Cody Pirkl

The assumed power is off the charts, he hasn't really shown it at the big league level aside from an impressive homer here or there. At this point his expected numbers are actually better against changeups than fastballs. He's gotten quite a few fastballs the last few weeks and just fouls them off. Two things I wonder about with him is whether he's 1. Pulling back on the power to keep the K% around 30 rather than disastrous levels, and 2. Whether he's actually just going up looking to fight off everything in the zone to draw a walk. He never looks ready for any pitch of any type lately. He's gotten quite a few mistakes lately and often can't do much aside from foul them off.

Why is it a bad time for an article discussing how Larnach could be running out of time the night after he strikes out four times? He could get optioned for Matt Wallner before the Cleveland series and I wouldn't be shocked.

I agree. It's not a death sentence, but it's really odd to see velocity fall off so hard by the age of 22. Usually we see players build velocity up as they age into their 20s which I'm sure the Twins have tried clearly with little success. One concern regarding the velocity though is that I do believe there's a hard drop off at a certain point, and if he's going to drop all the way down to 88-89 by the 5th inning he'd be lucky to make it out of that inning let alone ever go further.

Varland has been the 2x Minor League Pitcher of the Year for the Twins, his stuff numbers look significantly better, and he's had a traditional path through the minors as a starter whereas Headrick has only made 9 starts above A ball. That doesn't mean Varland will necessarily be better, but he's also been solid across 4 starts in the majors. My guess is the Twins give Varland the first chance.

Do you want Pagán or Morán pitching let's say in the 6th inning of a 2 run ball game? The Twins just went to Lopez and Duran in a 4 run game the other night. Maybe in that scenario against the Yankees they'd have done it the same regardless, but they'll probably continue doing things like that because they probably don't and shouldn't trust either of their traditional middle relievers to get 3 outs before they give up 4 runs.

A lot of discussions have been had this season about the long relief role in the Twins bullpen, but middle relief is becoming more of a topic as those they have in place continue to struggle. Who could step in and fill such a role? Image courtesy of Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports The Twins have a strong top of the bullpen in Jhoan Duran, Jorge Lopez, Griffin Jax, and Caleb Thielbar. They also have a surplus of long relievers they’ve cycled through to begin the season. The bullpen problems have mostly fallen into the low-leverage, middle-relief tier, which so far has been occupied by the ineffective duo of Emilio Pagán and Jovani Morán. It may be time for the Twins to get creative. The Twins have already begun searching for an internal addition for what it’s worth. Brock Stewart was called up Tuesday after 8+ innings and 17 strikeouts in Triple-A to begin the season. The 31-year-old former top prospect may not be the most exciting option based on his age and career thus far, but the recent performance gives hope that Stewart has made some changes and can carry them over to the big league level. However, the Twins should pivot to other options if it doesn't pan out. The depth of the aforementioned “long reliever” group in Triple-A is nice in theory, but one could argue that such depth for this role is a bit overkill. Cole Sands, Simeon Woods Richardson , and Brent Headrick are all on the 40-man roster and have been used at the big-league level thus far. Jose De Leon and Randy Dobnak remain as options who could be added if needed. Their performances aren’t as inspiring, but considering they’d be pitching almost exclusively in blowouts, it’s easy to argue it doesn’t much matter. Woods Richardson remains a legitimate starting pitching prospect, with Headrick and Sands less so. Rather than having five candidates for a role that may come in handy once per week, the Twins should be looking to transition one of these options into a traditional reliever. Focusing more on Headrick and Sands assuming Woods Richardson will continue taking the mound every fifth day, there’s reason to believe either one could come up and settle into a traditional middle innings role. The benefits of changing a bulk innings pitcher into a traditional reliever have been covered plenty at this point. The velo ticks up, and they can throw their best pitches more often. Brent Headrick is averaging around 92 mph on the fastball in his debut season, and he grades out tremendously in command with a usable changeup to equalize his left-handedness against right-handed hitters. He’s a prime candidate to be one of the many fringe starting pitching prospects who move to the bullpen and flourish as we’ve seen in recent years. Sands has been an option for a similar move for a year-plus now because of his wicked breaking ball. He hasn’t been a full-time starter since 2021, and it may be time to crack the door open to a consistent big-league job and see if he can kick it in. They could also pivot on Josh Winder, who’s on the rehab trail in St. Paul, though he’s also filled a multi-inning role in four of his five outings thus far. His inability to hold up to a starters' workload could be solved by putting him into a traditional reliever role given his issues with the fastball and impressive slider. The Twins have no shortage of options, and it’s becoming untenable to maintain such long relief depth to cycle guys in and out of a role at the MLB level that’s so unplanned and rarely utilized. Especially when it’s become clear that there are little to no situations in which the Twins have a lead where Emilio Pagán and Jovani Morán can be trusted to get even three outs. Hopefully, Brock Stewart’s minor league stuff translates, but the Twins should be working on a backup option now in case it doesn’t. Worst case scenario, Stewart grabs the job and runs with it, and another option establishes themselves in Triple-A in case they’re needed. They have more than enough long relief depth with not many answers in middle relief. Is it time to start actively seeking out more internal relief options? View full article

