The Twins May Have Their Next Tyler Duffey

I agree, Cody, especially if he can add a bit to his fastball, which might naturally happen with a switch to the bullpen.  In addition to the great slider, he has the right personality to thrive in the bullpen--he is composed and calm and does not seem to let things bother him.  All that leadership training at the academy paid dividends!  I suspect the FO has already penciled him in for a bullpen spot.

Jax had some good success last year in twins uniform  and his numbers in minors weren't all that bad +q¹q... watching him pitch I thought he could be suited better for the bullpen and dominate a couple of innings , it would be nice if he could generate more speed on the fast ball if moved to bullpen ,,,

Jax is very intelligent  and determined  ,,, I think a move to the bullpen would be good for the twins ( bulldog determined )  ,,, 

The twins need starters so we'll see where he fits in to start A season 

The FO, managers, or the pitching coaches don’t have the luxury of pigeon holing a pitcher  this quickly as a relief pitcher.  The Twins have prospects only at this point, that haven’t pitched a full season.

Would the Twins have given up on Berrios after his first 14 games when he was 3 wins & 4 loses, an era of 8.00, pitching approximately the same amount of innings as Ober and Jax.  The FO has to feel good with what they saw last year from these two, knowing they did not pitch competitively in 2020. 

I wouldn’t be surprised to see them given chance to stay in the rotation most of this year (whenever it is).

Agree with everybody. Not all pitchers can make that switch (Fernando comes to mind). But I think Jax could prosper much like Duffy and May did in that role.

It'd be nice to have the FO give us a definite plan in how they plan to play out this pitching situation. So we all can be on the same page, instead of being left out in the lurch.

Given how many higher upside SP prospects are behind him shifting Jax to the BP seems like the best chance for him to stick and be productive in the majors. Agree with this assessment 100%.

Berrios was 3 wins & 7 losses. My error.

Cody, you make some valid points but how can you ignore his horrific HR/9 rate of 2.5?  This is a no-no for any RP.  Sure, if he can rachet up his FB by 2-3 pts he might have a shot but what are the chances of that at this stage in his career?  Guys like Jax, Thorpe, Stashak, and probably Dobnak are roster fillers who should be jettisoned quickly if and when  our top pitching prospects develop.

Count me among those who would like to see Jax continue as a starter to see if he can make that happen.  Yet, your points, Cody, are all reasonable,  

Could the Twins be planning on using the piggy-back approach to their starter concerns?  And if so, Jax appears to be a good part of one pair.  Whether he opens and goes 2-3 innings, or comes in in the fifth to pitch 3 innings, could be a valuable part of this year's Twins pitching staff.

Appreciate this young man's journey, coming out of the AFA and serving his nation (and ours) prior to getting on with his baseball career.  Now let's hope like H that baseball can get back on the field so we can begin following actual Twins games.

Great idea!

His milb numbers are nothing special, but are solid for sure. And he has never been bitten that badly by the HR bug until his ML debut. I don't think his rookie introduction damns him for the future.

I do wonder if he might not stick in the the Saints rotation initially. You hate to give up on a rotation option too soon, and depending on how long the lockout lasts, he might be needed in the rotation. It would also afford him a little more time to continue refining his pitches.

But yes, I think his best role is going to be as a RP. I think his slider plays well there and I also agree that he seems to have a calm demeanor that should help him make that transition. But the FB has to play up for him to be better than a middle reliever. If it does, I could see him growing in to a possible set up man.

Looks like a great idea. Griffin Jax has a little of that Eddie Guardado bulldog in him. Even if his heater doesn't add a couple mph, if he can spot it and keep using his slider/change combo, that could get a lot of guys out for a couple innings. If he does add a little more heat, then all the better. 

I'm extremely skeptical Jax has any value. While Jax's slider shows great movement, it was not effective.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/griffin-jax-643377?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb

There is some potential bad luck in there, but Jax didn't have a single effective pitch last year and the expected numbers were mostly pretty poor. Duffey's curveball was far better than Jax's slider when Duffey came up while Duffey's fastball was probably in the same area as Jax's.

I think it's a lot more likely Jax could fill a spot start or middle relief, low leverage role.

Unless the Twins make some bigtime adds, Jax will be a rotation arm just because he can give the team innings. It may not be pretty, but lots of Twins got hammered as a starter and developed prime careers out of the pen (Mahomes, Hawkins, Guardado, Perkins, Duffey).

If the team every starts winning, who knows...he might even be closer material. 

IMO there is no question Jax starts the season in the bullpen...either at AAA or in the big leagues.  Like the mention of him working on how to use his fastball differently...similar to Odorizzi - up in the zone, to make it more effective.

I fully agree he is not likely to be a starter, but can fill a decent ben roll.  First, I remember when 93 was considered fast, not a determent to a pitcher as too slow.  My how times have changed, and I am not that old.  Radke averaged 89 on his fastball and got the job done just fine.  

Second, the speed is not super important if the breaking pitch is that good you throw it more often and just use the fastball to change up things sometimes.  As long as you can spot corners. 

Jax does seem like a good bet to be on the staff. Does Jax make Duffey expendable and available to trade? Walls?

On 3/5/2022 at 10:52 AM, mike8791 said:

Cody, you make some valid points but how can you ignore his horrific HR/9 rate of 2.5?  This is a no-no for any RP.  Sure, if he can rachet up his FB by 2-3 pts he might have a shot but what are the chances of that at this stage in his career?  Guys like Jax, Thorpe, Stashak, and probably Dobnak are roster fillers who should be jettisoned quickly if and when  our top pitching prospects develop.

Before someone yells at me, yes i'm too lazy to look it up.....however I'd be interested to see how many of those homeruns were given up after 50+ pitches.  It seemed to me last year that he really struggled getting through the lineup a third time and seemed to run out of gas.  Just my recollection.....don't shoot the messenger LOL