The Minnesota Twins are down another arm. Justin Topa, who has been asked to carry more than his fair share of innings this season, is headed to the 15-day injured list with a left oblique strain, retroactive to September 9. For a bullpen that has leaned heavily on him — 54 appearances, 60 innings, a 3.90 ERA — the absence is another reminder of how fragile the relief corps can be in September.
Into the breach steps Cody Laweryson. His name won’t ring out across baseball circles, and there was a time when his ceiling appeared to be that of organizational filler. A 14th-round pick out of the University of Maine in 2019, he’s spent six seasons grinding through the system, never flashy, always steady. This year, he’s been more than that. Between Double-A Wichita and Triple-A St. Paul, Laweryson has delivered a 2.86 ERA in 34 games, with six saves and a penchant for missing bats.
The profile is intriguing in its simplicity. The fastball sits at 93–94 mph — hardly eye-popping — but the pitch plays, generating whiffs at a 28 percent clip in St. Paul, one of the best marks on the staff. Add a cutter at 85 mph that also misses bats at the same rate, and suddenly the unheralded right-hander carries a pair of weapons that could keep him in the big leagues.
Laweryson Calls Game!
Cody Laweryson strikes out Caleb Cali to end the game.
Final
ARK 7, WCH 15 pic.twitter.com/lWGj0dNHtL
— Wichita Wind Surge (@WindSurgeICT) May 18, 2025
Laweryson will wear No. 66 when he takes the mound at Target Field, likely against the Arizona Diamondbacks. If and when he does, it will mark the culmination of a long, unspectacular, but steady climb through the minors. Plus, he’ll be the first native of Maine to play in the majors since Ryan Flaherty in 2019. For the Twins, it’s one more example of how September rarely goes as planned — and how opportunity, sometimes, finds those who simply refuse to go away.