Minnesota Twins Bullpen Harboring Dark Horse Stud Nobody is Talking About

The Minnesota Twins have played 13 exhibition games down in Fort Myers this spring. While they haven’t completely avoided the injury bug during Spring Training, the Twins have been able to stave off any serious injuries to projected everyday starters… at least so far.

As long as guys like back-end staples like Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax enter the regular season healthy, Minnesota should have one of the best bullpens in baseball. And if the Twins can get above-projected production out of another reliever or two — on top of the usual from their established All-Stars — this bullpen could prove to be a devastating late-inning weapon.

Brock Stewart could add even more bulk to Minnesota Twins bullpen

Once a highly-touted prospect, Brock Stewart debuted with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016, but his early MLB career did not go as planned. In 105.2 big league innings pitched between 2016 and 2019, most of which came as a starter, Steward posted a 6.05 ERA, 70 ERA+, 6.25 FIP and 1.599 WHIP.

Related: Minnesota Twins Provide a Bunch of Injury Updates

By 2020, he was pitching in the independent league, where he resurrected his career… until Tommy John surgery wiped out both his 2021 and 2022 seasons. Finally, Brock Stewart resurfaced in the big leagues as a Minnesota Twin in 2023 as a completely different dude, striking out 39 batters in just 27.2 innings (12.7 SO/9) — good for a 0.65 ERA, 2.21 FIP and 1.084 WHIP.

Unfortunately, the now 33-year-old’s body continues to fail him. In total, Stewart — a former 6th round pick out of Illinois State University — has thrown just 43 1/3 innings the past two seasons. But man, the numbers sure are impressive.

John Bonnes (Twins Daily) pointed to possibilities with Stewart on the most recent episode of the Gleeman and the Geek podcast, which he co-hosts with The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman. It may seem far-fetched to consider him among the Twins best relievers, but that’s exactly what the numbers suggest.

“[Brock Stewart] is not somebody that a lot of Twins fans think about right now, in terms of oh we could have a dominant bullpen right now, because he’s been out of sight, out of mind for most of the 2024 season. He missed a good chunk of the 2023 season. He was arguably the Twins best, or second-best reliever when he was healthy last year. He could arguably be the best, or second-best reliever again this year.”

“I heard back in October, right after that surgery, before we knew [Brock Stewart’s] velocity was going to come back, before anything else, Twins officials saying off the record, like, ‘we think we figured out what was going on with Stewart for the last two years and we think this surgery in particular [is going to clean it up]’.

Like, there’s something about the diagnosis or about what they found in there when they did the arthroscopic shoulder surgery and handled this, that made them really optimistic about how he was going to come back and how healthy he would stay when he came back.”

John Bonnes – Gleeman and the Geek

Brock Stewart, 97mph Two Seamer (18 inches of Run) and 85mph Sweeper (20 inches of Break), Overlay

😳😳😳 pic.twitter.com/RJwcRWaFaW

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 25, 2024

If (and that is a big “if”) he can stay healthy, there’s a really good possibility Brock Stewart quickly proves himself to be yet another devastating option in the Twins’ bullpen. His stuff is right up there with Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran.

In his first 13 appearances last season, Stewart picked up seven holds and struck out 17 batters across 13 1/3 innings. I know there are darkhorse talents in every camp, across MLB Spring Training, but most of them do not have the immediate upside that Brock does, something that is being overlooked, as we move closer to Opening Day on March 27.

Louie Varland’s role with Twins revealed…

While the Minnesota Twins haven’t made anything official, and Louie Varland has only commented on his name, the transition to relief is real. He has made five appearances during Grapefruit League action, and each of them have been for just a single inning. The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman has taken note as well.

“Louie Varland, as you said, has thrown one inning four times, hasn’t come out for a second inning, hasn’t warmed up for a second inning. He comes in like in the fifth inning, he pitches the fifth inning, he leaves, he goes home. He talks to you guys, gives short quotes, gets annoyed that you guys keep asking about his name, and he goes home. And so, you can connect those dots fairly easily.”

Aaron Gleeman – Gleeman and the Geek Podcast

Minnesota apparently wants to avoid announcing anything on Varland in case there is an emergency need for a starter. The reality is that, at this point of Spring Training, there isn’t runway for him to be stretched out as a starter. The Twins also have depth options in the form of David Festa, Zebby Matthews, Cory Lewis, and Andrew Morris.

Related: Minnesota Twins Prospects Revealed for Exclusive MLB ‘Spring Breakout’

Varland owns a 5.51 ERA in the big leagues, but has been utilized in both starting and relief roles. His 6.44 ERA as a reliever is actually higher than the 5.27 mark as a starter. However, Varland can now settle into a set position and simply let it fly when coming out of the bullpen.

Louie Varland, 98mph ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/P5MKMRzZdx

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 2, 2024

When the season starts it’s likely that Varland will be used in middle-relief. By the midway point it wouldn’t be shocking if he has been elevated to high leverage as a byproduct of his performance.

The injury to Justin Topa opens the door for Varland or someone like Eiberson Castellano to make the Opening Day roster. The more pitching talent that Minnesota can harbor going into the season, the better they will be positioned to handle the setbacks that are sure to pop up along the way.