Jorge Alcala

Louie Varland

Jhoan Duran

Griffin Jax

Cole Sands

Justin Topa

Could this be
the best bullpen
in baseball?

Led by Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran,
the relief corps should help the Twins
challenge in the American League Central.

By Bobby Nightengale, portraits by Carlos Gonzalez

The Minnesota Star Tribune

March 22, 2025 at 9:00am

Brock Stewart

Danny Coulombe

Michael Tonkin

Jorge Alcala

Louie Varland

Jhoan Duran

Danny Coulombe

Cole Sands

Justin Topa

Michael Tonkin

Griffin Jax

Brock Stewart

Could this be
the best bullpen
in baseball?

Led by Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran, the relief corps should help the Twins challenge in the American League Central.

By Bobby Nightengale, portraits by Carlos Gonzalez

The Minnesota Star Tribune

March 22, 2025 at 9:00am

FORT MYERS, FLA. – The ingredients to the best bullpen in baseball: A dominant closer who regularly throws 100-mph heat; a near unhittable yet underappreciated setup man; and a breakout season from a middle reliever.

Twins relievers sure think it sounds familiar.

The Twins believe their bullpen, led by Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax and Cole Sands, can replicate a formula the Cleveland Guardians used last season to win the American League Central and come within three games of reaching the World Series.

“If everybody is healthy, I say we’d be the No. 1” bullpen in the majors, Duran said. “We have the stuff. We have a really good pitching coach. We have a lot of good arms, too, and that’s most important in the bullpen.”

The Twins, on paper, have the best projected bullpen entering the season, according to FanGraphs, with bullish outlooks given to Duran, Jax, Sands and Brock Stewart.

They ranked second in FanGraphs’ projections last spring and finished with mixed results. The bullpen’s 4.12 ERA was 19th in the majors, though the 3.65 FIP (fielding independent pitching, FanGraphs’ preferred metric) was the fifth-best mark in MLB. The group had a 63-5 record when leading after seven innings.

“For a bullpen to be successful, you need more than three, four or five guys,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You’re going to need a dozen guys to contribute in a big way. We have a good, deep group. We have a group that’s got good stuff, can fill roles and do different things.”

The Twins should know what to expect with the back of their bullpen. Jax was incredible last year. Duran wasn’t quite as untouchable as he was in 2023, but the Twins attribute that to more ground balls turning into hits. Duran didn’t give up a homer across his final 34 appearances and issued seven walks in his last 31⅓ innings.

Duran recording a save in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays in September.
(Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

What could set the Twins apart with their bullpen is their depth. Sands became a weapon last year as he shifted into more high-leverage spots. Baldelli joked that whenever he asked pitching coach Pete Maki which reliever made sense for a certain spot of the lineup, Maki always brought up Sands because he had the pitch mix to neutralize all types of righthanded and lefty batters.

Louie Varland moved to a full-time relief role this spring. He’s shown he can be electric coming out of the bullpen in the past, and with his ability to pitch multiple innings, the Twins have a lot of ways they could deploy him this year.

“I like that move, putting Louie in the bullpen,” Duran said. “I told him in ‘23, when they threw him in the bullpen for the first time, I said, ‘Hey, you throw more fastballs coming out of the bullpen. Why don’t you stay here?’ Now when he told me, ‘I’ll be in the bullpen the whole year,’ I said, ‘Yes, let’s go!’”

Michael Tonkin will start the season on the injured list recovering from a shoulder strain, but Jax noted the value of having a veteran pitcher in a middle-relief role.

“Personally, for Duran and me specifically, we need guys who are going to help us get to that back end of the game,” Jax said. “Having guys you know, no doubt, are going to get us there throughout the course of the season helps us out a lot mentally. It almost takes the load off us a little bit.

“The complementary pieces ... those are the pitchers that make this bullpen so dynamic.”

CLOSER

Jhoan Duran

The back of his baseball card may indicate a down 2024 season (3.64 ERA, dip in strikeout rate), but Duran’s analytical numbers were as good as usual as he cut down on his walks, induced weaker contact and allowed only four homers in 54 innings. The important stat: He converted 23 of his 25 saves.

Out pitch: Curveball. He’s known for his fastball that tops 100 mph, but batters whiffed on 47% of their swings against his mid-80s curveball last year.

