Rocco Baldelli thought Joe Ryan was injured.
Ryan gave Baldelli and trainer Nick Paparesta a thumbs up as they exited the dugout. Still, Paparesta didn’t break his stride as he approached the mound to do a routine check on the Minnesota Twins’ All-Star pitcher.
“He threw like a 79 mph off-speed pitch, which is about 8 mph off of what he normally would do, and the delivery looked different,” Baldelli explained after Ryan’s July 6 start against the Tampa Bay Rays.
“Sometimes, guys just make stuff up out there on the mound. They just decide on a certain pitch [that] they’re gonna do something completely different from other things they’ve done in the past.”
The Twins acquired Ryan when they sent Nelson Cruz to Tampa at the 2021 trade deadline. Ryan was a 25-year-old prospect who never pitched for the Rays. Still, Minnesota inserted him into its rotation at the end of the year, and he finished the season with a 4.05 ERA (106 ERA+) in five starts.
Ryan has built on that foundation, producing an ERA+ of 110, 97, and 116 in the next three years (100 is average). In 2023, his down year, he built an All-Star case in the first half. Ryan had a 3.70 ERA in his first 18 starts before the All-Star Break, holding opposing hitters to a .222/.258/.378 slash line. However, opposing lineups hit .294/.347/.588 against him in the second half, and he finished with a 4.51 ERA.
Ryan was a fastball-heavy pitcher when he arrived in Minnesota. However, he worked with the Twins’ pitching coaches and Driveline to develop a more dynamic arsenal. According to Baseball Savant, he throws:
- A four-seam fastball 53% of the time
- Sweeper (13.7%)
- Split-finger (13.7%)
- Sinker (10.5%)
- Slider (8.1%)
- Curveball (2%)
He’s still throwing a fastball over half the time, but Ryan is using it to set up other pitches rather than solely to get outs. Still, nowhere on that list does Baseball Savant have a 79 mph offering like the one he threw against Tampa Bay.
Ryan threw that 79 mph splitter to Jonathan Aranda with the Rays at the top of the sixth inning. Junior Caminero had hit a one-out single with Tampa leading 2-1.
“I was like, ‘Okay, he’s obviously a super fast guy and tries to get on base,” Ryan said, referring to Aranda, “So, I thought he was gonna bunt, and I’d kind of done the same thing [before].
“I just was like, ‘I’ll just float a little split in there.’ He’s a slap guy anyway, so I’m like, ‘If I can disrupt his timing at all, why not?
“So yeah, it was fun.”
Ryan invoked Zack Greinke in his explanation to Baldelli. Greinke pitched 20 years in the majors, nine with the Kansas City Royals, and made six All-Star teams.
“[Ryan] came in and said, ‘Yeah, I’ve seen Greinke do it,” said Baldelli. “And I was like, ‘I guess so.’
“I was listening, he was explaining himself, and I said, ‘Okay, Greinke does it. You know who else does it?’
“He goes, ‘Who?’
“I go, ‘Joe Ryan.’”
Ryan didn’t initially make the All-Star team this year. Still, he had the opportunity to make it as a replacement. However, league rules mandate that replacement pitchers must be able to pitch in the All-Star Game.
Baldelli didn’t want Ryan to pitch on Saturday, then pitch again in the All-Star Game on Tuesday. So, Baldelli moved Ryan’s start to Friday against Paul Skenes. Ryan outduelled the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 23-year-old phenom in front of 41,100 fans, Minnesota’s highest attendance this season.
The spotlight was fitting for a player who has pitched like an All-Star for four years in a row and has carried Minnesota’s rotation in Pablo López’s absence.
“That the scene last night was a really good way to end Joe Ryan’s first half and lead him into the All-Star game and lead him into the break,” said Baldelli. “He was pitching but also, in some ways, probably taking it all in as well. It was a sold-out crowd and an excitable group at that.”
Ryan nearly didn’t make it out of the first inning. He loaded the bases before getting Ke’Bryan Hayes to pop out to end the inning. Ryan threw 34 pitches in the first inning but finished the night giving up five hits and one run in five innings.
“That outing could have ended in about five pitches,” said Baldelli. “Instead of going five, you end up going two-thirds.
“It takes toughness to get through those types of situations. Joe continually finds ways to get big outs and get through things.”
Ryan kept things interesting. He always does. He’s a 29-year-old first-time All-Star who’s always been unorthodox. Still, there’s a method to Ryan’s madness, a reason for every pitch he throws.
He always does things his own way.
