Twins' Louie Varland brings his St. Paul family to tears with impressive big-league debut

NEW YORK – Kim Varland could not stop crying.

Blubbering, almost. Her eyes probably haven't been dry for several days since she awoke from a nap at home in Minnesota to several missed calls from her son Louie Varland, trying to tell his parents the Twins had called him up to the big leagues.

"It's like watching a movie," Kim Varland said of the overwhelming experience of watching her middle child pitch at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. "… How do you describe your kid's dreams coming true before your eyes? What could you want more?"

That last line ended on another sob as her husband, Wade Varland, rubbed her back in comfort. The parents, sister Georgi and eldest son Gus — who is a pitcher in the Dodgers' system — were all present to see Louie Varland pitch 5⅓ innings in the Twins' 5-4 loss to the Yankees in 12 innings. For the 24-year-old St. Paul native who played for North St. Paul High School and Concordia-St. Paul before the Twins chose him in the 15th round of the 2018 draft, it was an unreal moment.

Despite the result, Varland's pitching couldn't have been much better for a major league debut. He gave up just three hits, two runs and a walk while striking out seven. His very first MLB strikeout was catching Aaron Judge — the American League MVP favorite on pace to break the more than 60-year-old American League record for homers in a season — swinging.

Judge did hit his 55th homer on his next at-bat against Varland, who was activated as the 29th player for the doubleheader and will return to St. Paul on Thursday.

Varland's brother had done some scouting on the Yankees lineup after his brother told him of his impending start and coached him that his stuff would play well against everyone, minus Judge, so throw him a slider low. The home run ball wasn't quite low enough.

But he struck out the next batter, betraying a sturdy confidence that was only a little feigned.

"I'm glad it's over because there was a lot of anxiety. But it all worked out," Varland said. "… I couldn't really feel my legs the first batter. After that first out, though, things kind of went back to normal. And then after getting the first strikeout against Judge, the perfect one to get my first strikeout on, so I was glad that happened. It was fun."

There was a cheering section 23 people strong in the second deck along the third base line to lend Varland support. And because Varland pitched the first game of a doubleheader with Tuesday's game having been rained out, that small but vocal group was the loudest in the stadium for most of the game. They chanted his name and held up a blue banner with "LOOOOUU!" scripted on it. Someone blew a blue vuvuzela.

Back in his home state, his former college team hosted a watch party and tweeted a video of the players cheering as Varland struck out Judge.

Varland said his call-up "completely blindsided" him. And his rise since 2020, when the pandemic canceled the minor league season, has been stunning. He was the Twins' Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2021 after splitting time between Class A Fort Myers and Cedar Rapids, posting a 10-4 record and 2.10 ERA. This season, the 6-1, 205-pound righthander ascended from Class AA Wichita with a 3.34 ERA and 7-4 record in 19 starts and 20 appearances to the Saints. He made four starts there with a 1.69 ERA and 1-1 record, striking out 27 in 21⅓ innings.

He was on the team bus en route to an road series at Toledo when Saints manager Toby Gardenhire took the bus microphone and announced Varland's call-up to the group, which erupted with ovations.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said he started to take notice of Varland last year, though he hasn't been able to see him pitch much beyond a few live sessions early this past spring training.

"He's the kind of guy that he's forced our hand to just look up and go, 'This is one of our best pitchers. We need to bring this guy up and let him pitch and show us what he can do,'" Baldelli said before the game Wednesday.

Caleb Hamilton caught Varland in bullpens while Jermaine Palacios played behind him in the infield in a recent Saints game. They both said Varland brought the same goofy energy to the Twins clubhouse that he did to the Saints.

"You know it's going to be a good game when he's pitching," Palacios said. "Something good is going to happen."