Cody Pirkl

Image courtesy of © Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Plenty of damage has already been done by the bullpen, which is why the Twins need to stay diligent in cycling through arms in hopes that they can build a functional group as the season goes on. We’ve seen some debuts and roster claims, but it’s still very much a work in progress. Three names in the minor leagues could find themselves with the big league club in short order. John Klein We already saw Klein briefly, and it’s worth wondering exactly what the plan is for him. The Twins had him stuck in a bulk innings role, which neither prepared him to start games nor to serve as a traditional reliever, ultimately leading to his demotion last week, as he wouldn’t have been available for back-to-back outings. Upon his return to the minor leagues, the Twins stuck him in the same role. He wouldn’t be an option for the big league rotation, and if he were to get recalled any time soon, he would likely just serve as a mop-up reliever to be demoted the day after pitching again. If the Twins decide on a path for Klein that would actually be useful to an MLB roster, it’s easy to see him being an impact arm, especially in the bullpen. His mid to high-90s fastball, paired with a good-looking cutter and changeup combo, would play up in short stints and could help the Twins tremendously. If the Twins finally decide to go down this path with Klein, he could be up in short order. Marco Raya Drafted out of high school in 2020, Raya has disappointed thus far in his career, but his story is far from written. His days as a starting pitcher are over, and his body of work as a reliever is less than impressive, but if something clicks, Raya can still be an impact reliever out of the Twins’ pen. We may already be seeing signs. Raya’s stuff isn’t in question between his mid to high-90s fastball and devastating sweeper. Control and command are the bigger concerns, and have led to an ERA over 7.00 in St. Paul this season. Relievers are unpredictable, however, and in his last few outings, Raya has flashed his ability to be a dominant reliever. He’s already on the 40-man roster, so the Twins have no reason not to be quick to call him up if he’s showing signs of finally putting things together. C.J. Culpepper Injuries have derailed Culpepper’s hopes of sticking as a starting pitcher, but his stuff remains intact. After an injury-riddled 2025 season, the Twins saw this and fast-tracked him to St. Paul, immediately converting him to the bullpen upon his promotion. While they’ll surely give him time to get accustomed, Culpepper could find himself with the big league club in short order if he performs well in relief for the Saints. Some outlets had notched Culpepper in the Twins' top 10 prospects in the last few years. He had the stuff to navigate opposing lineups multiple times as a starter. Now that he’s settled into a bullpen role, he can focus on the best of his repertoire, which includes a cutter/sweeper combo. His fastball ticked down amid injuries, but he’s flashed 98 mph on the heater in the past. If he can stay healthy, Culpepper could find himself pitching out of the bullpen at Target Field later this summer. We’re approaching the point where the Twins should feel less concerned about what could go wrong with some of their younger arms should they be called up to the big league bullpen. As June approaches, it’s getting close to time to swap out some of the low upside, short-term veteran relievers and live with the results of whatever the younger arms have to offer. Do you disagree with any of the names listed? Are there any other minor leaguers that should be fast-tracked to the MLB bullpen? Let us know below! View full article

Image courtesy of © Geoff Burke-Imagn Images Any time you unload three or four controllable, high-leverage relievers, it’s safe to assume that the bullpen being bad will transcend multiple seasons, as Twins fans did following last year’s trade deadline. Despite their choice to do so, the Twins insisted 2026 was a continued push to contend. We all know they didn’t do enough to address the bullpen in the offseason, but it’s the way they operated in-season following the deadline, and how they continue to operate, that is the real problem. When the Twins unloaded their controllable bullpen at the trade deadline, a big talking point from the front office was how many of the names they traded away had been developed internally, and how they would look to do so again. This was a fair point, as Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, and Louie Varland were all developed internally after coming up through the system as starting pitchers. This strategy became even more important when they invested less than $5M in the bullpen in the offseason. Unfortunately for all of their talk of rebuilding