Your Twins' Relief Pitcher Prospects

You have three slated for 2023.  How confident are you that they will stick?  Henriquez is on the club now unless someone beats him out in ST.  Schulfer did not handle the AAA promotion well so maybe he needs another year to 2024.  Bentley does not look that good.  If he is going to make the Twins a hitter friendly AFL would have been a good proving grounds. I see only Sisk and Henriquez in the 2023 BP at some point. 

I see Henriquez making the club, Someone has to pitch multiple innings when the starter departs early.  You will probably need 2 of these.  

I can see Sisk at some point in time, he has little left to prove in AAA.

Rest are later.

I'd be looking at starters rather than minor-league relievers.

I don't know all the details, but most of the key recent internal relief stars that I remember were starters in the minors and even in the majors to begin with: Rogers, Duffey, May, Nathan (with Giants), Duran, Perkins, etc. The minor-league relief aces were either never given a chance or didn't do especially well: Burdi, Chargois, and few others that I remember TD posters begging to see in Minneapolis.

Could the guys in double A be any older? Hopefully they throw 95+

Sisk looks like a LOOGY based on the video.  A lefty submariner who probably doesn’t throw too hard.  Righty’s will tee-off him in the majors.  Since I have no expectations for any of these relievers except for maybe Henriquez since he got innings as a starter.  Anything else is a bonus.  Even a reliever brought up that throws 5-10 effective innings.  

Probably looking at Sands and maybe WInder becoming relievers who could start in a double-header pinch, if they can make the major league roster. The joy is both could also be long men.

Canterino might be better suited as a bullpen arm. Be inbteresting to see where he ends up in 2023. (Enlow has to be in the mix somewhere).

Cody Laweryson also looks to be a dominant bullpe arm, sooner than most everyone mentioned above if he gets to start at AAA in 2023. Kody Funderburk is also an interesting minor league arm.

AAA is far different from AA, as is the majors. But the stats of Jovani Moran are so different from AAA and the majors. And then you look at someone as the late aging Twin prospect Yennier Cano (who is over in Baltimore now) who dominated the minors for two seasons but totally bombed in the majors.

All of the player we have mentioned so far will probably egt a chance in the majors, albeit some limited (Schulfer could be the next Ryan Mason, perhaps...or Jordan Gore).

I really would not want to be a LH hitter and face Evan Sisk....

Blayne Enlow is likely to end up in the bullpen. Heck, Louie Varland might contribute more as a reliever than as a starter before his big league career is over.

10 hours ago, PDX Twin said:

I'd be looking at starters rather than minor-league relievers.

I don't know all the details, but most of the key recent internal relief stars that I remember were starters in the minors and even in the majors to begin with: Rogers, Duffey, May, Nathan (with Giants), Duran, Perkins, etc. The minor-league relief aces were either never given a chance or didn't do especially well: Burdi, Chargois, and few others that I remember TD posters begging to see in Minneapolis.

Don't forget Tyler Jay who was a reliever in college.

Sorry, if the Twins are going to build a competitive pen, no one on this list should be counted on, at least in 2023.  And if you think the Twins pen is solid as of now, look again.  Aside from Duran(who has one great season), there is not another reliever on the roster who we can count on for the last 3 innings of a close ballgame.  As many have noted, Lopez may or may not be a flash in the pan, and yet he is arguably next in line to Duran.  Jax is way overrated, as evidenced by his low ranking in the all important IRS ranking.  Thielbar pitched well but is by no means a shut-down reliever.  The rest are all mediocre long shots.

Having whiffed badly last season in the FA reliever market, the FO must step up and sign at least two of the top of the 2023 FA reliever class, e.g.,  Suarez/Robertson/Jansen/ Kimbrel if the Twins are going to take a big step up in competitiveness.   Argue who is best going forward, but this is a major hole that must be filled externally.

Relief pitcher, and prospect rarely go together.  Unless there is a worry about injury, very few minor league relief guys make it to majors.  They need to be super dominate, or left handed.  That is why Sisk is the only one as a relief guy I would say is a prospect.  As stated Ronny Henriquez was a stater, and most likely will try to get slated back into that roll, but if he fails to as a starter he could be a decent pen guy, but most of the best pen guys, started in the minors and failed as a starter in majors, or were moved because of worry of injury or lack of pitch mix at majors.  

Interesting that all who were in consideration for relief pitcher of the year who are eligible for the Rule V Draft were not added to the 40 man roster.

Of those drafted as relievers, I believe Jesse Crain had the most success. Chargois and John Curtiss are still pitching.