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The Oakland Athletics drafted Oklahoma outfielder Kyler Murray with the 9th pick in the 2018 Draft. One year and one round later, the Twins drafted Matt Canterino out of Rice. Murray wouldn’t join the A’s, instead opting to quarterback the Arizona Cardinals en route to NFL stardom. Canterino signed with the Twins for $1.1 million. While Murray and Canterino have taken different paths, the two crossed for a duel in Texas. Murray stepped into the box and came up empty against the right-hander. “I struck him out,” Canterino said. Striking hitters out has become a common occurrence for Canterino, who fanned 45 of the 84 batters he faced in a shortened 2021 season. Canterino suffered from elbow tendinitis, ending his dominant campaign prematurely. Canterino, 24, has pitched just 48 Minor League innings since he graduated with a 4.0 GPA in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University. In those 48 innings, he’s struck out 76 and allowed just six total runs for a 1.13 ERA. Rice has a history of pushing pitchers, and the Twins were uber-conservative with Canterino’s workload after the draft in 2019. Then COVID-19 canceled the 2020 Minor League season. Canterino eclipsed 94 or more innings in all three of his seasons in college, which he said shows an aptitude to handle a larger share. So far this offseason, so good. “I’m feeling very healthy and feeling very, very strong.” A herky-jerky, “hitch” delivery helps Canterino generate a fastball in the upper-90s. The 6-foot-2 Texan pairs that fastball, which contains excellent carry, with a sharp, biting slider and an improved changeup. He compared his delivery and mix to future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw. Canterino’s changeup moves like a splitter, with enough depth to dart away from lefties and crowd righties who may be looking fastball or slider. That three-pitch combination held hitters to a minuscule .111/.186/.148 batting line in 2021. “I want to think that with success I had in limited reps this year, I want to think that I can sustain that over a full season.” Sustaining a 0.78 ERA and 54% strikeout rate over an entire season would propel Canterino to the top of prospect lists everywhere and likely to Minnesota. Anything close to those gaudy numbers will undoubtedly move Canterino into the Major League picture for late-2022 and early 2023. Canterino dominated High-A hitters in 2021 and could be slated for the Double-A Wichita rotation in 2022. No matter where he pitches next season, you can bet that Canterino will have a PEZ dispenser or two handy. Often greeting his 2019 teammates and coaches with a “howdy!” prompted a pitching coach to tag Canterino with the nickname Woody, referring to the famous cowboy from Toy Story. In response, Canterino bought a five-pound bag of PEZ candy and handed it out via a Woody-themed dispenser. He carried the tradition into 2021 and plans to run it back in 2022. Canterino said he recently added a Buzz Lightyear PEZ dispenser, Woody’s galactic best friend from the movies. “If you ever catch me on a day I’m not pitching, Woody will be in my left pocket, and Buzz will be in my right.” Canterino is gearing up with his PEZ dispensers for a January return to Fort Myers. “It’s all systems go for 2022.” MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Order the Offseason Handbook — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email

In 2021, 10 Twins made their Major League debuts with various amounts of success. Nonetheless, a lot of these guys could play major roles in contributing to the future success of the team. Let’s see how they did. Alex Kirilloff, OF/1B Even though Alex Kirilloff played a game in the playoffs in 2020, he didn’t officially make his major league debut until April 14, 2021. Kirilloff had a rough start at the plate, going 0-for-15 to start his career despite some bad batted-ball luck. In April, Kirilloff’s xSLG was an otherworldly .825 but his actual slugging percentage was only .400. His average exit velocity was 95.4 MPH in April and 93 MPH in May. However, on May 5, the Twins placed Kirilloff on the IL because of a wrist injury. Kirilloff returned to the lineup on May 21 and was not the same the rest of the season, only hitting .260/.316/.387 the rest of the year. On July 21, it was announced that Kirilloff would undergo season-ending wrist surgery. In 2021, Kirilloff hit .251/.299/.423 (.722) but a lot of that was impacted by his nagging wrist injury. Lately, Kirilloff has been taking batting practice and should be ready to go for the 2022 season. Kirilloff remains an extremely promising player and should be a middle-of-the-order bat for the Twins for years to come. Grade: B Ben Rortvedt, C After Ryan Jeffers started the season 5-for-34 with 18 strikeouts and only one extra base hit, the Twins called up left-handed hitting Ben Rortvedt to back up Mitch Garver. On April 30, Rortvedt made