Seth Stohs

Denver. Not sure if it has anything to do with instructs, but he and his wife welcomed their 2nd child within the last couple of months.

I think they were "wrong" on Nick Anderson and John Curtiss. Who else? They've also been right on several from other organizations. Every team is going to have a couple of misses and a couple of success stories.

Maybe... but his 'breakout' was longer than the 2020 season, which included arm injuries.

The Dodgers have a 2-1 series lead in the World Series as I type this. It’s possible that the World Series is over as early as Sunday. Even if the series goes seven games, the series will be over Wednesday and the offseason will begin. Teams will have decisions to make. The Twins will have to make one interesting decision pretty quickly.Roster management is such a key component for a front office. There is a 26-man roster (or 28 in 2020). 40-man roster spots are precious, and in 2020, there was a 60-man player pool to keep tabs on too. On September 17th, the Twins announced that right-handed relief pitcher Zack Littell had been outrighted from the team’s 40-man roster. It was a translation that certainly created some discussion among Twins fans. And the six weeks since then hasn’t really clarified things. Did the Twins really DFA a then-24-year-old Littell to give Homer Bailey one start at the end of the season before DFAing him too? As a 23-year-old in 2019, Littell went 6-0 with a 2.68 ERA in 37 innings over 29 games out of the Twins bullpen. He became one of the Twins most reliable relievers over the final two months of the Twins season. But 2020 was not a good year for Littell. He pitched just six games for the Twins and gave up seven runs in six innings. He was especially hurt by five home run balls. He clearly wasn’t the same, and a couple of Injured List stints with elbow issues likely tells much of the story. The bigger surprise to many, at least to me (and several others I’ve talked to), is that he went unclaimed. 29 teams had the opportunity to claim him, a 24-year-old reliever just one year from having his breakout season. That is the way-too-quick summary of what brings us to today. But one other piece of information is important as it relates to right now. Zack Littell was the 11th round pick of the Seattle Mariners in June of 2013 out of Eastern Alamance High School in Haw River, North Carolina. That means that five days after the World Series is complete, Littell will (or could) become a 6-year minor league free agent. He will spend the entire 2021 season at just 25 years old. What are the options at this point regarding Littell, or any of the other Twins six-year minor league free agent candidates)? ADD HIM BACK TO THE 40-MAN ROSTER If the Twins don’t want to lose Littell, and feel confident in that fact, they could simply add him back to the 40-man roster before he becomes a free agent five days after the World Series. TRADE HIM The Twins could try to trade him to another organization and that team would then have the same set of options. That said, if that team is acquiring him within a week of him becoming a free agent, two things are clear. First, the Twins would not get much in return. Anything more than “Cash Considerations” would be fortunate. Second, that team would certainly want to add him to their 40-man roster. LET HIM BECOME A FREE AGENT If the team allows him to become a free agent, a few different scenarios could take place: If they beat other teams to the punch and sign him to a minor league contract quickly, that would be a positive. However, he would also be subject to the Rule 5 draft so he could still be lost in December. They could agree to terms with the player, but not officially sign the minor league contract until the days following the Rule 5 draft. If they aren’t interested in bringing him back, or aren’t willing to offer what other organizations are, he could simply sign elsewhere. So if you’re Derek Falvey and Thad Levine, what would you do? BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE Any of the players that the Twins signed as minor league free agents before the 2020 season will also be free agents five days after the World Series. The following players have now been in the Twins organization since at least 2014 and are also not on the 40-man roster. RHP Jake Reed LHP Sam Clay RHP Andro Cutura RHP Moises Gomez RHP Jose Martinez For more on each, refer to this article from August in which each was discussed. Should any of the pitchers be added to the 40-man roster? Would you prioritize bringing any of them back as minor leaguer free agents? Click here to view the article

This was as fun as any podcast episode I think I've done. I really enjoyed it. I'm hoping to do 2 most weeks... Any suggestions anyone? Who would you like to see interviewed?

