There are few things baseball fans can universally agree upon. However, most people agree that no major league team can have a limited amount of arms in their organization for the bullpen. Major league relievers are unlike any other position in baseball. Unlike a shortstop or starting pitcher, these guys don’t have much job security. Still, shuffling around available players out of a bullpen too frequently for short-term gain can have long-term consequences.
The total number of pitchers used in a major league season had not reached 700 before 2015. But since then, 735 has been the fewest number of pitchers on a major league mound. It happened twice; once in 2015 and again during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Per Baseball Reference, 556 pitchers have already taken the mound in 2023, which is on pace to easily break the 2021 record of 909.
The Twins have had 20 different players take the mound this year. It’s not the most in MLB; the Oakland A’s lead with 25 pitchers on the year. Still, it’s a high number for the first six weeks of the year. Fortunately for the starting rotation, the two additional pitchers they’ve added into it, Bailey Ober and Louie Varland, are injury replacements.
But it isn’t the same story for the bullpen. The Twins have already shuffled 14 different pitchers (minus Willi Castro’s one appearance on the mound) out of the bullpen. They’ve moved multiple players between Minneapolis and St. Paul to make sure the bullpen is filled with fresh arms each game. Josh Winder, Brent Headrick, Brock Stewart, Dereck Rodriguez, Jorge Alcalá, and Simeon Woods Richardson all have ridden the St. Paul shuttle.
Six transactions exclusively for the bullpen seems like a lot this early in the season. While one was injury-related (Winder), the other three call-ups have been to prevent the over-usage of pitchers like Emilio Pagán and Jovani Moran. Pagán has a 4.73 ERA in 13.1 innings pitched and Moran’s 5.52 ERA in 14.2 innings pitched. Both have needed alleviation from their workload due to their numbers.
The Twins have had to make only one transaction in the bullpen due to an injury this season. Caleb Thielbar went down with a right oblique strain on May 3, and they recalled Alcalá from Triple-A to take his spot in the bullpen.
With Thielbar down, Moran has become the lone lefty in the Twins bullpen. And Alcalá getting the call back up has kept another strong lefty option, Headrick, in the minors. That limits Minnesota’s matchup options against left-handed pitchers, and Alcalá will have another chance to prove his slow start (4.50 ERA) was an aberration.
The Twins initially sent Alcalá to St. Paul this year for Woods Richardson’s single-game appearance. Woods Richardson’s one game with the Twins was practically a starter’s workload coming out of the bullpen. He threw 97 pitches in 4.2 innings against the Washington Nationals in Minnesota’s blowout 10-4 loss on April 22.
Woods Richardson has made two starts for the Saints since then. His first outing went well. He went seven innings, struck out four, and only allowed two runs on three hits and two walks. His second was the complete opposite. On Friday, May 5, he couldn’t make it past the third inning, allowing three runs on the same amount of walks and hits from his previous start.
Then there’s Winder, who the Twins have already been sent back down due to poor performance in debut this season. He gave up three hits and two runs while only retiring two batters. Winder was set to be a long relief option for the Twins following his return from the injured list. But after what the Twins saw in that first and only outing of the season, they’ve opted for Rodriguez to take his place.
The swap of Winder is telling and seemingly a quick-to-judge move that could be an unnecessary roster move. His average velocity on his fastball showed no signs of dipping from the outing. Instead, it was actually up from a 94 MPH average in 2022 to 94.5 MPH in his April 30 appearance.
If velocity on Winder’s fastball wasn’t a concern, then why did they send him back to St. Paul so soon? The team didn’t elaborate on why they sent him down when they did. Fortunately, his one appearance with the Saints since being sent back down went well, shutting down five hitters and three via the strikeout.
The shuttle of pitchers between St. Paul and Minneapolis has not seemed to affect their performances drastically at either level. But when Rodriguez gets his first appearance of the year, it’ll officially mark the 21st different pitcher the Twins have used, and they have only played 35 games on the year.
Twenty pitchers in 35 games is already more than half of the Twins’ total amount of pitchers used from 2022 (38). That is Minnesota’s franchise record for most pitchers used in a season. Could they eclipse it before August is over if they continue their current methods of shuffling arms around their major and minor league bullpen? It’s very likely, and it could prove costly to the health and longevity of dominance this bullpen could provide.