his major league debut against the Kansas City Royals, going 1-for-3 with a walk. He recorded his first major league hit in the bottom of the eighth inning, hitting an RBI single off of Wade Davis to drive in Andrelton Simmons. Rortvedt was unimpressive at the plate in 2021, hitting .169/.229/.281 (.510) with three home runs in 98 plate appearances. Behind the plate, Rortvedt was a very good catcher. In only 256 innings, Rortvedt was worth five Defensive Runs Saved. This ranked 19th in all of MLB, and nobody else in the top 30 had less than 300 innings. Rortvedt also has a very good arm, throwing out 7 of 16 potential base stealers (44 percent). That was fourth in all of MLB among catchers with at least 200 innings. Rortvedt was a very good defensive catcher with subpar offensive abilities. If he can take a step forward with his bat, he has the potential to be an important part of the Twins future, especially if the Twins decide to trade Garver or Jeffers to acquire starting pitching. Grade: C Nick Gordon, UTIL Growing up in a baseball family, Nick Gordon had lofty expectations since being drafted in the first round by the Twins in 2014. Since then, he has had struggles with health and he became a bit of an afterthought in terms of Twins prospects. So when he made his Major League debut on May 6th, it was a feel good story for all. In his first plate appearance, he walked and then stole second on the next pitch. In his next plate appearance, he roped a single to right field for his first major league hit and then stole second base five pitches later. Gordon struck out his next plate appearance before being lifted for Jorge Polanco in the 8th inning. Gordon finished the day 1-for-2 with a walk and two stolen bases. On June 4, Gordon hit his first big league homer with his dad in the stands. Gordon was below-average with the bat, hitting .240/.292/.355 (.647). As the season progressed, Gordon greatly improved offensively. In September and October, Gordon had an OPS of .752 and a wRC+ of 103, meaning he was slightly above average in those months. He also was hitting the ball harder as the season progressed. Below is a graph of his hard hit rate by month. All season, Gordon’s hard hit rate hovered around 45 percent but in September it jumped to 63 percent. This is very encouraging to see from a young player. Gordon also was very versatile and showed he could move around the diamond which can be very beneficial for a team. He played at least 10 games at shortstop, second base, left field, and center field. He was also a good baserunner, going 10-for11 on stolen bases. He was in the 71st percentile of all players in sprint speed. Gordon could be a valuable asset for the Twins going forward if he continues to build off of his strong September and continues to be versatile. Grade: C+ Trevor Larnach, OF Ever since they drafted Trevor Larnach with the 20th overall pick in the 2018 draft, the Twins have had high expectations for him. After an impressive 2019 season between High-A and AA, Larnach has looked ready for the big leagues. He finally got his wish on May 8th, when he was the starting left fielder against the Detroit Tigers. Larnach didn’t exactly have a debut to remember, going 0-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch. Larnach picked up his first hit on May 12, when he doubled off of former Twin Liam Hendriks. Larnach got off to a good start in the big leagues, hitting .262/.357/.436 with a 120 wRC+ through July 9. After that date, Larnach was abysmal at the plate. From that point on he had a wRC+ of 29 and struck out in 42 percent of his plate appearances. He was not a great hitter against offspeed pitches. Among all MLB hitters with at least 50 plate appearances, Larnach had the highest whiff rate against sliders (56 percent) and the highest whiff rate against changeups (52 percent). The good news is that Larnach hit .362 with a .667 slugging percentage against fastballs. Teams figured out he had issues against offspeed and started throwing over 50 percent of pitches as offspeed pitches. Larnach showed some flashes of being a great hitter (max exit velocity in the 97th percentile), so if he adjusts to offspeed pitches he will be a cornerstone of the Twins lineup for years to come Grade: B- Bailey Ober, RHP At 6 feet 9 inches, Bailey Ober is the third tallest pitcher in Twins history behind Jon Rauch and Aaron Slegers. Ober and his imposing presence first appeared in the big leagues on May 18 against the Chicago White Sox. Ober went four innings, allowing four runs on five hits and one walk. He gave up home runs to Jake Lamb and Yasmani Grandal and struck out four. He got a no-decision and the Twins ended up winning 5-4 behind three Miguel Sano home runs. Ober made 20 starts in his rookie season, going 3-3 with a 4.19 ERA. Ober threw 92 innings and had a team high 5.05 K/BB ratio. This ratio was fifth best in the American League. Ober was in the 94th percentile of all