Jovani Morán has had a rough start to the season that came to a head Tuesday night in Boston when he entered in the 10th inning and turned a two-run lead into a loss. Should we expect more from him moving forward? Image courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports Jovani Moran has been far from the pitcher he showed he could be in 2022. Granted, he mostly saw low leverage, but his 2.21 ERA across 40+ innings was enough for the Twins to pencil him into a bullpen role in 2023. Despite his rough start, there are reasons to continue to hope for more from the left-handed reliever. Morán’s biggest flaw has been control throughout his entire career. He’s rarely been able to put up walk rates under 10% but has ascended to the MLB level because of the rest of his skills. Morán is a unicorn, as his out pitch is a wicked changeup that has helped stave off traditional platoon splits against right-handed hitters. He’s managed eye-popping strikeout rates at every level and has avoided the longball to an impressive degree. Morán’s walk rate has increased from 11% in 2022 to 14% in 2023. It’s a fine line to walk, but a familiar one for Morán thus far in his career. Unlike past seasons, the rest of his skills haven’t been up to snuff to bail him out. The strikeout rate has been acceptable at 25.6%, but it's a far cry from the near 33% mark from 2022. More importantly, Morán has already allowed two homers in seven innings pitched so far. He’s never allowed even one home run per nine innings pitched in his career across a full season. Can we hope for a bounce back? It’s worth noting that Morán’s ugly outing on Tuesday could have gone a lot differently had his strikeout to begin the inning not resulted in the hitter reaching first base. He did walk a batter, but allowed three hits, none of which surpassed an 80.6 mph exit velocity. It was the weirdest game the Twins have played all season, and Morán was on the tough end of plenty of said weirdness in the 10th. Most of his ERA indicators aren’t great, but they all show some bad luck regarding his 7.27 ERA, and his xERA weighing the quality of contact he’s allowed is only 3.45. The walks aren’t going away, but some of the poorly hit balls should start finding gloves. It's also fair to wonder whether Morán has a stretch of avoiding the long ball in him after showing such a strong aversion throughout the minors and into his big league career. Morán may not be perfect, but he should be better. In regards to Morán’s role, I think we all know that he’ll likely never be the first to get the call in situations like Tuesday. The Twins were out of their traditional high-leverage relievers and didn’t want to turn to rookie Brent Headrick or open the door for another Emilio Pagán disaster. It was an unfortunate situation with a poor result, but Morán was scheduled for a return to low leverage regardless of the outcome. Jovani Morán should be better moving forward. The walks may keep him from moving too far up the bullpen hierarchy, but the strikeouts and aversion to homers should make him a perfectly usable MLB reliever. The Twins also don’t exactly have another reliever beating down the door in Triple-A. As frustrating as the loss was, he’s still a 25-year-old with team control through 2029. It’s very possible we look back on Tuesday’s nightmare outing as having little bearing on the pitcher he is. It’s not time to give up on Jovani Morán. View full article

