The Twins traded 11 players at least a year before the deadline, releasing several rental veterans and controllable relievers, leaving them with one of their worst pitching staffs in the second half. But the blow to the team’s more immediate competitiveness came with the positive side of adding to their already impressive starting pitching talent. spring injury Pablo Lopez and david festa The pack may be thinned out, but the Twins have more viable starting pitchers than can fit into a five-man rotation.
the right wing joe ryan and bailey over Stuck in a place. Ryan has been one of the American League’s most consistent starting pitchers in recent seasons. Over has been a solid three-quarter starter for most of his career, but his 2025 performance has taken a nosedive due to a disastrous June. Simeon Woods Richardson He’s out of minor league options and has pitched for quite some time in 2025, so he’s a strong candidate for a rotation spot.
Looking at the team’s available starting pitchers, there are a few players who don’t seem likely to make the rotation at this point. left handed Kendry Rojas and Connor Priellip and right wing john klein and Andrew Morris No MLB debut yet. They will likely start in Triple-A, but any of them could advance to a rotation spot later in the year. Throw Woods Richardson into the rotation and take players who haven’t yet made their major league debuts out of the conversation, and you’re left with three arms. Taj Bradley, Mick Abeland swallow matthews — About two points.
Bradley acquired last summer griffin jacksOf the three, he has the most experience at the big league level. Once a consensus top-25 prospect in the sport, he broke into the majors with Tampa Bay in 2023 and has remained mostly in the rotation since. However, he has not yet achieved good results as a big leaguer, appearing in 75 games (73 starts) and recording an ERA of 4.86.
Bradley’s ERA+ peaked at 97 in 2024, and his career average ERA is just 85. His peripherals are better than his output and his career 4.00 SIERA provides some confidence in his ability to perform at the big league level. He doesn’t turn 25 until next month. Bradley is still young enough to make a big splash, but young enough that it wouldn’t be strange to see him spend time in Triple-A.
Matthews is about 10 months older than Bradley but has less major experience. Right-handers have similar resumes in smaller samples. He’s only made 25 big league starts, and while his 5.92 ERA is abysmal, his 4.41 FIP and 3.80 SIERA both give reason for optimism.
Matthews has a career strikeout rate of 24.7% and a walk rate of 6.6%. It is good for K-BB% equivalent to the following advanced weapons: Kevin Gausman and Freddie Peralta. Most of his struggles in terms of results have to do with his incredibly high .359 BABIP, a number that comes down to a larger sample. He also made notable progress in 2025 compared to 2024. Barrel percentage plummeted from 14% to a more acceptable 9.9%, and hard hit percentage dropped to 38.8%. If Matthews underperforms at the big league level, he could be left out of the starting rotation this year, but basic metrics for the former top-100 prospect suggest we’ll have to wait and see.
In Abel’s case, the right-handed pitcher has by far the least experience in the major leagues. He made his MLB debut last year and doesn’t turn 25 until August. He posted a 6.23 ERA in 39 innings between the Phillies and Twins last year. It would be easy to leave Abel off the Opening Day roster, then, but he has some serious pedigree as a recent top-100 prospect and has turned heads with some dominant play this spring. In three starts, Abel has a 39.4% success rate with 13 strikeouts in 10 innings. Bradley (7 runs in 14 innings, 5K/BB for 19) and Matthews (7 runs in 6 innings) weren’t quite as sharp. Of course, spring numbers don’t really matter, but Abel makes a stronger case than its competitors.
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