The Twins announced the 2020 Diamond Awards in the below press release. Notice the change in terms of when the event will be. Presumably there will not be any in-person Diamond Awards event as FSN will telecast a remote version in December. TWINS ANNOUNCE 2020 DIAMOND AWARDS RECIPIENTS WINNERS SELECTED BY TWIN CITIES BASEBALL WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA 16th Annual Diamond Awards to be Televised on Fox Sports North December 9 Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN — The Minnesota Twins today announced the recipients of the Diamond Awards, their annual awards for the 2020 season based on voting conducted by the Twin Cities Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America and the Twins Community Fund Board of Directors. In addition, the Twins and the BBWAA announced plans for the 16th annual Diamond Awards, which will be televised on Fox Sports North on December 9 and will benefit research, education and care in brain, nerve and muscle disorders at the University of Minnesota. Since its inception in 2006, the event has raised nearly $4 million. Designated hitter Nelson Cruz is the winner of the Most Valuable Twin Award for the second-straight year. In his second season with the Twins, the 40-year-old hit .303 (56-for-185) with six doubles, 16 home runs, 33 RBI, 33 runs scored, 25 walks, a .397 on-base percentage, a .595 slugging percentage and a .992 OPS (fourth best all-time among players age 39-or-older) in 53 games. Cruz ranked third in the American League in on-base percentage, fourth in OPS, fifth in slugging percentage, tied for fifth in home runs, seventh in batting average and tied for ninth in total bases (110). He earned AL Player of the Week honors in the season’s first week, marking his seventh time winning the award, and finished the season as one of two players in baseball with at least 15 home runs, 30-plus RBI, 25-plus walks, a .300-plus batting average and a .990-plus OPS, joining Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna. Cruz is also the winner of the Bob Allison Award (former Twins player), given to the Twins player who exemplifies determination, hustle, tenacity, competitive spirit and leadership both on and off the field. He wins this award for the second-straight season, becoming the fifth Twin to ever win this award multiple times. Right-handed pitcher Kenta Maeda is the winner of the Joseph W. Haynes Award (former Twins Executive Vice President), given to the Twins Pitcher of the Year. Maeda, who was acquired by the Twins in a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers in February, went 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA (66.2 IP, 20 ER), 10 walks and 80 strikeouts in 11 starts. The 32-year-old led the club in strikeouts and set a Twins/Senators single-season franchise record for strikeouts-per-9.0 innings pitched at 10.80, passing Johan Santana’s 2004 mark of 10.46. He also set a new club record by striking out eight consecutive batters in a start on August 18 vs. Milwaukee. He finished first among American League pitchers in WHIP (0.75), second in opponent batting average (.168) and OPS (.508), fifth in ERA and seventh in strikeouts. The Osaka, Japan native finished his season with 721 career strikeouts, placing him fifth in MLB history in strikeouts by a Japanese-born pitcher. Right-handed pitcher Randy Dobnak is the winner of the Bill Boni Award (former St. Paul Dispatch-Pioneer Press Executive Sports Editor), given to the Twins Most Outstanding Rookie. The 25-year-old made 10 starts for the Twins, going 6-4 with a 4.05 ERA (46.2 IP, 21 ER), 13 walks and 27 strikeouts, including a career-best five-game winning streak from July 31-August 22. The South Park, Pennsylvania native ranked first among American League rookies in walks-per-9.0 IP (2.51), tied for first in wins and sixth in innings pitched. Outfielder Byron Buxton is the winner of the Carl R. Pohlad Community Service Award. Byron and his wife, Lindsey, have been active in support of military service members and their families, providing opportunities for members of the Minnesota National Guard to play catch on the field while also donating money to the Minnesota Military Family Foundation. In 2019, Byron initiated his Buxton’s Battalion program, inviting families of service members to Target Field every Tuesday to watch batting practice, participate in meet and greets, and receive tickets to that evening’s game. Additionally, Byron has attended multiple Twins RBI Glove Giveaways, helping to distribute free baseball gloves to participants in the Twins RBI program. He has also been named the winner of the Jim Kaat Award (former Twins pitcher) for Twins Defensive Player of the Year. Buxton posted a 1.000 fielding percentage (105 total chances) in his 39 games (35 starts) in centerfield, while his 11 defensive runs saved ranked second among all major league outfielders and tied for fourth among all players (minimum of 300.0 innings played). He also won the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2016, 2017 and 2019. Right-handed pitcher Matt Wisler is the winner of the Charles O. Johnson Award (former Minneapolis Star Tribune Sports Editor), given to the Most Improved Twin. The 28-year-old, who was claimed off waivers from Seattle last October, completed his first season with the Twins, making 18 appearances, posting a 1.07 ERA (25.1 IP, 3 ER) while holding opponents to a .165 batting average with 35 strikeouts. He ranked second among Twins relievers in strikeouts-per-9.0 innings pitched (12.43) and was the only pitcher in baseball with at least four starts, at least two holds and at least one save. Left-handed pitcher Taylor Rogers is the winner of the Mike Augustin “Media Good Guy” Award (former Pioneer Press Sports Writer). Rogers, who is the club’s Major League Baseball Players Association Player Representative, went 2-4 with a 4.05 ERA (20.0 IP, 9 ER), four walks and 24 strikeouts. This marks Rogers’ first time winning this award after being named Twins Pitcher of the Year in 2019. Cleveland Indians left-handed pitcher Brad Hand is the winner of the Dick Siebert Award (former University of Minnesota Baseball Coach) given to the Upper Midwest Player of the Year. The Chaska, Minnesota native appeared in 23 games for Cleveland, going 2-1 with a 2.05 ERA (22.0 IP, 5 ER), four walks, 29 strikeouts and an American League-leading 16 saves. Hand also won this award in 2016 while pitching for the San Diego Padres. Former Twins pitcher LaTroy Hawkins is the winner of the Kirby Puckett Award for Twins Alumni Community Service. The 21-year major league veteran, who pitched nine seasons with the Twins, has been an outspoken advocate for racial and social injustice, helping lead the conversation about systemic racism in professional sports and in America. He is an active member of the Still Got Game Foundation, a nonprofit where former professional athletes and like-minded charitable individuals exchange ideas, provide resources, volunteer, and develop and promote programming that supports social change. LaTroy and his wife, Anita, are supporters of the Dallas-based nonprofit Women Called Moses, which provides support to battered women and their children, and are longtime supporters of the Jackie Robinson Foundation and St. Jude Research Hospital. As a player, Hawkins won the Sherry Robertson Award as Minor League Player of the Year in 1993 and 1994, and the Charles O. Johnson Award for Most Improved Twin in 2002. Charles “Corky” Reynolds is the winner of the Terry Ryan Award Play Ball! Minnesota (former Twins Executive VP/General Manager). Reynolds has been the official scorer/public address announcer for Crookston High School baseball for over 20 years. He has been a Coach, an Umpire, and Teacher of the game. Corky was instrumental in starting the Crookston Baseball Association over 10 years ago and currently serves as secretary. He has also served on the Crookston Pirate Booster Club board for well over a decade. The 16th annual Diamond Awards, which will be broadcast on Fox Sports North on December 9 beginning at 7:00 p.m., will honor the 2020 BBWAA award recipients. All proceeds from the event will benefit the University of Minnesota’s innovative research and patient care focused on ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), ataxia, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. Along with the award winners, current and former Twins players and coaches are scheduled to appear. Corporate sponsorship opportunities are now available. For more information on the event visit www.minnesotadiamondawards.org or call (612) 301-8305.

