Twins have questions to answer as they leave Spring Training
While the Minnesota Twins won the American League Central last year and their first playoff series since 2002, it will be a tougher climb for the club as they exit Spring Training in Fort Myers.
The Twins left the sunshine of Fort Myers Tuesday after finishing last in the Grapefruit League with a 9-19 record during a turbulent spring in which they lost three pitchers to begin the season, after losing three starting pitchers to free agency in the offseason including Cy Young Award runner-up Sonny Gray.
A blizzard was descending on Minnesota this week as the Twins closed camp having scored the second-fewest runs in the Grapefruit League this spring and allowed the second-most runs.
On the bright side Sunday was right-handed starter Joe Ryan, whose expanded arsenal has the club hoping he can be a frontline pitcher and repeat his strong first half from last year the whole way through this year.
Facing a strong Orioles lineup in Fort Myers Sunday, Ryan limited the Orioles to two hits and two runs while striking out five over five innings. Aside from giving up a home run to Baltimore slugger Gunnar Henderson, Ryan looked formidable.
“In some ways, that might be one of his best starts ever,” Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli said. “His stuff was excellent. I really like what I saw from him. He is introducing a hard cutter into the situation. The split was thrown with good velocity and good intent,” he said. “He held his stuff really well.”
Ryan added a split-finger fastball and sweeper to his array of pitches last year and got swinging strikeouts with both of them Monday. He is also fine-tuning a two-seam sinking fastball this spring he hopes will keep hitters off balance from last year when he gave up 32 homers.
Ryan struck out 197 batters in 161 innings last year, which was the second-best strikeout rate for American League starting pitchers with 150 innings or more.
His season last year was a tale of two halves. He pitched to a 3.70 ERA in the first half and 6.09 ERA in the second half while working with new pitches he hadn’t thrown before.
Ryan cited increased velocity on his slider and sweeper Sunday as signs that he is entering the season in good shape.
“I am more confident this year with the pitches and having a year under my belt throwing the split and throwing the sweeper and throwing basically the same slider we just found a grip that gives me a little bit more consistency,” Ryan said. “I can throw it actually harder which I didn’t really think was possible with the spike. Adding a sinker in there – really excited about that pitch.”
In just a year’s time he has added three pitches and if he takes a step forward in 2024 he could be a dangerous pitcher for the Twins. Ryan has always been a top strikeout pitcher back to his days in the minor leagues with the Tampa Bay Rays, where he won a minor league strikeout title up I-75 with the Charlotte Stone Crabs.
Ryan doesn’t think adding a two-seam fastball this spring will be much of a challenge as he said he largely threw the pitch earlier in his development. It is a pitch that has gained popularity throughout the big leagues in the last year as has the sweeper. Ryan has been working on the sweeper since 2022 when he was looking to add velocity to his curveball. Ryan ditched his curveball last season in favor of the sweeper.
The 27-year-old right-hander said he likes having the new options. “I know what my strengths are. If some guy struggles with certain pitch type – if it is not taking away from anything I don’t mind adding.”
In a day and age, where pitching injuries appear to be all too common, Ryan said he has worked on staying healthy by focusing on his diet and nutrition, as well as recovery and physical therapy. He said he will lift weights though he tries not to push it. “I want to grind and be sore with my lifts in the offseason but I want to recover because throwing is the most important,” he said. He said he plans to pursue more physical therapy options to keep his arm and shoulder healthy.
Ryan has his eyes on getting the Twins further in the playoffs this year. After defeating the Blue Jays in the wild card series, they lost to the Astros in four games in the division series.
“That postseason last year leaves you a little hungry,” Ryan said.
Orioles
While Ryan had one of his best starts of the spring Sunday, he was outshined by young Orioles pitcher Grayson Rodriguez. Entering his second season in the big leagues, Rodriguez was known as a strikeout machine in the minors and appears ready for a big year.
Rodriguez, who has also added a two-seam fastball to his repertoire this spring, kept the Twins lineup dizzy Sunday with two-seam and four-seam fastballs that fluctuated between 95-97 miles per hour along with 86 mile-per-hour sliders, 80 mile-per-hour curveballs, 84 mile-per-hour changeups and cutters in the high 80’s.
“He is clearly one of the top young arms they have brought in,” Baldelli said. “He stands out when he gets out there on the mound. He is an explosive young pitching prospect. We haven’t seen a ton of him over the last couple years. I’ve seen enough to know he should be pretty good.”
In addition to their strong pitching, the Orioles showed off some of their big bats Sunday. Gunnar Henderson, the club’s 22-year-old slugging sensation, homered in the first inning off Ryan with the bases empty. In the seventh inning, Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman smoked a hanging slider from Twins reliever Jorge Acala out of the park into Collier County for a three-run blast.
Twins bullpen and outlook
Baldelli said the team doesn’t yet have a decision on who will replace Jhoan Duran as the team’s closer. Duran will start the season in the injured list due to an oblique strain. “We are getting through one inning at a time,” Baldelli said.
Along with Duran going on the injured list, their main offseason acquisition in right-handed start Anthony DeSclafani is facing possible season-ending elbow surgery and the team is also missing pitcher Caleb Thielbar to an injury.
“It’s just a situation where other guys have to step up into roles,” he said. “That’s how you also learn about some players and you figure out who can handle things at this point in time and who can be relied upon. We would be kidding ourselves if we didn’t think something like this was going to affect us this year. I think it will be a good challenge for our group and it will give opportunities to guys. I am going to be paying attention to see who steps in.”
Despite not having a good record in Spring Training, Baldelli said the team “got in a lot of quality work. That’s really what Spring Training is about. It’s about preparing to play at the highest level and play good fundamental baseball and to get ourselves physically and mentally ready for the regular season. I think we accomplished all those things. The players and staff, they gave me everything I could ever asked for in camp. I am pleased and I think our guys are absolutely ready for the start of the season.”
One hitter who will not start with the Twins as they open the season in Kansas City is Trevor Larnach. A first round pick who has shown flashes of big league power, he dealt with a minor leg issue this spring and will start the season the Triple-A team in St. Paul.
“He is going to get out there and go prove himself. We have some good young left-handed hitters in our organization. We have guys did a nice job for us last year during the regular season. These guys played really well. Those guys earned those opportunities to come out here and take those spots into the season this year,” Baldelli said.
“Trevor just has to go out there and have a good, healthy productive year and is likely going to play himself into that conversation. The season is long. When we call him up at some point along the way, which I assume is going to happen, he is going to be asked to step up and produce.”