Coming into the 2017 Major League Baseball season, there
were few things that looked like a bigger question mark for the Minnesota Twins
than their bullpen. With an uncertain starting rotation, the pen had been
comprised mainly of holdovers, with veteran additions of Matt Belisle and Craig
Breslow. What’s worth noting though, is the Twins have their own secret weapon.
Last fall, we saw relievers put onto full display in the
Postseason and World Series. The Chicago Cubs leaned on Aroldis Chapman
heavily, and no arm was more valuable to their team than Andrew Miller late in
games. What was interesting with Miller, is that while he’d likely be the most
dominant closer in baseball, Terry Francona routinely brought him into games
much earlier.
Throughout the Postseason, we saw a pitcher being used in a
very unconventional way. Miller has become the gold standard in the big leagues
out of the pen, and the Indians turned to him whenever they needed an out.
Entering games with runners on in key situations, Miller’s usage bucked the
trend of saving your top arm for the final inning. He allowed Cleveland to
escape jams and hold onto leads. While the Twins don’t have Andrew Miller, they
have their own way to recreate the same scenario.
Enter Ryan Pressly.
During the offseason, much has been made about what the
Twins will do at closer. Brandon Kintzler hanging onto the job while striking
no one out is a big ask, and Glen Perkins could be all but done with his major
league career. The consensus is that next in line would be either J.T. Chargois
or Pressly. For now though, Pressly gives the Twins a really, really nice
weapon.
Recently, Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse tweeted “Modern
bullpen use: Ryan Pressly is Twins best, but not the closer. He's getting 2
outs & leaving lead run on 3rd earlier.” He couldn’t be more spot on. In
the third game of the season, Pressly entered in relief of Craig Breslow during
the 6th inning. With runners on second and third in a tight game,
Pressly got two straight outs and allowed the Twins to leave the inning still
tied up.
Pressly turned in an 8.00 K/9 in 2016, and got strikeouts
against just north of 20% of the batters he faced. Each year since joining the
Twins as a Rule 5 pick in 2013, Pressly has upped his velocity, averaging 95.2
mph on his fastball a year ago. He also features a wipeout slider at 88 mph and
a strong curveball in the low 80s. Posting a new career high, Pressly generated
swing strikes 11.7% of the time a year ago, and he was forcing batters to chase
out of the zone one-third of the time.
For 2017, Pressly makes right around $7 million less than
the Indians superstar, and he has nowhere near the same level of fanfare. Don’t
let that fool you though, Paul Molitor has a weapon of his own. While it may be
conventional wisdom to have Pressly work the eighth or close games for the
Twins, using him as a shutdown arm when the game commands it most gives
Minnesota an advantage that is all too valuable.