This morning, Seth was joined by Twins relief pitcher prospect Tom Hackimer to discuss baseball but also his love of music. Join us live on the Twins Daily Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages. Tom Hackimer was the Twins 4th round pick in 2016 out of St. John's University in New York. He has had a lot of great experiences working his way up the Twins organizational ladder. He's been an organizational All Star. He's pitched in the Arizona Fall League. But he's also had some struggles, including some arm injuries. We will discuss his career. Find out how he spent his baseball quarantine time and how things have gone for him this past month at the Twins Instructional League. We will also discuss his love of music and he'll perform a song (or two) for us as well. And as time permits, we will take your questions and comments for him as well. We hope to start the conversation at about 11:50 (central time), but it could be a few minutes after that. Join us LIVE on Twins Daily twitter, Facebook or YouTube pages. Listen to the podcast (audio only) on the Twins Daily podcast on Libsyn, iTunes or anywhere you find your podcasts. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

All I've seen is that he's 6-1 and 182 pounds...

No more a concern for the Twins than anyone else. Everyone is on the same timeline, so it (unfortunately) is what it is. At the same time, the guys who would have been the key pieces in 2020 and 2021 were in St. Paul. They got some work in. Now they're at instructs trying to cram as much as they can into a 4-5 week period and then we'll see what happens next.

Having been in the Twins clubhouse the past 6-8 years (once in awhile), I am to the point where I am not really star struck often. However, when Jim Kaat and Rod Carew walk by and smile, I definitely fit that definition. The other one was Sid Hartman. Even at 95-100, you couldn't help but take notice when he walked in the room. Yeah, he wasn't able to do certain things (like hear well), but he put himself in the middle of the crowds, asked questions and more. I think about growing up. At school, we would always have the Star Tribune, so I would get there early in the morning and read the box scores and anything that Sid wrote. I always enjoyed listening to The Sports Huddle after church on Sundays back then. So yeah, riding up a Target Field elevator with him, or standing in a media scrum with him, was pretty cool. Was an honor. What a life! What a career! Legendary!