The Twins have a group of players on their way back from injury and a handful of healthy players struggling. If we’re lucky, the Twins may have a roster crunch on the horizon. Which current players could be affected? Image courtesy of Denny Medley, USA TODAY Sports The Twins are cautiously optimistic that a few injured players continue to grow closer to returning to action. Beginning with Joey Gallo, Jorge Polanco and Alex Kirilloff have to return in the next couple of weeks according to the 20-day limit on minor-league rehab assignments for hitters. Royce Lewis should also be arriving in the first half of the season. The Twins' offense is in need of a shakeup in the early going. Who could lose out as some of these bats return? Donovan Solano The Twins likely didn’t have “everyday first baseman” in mind when they inked Solano to a modest $2m deal late this spring. He’s done a fine job on both sides of the ball, and his play doesn’t warrant a demotion. Still, Solano is a fantastic player to have as a matchups play. His OPS over .800 to begin the season has been much appreciated, but his best bet to maintain his early production is for the Twins to match him up against left-handed pitching as much as possible. With how many left-handed bats are returning, the Twins' offense would likely be better off reverting Solano to a platoon role despite his hot start. Nick Gordon Gordon is off to a confusing start. Whiffs have been a big part of his career, but he’s only struck out once so far. It would be a good sign, but he also only has four hits in 40 at-bats, and his ability to impact the ball as we saw last season, especially against right-handed pitching, has yet to show up in 2023. Gordon’s utility remains his best skill and should continue to get him playing time as a left-handed platoon around the diamond. We’ve already seen the Twins pull back on his playing time at second when Edouard Julien got the call. This will continue with Polanco’s return, as he’ll soak up all of the playing time at second against right-handed pitching. 2022 looked like something of a breakout for Gordon. He could lose playing time or even his roster spot if things continue to go poorly. He’ll have to start hitting very soon if an encore is in order for 2023. Max Kepler There’s not much of an indicator that the Twins are willing to treat Kepler in a way that reflects his performance. Despite being a below-league-average hitter since the juiced ball 2019 season, the Twins reportedly declined offers to trade Kepler this offseason and opened the year leading him off yet again. He has not rewarded their faith in him. Joey Gallo’s brief power flash to begin 2023 should automatically afford him playing time over Kepler, whose offense hasn’t matched the defense in years. Taking things a step further, not only could Kirilloff taking over first base push Gallo to right field, but he’s been starting in the outfield himself on his rehab assignment. That’s bad news for any corner outfielder that’s struggling if Kirilloff can make it through his assignment healthy. Kepler has a team option for $10.5m for 2024 remaining on his contract, and it’s difficult to imagine him raising his game to the level of justifying that number. If the slow start continues and declining that option becomes a certainty, there’s no reason for Kepler to serve as more than a bench player/defensive replacement. Right-field defense is too replaceable, especially in Target Field, and it’s time to stop accepting below-average offense at an offensive premium position after all of these years. It seems like whenever debates begin regarding a roster crunch, these things work themselves out. With 3+ possible regulars on the horizon, it’s worth exploring who could lose out. Are there any other Twins in line for reduced playing time or even a lost roster spot? Let us know below! View full article

