St. Paul – There is a lot of uncertainty about the makeup of the Minnesota Twins roster going into the off-season, but none more so than their bullpen. Cole Sands, Kody Funderburk, and Justin Topa are the only internal options who look locked in for next year, which leaves five spots to fill before Opening Day.
The Twins shuffled plenty of internal candidates in and out of the bullpen last year, and they will compete for those openings: Travis Adams, Pierson Ohl, Anthony Misiewicz, and Cody Laweryson, among others. But what about other relievers at Triple-A, who were in positions similar to Laweryson’s at the end of 2025?
They have pitchers like Marco Raya and Cory Lewis, who will likely move out of the rotation into a relief role. These are the pitchers who have spent more time in the bullpen than not in recent years, relievers like Aaron Rozek, Trent Baker, Mike Paredes, and Jarret Whorff.
All these pitchers ended up in the org through different means. The Twins took Paredes in the 18th round of the 2021 draft. They signed Rozek and Whorff out of Indy Ball, and Baker was a Minor League Rule 5 pick last off-season. They’re all fringe candidates to make it into the bullpen next season. Still, they all will have an opportunity to make a case to earn a spot next spring, which is why this will be the most important offseason of their careers.
“I think this off-season is going to be really big for me, because this will be the first one I have with Major League ball, so I get to train with it, I get to play around with it, and really understand why it moves the way it moves,” said Whorff. “Just continue to get better, continue to put my head down and create swing and miss. Go out there, and I’m excited to turn the page.”
“When I got rule 5’d here, I thought, ‘This is going to be a good thing,’ Baker said. “Got some great coaching this spring in Double-A. Tribute to the pitching coaches down there, Ryan Ricci and Jesus Sanchez, those guys helped me a ton to help me get to where I am now. I’m throwing harder and have better pitches, better pitch shapes, just improving my attack plan with how my stuff plays against the hitters.”
This season was Baker and Whorff’s first full one at Triple-A, and Paredes earned his first stint in St. Paul for the first time at the end of the year.
On the other hand, Rozek took the shuttle bus from Double-A to Triple-A more frequently in 2024 and 2025. After having a year of experience, splitting time between the rotation and the bullpen, it helped him grow in a leadership role for the newcomers in the bullpen.
“I love pitching, I love pitching development, and being able to be useful wherever I can be,” Rozek said. “And if that’s just being a sounding board for younger guys, then I’ll do it, and if I can direct them in any sort of way, I’d love to help.”
Rozek worked closest with Paredes down the stretch, spending a ton of time on and off the field with him in Wichita this season. Paredes had a strong 2025 season, pitching to a 2.38 ERA, striking out 21.6% of hitters in 105 ⅔ innings over 38 appearances.
It also helped Baker and Whorff to have a pitcher like Rozek or Erasmo Ramirez and Darren McCaughan to help them whenever they were in a rut or just needed input from another reliever.
“Obviously, both those guys are phenomenal people. It’s awesome to have them,” said Whorff. “On a day-to-day [basis], you get to play catch with them, you get to pick their brain on what they’d throw in a certain count, and you get to pick their brain on grips, how they approach the game. They’ve been so helpful to me and the younger guys, so it’s been great.”
“It was an easy adjustment,” Baker said. “I knew a bunch of these guys from playing against them, going up the system with the [St. Louis] Cardinals, because the Cardinals were in [the same Low-A division as] the Twins. We played the Twins all the time, even Double-A last year with Springfield. I was very familiar, and it was a pretty easy transition.”
Making a case for each of these three to be a fringe candidate for the Twins bullpen next season won’t be an effort of just their 2025 season numbers alone. Each of them had visible ups and downs on the mound this year.
Rozek dominated at Double-A, but his ERA jumped from 3.53 to 6.90 when he pitched in Triple-A. The same can be said for Baker and Whorff. Baker’s ERA at Double-A was 2.86 in 50 ⅓ innings and 4.96 with the Saints in 45 ⅓ innings. Whorff’s ERA sat at 2.28 in 27 ⅔ innings with the Wind Surge, but saw it go up by five full points at 7.54 in 45 ⅓ innings.
The common theme among the trio is their struggles against Triple-A competition. They’ll all likely begin their 2026 seasons at Triple-A to get another shot to prove they can adjust.
If they can do that, they’ll make their cases to earn a call-up similar to that of Laweryson’s this season in 2026. Each pitcher knows what they need to improve on to make their big-league dreams a reality next season. So they’ll all be spending their off-seasons improving their pitch mix and swing and miss stuff, to make those dreams come true.
“I’ll be reflecting on the ups, obviously, a lot of positives to take away,” Baker said. “The season’s not over yet. Just knowing what to expect next year for sure, especially in spring training. Knowing how my stuff plays as well, knowing I can pitch up there for sure. Just taking that away, and knowing I’m good enough and working hard off that.”
“I think the biggest thing is just being able to be versatile,” said Rozek. “I’ve done starting, long relief, now fully bullpen, almost lefty specialist-esk. So it’s being able to be versatile. I think the biggest thing to work on is just beating splits, getting righties out on a more consistent basis. Velocity is always going to be the number one priority, especially in this day and age. But I think it’s just continue to hit the ground running in the off-season.”