This week at Twins Daily, we will be handing out our 2020 Twins Awards. So far we have named the team’s Best Rookie and Most Improved players. Today, we discuss the team’s top pitchers. Upon completion of the season, our panel of 23 Twins Daily writers voted on the four annual Twins Daily Awards. Asked to rank their top four pitchers, ten Twins pitchers received votes. It won’t surprise anyone to learn that this year’s choice for Twins Daily Pitcher of the Year was unanimous.Voting for pitcher of the year can be difficult. How do you compare a starting pitcher who may work 160-200 innings to a top relief pitcher who might throw 60 innings, but most of them are very high leverage? That distinction becomes even more difficult in 2020 when the top starting pitchers threw 63-67 innings and the top relievers threw just 20-25 innings due to the COVID-shortened, 60-game season. Yes, voting for Best Pitcher can be quite difficult, at times. This year, the choice was really quite easy as all 23 Twins Daily voters gave their first-place vote to Kenta Maeda. He was the easy choice for Twins Pitcher of the Year, and more important, everything the Twins needed. When Maeda came to the Twins before spring training from the Dodgers in exchange for Brusdar Graterol, it was met with mixed feelings. The Twins gave up a top pitching prospect, though one who most assumed would fit in a bullpen. In return, they received Maeda who had put up five quality seasons in Los Angeles. His numbers were fairly equitable to those Jose Berrios had put up in recent years. Maeda found himself in the bullpen late in his seasons with the Dodgers, and he remained in the bullpen in the playoffs. Was it for contractpurposes, or was it because he was best serving his team by pitching, very well, in the playoffs? Coming to the Twins, he was excited about his role with the Twins, and he pitched so well that there was never any consideration of moving him to the bullpen. Maeda led the Twins with 66 2/3 innings in 11 starts. His six wins tied Randy Dobnak for most on the team. His 2.70 ERA was two-thirds of a run better than his previous career-low and was 61% better than league average. His 0.75 WHIP was best on the team, 0.04 lower than Tyler Duffey in over 42 more innings. His previous career-low was 1.07. His 1.4 BB/9 tied Tyler Clippard for the best on the team. His 10.8 K/9 was best among Twins starters. He never worked less than five innings in any of his 11 starts. He never gave up more than three runs in an outing. On August 18th against the Brewers, he had a no-hitter into the ninth inning. At one point in that same game, he struck out an organization-high eight consecutive batters. His previous career high in fWAR was 2.9. He recorded 2.1 fWAR in 60 games in 2020 and was on pace for a 5.7 fWAR in a full season. By almost every pitching measure, Kenta Maeda put together the best season of his MLB career and easily the best season by a Twins pitcher. PITCH-MIX CHANGES With the Twins, Maeda made some adjustments to his pitch mix. In 2019, he threw 37% fastballs. In 2020, he threw just 26% fastballs. He increased his slider percentage from 31% to 40% In addition, he increased his changeup usage from 24% to 29% He spoke about working with the Twins and knowing that his changeup was good enough to use versus left-handers as well as right-handers. By throwing more sliders against right-handed hitters, and more changeups versus left-handed hitters, he was able to get more swinging strikes inside and outside the strike zone. Along with that, batters had a career low exit velocity and Hard Hit % against him. The numbers speak for themselves. Maeda pitched better than anyone else in 2020. Just as important, Maeda provided the Twins with a top-of-the-rotation starter that they have not had in recent years. He provided the team with consistency and reliability that it needed. OTHER CANDIDATES Tyler Duffey was the top bullpen arm for most of the season. He was used in the highest leverage situations and came through most times out. Matt Wisler, our choice for Most Improved Twins player in 2020, provided quality pitching