pitchers in terms of walk rate and in the 85th percentile in terms of chase rate. Ober hardly threw pitches outside of the zone but when he did, hitters chased them at a high rate. Ober’s average fastball in 2021 was only 92 miles per hour, but his big frame causes the batters to have less reaction time because the ball is being released at around 52 feet from home plate, almost a foot closer than the average pitcher releases it from. This creates the illusion that Ober’s fastball is moving faster than it actually is. Despite having below average stuff (percentile rankings below), Ober’s large frame elevates him to being a good pitcher (102 ERA+) and if Ober can improve his stuff in the coming years he could be a fantastic pitcher for the Twins. Grade: A- Gilberto Celestino, OF With injuries to Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Jake Cave, and Rob Refsnyder early in 2021, the Twins needed a center fielder. They decided to call up Gilberto Celestino from AA, and he made his major league debut on June 2 against the Orioles. Celestino had a rather uneventful debut, going 0-for-2 with a strikeout in a 6-3 loss. Celestino recorded his first major league hit on June 9 against the Yankees. Over the 2021 season, Celestino mightily struggled at the plate with the Twins, hitting .136/.177/.288 (.466). It was clear Celestino was overmatched at the big league level, so they sent him down to AAA St. Paul after 22 games, and he hit well at the AAA level, having a wRC+ of 125 in 49 games there. In retrospect, Celestino wasn’t ready for the big leagues but is still a good ball player. Having some big league experience under his belt will help him going forward, and he could be Byron Buxton’s primary backup going forward so we probably will be seeing Celestino in the big leagues again at some point in 2022. Grade: D Griffin Jax, RHP On June 8, Griffin Jax made history. He became the first Air Force Academy graduate to play Major League Baseball. Jax was used in a mop-up role against the Yankees in the 9th inning when the Twins were down 5-3. Jax did not have a very good debut, going one inning while allowing three runs on home runs from Miguel Andujar and Gary Sanchez. He did record his first big league strikeout when he struck out Tyler Wade on a 2-2 slider. In 2021, Griffin Jax had a tough rookie season. He went 4-5 with a 6.37 ERA. He allowed 2.52 HR/ 9 innings which was the highest among all MLB pitchers (minimum 60 innings). That number is also the highest for a single season in Twins history (min. 60 IP). The big problem was his fastball. Jax’s fastball was the fifth worst fastball in all of baseball in terms of xSLG. Jax’s fastball got crushed in 2021, but he continued to throw it almost 50 percent of the time. Jax’s slider, on the other hand, could be a very good pitch. Jax’s .271 xwOBA against the slider is good and signals that it is a pitch he should be throwing more than just 30 percent of the time, maybe up to 50 percent. Despite a bad 2021, Jax could bounce back by relying more on his off-speed pitches and revamping his pitch arsenal going into 2022. Grade: D Charlie Barnes, LHP Charlie Barnes made his major league debut in the first game of a July 17 doubleheader with the Detroit Tigers. After the first batter he faced (Robbie Grossman) went deep, Barnes was very good. Barnes went 4 2/3 innings, allowing one run on four hits and a walk while striking out one. He recorded his first major league strikeout in the second inning when he struck out Zack Short on a changeup. In Barnes’s rookie season, he went 0-3 with a 5.92 ERA. Barnes made eight starts for the Twins and threw 38 total innings. Barnes bounced back and forth between the Twins and the minor leagues quite a bit, so he never really got the chance to establish himself at the big league level. On December 23, Barnes signed with the Lotte Giants in Korea, so we wish him the best of luck in Korea as he pursues professional baseball there. Grade: D Joe Ryan, RHP Any prospect who yields a player as good as Nelson Cruz should be good enough to make an impact in the big leagues for a long time. On September 1st, Joe Ryan gave us a taste of what he will be like for years to come. Ryan had a solid major league debut, going five innings, allowing three runs on three hits and a walk while striking out five batters. He got his first career strikeout in the first inning when he struck out Ian Happ with a high fastball. Ryan had a solid debut season for the Twins, only throwing 26 innings, but going 2-1 with a 4.05 ERA. However, Ryan had some bad luck, as his xERA was 2.99. He also had 10.1 K/9 and only 1.7 BB/9. This 10.1 K/9 rate is the highest by any rookie starter in Twins history (min. 25 IP). Ryan relied on a very good high fastball/slider combination to get strikeouts. Going into 2022, Ryan is one of three starters the Twins have in the rotation. His role on the team will depend on if the Twins make any more pitching acquisitions, but