The Minnesota Twins’ new-look bullpen may not catch many headlines throughout the season, but each of the new members possesses at least one worthwhile weapon. For a club that rarely makes veteran additions to its relief corps, this development should be exciting.
While each of the four new faces in the bullpen has at least passable fastball velocities between 93-96 mph, their primary breaking pitches will be their calling cards. They each possess a secondary offering that has either held opponents to paltry results or at least have the raw characteristics that suggest a few tweaks could take them to the next level.
So, what are these new guys bringing to the table? And will they be good enough to make this collection of arms not only deeper than the classes the Twins have had in the recent past but also far more effective if all goes as planned?
Justin Topa
Though he probably isn’t seen as the biggest piece in the return package that came to Minnesota in exchange for Jorge Polanco, Topa probably has the best chance to make an immediate impact with the club in 2024. Anthony DeSclafani will likely get plenty of play on the bump, but he’s still ramping up from the offseason and could possibly start the year on the injured list. Outfielder Gabriel Gonzalez is an exciting prospect who should be considered the headliner of the package, but he’s still a few years away from making a big-league impact. Darren Bowen is essentially a lottery ticket who will start the year at Low-A.
But the 33-year-old Topa brings an intriguing profile to Minnesota’s bullpen picture. He had a breakout campaign in 2023, where he held a 2.61 ERA through 69 innings pitched and a respectable 22% strikeout rate on top of a rock-solid 6.5% walk rate. Topa’s cutter was part of what made him so successful last year.
While he still relied heavily on his sinker, which is also a plus offering, Topa’s cutter got better results regarding limiting damage (only two extra-base hits allowed) and missing bats (26.5% whiff rate). Look for him to keep developing that pitch with the Twins, who have slowly started implementing more cutters into the repertoires of their pitchers with a plus sinker already at their disposal.
Steven Okert
In a swap with the Miami Marlins, the Twins sent out former-first-round pick Nick Gordon for lefty Okert, who had quietly put together a solid three-year campaign with his former club. Both players were out of options and needed a change of scenery. But the Twins were enticed by Okert’s body of work with Miami, where he had a 3.51 ERA with 10.9 K/9 despite a concerning 4.0 BB/9 across 146 innings pitched since 2021.
It wasn’t just the relative cost to get Okert that made him such an enticing trade target. It was also his unique slider, which he uses effectively, especially against opposing lefties. And for a true two-pitch reliever whose fastball is serviceable if unspectacular, that yacker is critical to his success.
Okert threw his slider over 60% of the time last season, much like many other relief projects the Twins have worked on since the current front office took over. That offering yielded excellent results for the 32-year-old, holding opponents to a paltry .194 batting average and just a .373 slugging percentage. Guys like Griffin Jax and Matt Wisler had similarly strong sliders that the Twins insisted on throwing most of the time, to equally strong results.
If veteran lefty Caleb Thielbar continues to be sidelined with an injury into the regular season, it will be imperative for Okert to continue his solid run, riding his primary breaking pitch all the while.
Jay Jackson
Jackson, 36, is the newest elder statesman of the relief corps, whose career has taken more twists and turns than a fresh batch of taffy straight from the puller. The Chicago Cubs drafted him in 2008, but he never made an appearance for Chicago’s Northsiders. However, he surfaced in the big leagues with the San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Giants, Atlanta Braves, and most recently with the Toronto Blue Jays last year, where he had a 2.12 ERA across 25 innings pitched.
Like Okert, Jackson’s best weapon is his slider, which pairs well with his four-seam fastball, far better than Okert’s in 2023. An intriguing development is Jackson’s development of a sinker, which he only used 2.7% of the time last season but showed promising results. Don’t anticipate him suddenly becoming a three-pitch mix kind of pitcher. Instead, he should neutralize right-handed hitters with an effective sinker, which has proven to be a worthwhile endeavor for modern right-handed pitchers recently.
But going back to his slider, he got a spectacular 35.7% whiff rate using this offering, and he limited opponents to just a .116 batting average against that pitch. Jackson’s ability to get soft contact and plenty of ground balls will be integral to his success, as his heater has lost a few ticks of velocity in recent years.
While there may be a few other new faces that make their way into Minnesota’s major league bullpen group, these three offer the most promise to solidify the middle innings, and that’s due largely to his breaking ball offerings. And for a relief corps that has reached excellent heights with their primary end-of-game options, such as Jax and Jhoan Duran, but has been susceptible to a shaky floor at the front end, they could be huge difference-makers.
