This Twins starting pitcher looks ready to take the leap in 2026
The Minnesota Twins are off to an unlucky 1-3 begin to the 2026 season, however there have been a few positive takeaways throughout the first four games. Royce Lewis already has a pair of homers, and Joe Ryan seemed to have perhaps the greatest velocity of his profession. Another particular optimistic takeaway is how good Taj Bradley seemed in his first begin, which got here in the Twins’ lone win of the season in Game 2 of their collection in Baltimore.
Twins’ Taj Bradley looks ready to take the leap in 2026
The foremost factor that caught out in Bradley’s begin was the unimaginable velocity that he showcased. His fastball averaged 97.4 mph on the day, which was up over a full mile per hour from final season, when it averaged 96.2. He additionally completed out at 99.6 mph on the day, which was the quickest pitch by a Twins starting pitcher in the Statcast period. He’s truly thrown over 100 mph twice in his profession beforehand with Tampa Bay, so it is believable that we’ll see him break that report a number of extra instances this season. It’s additionally necessary to notice that though Bradley has 74 huge league profession begins underneath his belt, he’s nonetheless a really younger pitcher, as he simply turned 25 years previous on March twentieth.
Despite Bradley’s fastball having a few of the greatest velocity in the sport amongst starting pitchers, it has truly been a below-average pitch for him in his profession. Last season, his four-seam fastball had a run worth of minus-five, which was in the twentieth percentile. He’s truly had considerably extra success along with his breaking stuff. His curveball was one among the greatest pitches in all of baseball final season, with an insanely spectacular opposing batting common of .082 together with a superb whiff fee of 37.6. Bradley’s split-finger was additionally an above-average pitch for him final season, simply not fairly as elite as his curve.
This raises the concept that if Bradley’s fastball does play considerably higher for him in 2026, a breakout season could possibly be on the horizon. It’s only a one-game pattern measurement, nevertheless it’s arduous to ignore the 30 % whiff fee he generated on his four-seamer in his first outing. To put that into perspective, the common MLB whiff fee on four-seam fastballs is often solely round ten %. Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo had the best fastball in the game final season in phrases of run worth. His four-seamer generated a whiff fee of 29.7 % on the season.
Bradley’s split-finger additionally seemed actually efficient on Saturday in Baltimore. He threw it 27 instances, and the Orioles didn’t report successful off it. It’s his go-to pitch towards left-handed hitters, as 21 of the split-fingers he threw have been when going through a left-handed batter. This is the same ratio to what he had final season. Bradley’s split-finger truly had the highest whiff fee out of all his pitches on Saturday, with a whiff fee of 63.6%. Obviously, that is a near-impossible mark to keep over a full season, nevertheless it’s an important signal for the Twins that he was ready to generate so many swings and misses on that pitch.
If Bradley was ready to have a breakout season in 2026, there is not any query that it might be monumental for the Twins’ rotation. Going into spring coaching, he was not supposed to be the workforce’s quantity two starter for the season. He was initially supposed to be competing for a back-end slot in the Twins’ starting rotation, however sadly, after a Pablo Lopez season-ending damage and a disappointing spring camp from Bailey OberBradley ended up being named the quantity two starter by supervisor Derek Shelton.
The Twins clearly have a whole lot of religion in Taj Bradley being a top-of-the-rotation arm for them in the lengthy haul. They traded him straight up for prized reliever Griffin Jax throughout their commerce deadline overhaul final season. It was reported prior to the deadline final season that the Twins’ preliminary asking worth for Jax was a minimal of two top-100 caliber prospects. The return they bought for Jax clearly ended up being lots completely different than that, as he had already graduated from prospect standing by a good quantity as he made 67 profession begins with the Rays. It would definitely be attention-grabbing to know what Minnesota’s different gives have been for Jax, however the indisputable fact that their asking worth for him, lower than per week earlier than the deadline, was that prime reveals how extremely they considered Bradley once they acquired him.
It’s nonetheless extraordinarily early in the season, however Taj Bradley’s first begin in 2026 was clearly very encouraging. The soar in velocity together with the quantity of whiffs he racked up throughout his first begin are two issues that Twins followers must be enthusiastic about. For a Twins workforce that is not likely supposed to make a lot noise in 2026, the potential emergence of Taj Bradley is a purpose there ought to nonetheless be some pleasure centered round a younger Twins squad this season.