regardless of what role he was used in this season. He was an Opener, a Closer and pretty much everything in between. Tyler Clippard doesn’t overpower anyone, but he had a fantastic season pitching in a variety of roles Randy Dobnak tied Maeda for the team lead in wins. He was a strong candidate for AL Rookie of the Year for the first month of the season before a late-season fade pushed him down to St. Paul. Jose Berrios struggled for the first month, but he finished really strong. Rich Hill quietly put together a strong September. Others who deservingly received votes: Michael Pineda, Jorge Alcala, Sergio Romo. THE BALLOTS Here’s a look at the ballots from our 23 voters. But first... how would your ballot look? Here are the results from the Twins Daily Twitter poll: Seth Stohs: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Jose Berrios, 4) Matt Wisler Nick Nelson: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Jose Berrios, 4) Rich Hill John Bonnes: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Jose Berrios, 4) Sergio Romo Tom Froemming: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Jose Berrios, 3) Tyler Duffey, 4) Matt Wisler Andrew Gebo: 1) Kenta Maeda, Matt Wisler, 3) Tyler Duffey, 4) Randy Dobnak AJ Condon: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Matt Wisler, 3) Tyler Clippard, 4) Tyler Duffey Cody Christie: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Jose Berrios, 4) Matt Wisler Cody Pirkl: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Michael Pineda, 3) Tyler Duffey, 4) Randy Dobnak Cooper Carlson: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Jose Berrios, 4) Matt Wisler Jeremy Nygaard: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Jose Berrios, 4) Tyler Clippard Lucas Seehafer: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Matt Wisler, 4) Jose Berrios Matt Braun: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Jose Berrios, 3) Tyler Clippard, 4) Tyler Duffey Matt Lenz: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Michael Pineda, 4) Tyler Clippard Matthew Taylor: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Matt Wisler, 4) Jose Berrios Matthew Trueblood:1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Matt Wisler, 4) Randy Dobnak Nash Walker: 1) Kenta Maeda, Tyler Duffey, 3) Randy Dobnak, 4) Matt Wisler Nate Palmer: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Tyler Clippard, 3) Tyler Duffey, 4) Michael Pineda Patrick Wozniak: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Jose Berrios, 3) Tyler Duffey, 4) Matt Wisler Derek Wetmore: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Jose Berrios, 4) Tyler Clippard Steve Lein: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Tyler Clippard, 4) Randy Dobnak Renabanena: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Matt Wisler, 3) Randy Dobnak, 4) Tyler Duffey Ted Schwerzler: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Michael Pineda, 3) Randy Dobnak, 4) Matt Wisler Thiéres Rabelo: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Matt Wisler, 3) Tyler Duffey, 4) Jorge Alcala POINTS Kenta Maeda: 92 Tyler Duffey: 56 Matt Wisler: 25 Jose Berrios: 25 Tyler Clippard: 12 Michael Pineda: 9 Randy Dobnak: 8 Rich Hill: 1 Jorge Alcala: 1 Sergio Romo: 1 Leave a comment and make your case. PREVIOUS PITCHER OF THE YEAR WINNERS 2015: Kyle Gibson 2016: Ervin Santana 2017: Ervin Santana 2018: Jose Berrios 2019: Taylor Rogers OTHER 2019 AWARD WINNERS Rookie of the Year: Ryan Jeffers Most Improved: Matt Wisler Pitcher of the Year: Kenta Maeda Most Valuable Player: Coming tomorrow Click here to view the article

Dan Hayes from The Athletic wrote up an article on the goings-on at Instructional League. 50 players, trying to do as much as they can. https://theathletic.com/2137139/2020/10/14/twins-instructional-camp-prospects-jordan-balazovic-blayne-enlow-aaron-sabato/

I've liked Musgrove for a couple of years, so I'm on board with acquiring him. I don't expect him to be in the Cole/Glasnow level, but maybe one step down from that, a Maeda/Berrios type, and teams can win a lot of games with pitchers like that!

