On Thursday, the Minnesota Twins called up Travis Adams, a long reliever they took in the sixth round of the 2021 draft. Adams only threw fastballs and changeups at Sacramento State. However, after five years in Minnesota’s minor-league system, Adams throws six pitches: a four-seam fastball, sinker, cutter, slider, curveball, and changeup.
Derek Falvey was the mastermind behind the Cleveland Guardians’ pitching development system before the Twins hired him to replace Terry Ryan in 2016. In Minnesota, he’s taken pitchers from smaller programs and added them to their pitch mix to turn them into major league-quality pitchers.
- Bailey Ober: 12th-round pick out of the College of Charleston in 2017.
- Louis Varland: 15th-round, Concordia St. Paul, 2019.
- David Festa: 13th-round, Seton Hall, 2021.
- Zebby Matthews: eighth-round, Western Carolina, 2022.
“What we’ve gotten better at in the draft is scouts understand the things we do well developmentally,” Falvey told the Star Tribune in April. “When they’re out there, they’re aware of, ‘Oh, this guy has pitch ”X” and “Y,” but he doesn’t have “Z.” We think we can actually impact that.’ That’s helpful because you have player development and scouting synced.”
Adams is the latest pitcher to trickle out of Minnesota’s pitching pipeline. Each is at a different stage of their career, and they have separate roles. Ober is a starter, the Twins have converted Varland to a reliever, and Festa and Matthews are still establishing themselves in the majors.
The Twins traded for pitchers to supplement their staff while building the pipeline. They added Pablo López, Joe Ryan, and Jhoan Duran via trade, landing two front-end starters and their starter without giving up significant capital. Signing Brock Stewart, trading for Chris Paddack, and converting Griffin Jax to a reliever rounded out the bullpen behind Duran.
However, the Twins didn’t construct an operational pitching pipeline until after the quarantine. Now, injuries to López and Matthews and Ober’s declining velocity threaten to bring it down. Minnesota will turn to Simeon Woods Richardson to replace Matthews, and they still have Andrew Morris in St. Paul. Beyond that, things start to dry up.
Injuries are inevitable in baseball, even with pitch counts and advanced science. Therefore, depth is the best way to ensure quality pitching. The Twins can’t replace López internally. Still, they must maintain a serviceable rotation throughout the season, especially when pitching is driving winning for them this year.
“The demanding nature of having to perform seven days a week for eight straight months puts a lot of stress on these guys,” said Rocco Baldelli. “It is a test. But the other test is having the depth and the versatility and the number of different guys that you can turn to to succeed over all of this.
“It’s like a very long game of chess where you’re just covering different space, and you’re wanting to still perform. You’re not going to have your top guys out there every game, and you might not even have them for most of the season. But what you do have are alternatives and guys that you can turn to and challenge.”
The Twins have recovered from their 7-15 start, allowing them to compete for the AL Central title or make the playoffs as a wild card team. They need Carlos Correa, Royce Lewis, and Brooks Lee to drive offense. However, they’re winning because of their pitching, and it’s how they’ll win in the postseason.
Still, they’ll need an army of pitchers to play in October and win while they’re there. Their pitching pipeline must pass this stress test to get there.
