Sire of Fort Myers Update: Big Game Brandon Waddell Turning Heads

Before we get started, let’s take a look at the roster activity from over the past week.

March 24: Alex Kirilloff optioned. Charlie Barnes, Griffin Jax, Caleb Hamilton, Trevor Larnach, Royce Lewis re-assigned.

March 25: Lewis Thorpe optioned. Andrew Romine exercised his opt out. Andrew Albers, Luke Farrell, Ian Hamilton, Juna Minaya, Glenn Sparkman, David Banuelos re-assigned.

March 27: Tzu-Wei Lin, JT Riddle, Keon Broxton, Tomas Telis, Rob Refsnyder re-assigned.

The Twins Opening Day roster picture is starting to develop, but these transactions don’t prevent anyone from still participating in spring games.

There have been some really great Spring Training performances this year. Kenta Meada (0.49 ERA in 18 1/3 innings) and Randy Dobnak (0.66 ERA in 13 2/3 innings) have been nearly perfect. Kyle Garlick and Willians Astudillo have also been impressive in their pursuit of an Opening Day roster spot. None of those four are eligible for Sire of Fort Myers, as they’re all on the 40-man roster and have previous MLB experience, but it’s worth recognizing their efforts this spring.

The early favorite for Sire of Fort Myers has faded as of late. Keon Broxton is in a 1-for-11 mini slump, which was enough to open the door for him to be leapfrogged. Tzu-Wei Lin has looked good in the field and has a .313/.476/.500 batting line in 21 plate appearances. Trevor Larnach made an impact this week, but unless he gets a lot of looks over these final few games it’s too little too late. He’s 4-for-12 with a double and a pair of home runs this spring.

https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1374811024621195271

Switching the focus over to pitching, there’s been a trio of relievers that have paced the pen over the past few weeks: Derek Law, Brandon Waddell and Luke Farrell. All three delivered a scoreless inning this afternoon at Hammond Stadium. Law topped out at 94.9 mph, Waddell at 93.6 mph and Farrell at 93.0 mph.

Law has been so good that last week’s Sire update was basically entirely dedicated to him. He’s now pitched seven shutout innings, surrendered just three hits, has walked two batters and has 10 strikeouts.

https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1374527609602777088

Waddell had an ugly second outing of spring but has been lights out since. He gave up four runs on three hits March 5 but has only given up one hit and one walk while striking out 13 batters in his last six outings. Only Maeda and Dobnak have more strikeouts this spring than Waddell.

Waddell boasts an impressive pedigree as a big-game pitcher. He’s a Virginia baseball legend, having posted a 5-0 record in five College World Series starts during his time as a Cavalier. He out-dueled Walker Buehler in the CWS deciding game in 2015 to give Virginia its first national title.

https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1374824580817289218

Farrell has already been re-assigned to minor league camp, so we know he’s not going to make the Opening Day roster. That doesn’t prevent him from garnering Sire consideration. He’s pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings and allowed three hits. He has eight strikeouts and has not walked a batter.

Luke is the son of former Major Leaguer and Blue Jays and Red Sox manager John Farrell. His brothers both work in baseball, one as Assistant Director of Baseball Development for the Cubs, the other as Amateur Scouting Director for the Blue Jays.

https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1374522887302971392

This year’s altered schedule and rules for Spring Training appear to have somewhat limited playing time for Sire of Fort Myers candidates. Broxton leads all Sire candidates with 31 plate appearances and Waddell is the innings leader at 8 1/3. To put that into perspective, 2018 Sire of Fort Myers Ryan LaMarre had 45 plate appearances that year and 2019 winner Ryne Harper pitched 11 innings.

Time is running out. There are only three games left on the Spring Training schedule. Who will be crowned 2021 Sire of Fort Myers?

MORE FROM TWINS DAILY

— Latest Twins coverage from our writers

— Recent Twins discussion in our forums

— Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email