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Twins starting pitcher Zebby Matthews's outing on Wednesday in Detroit felt significant for all the wrong reasons. In just 2 1/3 innings, Matthews allowed two hits and four walks while giving up five earned runs. A couple of those runs scored after he was pulled, but when you exit the game with the bases loaded and only one out, that’s going to happen sometimes.
Regardless of how you want to distribute the blame for those runs, it was another rough outing for a pitcher who hasn’t looked like himself for much of the 2026 season—or, rather, who has looked just like himself, which is the problem. Matthews owns an ERA just below 5.00 on the season, while his whiff and strikeout numbers are down considerably from where they were a year ago. He's also giving up too much hard contact. There's no key, fundamental pitching skill in which he's performed well lately.
At some point, the Twins have to pivot. In Matthews’s case, that pivot might be a move to the bullpen—which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Plenty of successful pitchers throughout MLB history moved from the rotation to the bullpen and found another level. Even guys like Mariano Rivera and Dennis Eckersley began their major-league careers as starting pitchers, with Eckersley eventually winning a Cy Young Award as a reliever. I’m certainly not suggesting Matthews is going to become one of the greatest bullpen arms in baseball history, but I do think there’s a legitimate argument that his skillset could play much better in a one- or two-inning role.
For starters, there’s still a lot to like about Matthews from a pure stuff perspective. His fastball has averaged around 95 MPH, while his breaking balls have shown the ability to generate swings and misses. He also has a six-pitch arsenal, giving him plenty of different ways to attack hitters. That could be a particularly intriguing combination coming out of the bullpen. If Matthews only has to throw roughly 25 pitches in an outing instead of trying to stretch himself toward 100, there’s a pretty good chance that fastball could become a 97- or 98-MPH heater. He wouldn’t have to worry about conserving his arm for the fifth or sixth inning. He could just let it rip, and that could have a trickle-down effect on the rest of his arsenal. If hitters suddenly have to respect a harder fastball, Matthews’s breaking balls could become even more effective. He could streamline his arsenal, too. Maybe that means junking his four-seamer, which is string-straight, and leaning into his sinker. Maybe it means ditching his weak changeup.
We’ve already seen some evidence that Matthews’s stuff plays better when he’s able to throw with a little more freedom. He threw his four-seamer a mile per hour harder on average last season, and the underlying numbers across his arsenal were considerably more favorable. It’s impossible to know exactly why that velocity has dipped, but it’s hard not to wonder if his workload has played a role.
It wouldn’t necessarily be about fixing a broken pitcher. It could be about putting Matthews in a position where his best traits become more important and his biggest weaknesses become less damaging. A shorter outing would mean fewer times through the lineup, fewer pitches thrown and more opportunities to attack hitters with his best stuff. And frankly, the Twins may not have much choice when it comes to making changes to their rotation, anyway.
Right now, Minnesota has six starters on their roster who have a legitimate case to be part of the 2027 rotation. Along with Matthews, that group includes Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Taj Bradley, Connor Prielipp and Dean Kremer. Unless the Twins make an offseason move, all six will be under contract for next season. Then there are Pablo López, Mick Abel and David Festa, all of whom are currently working their way back from injuries.
Obviously, all nine pitchers aren’t going to be healthy for the entire season. Injuries happen, roles change and circumstances can shift quickly over the course of an offseason. But even with that uncertainty, there will be some difficult decisions to make. Someone will have to move. Matthews could be one of those players, and moving him to the bullpen might actually be the best outcome for everyone involved.
As a starter, Matthews has been a disappointment. The Twins expected him to build on what he showed last season, and instead, he's taken a step backward in several important areas. But two things can be true at once. Matthews hasn’t been good enough as a starter this season, and moving him to the bullpen wouldn’t necessarily be a demotion. In fact, it could be the move that gets him back on track.
The Twins don’t need Matthews to prove that he can throw six effective innings every fifth day if his arsenal is better suited to dominating hitters for 20 or 25 pitches at a time. They need to figure out how to get the most out of the talent they already have. That might mean letting him stop pacing himself and start letting it rip. There’s still plenty of talent here. Maybe the only way to unlock it is to stop asking him to be a starter.
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