the bullpen internally, their actions haven’t backed it up. It was far from an infusion of youth following the trade deadline as many had hoped. The team looked like they were running out the clock on the season rather than using that valuable time to evaluate for the following year. Innings were allocated to pitchers like 35-year-old Erasmo Ramirez and Michael Tonkin. Waiver claims were made on players like 31-year-old Brooks Kriske. A few younger names, like Travis Adams, were called up, but many bullpen spots were dedicated to veterans who had no chance to stick on the roster for 2026. This, paired with a quiet winter, led to an underwhelming Opening Day bullpen, and they’ve performed as expected. As the team has continued to lose games on the backs of their relievers, they’ve made a few moves and call-ups to shake things up, but a lot of their behavior remains the same. Thursday, the Twins demoted John Klein to make room for waiver claim Yoendrys Gómez (who, to their credit, could have some multi-year upside at 26 years old). The right-hander may not have had a good season thus far, but at 24 years old with a mid to high 90s fastball and intriguing offspeed pitches, Klein is the exact type of arm the Twins should want around if they’re serious about internally rebuilding the bullpen. Instead, he was sent back to St. Paul, while several veterans who look like they have nothing to offer now or in the future remain on the roster. The Twins' continued deferral to veterans is one problem, but the way they’re preparing some of their arms in Triple-A is another. Klein was on the growingly common pitching plan of throwing around 65 pitches every four days in Triple-A, in a sort of hybrid bulk-inning role. In theory, this is meant to keep pitchers ready to pitch 3-4 innings if they are called upon to start, while also limiting exposure to opposing lineups. The problem is that this plan leaves many pitchers ill-prepared for whatever role they may be needed in if they get called up to the Twins. Klein is unable to pitch back-to-back days, just as Andrew Morris is after he was on a similar plan. As a result, the Twins can’t afford to hamstring themselves by carrying both after Klein pitched yesterday. It’s been difficult to foresee Klein finding himself in the MLB rotation for some time now, but because the Twins have kept him in the “just in case” role, he’s now headed back to St. Paul despite being one of the prime candidates to help them achieve their self-stated goal of internally rebuilding the bullpen. This hybrid plan makes sense in some cases, such as limiting innings and exposure for arms like Connor Prielipp. For pitchers like Klein or Travis Adams, who was one of the first in this role last season, it just doesn’t make much sense. Unless they’re called up to be a long reliever, they aren’t prepared to enter the rotation or serve as a traditional reliever. They’re essentially only prepared to be long relievers who are likely to be sent back down after they pitch. The result is that interesting arms like Klein can’t stick at the MLB level for an extended period because he can’t pitch on back-to-back days like someone such as Luis Garcia, even if the latter is allowing runs in both outings. If the Twins send Klein back to his hybrid role in Triple-A to keep him stretched out but unable to pitch on back-to-back days, they’re doing him and themselves a disservice. For high-pedigree arms such as Kendry Rojas, this role can be justified. For pitchers like Klein, who have little chance of being even a back-end starter, they’re simply failing to prepare him for any role at the MLB level other than fungible long reliever. It’ll keep interesting young arms in limbo while keeping veteran arms with no upside in the bullpen. It’s a lose-lose situation. The Twins have failed to back up their talk over the last year. It’s time to start doing so when it comes to internally rebuilding the bullpen. Give the young guys a shot so we don’t wind up with this situation again in 2027. View full article

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images Royce Lewis is a different player than he was when he was drafted first overall in 2017. Injuries have changed his profile, but for a time, it appeared he still had a path to becoming an impactful regular at the highest level. As he nears 1,000 career plate appearances, however, his ability to remain a core piece of the Twins roster has come into question. Time is running out. Can he turn things around before it's too late? Injuries have cost Lewis his once well-rounded skill set, as he's settled into a corner infield role wherein his defensive value is limited and his primary offensive tool is his power. Plenty of hitters make careers out of this profile. The problem with Lewis's attempt to do so is that it's been a while since he's been consistently