Minnesota Twins Pitcher Opts Out of WBC
Spring Training is underway down in Fort Myers and the Minnesota Twins are off to a 2-4 start in Grapefruit League action. Pablo Lopez is already out for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery, but thankfully Joe Ryan is okay, after he was scratched 15 minutes before his first start due to back inflammation.
Behind Joe, the starting staff is pretty set. Bailey Ober will slot in after him, and likely Taj Bradley after that. Then, Zebby Matthews, Simeon Woods Richardson and Mick Abel will fight it out for the last couple spots in the 2026 rotation.
Out of all the active Minnesota Twins starting pitchers, only Ryan (641.1) and Ober (617.2) now have more big league innings pitched in their careers than the 385.1 innings Taj Bradley — who’s by far the youngest of the three, at just 24 years and 342 days old — has thrown in his three MLB seasons.
Taj Bradley staying at Twins spring training; skipping WBC
Bradley came over at the trade deadline buzzer last July from Tampa Bay, in exchange for top reliever Griffin Jax, as part of the Twins’ historic selloff last summer that also included Carlos Correa, Willi Castro, Jhoan Duran and much more.
That means this is Bradley’s first MN Twins spring training down in Fort Myers, which could play into why on Wednesday, he decided to drop out of the World Baseball Classic, where he was previously expected to play with Team Mexico.
Taj Bradley opted out of the WBC, will stay with #MNTwins instead of pitching for Team Mexico.
— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) February 25, 2026
Originally told Derek Shelton of his decision Sunday, citing importance of working with new staff, catcher, etc.
Realistically, this is a smart move for Bradley, if his No. 1 priority is to make the Twins rotation and stick there for the entire 2026 season. Remember, when Taj came over last summer, he had been struggling so mightily with the Rays that the Twins sent him to Triple-A and effectively made him earn his way onto the big league roster.
In his young career, the former 5th round draft pick out of Redan High School in Georgia, owns a 4.86 ERA (4.38 FIP) and 85 ERA+. He strikes out 9.9 hitters per nine innings… but also walks 3.3 hitters nine innings too.
In his six starts as a Twin late last season, Bradley posted a 6.61 ERA (4.73 FIP) and a brutal 65 ERA+, allowing six home runs in just 31 1/3 innings.
Bradley trying new things with Minnesota Twins
While Taj Bradley’s MLB numbers aren’t impressive, he was the best pitcher on Team Mexico, meaning his opt out is a significant blow to Team Mexico, who wasn’t seen as a favorite, even before his injury.
Bradley posted a career-low 4.11 ERA (4.09 FIP) in 2024, the best season of his short MLB career, to date. The MN Twins obviously expect more than that, after swapping him for such an important member of their bullpen.
Not long ago Taj Bradley was a consensus top-50 prospect across baseball. While still young, that luster has worn off in a big way. To combat his big league struggles, Bradley has added some wrinkles to his pitching arsenal for 2026. Among the pitches he is tinkering with is the splitter, which he uses roughly 15% of the time.
“I threw a few good ones (Sunday). I found a grip I could be consistent with, and that’s the one I just rode with all the way into spring training.”
Taj Bradley
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