Trevor Larnach has been a bright spot in an injured and inconsistent Twins lineup to begin 2023. Always capable of putting together good at-bats, Larnach has also had some huge hits. Can he keep it up? Image courtesy of Jordan Johnson-USA TODAY Sports Trevor Larnach is a former first-round pick in the same mold we’ve seen the Twins chase in the draft before with his bat-first profile. After his successful minor-league career, he’s been inconsistent thus far in his MLB career. Like his last two seasons, Larnach is off to an encouraging start. What can we expect moving forward? The first key to Larnach’s MLB career thus far is that injuries reportedly were to blame for a steep decline in each of his first two seasons. In 2021, he looked like a well-above-average hitter before a freak hand contusion sapped his ability to swing the bat effectively. In 2022, he arguably looked even better before trying to play through a core muscle injury and ultimately being shut down for the remainder of the year. These may sound like cop-outs, but it’s what was reported. To begin 2023, Larnach is again off to a hot start. His performance has matched what we’ve come to expect from his profile. Swing-and-miss is part of his game, as well as a strong understanding of the strike zone. He uses all fields when he needs to come up with a hit, and has already done so a few times in big situations. He had reached in the Twins' first 11 games of the season, a level of consistency that shouldn’t be overlooked given the health status and overall effectiveness of many of the Twins' middle-of-the-order hitters. It is fair to wonder whether the other shoe could drop at any point. At the time of this writing, Larnach’s batting average is not backed up by an expected batting average of around .60 points lower. This could be partially explained by Larnach’s lack of barrels thus far, ranking in just the 25th percentile league-wide. Larnach’s batting average likely begins to creep down as the sample size of at-bats grows. We’ve already seen it to an extent. This isn’t a big deal if Larnach can tap into some of his other skills. For starters, the expected stats don’t indicate that Larnach has gotten unlucky with his power thus far with his sub .300 expected slugging. Keep in mind that expected stats aren’t predictive and Larnach has too much power for such a power outage to last. Fangraphs gave Larnach impressive power grades as a prospect with a 65 for Raw Power and 50/60 Game Power. He’s flashed this ability several times already in his Twins career, hitting balls into the upper deck to dead center, a rare feat for a left-handed hitter at Target Field. Gap power is also a big part of Larnach’s game, which we haven’t seen him tap into yet either. His ability to impact the ball to all fields is bound to begin splitting the outfielders and finding him extra bases at some point. His performance against breaking balls and offspeed pitches remains his Achilles Heel, but it’s worth noting that this is the case with most hitters. The hope is that he can continue to improve in this area over time, but in the meantime, his eye and plate approach should result in some advantageous counts and ultimately fastballs. Also of note in Larnach’s profile, he appears to have figured out how to hit left-handed pitching. Left-handed hitters are expected to struggle against left-handed pitching, it’s just assumed in most cases. What Larnach has done against southpaws the last season plus has been unbelievable. The sample size is small, but nothing in these numbers presents as particularly fluky. Larnach’s ability to compete in these matchups makes him an everyday player. Players such as Nick Gordon have struggled mightily in these spots, and Max Kepler is one of the worst regulars in the MLB against left-handed pitching in his career. Larnach should continue to get everyday playing time regardless of matchup. All things considered, it’s been a strange beginning to 2023 for Larnach. His batting average should drop off a bit, but the assumption should be that plenty more power is coming to make up for it. His plate approach should continue to carry him regardless of matchup, and as with all players with his offensive profile, we can likely expect some dry spells as well as some stretches where he’s absolutely on file. Health may be the biggest factor, but so far so good for Trevor Larnach. View full article