productive. With the sample size he's put together, it's time to worry whether his remaining tools are enough to keep him afloat. Lewis's production has consistently trended downward over the last four years. In between injuries, he's seen his wRC+ drop from 152 in 2023 to 106, then 85, and now just 65 so far in 2026, with 100 marking the league average. At a corner infield position, where the bar to clear offensively is higher, this lack of offensive production is even more detrimental. It's more than just surface-level production to worry about. This season, Lewis has a whiff rate of 36.5%, one of the worst in the league. His overall strikeout rate of 30.3% is by far the worst of his career. He looked like a much more patient hitter to begin the season, and his walk rate still looks much improved, but he's walked just once in 42 plate appearances since returning from the IL, while striking out about a third of the time. His approach at the plate is a complete mess. Defense has been an issue, as well, as he's posted -2 Defensive Runs Saved. The eye test has certainly matched. At this point, it's safe to say that Lewis is a below-average defender at third base. The Twins may not have a wealth of upcoming top prospects on the verge of filling out the infield, but they have options on the horizon. We're certain to see Kaelen Culpepper sometime this season; he's likely to push Brooks Lee off of shortstop. While Lee is stretched at shortstop, he should be an adequate defender at third base. Surprisingly, his bat has also looked much better suited for the position than Lewis’s so far this season. Culpepper's promotion alone may be enough to raise significant questions about Lewis's role. Lewis is arbitration-eligible in 2027 and has two options remaining. His team control and roster flexibility should be good news. For a player who has already expressed frustrations with the organization at multiple points in his career, however, it’s worth asking whether this team control and roster flexibility matter as much as they should. For such a high-profile player who has been so outspoken, it’s worth wondering how well things would go over if Lewis winds up being demoted to St. Paul or gets pushed out of a starting role long-term. It’s very possible that if the team’s plans move forward without Lewis playing a prominent role, his time in Minnesota comes to an end altogether. We may finally be approaching a point where significant turnover is on the horizon for the Minnesota Twins. The supposed core they’ve had in place since their last playoff run in 2023 has failed to live up to expectations, and with so much change across the organization, the roster is likely to follow suit with another disappointing season. Lewis once looked like a lasting piece of the Twins roster, regardless of how well the rest of the team performed. Things have changed significantly since the start of 2024. It feels like the clock is ticking on his time with the Twins, as his timeline of struggles has continued to drag on across multiple seasons. If he can’t turn things around soon, he may find himself out of their plans. View full article

Image courtesy of © Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images Simeon Woods Richardson looked to have found a missing piece of the puzzle in 2025: a new splitter that looked like a legitimate plus offering to round out his repertoire. So far in 2026, however, he’s been the most disappointing member of the rotation results-wise. What’s holding him back? The Splitter Is Different Woods Richardson’s splitter looked like a weapon in 2025. It led all of his pitches with a 32.5% whiff rate and completely disarmed opposing hitters when they made contact. The pitch was a big proponent of the strong stretch to end the season, in which he posted a 2.33 ERA and struck out 36 of the 104 batters faced over his last five starts. After he integrated the pitch midseason, it had a slow buildup, and the splitter finished as his fourth-most-used pitch. With an offseason ahead of him, we expected to see him turn to his new weapon much more often in 2026. The splitter has been the second-most used pitch for him so far this season, but it’s not seeing the same success. He’s throwing it 27.7% of the time, as opposed to 10% in 2025. It’s down to a 22.6% whiff rate and is allowing an expected batting average of .285 and expected slugging of .519. He’s throwing the pitch about half a mile per hour faster, and it’s getting about an inch less of vertical and horizontal movement. If this is an active change Woods Richardson and the Twins made to this pitch that was so successful in 2025, it may be time to rethink things. It's more likely, though, that the pitch just isn't doing what he wants it to do. The Whiffs Are Gone The splitter may have been Woods Richardson’s best pitch in 2025, but