Doogie Wolfson tweeted that the Twins are going to be scouting 22-year-old RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, "one of the premier young pitchers in NPB."

All of them. Minor League deals with six-year veterans are one year. The only question mark would be if they signed any guys during this season, which I doubt. Like MLB free agents, they become free agents at the end of the World Series.

I'm not sure if they're going to play other teams. I know they've been playing intrasquad games every other day or so and otherwise working on skill development. You mentioned their being more minor league cuts today? I'm almost scared to look. There were 30 two weeks ago and a couple more last week. Are there more?! Uggh! There are definitely restrictions on how many can be at instructional camps and they have to get everything approved from MLB. I'm sure whatever the max number they can have is what they have. If this goes well, I'm sure that they'll do more, as they would in a "normal" offseason.

This week at Twins Daily, we will be handing out our 2020 Twins Awards. Yesterday, we handed out the award for the Twins Top Rookie in 2020 (Ryan Jeffers). Today, we announce the Twins Most Improved Player during the 2020 season. Upon completion of the season, our panel of 23 Twins Daily writers voted on the four annual Twins Daily Awards. Asked to rank their top three most improved players, ten Twins received votes. However, the choice was clear. The 2020 Twins Most Improved Player is relief pitcher Matt Wisler.Most Improved. It is a difficult award to vote on, and this year that was certainly the case. What does it mean? Well, it could be a guy that had a bad first half of the season and really turned it on and showed great improvement as the season went along. Often, it is a player coming off of a disappointing or injury-plagued season who takes a step forward with a strong season. Matt Wisler is not new to the big leagues. 2020 was his sixth season, and the Minnesota Twins are his fifth organization. He was originally drafted and signed by the Padres out of high school in 2011. He became a top prospect. He was a key piece in the trade that sent Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Upton, Jr. to San Diego from Atlanta. He was a Top 100 prospect before the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Wisler debuted with the Braves in 2015 and spent two seasons as a starter. He was moved to the bullpen in 2017 and traded to the Reds during the 2018 season. He split 2019 between the Padres and the Mariners. Combined, he was 3-4 with a 5.61 ERA in 51 1/3 over 44 games. At the end of the 2019 season, the Mariners placed him on waivers and the Twins claimed him. Wisler was arbitration-eligible, but he agreed to a guaranteed contract before numbers needed to be exchanged. PITCH-MIX CHANGES Clearly the Twins front office, scouts, analytics group, and/or pitching coaches and coordinators saw something from Wisler. Most likely, they saw his spin rate and that he had started using his slider much more frequently. In 2018, Wisler threw 49.7% fastballs and 46.9% sliders. In 2019, Wisler threw 29.2% fastballs and 70.5% sliders. Turns out, that was just the start. In 2020, Wisler threw just 16.6% fastballs and 83.4% sliders. Here is a quick look at which MLB relievers threw the most sliders in 2020 (with the help of Statcast): Wisler pointed out in September. “The one thing why I think my slider is so effective, talking to catchers, it doesn’t move the same. One pitch it will go straight down and the other one goes more side to side. I have a lot of different movements on my pitch. I don’t do anything different that I can feel.” MATT-OF-ALL-TRADES Wisler began the season by pitching in low-leverage situations. With early success, he soon was working in closer games. In mid-August, he had a stretch of three straight games in which he was used as the Opener. His next appearance, he struck out two batters in a perfect ninth to close out a 3-2 win over the White Sox. The only other Save of his career came in 2015 when he was still a starter. His next appearance was back in the role of Opener. He was being used in higher-leverage situations. He was pitching much more frequently. In a game against the Cubs, he worked two scoreless innings and struck out six batters. Regardless the role he was utilized, Matt Wisler dropped sliders and got the job