Hopes were high for Jorge Alcala to return from injury in 2023. The velocity has been questionable, as has his role thus far. What might the Twins' plan be for the 27-year-old right-hander? Image courtesy of Denny Medley, USA TODAY Sports Jorge Alcala had a mini breakout at the end of 2021 and was prevented from building on it further due to injury in 2022. Headed into 2023, the hope was that he was 100% healthy and could pick up where he left off. So far it appears that may not be the case on multiple fronts. Alcala looked locked and loaded coming out of spring training. His velocity had crept up considerably, and he looked flat-out dominant. Alcala began his 2023 season with a shutout inning, but has pitched in a multi-inning role twice as well. His velocity is down from 2021 levels and more importantly from the 97.4 we saw this spring. The underlying numbers don’t look great despite his 0.00 ERA thus far. What can we make of it? Velocity-wise, Alcala has long been a flamethrower even during his starting days in the minor leagues. His high 90s fastball has been a staple of his repertoire for years before his elbow acted up. After having it surgically cleaned up last season (arthroscopic debridement on his right elbow), his high 90s fastball has settled in around 95. A couple of ticks may not sound like much, but it can make a world of difference for a pitcher like Alcala who relies on blowing the doors off hitters more than command. That being said, heading to the Midwest spring weather after building up in the warm confines of Ft. Myers is a tough ask. It’s possible we see the velocity tick up as we did over time this spring, and therefore there isn’t much reason to worry yet. The bigger question with Alcala is what the Twins think of him and what role he could play. Rather than setting him up to potentially take the reins on even a middle relief moderate leverage job, the Twins have used him as a multi-inning reliever in two of four appearances thus far. His most recent multi-inning excursion was a bit rocky and questionable on multiple accounts. Alcala allowed just a single in his most recent multi-inning appearance on Sunday before ending it with a strikeout. He was asked to come back out for the 8th inning and threw 45 pitches in the outing. He issued two walks to lead off his second inning. He was clearly not as effective in his second inning. As high as Twins fans hopes were for Alcala coming into the season, that outing may have brought a moment of clarity. It's fair to wonder whether the Twins see the same potential in Alcala when they’re allowing him to rack up his highest pitch count since August of 2020 coming off of elbow surgery. That being said, he was inserted into a relatively high-leverage spot on Wednesday and spun a clean inning. It's kind of difficult to read how the Twins feel about Alcala, but it appears the ball is at least in his court. The hope is still that Alcala can raise his mid-90s fastball into the upper 90s again, as he does still have a pair of secondary offerings to navigate any-handed hitter that comes to the plate. He may have to build that velocity up with sporadic multi-inning roles, which could be more difficult than doing so across strictly single-inning outings where Duran can give it his all on every pitch. The reality is that present day, the perception among Twins fans and the organization may not quite line up. Alcala was never going to get very high-leverage spots right off the bat after missing nearly a full season, but the Twins don’t appear to be particularly inclined to set him up to earn that role. Instead he’ll have to earn his way up the hierarchy by outperforming other relievers the Twins see in the same vein such as Jovani Morán and Emilio Pagán. At the end of the day, Alcala appears to be starting from scratch in regard to his status in the bullpen after missing nearly all of 2022. The Twins are doing him no favors in regard to easing him in and leaving the door open to work his way into high-leverage innings. He’ll have to earn it back himself. It all likely starts with the fastball velocity. Can Jorge Alcala bounce back to end of 2021 levels? View full article

Kenta Maeda entered 2023 as a complete wild card following nearly two years of missed time due to elbow surgery. A rocky spring raised further questions, but his regular season debut offers reasons for excitement. Image courtesy of William Parmeter Kenta Maeda’s spring was far from ideal. After missing a year-and-a-half due to Tommy John surgery, the soon-to-be 35-year-old was missing his velocity and command for much of camp. Some were calling for Bailey Ober to get the fifth rotation spot and to figure out how to utilize Maeda elsewhere. Well at least through his first start, the Twins' faith in Maeda has been justified. He’s already shown more than he did at any point in the spring, and one could argue that this start was better than what we had seen from him in 2021 when Maeda last pitched. If his debut performance can be maintained, the Twins are in an enviable spot. With the caveat that it was against the Marlins lineup, Maeda was simply dominant in his 2023 debut. In five-plus innings, Maeda allowed only three hits and struck out nine. While his one mistake resulted in a game-deciding solo homer, he showcased the pinpoint command that made him a Cy Young contender in 2020. His velocity was surprisingly up across the board even from pre-Tommy John levels. For the Twins, this could be a game-changer. It was only one start, but it was a possibility that this version of Maeda simply didn’t exist anymore. Age and injury come for the best pitchers in baseball. Maeda will soon be 35 years old and is coming off an arm injury that routinely leaves pitchers with diminished command. Even if he can’t consistently dominate the way he did on Tuesday, the proof that the ability is still in there has to be encouraging. Maeda was undoubtedly the Twins' #5 starter headed into the season, and there’s an argument to be made that once through the rotation he had one of the more impressive performances. If they were to get even a league-average starting pitcher out of that rotation spot, the Twins and their fans should be thrilled. Maeda showing that he’s capable of that and a lot more in his first start raised the floor and ceiling of the pitching staff. There is, of course, a lot more to wait and see regarding Maeda before saying he’s fully returned to his pre-injury levels. Consistency is often the key following Tommy John surgery, and it’s undeniable that we will see some up and down performances. The hope is the extra recovery time he had because the Twins didn't rush him back in 2022 helps him a bit. He also left his start with the trainer after allowing a leadoff hit in the sixth inning. Baldelli and Maeda echoed his ability to make his next start after the game, but as with all Twins-related injuries, it’ll be something to watch closely. Even if Maeda escapes this injury scare with a clean bill of health, he had his fair share of injury concerns even several years ago, and the risk can only increase with age. Health will be a big question for Maeda now that we know the performance can still be elite. All things considered, there wasn’t much else someone could have really wanted to see from Kenta Maeda in his first start in nearly two years. It’s too early to say that he’s returned to his top-of-the-rotation peak, but for a team with several lingering questions headed into an important season, Kenta Maeda’s answer is about as good as possible. Some were saying this Twins rotation is the deepest we’ve seen in years. If Tuesday’s version of Kenta Maeda is here to stay, it’s a difficult point to argue. View full article