he had other successful offerings to turn to. That has certainly not been the case in 2026. His slider has dropped from a whiff rate of 27.4% to 20% so far, and the xwOBA allowed has increased from .261 to a crippling .377. His fastball has been his only acceptable offering so far, but even with decent expected numbers with the heater, it’s dropped from a 21.8% whiff rate to 12.4% in 2026. This all culminates in an untenable 11.4% strikeout rate overall so far this season. A lack of swing and miss leaves Woods Richardson exposed to the Twins’ poor defense, and we’ve already seen that come back to bite him on multiple occasions. He’s not pitching well, but even when he coaxes batted balls that should help bail him out of his frequent jams, his defense hasn’t made the plays for him. Any pitcher would have trouble with this little swing and miss, but this problem is magnified even further by how bad the Twins' defense is. Some Bad Luck In addition to the poor defense, Woods Richardson has experienced some bad luck. His 66.7% strand rate of opposing baserunners is a notable change from his 75.9% mark in 2025 and 73.6% mark in 2024. He’s putting plenty of runners on base, and those runners are scoring at an unexpectedly high rate. His batting average on balls in play allowed is also a career high of .291, which is particularly painful given how many batted balls he’s allowing. His fastball has been his best pitch so far, and he’s gotten unlucky with it in several ways. The pitch has yielded a .284 batting average, which conflicts with an expected mark of .224. It’s allowed a .345 wOBA, compared to a strong .296 expected wOBA. To be fair, the rest of his pitches have actually gotten lucky in these metrics, but it doesn’t help that the one offering he can turn to has been unlucky in addition to everything else going on. The heater also isn't setting up the rest of the arsenal as well as it has in the past. In 2024, his fastball was in the upper third of the zone or above it over 46% of the time. Last year, that number fell to 40%. This season, it's 33%. With the fastball coming in lower, there's less space to let his splitter or slider separate from that pitch. It means fewer whiffs when the non-fastballs are close to or in the zone. To create the differential you want to achieve a whiff, now, he often has to throw the slider and the splitter in non-competitive locations. Batters chased 30.9% of his sliders and splitters outside the zone last year. So far, in 2026, it's 24.8%. There isn’t much going right for Woods Richardson right now. Either intentionally or unintentionally, changes were made to several of his pitches that were successful in 2025, and the results have been disastrous. His strikeout rate looks like something out of the 1990s, and he’s pitching in front of one of the worst defenses in the league to count on for turning contact into outs. Given the injuries in the rotation, Woods Richardson has some time to right the ship, but the clock is ticking, with the Twins showing a newfound aggressiveness in calling up pitching prospects. Woods Richardson has a ton to fix if he wants to hold onto his rotation spot for the entire 2026 season. Can he pull it off? View full article

Image courtesy of © Jonah Hinebaugh/Naples Daily News/USA Today Network-Florida / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Kyler Fedko had a performance for the ages on Sunday with the Saints. Three homers and a triple will draw plenty of headlines. Fedko is more than just a player who had one good day at Triple-A, however, and he's a strong candidate to help the Twins’ mismatched roster fit together better. Fedko wasn't having a banner year heading into Sunday. He had struck out in 33.3% of his at-bats and was hitting .107 in 11 games. His huge day could be seen as fun but inconsequential. Despite his struggles to begin the season, though, his 2025 performance should carry some weight. Fedko posted an .855 OPS for Wichita and St. Paul last season with 28 homers and 38 stolen bases. Sunday may be an outlier but his numbers in 2025 show that he's capable of consistent production. Beyond the stats, Fedko is a good fit for the Twins roster. He's capable of playing all three outfield spots. The Twins may not love him in center field, but for the small role of backing up Byron Buxton, he should be capable. He can also play first base, a spot currently platooned between Victor Caratini and Kody Clemens. Tying the fit together is Fedko being a right-handed hitter, which solves many problems with the lineup against left-handed pitching. If he can produce at all, the Twins’ lineup would get a boost. The odds of Fedko producing are uncertain, but the bar he'd need to clear to be useful is relatively low. The obvious way to open a roster spot to promote Fedko is to part ways with James Outman. The upside