5 Prospects Who Could Be the Next Cody Stashak

[Matt Braun]

Benjamin Franklin once said that the only guarantees in life are “death, taxes, and relievers with options constantly moving between AAA and the majors”. Who knew that he was such a baseball fan?While that quote might be false, the premise of it is still quite true. Every year without fail the players that shuttle between Rochester and Minnesota the most are ones of the relief-pitcher variety. There are a number of reasons why this is true but the call for fresh arms does more than just revive a tired bullpen. Calling up new players allows for them to showcase what they can do at the major league level and sometimes those players stick around.

 

It’s no secret that the Twins bullpen improved mightily last year as the season went on because of capable players getting opportunities to perform. Relievers like Cody Stashak and Zack Littell became reliable late-inning arms despite the fact that neither player started the season in the majors. Knowing that this outcome is a possibility for some players, let’s look into a few names who may follow a similar path and be used out of the bullpen for the Twins in 2020.

 

To qualify for this arbitrary list, a player must not have pitched at AAA in 2019 and was used out of the bullpen for the majority of their innings. The reason is that these qualifications applied to Stashak last year yet he still ended up in the majors.

 

RHP Ryan Mason:

The 25-year-old righty was phenomenal at AA in 2019. He struck out nearly 30% of the batters he faced (29.8%) and walked less than 5% (4.3%) of them. The only thing holding Mason back is the fact that he only threw 23 innings last season. If he’s healthy and performing, he could carve out a path to the major league roster in 2020.

 

RHP Hector Lujan:

On the surface, Lujan had quite a strange season in 2019. He held a modest 7.84 K/9 at A+ that jumped up to 9.87 at AA. Yet, his K% stayed stable in going from 22.4% all the way up to 22.6%. How is this possible? His walk rate jumped up by 5.1% (4.4% to 9.5%) after the promotion to AA. That number is quite ugly but if he regains the command he had at A+, then he may see himself in the majors at some point in 2020.

 

RHP Tom Hackimer:

The side-armer and elite Twitter user ate hitters alive in 2019. While holding an ERA of just 2.54, he also happened to strike out 30.6% of all hitters he saw. Much like Lujan, command is the only thing holding Hackimer back as he gave 11.0% of all the batters he faced a free pass to first base in 2019. But even with this, he punches enough tickets and garners enough groundballs to potentially claw his way onto the Twins roster in 2020.

 

RHP Derek Molina:

Strikeouts have not been a problem for Molina so far in his professional career. The lowest K/9 he has held at any level so far was his 11.34 mark in 2017. Molina struck out an astonishing 36.3% of hitters in 2019. For reference, Aroldis Chapman punched out 36.2% of hitters last year. Molina threw just over 40 innings last season and has yet to play at AA but he has an outside shot at making the majors if this level of domination continues.

 

RHP Moises Gomez:

Much like Molina, Gomez is a long shot for playing in the majors but his numbers are too eye-popping to dismiss. Gomez punched out hitters at a slightly higher rate than Molina (36.8%) and allowed just a .149 batting average against. He has not played at AA yet but could jump a few levels if this trend of missing bats doesn’t end.

 

Honorable Mentions:

LHP Jovani Moran:

Moran struck out nearly a third of all the hitters he faced in 2019 but also walked 15.1% of batters. That kind of walk rate is going to hold him back from a promotion to the majors anytime soon.

 

LHP Sam Clay:

Clay played at AAA last season which is why he didn’t make the standard list but his groundball rate of 71.3% last season was too insane not to mention. He also did not surrender a homer at all in 2019. Clay is currently in camp for spring training so he may make the majors sooner than anyone else in this list.

 

RHP Adam Bray:

Bray also dabbled in AAA last season but was lights out at AA with a 2.51 FIP there. AAA was less kind to him as his strikeout rate plummeted there but a rebound could set Bray up nicely for playing time with the Twins in 2020.

 

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[Danchat]

I could see Hackimer make it to the big leagues this year. I like the high K% numbers on these guys!

 

 

He also did not surrender a homer at all in 2019.

Considering how the AAA baseball appeared to be composed of helium last year, that's pretty impressive!

[howieramone2]

Going forward, we should be able to take care of our relief pitching needs internally. Nothing wrong with picking up a spare part or so in free agency, but it really isn't necessary. This is a major breakthrough.

[Doctor Wu]

Very good article! Will keep my eyes on the progress of these youngsters. Very comforting to know that we have some strong arms coming up through the ranks.

[AceWrigley]

I'd take a flyer on Derek Molina.

[prouster]

Isn’t Cody Stashak still a prospect?

[Doctor Gast]

Unbelievable, the only one I`ve heard of is Molina. Very promising!

[jmlease1]

Hackimer feels like he's got the million-dollar arm/five-cent head thing going on, though. He's got to make sure he's got all the other stuff settled. The talent is there, but he hasn't shown he's a guy that can be counted on yet.

[Steve Lein]

From this list I'm a big fan of Hackimer's results. Mason is an intriguing one to follow. Clay also has some interesting results.

 

You're missing the obvious choice for something like this to me, though I'd argue it would be more along the lines of how Brusdar Graterol reached the majors last year. That guy is Edwar Colina.

[nicksaviking]

I'm excited to see some of these guys. I like how fast Mason is moving.

 

But Stashak went from starter to swingman to full-time bullpen stalwart in the minors. The guys listed here seem to have always been viewed as relievers. I kind of the think to find the guys on a similar track as Stashak, we should look at current starters. I think Bailey Ober, Bryan Sammons and Sean Poppin may make some noise out of the pen someday soon.

[4twinsJA]

Twins had 9 pitchers make their MLB debut last year, Smeltzer, Thorpe, Dobnak, Stashek, Poppen, Alcala, no longer on team Graterol, Harper, and Eades. These 8 pitchers mentioned in article as well as Duran, Chalmers, and Colina would make up the leading candidates this year. I am sure there is a darkhorse out there like Dobnak was last year. Twins have some exciting pitching prospects, looking forward to season. Also Twins used 30 pitchers last year, 31 in you include Adrianza so there should be plenty of opportunity for ptichers even if don't make 13 on opening day roster.

[Matt Braun]

 

From this list I'm a big fan of Hackimer's results. Mason is an intriguing one to follow. Clay also has some interesting results.

 

You're missing the obvious choice for something like this to me, though I'd argue it would be more along the lines of how Brusdar Graterol reached the majors last year. That guy is Edwar Colina.

I didn't mention Colina because he's still a starter in my eyes. Probably should have put him in the honorable mentions, though.

[ewen21]

Not trying to knock Stashak, but......he's pitched 25 innings.  If we know anything about relief pitching we don't know what 90% of the relief pitchers are one year to the next.  It is the most unstable position there is.  Sure, it was nice to have him come up and be useful and it would be nice to see more of these kinds of guys.