Changeups are typically used to equalize opposite-handed hitters for pitchers, but the Twins have recently shown signs of going against the grain. Are the Twins doing themselves a disservice? Image courtesy of Dave Nelson-USA TODAY Sports In 2022, the Twins traded for Jorge Lopez, paying a pretty high price for a reliever in hopes of shoring up the bullpen down the home stretch. They acquired the All-Star right-hander and immediately decided they could make some improvements to a dominant pitcher who at the time had a 1.68 ERA. He posted a 4.37 ERA down the stretch and was a completely different pitcher. There’s a lot of correlation between changeup usage and Lopez’s decline. Long considered an organization that was fond of sliders nearly to a fault, the Twins seem to have changed their approach in some instances. Despite Jorge Lopez possessing a wipeout slider to pair with his high 90s fastball, the Twins appeared to have a plan when they acquired him to pump up his changeup usage, something we often saw against same-handed hitters. After being acquired by the Twins, Lopez’s changeup usage against right-handed hitters increased from 10.4% in July to 17.9% in August, and then to 19.4% in September. The pitch was fine in August before allowing a .600 batting average and .800 slugging percentage in September. These are, of course, small samples, but the thought process is questionable considering the mass of historical data saying sliders are more effective against same-handed hitters, especially in Lopez’s case whose breaking ball allowed a .179 average and .393 slugging to righties in 2022. The hope was that the Twins learned their lesson, and Lopez has yet to throw a same-handed changeup so far in 2023. On Wednesday there was a blip on the radar that needs to be kept from becoming a trend. In the 8th inning against Miami, Griffin Jax relieved Pablo López who had been nearly perfect to that point. After striking out the leadoff hitter, Jax got ahead of Jean Segura 0-2 before throwing consecutive changeups and ultimately allowing a single that later came around to score. Jax is a slider-first pitcher whose lack of success with the rest of his repertoire caused a transition from starter to reliever. Last season was incredibly successful as he was allowed to throw his best pitch nearly 50% of the time, allowing a sub .200 batting average and sub .300 slugging. The pitch was even better against right-handed hitters. Instead of going to one of the most dominant pitches in all of baseball against right-handed hitters, Jax went to his worst pitch for that matchup twice in a row and was burned because of it. Throwing two changeups to a right-handed hitter is a minor detail, but it continues a trend seen at the end of 2022 with Jorge Lopez. In Lopez’s case, such a boost in changeup usage almost had to be a Twins-led choice. It’s possible Jax’s two pitches yesterday were either his own or Jeffers’ decision behind the plate, but either way, it doesn’t look good to allow eventual go-ahead baserunners because of a decision to throw your third-best pitch as a reliever. For pitchers such as Griffin Jax, pitch usage should be relatively straightforward. Throw the slider a ton while mixing in some fastballs. The changeup was effective against lefties in 2022, but was easily his worst offering against same-handed hitters. It may work to surprise righties on occasion, but the pitch had the worst whiff percentage against right-handed hitters of his entire repertoire in 2022. There’s no reason for Griffin Jax to be fishing for strikeouts against righties with the changeup. Small percentage points are easy to brush under the rug when it comes to comparing production allowed between pitches, but Wednesday’s outcome shows that not putting the best foot forward statistically can burn the Twins. Jax's changeup that resulted in the infield single was actually a good pitch, but the difference in whiff percentage between his slider and changeup in that situation is massive. In nearly all cases, relievers should be throwing their best pitch when it matters most, especially when it comes to platoon matchups between sliders and changeups. History says there’s no need for deviation. Hopefully, this was a one-off and not a trend for Jax, who looked well-positioned for an even better 2023 after a fantastic 2022. If the Twins are trying to push same-handed changeups again this season, it’s already time to scrap the idea and stop trying to reinvent the wheel. Otherwise, it may continue to burn them. View full article