SETUP MAN

Griffin Jax

If Jax played in a bigger market, he would receive more recognition as one of the best relievers in the sport. He was almost unhittable at times, yielding a 2.03 ERA in 71 innings while holding hitters to a .184 batting average. Reminder, he almost always faced the toughest parts of the lineup, too.

Out pitch: Sweeper. Spinning at nearly 90 mph, it moves like a Frisbee and was responsible for 89 of his 163 strikeouts over the last two seasons.

Jax (right) and catcher Ryan Jeffers celebrate after defeating the Boston Red Sox during the 12th inning of a game in Boston last September. (Michael Dwyer/Associated Press)

HIGH-LEVERAGE ARM

Cole Sands

Last year represented a breakout season for Sands, who maintains a five-pitch mix. Often serving as the bridge between the starter and back end of the bullpen, he had a 3.28 ERA in 71 innings last season with 85 strikeouts and only 12 walks.

Out pitch: Fastball. His velocity ticked up to 96 mph last year, a 2-mph jump from the previous season, and it overpowered hitters at the top of the strike zone.

LEFTY

Danny Coulombe

Back with the Twins after spending the past two years with the Orioles, Coulombe is the top lefty in the bullpen. He was consistent in Baltimore, recording a 2.81 ERA in 51 innings in 2023 and a 2.12 ERA in 29 innings last season.

Out pitch: Sinker. Over the last two seasons, hitters have five hits in 45 at-bats against his sinker with zero extra-base hits.

WILD CARDS

Jorge Alcala

Consistency was an issue for Alcala last year because it sometimes took him a batter or two to reach peak velocity with his fastball. His pure stuff is good enough to pitch in the back of the bullpen. He posted a 3.24 ERA across 58 innings in his first healthy season since 2021.

Out pitch: Slider. Hitters have to prepare for his 98-mph fastball and it leaves them vulnerable to his 90-mph slider.

Louie Varland

For two years, Baldelli raved about the way Varland’s pitches ticked up out of the bullpen. Enter Varland’s first season as a full-time reliever where he’s capable of pitching multiple innings and there is potential to handle a late-inning role.

Out pitch: Fastball. Sitting around 98 mph as a reliever, Varland relies on his power pitch to overwhelm batters.

Louie Varland at Hammond Stadium at the Lee Health Sports Complex in Fort Myers, Florida, during 2025 spring training. (Carlos Gonzalez, The Minnesota Star Tribune)

MIDDLE RELIEF

Justin Topa

Topa made only three relief appearances last year because of injuries, but the Twins liked his ability to create ground balls when he was one of the four players acquired in the Jorge Polanco trade with Seattle. He battled shoulder tightness during camp.

Out pitch: Sinker. During the 2023 season, he ranked in the 94th percentile in ground ball rate and 80th percentile at suppressing exit velocities.

Scott Blewett

Had the Twins survived in September last year, Blewett likely would’ve been on the playoff roster. He was more than a cool backstory, returning from pitching in Taiwan to reach the big leagues for the first time in three years, as he finished with a 1.77 ERA in 20 innings.

Out pitch: Splitter. It’s the pitch he throws the least among his three pitches, but he allowed only one hit in 16 at-bats with it.

Eiberson Castellano

The reigning Philadelphia Phillies minor league pitcher of the year has totaled only 40 innings above A-ball, and he had command issues in camp. The Twins could give him a chance to stick in their bullpen as a long reliever, but as a Rule 5 pick, he must stay on the active roster all year to remain in the organization.

Out pitch: Curveball. It has more velocity than most curveballs, typically sitting in the mid-80s, and garnered nearly a 50% whiff rate in the minors last year.

INJURED LIST

Brock Stewart

Stewart’s velocity returned after he underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery in August. That’s big news for the Twins, though Stewart will miss the start of the season because of a minor hamstring issue. Before his shoulder injury cropped up last year, he started the season with 12 scoreless innings. In 2023, he permitted two runs in 28 relief appearances.

Out pitch: Sweeper. Batters hit .176 against the pitch last season while whiffing on nearly half their swings against it.

Michael Tonkin

After pitching for three organizations last season, the Twins opted to keep him on their roster throughout the winter. A shoulder strain will delay his start to the season, but he had a 3.63 ERA in 57 appearances in 2024.

Out pitch: Fastball. He draws nearly as many swings and misses with his fastball up in the strike zone as he does with either of his breaking balls.

about the writer

Bobby Nightengale