of keeping Outman on the roster has become difficult to see, and the downside is clear. He doesn't play much, but when he does, he looks completely overmatched. He's started the year 0-18 with 10 strikeouts. He won't get much opportunity with Buxton healthy, but it may be worth exploring other options in case the player in that role has to take on more playing time. At 26 years old, Fedko is not and has never been a top prospect. This isn't to say he's incapable of carving out a role for himself, but the Twins aren't paving him a path to playing time. This also means they shouldn't feel compelled to hold Fedko back in Triple-A until a more prominent role opens for him. Calling up Emmanuel Rodriguez to replace Outman would be hard to justify, as he wouldn't get everyday playing time to develop. With Fedko, they should be more willing to plant him into a specialized role, even if it risks disrupting his development. It's early in the season, but it already looks like the Twins should be open to trying something new in the backup center field role. Fedko is a good pivot from Outman, whom they gambled on at last year's trade deadline and who made the team out of spring training. Their investment in Outman is modest, and Fedko fits the roster as a stopgap until more playing opens up for a top prospect or 26-year-old Alan Roden. Fedko had a huge game on Sunday, but more than that one lightning strike of a day, his resume has earned him some consideration for a call-up. It's the perfect opportunity to see if he can translate any of his dynamic 2025 production to the MLB level. There's little to lose and (perhaps) much to gain for the Twins by giving Fedko a chance. View full article

Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images After being the 8th overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, Brooks Lee has failed to live up to his pedigree, struggling to sustain success in the majors so far. He hasn't shown enough improvement, and his weaknesses have been fully exposed. Opposing pitchers are taking advantage, and Lee's future with the Twins may depend on whether he can make a huge adjustment—quickly. Brooks Lee has a sub-.650 OPS so far in his career, as he nears 750 plate appearances. He fails to control the strike zone and work counts. He lacks consistent power, as evidenced by his .370 SLG in 2025, which tells a different story than the 16 homers he hit. There are plenty of reasons for concern with Lee's offense. Priority number one right now is simple: Lee can only hit fastballs, and the league has figured that out. If he can't respond by changing it, he's in big trouble. Struggling against non-fastballs isn't uncommon. Most hitters make a living out of simply surviving against the soft stuff and tearing up velocity. "The best way to hit the curveball," hitters have long said, "is to hit the fastball." The first issue is that Lee doesn't perform well enough against heaters to carry him, with a .340 xwOBA against them in 2025. The second is that Lee can't handle off-speed pitches at all. Lee posted .216 and .214 xwOBAs on breaking balls and off-speed pitches, respectively, in 2025. Pitchers took note and have adjusted accordingly. Lee's free-swinging ways are too easy to exploit with non-fastballs, and it looks like opposing pitchers are going to lean into that information until Lee gives them a reason not to. Lee has seen fastballs about one-third of the time in 2026, down about 15% from 2025. For reference, Byron Buxton and Luke Keaschall have seen about 50% fastballs. It's no secret what's going through the minds of opposing pitchers when Lee steps up to the plate. There's a real risk that this issue is too much for Lee to overcome. It requires a complete overhaul of his approach and (in a sense) his swing. He identified the need to make this adjustment last season, but hasn't shown improvement in the small sample of 2026 so far. He'll have to make the adjustment during the season, and quickly, which means changing what he looks for in the box and how he times his swing. With top prospect Kaelen Culpepper off to a hot start in St. Paul, the clock is ticking on Lee being the everyday starting shortstop at the other end of the Green Line. In addition to scuffling at the plate, he appears stretched defensively. When Culpepper gets the call, which could be any time in the next few months, Lee will be out of a job. He can roam several infield spots as needed, but if he's still posting a sub-.700 OPS, it won't be worth prioritizing him in the lineup every day. He could very well find himself back in Triple-A. The book on Lee's career hasn't been written yet, but what we've seen so far has been worrisome. We've watched how difficult it can be to make adjustments when the league finds a young hitter's weakness. Unlike players such as Edouard Julien, Jose