You may have noticed that the Twins have used unconventional pitching strategies in recent days and, actually, going back even farther than that. The Tigers called their plans “pitching chaos” last fall, and that might not be the exact correct term here, but it’s not too far off, either. Even before the Trade Deadline, Minnesota tried a few different things to cover innings, as one starter after another made trips to the injured list. One method that has stood out was the club’s use of Travis Adams and, more recently, Pierson Ohl. Adams, in particular, has often been the bulk pitcher -- three or four innings, give or take -- behind an opener. Ohl has made three appearances, two of them starts, and gone about three innings each time. That doesn’t just happen. It’s a product of a new plan the organization is using in the Minor Leagues for pitchers whose future role may be undetermined. Some pitchers may not profile as starting pitchers in the Major Leagues in the long run, but their repertoire, stuff, and command indicate that they don’t need to be constrained to pitching a single inning. |
Enter what has become known -- maybe not so much within the Twins' front office, but as a shorthand for observers of the club -- as the Adams plan. Adams and Ohl are two of about 8-10 pitchers in the system who have pitched on a four-day rotation, going about four innings in each appearance. Sometimes they start, sometimes they come out of the bullpen. Given that this is the first year of the plan, and it’s already produced two members of the Major League staff, it’s hard to call it anything but a success in its early days. “Overall, the results have been pretty positive,” said Tommy Bergjans, the Twins’ director of Minor League pitching development. “And it does seem like it gives us some flexibility potentially in terms of additional roles our pitchers can be in, instead of just a conventional starter role and then a conventional long relief and back-end bullpen role. It feels like it gives us another option, where a guy can throw for some real length and bounce back relatively quickly.” |
The system has multiple benefits. If there’s a need for a pitcher from the Minors to provide innings in bulk, you don’t have to wait five or six days after his last start. If the appearance is a one-off, a pitcher who is stretched out to four innings can go five if needed – see Adams’ recent start in Detroit. And there’s no problem throttling an every-four-days pitcher back to a fifth or sixth day rotation if that’s the need. Plus, they’re used to both starting and coming out of the bullpen. Ohl said that at the beginning, it was a challenge to adjust to the shorter turnaround, but once he did, he was on board. “At first there's a learning curve,” he said. “Four days is quick. You're worried about your body. I'm like, 'Oh my goodness. I'm the experiment with this new role, how's it going to end up on my body?' After the first month and a half, it's all my body could do. To make that adjustment and now to think back, 'Wow, I thought I needed five, six days of rest' when four is plenty.” It also helped Ohl and the other pitchers in the system when they saw Adams make the big leagues. It made the idea real, that this could be a ticket to being on the 26-man roster. |
Of course, the pitchers aren’t the only ones who have to have buy-in. And this has been an organizational effort. Manager Rocco Baldelli has been pleased with the options it’s given him. Team president Derek Falvey and general manager Jeremy Zoll are on board. Josh Kalk, the team’s vice president of baseball operations strategy and innovation, was one of the program’s bigger advocates. So this is not a matter of the player development staff trying to get everyone on board. They’re on board. Beyond that, even during the Minor League season, the Twins are seeing benefits. Adams and Ohl both saw their strikeout rates spike this year. It’s not exactly the same as turning a starter loose for just one inning out of the bullpen, but there does seem to be some similar effect. Even if these pitchers aren’t going all-out on every pitch, they can afford to hold a little less in reserve than in a regular start. The plan isn’t for everyone. Pitchers whom the Twins view as legitimate candidates to be big league starters will likely stay on a more conventional five- or six-day cadence. And some pitchers simply end up as short relievers. But the club believed that there had to be other paths, and so far it appears they were correct. “I think a lot of pitchers like it,” Bergjans said. “They get out and they pitch really consistently. I think for the most part they’re not quite taking down full starter workloads, but for the guys who’ve been on this for the entirety of the year, they’re coming pretty close to it in terms of total innings thrown. And they’re going out there every four days, so they don’t have to sit on any bad outings. They get to get back out there. So, overall it really has not been, thankfully, too hard of a sales pitch. And the guys who have been on this role have seen improvements in their results compared to when they were starting, either earlier this year or last year.” |
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