Schulfer Finally Promoted to St. Paul

[Ted Schwerzler]

Last week Nash Walker wrote about Matt Canterino as an arm the Minnesota Twins should look to accelerate for a bullpen role in 2022. I couldn’t agree with him more and opined he should be on the active roster by August 1. A lesser known name was recently promoted to St. Paul, and Austin Schulfer could find his way into the mix by the end of 2022 as well.

 

A 19th round pick during the 2018 Major League Baseball draft, Austin Schulfer was selected out of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. As a senior sign, Schulfer dominated rookie ball with Elizabethton but was over a year older than the average age for the league. In 2019 he went to Low-A Cedar Rapids and while the ERA took a step backward, the strikeouts ticked upwards.

Like everyone else, Schulfer missed 2020 due to a canceled minor league season. Playing for Wichita all of last year, he turned in 24 starts and a 4.34 ERA with a slightly decreased 8.6 K/9. Returning to Wichita this season, again old for the level at 26, he broke out in a new role. Minnesota had transitioned the righty to a relief role and so far the results are encouraging.

Through 23 innings at Double-A, Schulfer owned a minuscule 0.39 ERA. He acted as the closer for the Wind Surge and picked up seven saves while finishing 12 games. As impressive and dominant as the 30/4 K/BB is, allowing zero homers and just 4.3 H/9 was something extraordinary. Promoted to Triple-A St. Paul before the calendar turned to June, he’ll now have the opportunity to prove it.

Schulfer is a competitor in every sense of the word. He’s an avid gamer and has grown a solid following among the popular MLB The Show community. He displayed his skills on the popular streaming service, Twitch, during the Covid shutdown and became something of a fan favorite. Now back on the mound and looking to highlight his skills there, it’s clear a new path forward may be the one that gets him to the big leagues.

Among the keys to his success this season has been a ground ball rate of over 60%. As a starter Schulfer hovered around 48% when it came to fly balls. He’s never been too susceptible to the long ball, but line drives have hurt him in the past. Blowing pitches by opposing batters while limiting the opportunity for damage is as perfect of a combination as it gets.

Minor league velocity is largely untracked, but the expectation for pitchers moving to relief should always be a slight uptick. Whether deception or the ability to focus on two pitches, the change has worked in his favor. Batted ball numbers don’t suggest things are too out of whack either. While his 2.15 FIP and 2.97 xFIP are both above the present ERA, both would represent solid production.

There’s really no reason to believe a prospect is going to take Minnesota’s bullpen by storm and wind up being their closer down the stretch. What can happen here, however, is that the Twins find another usable middle relief arm amongst a group that so badly needs help. Although the Twins bullpen has been largely fine in high leverage, finding consistency in getting them there has been a challenge.

Rocco Baldelli and the front office have needed to use a revolving door behind starters that routinely are done during the middle innings. While not being able to fire off Joe Smith, Jhoan Duran, or Emilio Pagan early or nightly, they’ll need trusted help to bridge the gap. I’d bet handsomely that Minnesota addresses that area at the trade deadline, but if they build a level of confidence in another player or two at St. Paul, it winds up benefiting them greatly.

 

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[roger]

Kid was fantastic for Wichita, 1 earned run in 15 games.

[Seansy]

I have always been a big believer in the FO's work to find relievers over signing big money FAs. Whether it is developed internally or a minor league FA getting a chance, they have enough options to rotate through until someone sticks. Thielbar, Coulombe, Stashak, Duffey, Duran, Smith, Alcala, etc. have all had success through this process.

Whether it is Austin, Sisk, Moran, Cano, or Hamilton etc. eventually they will find another guy or more to stick in the BP for the team.

 

[se7799]

Great news.  Really great person.  Has helped me out in a tough circumstance in my life...without knowing me beforehand.  Love this guy.

[TheLeviathan]

24 minutes ago, se7799 said:

Great news.  Really great person.  Has helped me out in a tough circumstance in my life...without knowing me beforehand.  Love this guy.

Do tell?

His numbers are ridiculous.  I hope he finds success in St Paul and we see him soon!

[Rosterman]

I keep thinking of the good thoughts we had on other St. Paul pitchers, like Ryan Mason, and currently Jordan Gore (not to mention "lights out" Yennier Cano). Plus Bryan Sammons.

My question is, for COVID replacements are they required to pull ONLY from the AAA roster?

[se7799]

3 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

Do tell?

His numbers are ridiculous.  I hope he finds success in St Paul and we see him soon!

I will share someday....maybe.  It was just so personal to my family and amaizing. It was a group effort from Austin, Thad Levine and Yeison Perez..former minor league player now coach.  All 3 and more went above and beyond for us.  Will always cheer and pray the best for Austin.  I can not overstate how much they helped me at a time of need.  I promise we have some amaizing human beings in our organization.

[RJA]

The big difference in his game this year is limiting walks.  I always think if your stuff is good enough to play well at AA, you have a shot at the bigs.  It will be interesting to see how he is doing a few weeks from now.  Hopefully, he continues his success at St. Paul and we see him at Target Field.

[mikelink45]

Wait and see.  Hope, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.  I thought Cano would be good. 

[Dman]

Very happy for Schulfer.  The Twins believed in his stuff enough to get him nearly 5 innings of spring training work.  Granted the 7.07 ERA and only two K's was far from impressive but at least they gave him a chance to show who he is.  

While I don't think Schulfer is as good as his 0.72 ERA and 0.68 WHIP I do think he is a talented reliever.  His K\9 is solid and the numbers paint a picture that batters are having a hard time getting solid contact against him.  AAA can be a tough level for pitchers so those numbers are not likely to be sustainable but he does give the Twins another pen arm that might be able to help out later in the season.

[se7799]

3 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Wait and see.  Hope, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.  I thought Cano would be good. 

He is a completely different player and person than Cano.  Canos lack of impact thus far in no way affects how Austin performs.

[HrbieFan]

What kind of pitch mix does he have? Assume with that high of a ground ball rate he has some impressive off speed pitches