St. Paul – Marco Raya will be the first to tell you that the start to his season went poorly. Over his first nine outings in 2026, Raya allowed 14 runs on 15 hits and nine walks through 11 ⅓ innings.
It all looked like a repeat of last season, when he had an even worse seven-game stretch as a starter. In those seven starts, Marco Raya allowed 30 earned runs through 19 ⅓ innings, posting a 13.97 ERA, 15.5% walk rate, and .321 opponents’ average.
With the slump starting earlier in the year, Raya got the help he needed from two different people: veteran reliever Luis Garcia and Twins Player Development coach Ryan Pressly.
“They were just kind of working with me, both of them, like pinpointing some things, like some mechanical things as well,” Raya said. “Basically just working with over-the-rubber stuff and keeping my feet a little bit closer and giving me better direction towards the plate, and over the last, like, I’d say five to six weeks, it’s been pretty good attacking the strike zone.”
The work Raya put in with Pressly and Garcia helped him cut his walk rate down from 16.1% over his first 11 ⅓ innings on the year to just three allowed over his last 26 ⅔ innings. He’s looked like a new pitcher ever since, as he has a 3.71 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, .221 opponents’ average, and has recorded 24 strikeouts.
Last season, it was a matter of refinding his confidence and overcoming the mental hurdles of being bashed around in almost every start for a month straight. This year, with the mistakes being more mechanical, it helped Raya fine-tune his approach and achieve better results at a much quicker rate.
“It’s helped me a ton because I knew, obviously, starting the year, the walks was a thing,” Raya said, “and I was working on that stuff and trying to figure out what I needed to fix and what I needed to work on. But having guys like that with the experience they have and seeing things like maybe I don’t see or I don’t feel and pointed that out.”
“I think Marco has done a really good job of staying consistent in his routine and trusting his process,” added Saints pitching coach Ryan Ricci. “I think he simplified the pitch mix a little bit, just kind of mapped out a more concise game plan, just with how he was attacking each side of the plate. I think that’s kind of given him the confidence to go out and throw strikes.”
With the strikes landing in the zone consistently, the next thing for Raya to improve upon is the number of hits he’s allowed on his fastball. Raya has a .340 opponents’ average on the pitch this season, with three of the nine home runs he’s allowed this season hit off it.
Marco Raya only had four swings and misses on the pitch in April. However, since turning his command around on April 29, he’s induced nine swings and misses on the pitch, showing a sign of the fastball turning in the right direction against hitters.
“To start the year off, the heater, or the fastball, just wasn’t really competitive in some cases, or in a lot of cases, I would say,” said Raya. “As of lately, that has been really good, and I’ve been able to attack with that a lot and with the curveball as well.”
Raya’s curveball has been more effective, inducing 17 swings and misses on the season, while only having five hits on it out of the 15 times opposing hitters have hit it into play. Between those two pitches and his sweeper, Raya is finding three pitches he can constantly use against opposing hitters that are working in his favor.
“A lot of the time, with these relievers, when they feel like they have to go out and execute five, six pitches at any point, for the guys who are struggling to get in the zone, it’s a tough thing to do,” Ricci said. “But if you can give them two or three pitches, a concise plan on each side, it helps them go out and just be simple and be free.”
“I think I’m just executing really when I need to,” Raya said. “When I get ahead, just executing those 0-2 pitches and not necessarily giving them space to get the bat on it, and just things like that, small things like that, and just continuing to work on them. So hopefully things continue to go the way they’re going.”
His season totals don’t flash off the stat page, with a 5.68 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, .277 opponents BABIP, and 5.61 FIP. Still, Marco Raya is turning a corner and making his case for an MLB debut later this season. With a spot already secured on the 40-man, Raya will need to show he can get more swing and miss on his fastball to show it’s a major-league-ready pitch.
“He’s done a lot of work with his delivery,” said Ricci. “He’s a super athletic kid just by nature, and I think he’s worked to bring that out a little bit more in his delivery. So I think the combination of those two things has been a big role in his turnaround, and he’s done a really, really nice job.”