Miranda, or Matt Wallner—hardly a murderer's row in its own right, as things turned out—Lee has yet to show signs of being an impactful part of the Twins’ future to this point in his career. His performance, paired with the turnover within the front office that drafted him, could put him at risk of being pushed aside quickly. Lee needs to figure out how to make opposing pitchers pay for attacking him with the soft stuff. It can be as simple as identifying and taking changeups off the plate, or driving an occasional hanger into the seats, but he has to show something. The clock is ticking, as other shortstop options close in on debuting this season. Brooks Lee needs to make an adjustment, and fast, and so far, he's only adjusted little by slowly in the major leagues. View full article

Image courtesy of © Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images This offseason, Victor Caratini became the first free agent the Twins signed to a multi-year deal in two years. The $14-million, two-year price tag was fair, though it was surprising—and it was difficult to see how he fit the roster and timeline. The way he’s been utilized so far, the acquisition becomes even more questionable. For starters, the Twins acquired Alex Jackson early in the offseason. He had flashed offensively in 2025 and was a well-respected defender. This made him a viable backup for Ryan Jeffers, who was tabbed to pick up a larger percentage of the playing time behind the plate. Caratini’s signing eventually pushed Jackson off the roster, and he’s now stashed in St. Paul for the time being. It was certainly an upgrade at the backup catcher position, but it came at the cost of the limited payroll room the team had available with which to improve this winter. Caratini has started two games behind the plate thus far, and has started at first base three times. In the small sample of the 2026 season to date, the Twins have already committed to Jeffers in a way we never saw them do with Christian Vázquez in the picture, when the two were essentially locked in a timeshare. If this pattern holds, it’s worth questioning why the Twins allocated the resources they did to Victor Caratini. It appears Caratini is an everyday starter against left-handed pitching. It is what it is for a roster with not nearly enough buttons to push in those matchups. He owns a .668 OPS against southpaws in his career, but posted a much more tolerable .740 mark in 2025. Plugging this production into a role like Christian Vázquez had last season would be valuable; doing so at first base is less enticing. If Jeffers carries the lion’s share of work behind the plate for the rest of the season, it’s hard not to feel like the Twins missed an opportunity to legitimately upgrade their lineup. Caratini is a nice player who can switch-hit and play multiple positions in the field. He’s not a player to whom a competitive team should hand a regular role in a corner infield or DH spot. Both positions have a high offensive bar to clear, and have no shortage of options to fill them cheaply every year in free agency. It may be wishful thinking to assume the Twins would have spent the Caratini money elsewhere on the roster if they hadn’t signed him. If their usage of him so far is the plan going forward, however, it’s hard not to argue they should have. They could have kept Jackson for what would be a modest backup role behind the plate. Jackson, by the way, was a more valuable player by Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement than Caratini in 2025. Even signing a Rhys Hoskins type, who struggled last season but has a career .883 OPS against lefties, would have placed a more qualified player in the role Caratini has played so far. Perhaps we see Caratini mix in at catcher in a more even split as the season goes on (or take over as the starter, should Jeffers be dealt in July), but if the Twins stick to their plan for Jeffers to take on a bigger role catching, the signing doesn’t make much sense. Caratini moonlighting behind the plate while serving as the primary first baseman or DH against left-handed pitching isn’t going to provide much impact to a lineup that desperately needs it. The deal was clearly too good for the Twins front office to pass up, but if Caratini’s usage holds, the Twins won’t be better for seizing the opportunity. View full article

I've definitely harped on their mess of LHHs, I just found myself looking at the lineup against LHPs saying to myself "this isn't so bad". Thought it was important to point out that some of those players that can hit right-handed, particularly the ones they targeted this offseason, may potentially be as bad as sending out LHHs. Seeing a lineup with 8 RHHs against a LHP should be encouraging. Unfortunately for the Twins, they've put together a lineup that will stink in those matchups regardless.