabriel Gonzalez and Alan Roden among others. Hghlights from opening weekend include: Culpepper had three-hits in his Triple-A debut, Roden has already drawn six walks, and pretty much every pitcher threw well (save for Zebby Matthews, who is increasingly becoming a concern). Top pitching prospect Connor Prielipp got the nod for the opener and locked in following a slow start. Future relief reinforcements Marco Raya and John Klein looked dominant in their first appearances of the season.

This is going to be a fun team that demands the attention of Twins fans. I’ll be tracking Culpepper extra closely. I’m not sure Lee has a ton of leash if his underwhelming play persists. If Culpepper continues to impress like he did in spring training and in his first action with the Saints, he could be on a fast track to getting a shot.

LOOKING AHEAD
Lots of lefties are on deck for the Twins, who are scheduled to face southpaws in all three contests against the Royals in Kansas City, along with another lefty starter on Saturday against the Rays. At present, Ober is slated to pitch the home opener against Tampa. 

MONDAY, MARCH 30: TWINS @ ROYALS — RHP Simeon Woods Richardson v. LHP Kris Bubic
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1: TWINS @ ROYALS — RHP Joe Ryan v. LHP Noah Cameron
THURSDAY, APRIL 2: TWINS @ ROYALS — RHP Taj Bradley v. LHP Cole Ragans
FRIDAY, APRIL 3: RAYS @ TWINS — RHP Joe Boyle v. RHP Bailey Ober
SATURDAY, APRIL 4: RAYS @ TWINS — LHP Steven Matz v. RHP Mick Abel
SUNDAY, APRIL 5: RAYS @ TWINS — RHP Nick Martinez v. RHP Simeon Woods Richardson