done! OTHER CANDIDATES You can see who else received votes below, but there was no shortage of players who showed some improvement in 2020. The Twins had one of baseball’s best bullpens. No surprise. Beyond Wisler, several bullpen arms took a step forward. Tyler Duffey finished fourth on this list while Jorge Alcala, Trevor May and Cody Stashak also received votes. Like Wisler, Kenta Maeda came to the Twins from another organization and put up the best season, short as it was, of his career. He made some minor adjustments and went 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA. Arguably the Best Story of the 2020 Twins season could be the return of Caleb Thielbar. The lefty from Randolph returned to the organization after not pitching in the big leagues since 2015. In that time, he spent two more seasons with the St. Paul Saints. He was ready to be done and was hired as a pitching coach at Augustana. The Twins called and said they thought he was a big-league pitcher. He came to spring training and did well. He was invited to Summer Camp. He spent the first trip of the season on the Twins practice squad, and soon after he was promoted back to the big leagues. He responded very well, posting a 2.25 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 20 innings. Others who deservingly received votes: Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario, Michael Pineda. How would your ballot look? Here are the results from the Twins Daily Twitter poll: THE BALLOTS Here’s a look at the ballots from our 23 voters. Seth Stohs: 1) Matt Wisler, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Caleb Thielbar Nick Nelson: 1) Matt Wisler, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Trevor May John Bonnes: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Jorge Alcala, 3) Matt Wisler Tom Froemming: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Matt Wisler, 3) Caleb Thielbar Andrew Gebo: 1) Matt Wisler, 2) Caleb Thielbar, 3) Kenta Maeda AJ Condon: 1) Kenta Maeda, Tyler Duffey, Byron Buxton Cody Christie: 1) Matt Wisler, 2.) Kenta Maeda, 3) Caleb Thielbar Cody Pirkl: 1) Caleb Thielbar, 2) Kenta Maeda, 3) Matt Wisler Cooper Carlson: 1) Matt Wisler, 2) Kenta Maeda, 3) Caleb Thielbar Jeremy Nygaard: 1) Matt Wisler, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Caleb Thielbar Lucas Seehafer: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Matt Wisler, 3) Byron Buxton Matt Braun: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Matt Wisler, 3) Caleb Thielbar Matt Lenz: 1) Byron Buxton, 2) Matt Wisler, 3) Caleb Thielbar Matthew Taylor: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Matt Wisler, 3) Tyler Duffey Matthew Trueblood: 1) Jorge Alcala, 2) Eddie Rosario Nash Walker: 1) Matt Wisler, 2) Kenta Maeda, 3) Caleb Thielbar Nate Palmer: 1) Matt Wisler, 2) Caleb Thielbar, 3) Cody Stashak Patrick Wozniak: 1) Matt Wisler, 2) Eddie Rosario, 3) Michael Pineda Derek Wetmore: 1) Byron Buxton Steve Lein: 1) Tyler Duffey, 2) Trevor May, 3) Jorge Alcala Renabanena: 1) Matt Wisler, 2) Byron Buxton, 3) Kenta Maeda Ted Schwerzler: 1) Matt Wisler, 2) Caleb Thielbar Thiéres Rabelo: 1) Eddie Rosario, 2) Matt Wisler, 3) Caleb Thielbar POINTS Matt Wisler: 47 Kenta Maeda: 28 Caleb Thielbar: 18 Tyler Duffey: 12 Byron Buxton: 10 Eddie Rosario: 7 Jorge Alcala: 6 Trevor May: 3 Cody Stashak: 1 Michael Pineda: 1 Previous Twins Most Improved Player Award Winners 2015: Aaron Hicks 2016: Brian Dozier 2017: Byron Buxton 2018: Kyle Gibson 2019: Mitch Garver OTHER 2020 AWARD WINNERS Rookie of the Year: Ryan Jeffers Most Improved: Matt Wisler Pitcher of the Year: Coming Tomorrow Most Valuable Player: Coming Soon! Click here to view the article

And these are generally some of the top prospects. Of course, Lewis, Kirilloff, etc., guys who spent the summer in St. Paul, aren't there at this time.

Also remember that the Twins didn't release anyone throughout the 2020 season, from April through August. In that time, likely 25-30 players could have been released regardless. That doesn't account for the fact that they are losing an affiliate (roughly 30 players). There are a lot of conversations going on in terms of minor league futures. There are a lot of rumors about where the Twins affiliates will be (or won't be) in 2021. Will be interesting to see when those decisions are made and the fallback from it.

https://twitter.com/DWolfsonKSTP/status/1314652263189745665