St. Paul – It didn’t take long for Taj Bradley’s new teammates to be impressed with what he was throwing. The Minnesota Twins acquired Bradley from the Tampa Bay Rays for Griffin Jax, and he made his first start in the Twins organization on Wednesday with Triple-A St. Paul.
Bradley had a perfect first inning, retiring the first batter via strikeout and retiring the next two on only 10 pitches. He cruised through the next three innings, allowing only two singles. The runners never advanced past first because Bradley induced double plays in the next AB.
His one mistake was throwing a sinker high in the middle of the strike zone to I-Cubs third baseman Chase Strumpf in the top of the fifth, who hit it over the left center field fence for a home run. Bradley would finish his afternoon, allowing just five hits and one run in six innings while striking out four.
“He was awesome,” said Saints manager Toby Gardenhire. “The stuff was really sharp. He’s very composed on the mound; he knows what he’s doing out there. It was pretty awesome, it was fun to watch.”
Bradley was unavailable for a postgame interview following his start on Wednesday. Still, Gardenhire and catcher Noah Cardenas had nothing but praise for what he can offer the Twins. It was even more of a cool moment for Cardenas since his older brother, Ruben, had played in the Rays organization with Bradley.
“It was cool to just meet him firsthand and to understand his pitches before the game, and kind of what his attack plan was,” said Cardenas. “I think he executed it great. He’s got really good stuff, so it was really a blessing to be back there. When you have an arm like that, it just makes the game a lot easier to call pitches.”
Bradley was especially ecstatic that he was able to get all of his strikeouts on each of the pitches in his arsenal: fastball, cutter, splitter, and curveball. The total number of strikeouts wasn’t as high as he would have liked, but it’s more important for him to make each of his pitches a strikeout pitch.
“I thought his command was great, and he’s gone back and forth traditionally with strikeout and walk type stuff, but I really like his stuff,” said Gardenhire. “There’s a couple of different tweaks they’re going to try and work with him on with a couple of different pitches and stuff like that. But he looked great, man, he’s awesome. He’s, like I said, as advertised, and he’s going to be really good for us.”
“I think they may have did a good job of adjusting with two strikes and shortening up,” said Cardenas. “I think the strikeouts are going to come with him just because the stuff’s so good. I don’t think he really has to worry about too much.”
Bradley and Mick Abel had success in their first starts partly because of their catchers, Cardenas and Patrick Winkel. The sudden change to a new clubhouse isn’t always easy for any player, so for them to step up, get in sync with their new pitchers’ game plans, and execute well in results is a testament to their skills as catchers.
“They’re good teammates, and Cardy, Cardy’s a great dude, and he’s always out there for all the guys,” said Gardenhire. “It was good to see him with Taj because they worked through everything. They talk about all the stuff pre-game, all the game plan going into it, and those guys are great with the whole thing. So it’s good to have those guys on your team.”
Bradley is scheduled to make his next start on the road with the Saints next Tuesday in Omaha.