Josh Winder went from a trendy pick to round out the Twins rotation before the 2022 season to a Triple-A reliever headed into the 2023 season. After so many ups and downs, what could Winder’s future hold? Image courtesy of Jonathan Dyer, USA TODAY Sports For several years, Josh Winder has repeatedly dealt with the vague “shoulder impingement” diagnosis. Once considered an up-and-coming starting pitcher after posting a 1.98 ERA across 54 Double-A innings in 2021, the injuries have finally forced the Twins to forego stretching him out into a starter this season. Aside from injuries, Winder had several other red flags that clouded his future as a starting pitcher. He looked the part of a mid-rotation arm when his fastball velocity was there, but it was often inconsistent. The pitch allowed a .713 slugging % in his debut 2022 season. His slider and changeup each garnered 30+% whiff rates, but his overall 16.4% strikeout rate ranked in the 10th percentile league-wide. Having a pitch get punished so severely and not being able to punch hitters out was a difficult tightrope to walk. Could we see improvements across the board out of the bullpen? The first hope, of course, is that a 100+ inning starter’s workload allows Winder to be available for the entirety of a season for the first time in years. There’s also hope for a dramatic improvement in performance as well. The Twins may have plans for Winder to change the shape of his fastball which could be behind his struggles with the pitch. Regardless of any tweaks, his 94 mph average in 2022 as a starter paints a rosy picture of what kind of velocity the pitch could pick up. We’d seen 95s and 96s on occasion from Winder when healthy, and the hope is that we could see him sit in the mid to high 90s if he’s a one-inning reliever, creating more margin for error on the pitch. The Twins have also shown they’re not shy regarding having relievers throw their best pitch most of the time. From Matt Wisler to the current success of Griffin Jax, there’s no reason to believe that Winder won’t be throwing a ton of sliders considering it’s arguably his best pitch. Allowing a .186 batting average against and .320 slugging %, it’s possible we see him bully right-handed hitters with his breaking ball and use a mid to high 90s fastball as a secondary as we’ve seen with Griffin Jax. Unlike Jax when he moved to relief in 2022, Winder already has a ready-to-use changeup, making him a formidable matchup regardless of the handedness of the hitter. The pitch received a 50 future grade on Fangraph’s scouting scale and while it wasn’t quite as dominant as the slider in 2022, the pitch was more than adequate at getting hitters out and generating whiffs. It would be a stretch to call Josh Winder becoming a valuable reliever a smashing success, but it’s a route many starting pitching prospects take among all baseball teams. Despite his peak 2021 minor league season suggesting a future as a starter, things can change quickly in a pitcher’s career, and Winder’s red flags and injuries appear to have finally proven to be too much for the Twins. With him already manning a 40-man roster spot, a move to the bullpen not only offers hope of keeping Winder on the field but also fast-tracks him to possibly contributing to the MLB team should he hit the ground running in his new role. At 26 years old, it was time to try something new given the last few lost seasons Josh Winder has endured. He’s still a talented pitcher, but it may be time for the Twins to get value from him at the Major League level any way they can. The bullpen may be the most straightforward option. Are the Twins making the right choice not stretching Winder out into a starter? Should he stay in the bullpen moving forward? Let us know below. View full article

They definitely could re-sign him at any time but his opting out suggests he feels he could get a Major League opportunity elsewhere and I could see why. He had a good spring and his velocity was up so I could see another team taking a shot.