expect Ryan to be a fixture in the Twins rotation next year. Grade: A- Jovani Moran, LHP Jovani Moran was very limited in year one, but he should be a fixture in the Twins bullpen in years to come. Moran made his major league debut on September 12 and went 1 1/3 innings, allowing no runs on two hits and two walks while striking out two batters. He collected his first major league strikeout when he got Nicky Lopez to chase a devastating changeup. Jovani Moran only threw eight innings for the Twins in 2021, and at first glance you wouldn’t think he was very good. He had an ERA of 7.88 and walked seven guys in eight innings. If you look deeper, Moran was unlucky. He had an xERA of 3.84, meaning he had some awful batted-ball luck. He also throws one of the best swing-and-miss pitches in the Twins organization, a disgusting changeup. His whiff rate on that pitch was an astounding 51.4 percent, meaning that over half of the swings on that pitch were misses. This changeup whiff rate was the fourth highest for any pitcher in the league. Moran was impressive in his limited work in 2021, and I am excited to see him and his changeup in the 2022 bullpen. Grade: B Final Thoughts Despite a rough season, the Twins gave us a glimpse into their future. We saw a lot to like out of some of the Twins young players in 2021 and if these players can take a step forward in 2022 and continue to develop, the Twins should be able to contend for the AL Central in the near future. What do you think of these grades? How would you grade these players for their rookie seasons? Which of these players are you most excited to watch in 2022? Who is the most likely of these players to succeed going forward? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Thank you for reading, and Go Twins!

A big theme for me in the past year, and especially the past week, has been gratitude. During the Christmas holiday, I was able to spend time with numerous family members and close friends — in person. Maybe not as many as I would under "normal" circumstances but it was a seismic improvement over 2020, when these interactions largely took place through a computer screen. I wasn't going to take that for granted. I doubt I ever will again. One of the few silver linings to emerge from this awful pandemic is a renewed sense of perspective and awareness. You don't know what you've got til it's gone. As I look back on the 2021 Twins season, I'm struck by the same feelings. Around the All-Star break, I wrote up a post reflecting on the best and worst first half ever. It sort of summarizes my sentiments on the season as a whole. In terms of the product on the field, it sucked. The team was incredibly disappointing, and managed to effectively eliminate itself from contention by Memorial Day. There were heartbreaking defeats, devastating injuries, and seemingly endless setbacks. At the same time, to even HAVE a product on the field, and to be able to watch it live, in-person, surrounded by my baseball-loving brethren, was reinvigorating. I went to more games at Target Field than in any season before. I savored each moment in the ballpark, even as my favorite team spiraled before my eyes. A road trip to Kansas City with the wife in early June probably best epitomized my experience as a Twins fan in 2021. The six-hour cruise down I35 is one of our favorite summer traditions, and another that went conspicuously amiss in 2020. Arriving in time for a series opener between the Royals and Twins, we strolled into Kauffman Stadium on a gorgeous Friday night. After grabbing a couple of local beers, we found our way to our seats with the first inning already underway. Once we sat down, Matt Shoemaker had already given up three runs. By the end of the inning, that total would be nine. Like the Twins season as a whole, this game was really never competitive. In fact, it was at times kind of embarrassing (particularly while in hostile territory!). But you know what? I still enjoyed the hell out of it. The surrounding fans were never mean-spirited or contentious. We were all just happy to be back at the ballpark. While I very much want the Twins to get back to playing better baseball next year, the more immediate concern is whether (and when) they'll be playing baseball at all. Which brings us back to this whole lockout business. Things remain stagnant on the CBA front, as expected. Negotiations are understandably set aside during the Christmas and New Year's stretch. But once we've rung in 2022, the vibe will quickly change. Suddenly, the scheduled start of spring training is only six weeks away, with dozens of free agents unsigned, and Minnesota among many teams whose needs are largely unaddressed. Going forward, dear journal, I suspect these missives will grow more urgent and less forgiving. But for the time being, I'll happily put my energy toward celebrating the end of a weird year, and embracing my deep gratitude for everything it brought back.