Pitchers and catchers report this week, which means optimism is officially back on the menu in Fort Myers. Every organization arrives believing that this will be the year injuries cooperate, prospects take the leap, and depth charts magically sort themselves out. For the Twins, spring training feels especially important, because there are real decisions to be made on the mound. Roles are open, and a few arms could reshape how this staff looks by Opening Day.

Pitching should be one of Minnesota’s clear strengths. The Twins have more usable arms than rotation spots, a good problem to have after years of scrambling for innings. Last summer’s trade deadline played a major role in that shift, as the front office targeted pitching help that could impact both the short- and long-term future. With more than five starters capable of handling big-league innings and a bullpen that is lacking upside options, spring training will be less about finding warm bodies and more about determining the right fit for everyone.

That depth makes the following three pitchers particularly interesting to watch over the next few weeks.

RHP Bailey Ober
Why Watch: Can his velocity return?
Joe Ryan and Pablo López will be away with their national teams for the World Baseball Classic, which quietly places Ober at the top of the Twins rotation this spring. That alone makes him worth paying attention to, but there is more going on here than spring training optics.

The 2025 season was a frustrating one for Ober. A lingering hip injury sapped velocity from a pitcher who already lives on precision rather than raw power. In 2024, his four-seamer averaged 91.7 mph; that dipped to 90.3 mph last season. It was never about dominance disappearing overnight. It was about margins shrinking. The Twins believed the injury would resolve itself over the winter without surgery, and that belief will be tested immediately once Ober starts stacking outings in camp. Traditionally, he’s run higher velocities in February and March than in August and September, so if he doesn’t have any juice in his arm in the spring, he’s unlikely to discover it later.

RHP Marco Raya
Why Watch: How does he transition to the bullpen?
Over the last week, Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll discussed Raya as one of the former starting pitchers in the organization who is transitioning to a bullpen role. It’s a notable pivot for a pitcher who has been one of the Twins’ top prospects since being drafted out of high school in the shortened 2020 MLB Draft.

Raya’s 2025 season at Triple A was rough. A 6.02 ERA and 5.48 FIP came alongside a 22.6 K% and a career-worst 12.6 BB%. That last number is the one that really matters now. Moving to the bullpen can unlock velocity and simplify pitch usage, but free passes become even more damaging in shorter stints. As the old Metrodome video board famously reminded everyone, walks will haunt.

LHP Connor Prielipp
Why Watch: Will he be a starter or a reliever for the long term?
Prielipp has been one of the most dominant pitching prospects in the system when healthy, but that qualifier—’when healthy’—has followed him since before he turned pro. Drafted in the second round in 2022, Prielipp made just two starts in A ball before undergoing Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2023 season. He returned in limited fashion in 2024 before finally getting a chance to build momentum last year.

The results were encouraging. Across Double and Triple A, Prielipp posted a 4.03 ERA with a 3.54 FIP and a 98:31 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 82 ⅔ innings. The organization used him almost exclusively as a starter, while carefully monitoring his workload. His stuff and injury history naturally invite bullpen speculation. Spring training may not provide a definitive answer, but how the Twins deploy him will be telling.

Spring training is rarely about results, but it is always about information. For the Twins, these three pitchers represent different questions that need answering before the games start to count. Is a veteran starter healthy again? Can a former top prospect reinvent himself in a new role? And where does a talented but injury-tested arm fit best going forward? If pitching is going to carry Minnesota in 2026, the clues will start showing up this spring.

What pitchers will you be watching in spring training? Leave a comment and start the discussion.