Fort Myers – Anthony Banda has grown accustomed to changing teams frequently throughout his career. He made his MLB debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2017 and has bounced around with nine other organizations before getting his big break with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024.

Banda was in the Cleveland Guardians’ farm system at the start of 2024, pitching well in Triple A. He had a 2.12 ERA, 25 strikeouts, and just six walks over 17 innings with the Columbus Clippers. Dodgers scouts had liked what they’d seen from him, and so they made a trade with Cleveland on May 17, 2024, and called him up to the majors two days later.

After acquiring Banda, the Dodgers got to work turning him into a slider-first pitcher. Banda had typically relied on his fastball or changeup before LA traded for him. Still, the Dodgers saw something with his slider that helped make him an effective weapon out of their bullpen, especially against lefty relievers.

“They just showed me the idea or the understanding of how to throw a slider,” Banda said in camp last month. “I think that’s what really jump-started what it was. I think you always have to go over the hump of conquering the fear of failure, whether it’s the doubts, whatever, just show yourself you can do it. And then obviously with that came more opportunities.”

Those bigger opportunities were being a key part of the Dodgers’ bullpen in the last two World Series. But the results in both postseason runs were completely different from one another.

In 2024, Banda was elite all year. He had a 3.08 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, and 130 ERA+. He also had 23.9% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate over 48 relief appearances. Then in the postseason, Banda held opponents to a 1.13 ERA, 3.42 FIP, with 11 strikeouts, but his control of the strike zone slipped a bit, walking six batters in eight innings of work.

The increase in walks carried over into 2025, as Banda’s walk rate jumped up to 12.7%, and strikeout rate slightly decreased to 22.8% over 71 relief appearances. Some of that was just a result of the biggest workload he had ever had in an MLB season, but as the season went on, Banda could feel his posture on the mound was not how he wanted it in his delivery.

“The walk rate increased last year, and a lot of it had to do with the inconsistency of posture of the body,” Banda said. “That’s what we found, and that’s something I’ve been working on throughout the off-season. My main goal was to stay in zone, be more effective in the zone. I had some nagging stuff going on towards the end, but I think that was a product of the inconsistency of the throw.”

The inconsistency showed in his postseason performance. Banda had a 9.53 ERA with two walks, two home runs allowed, and just three strikeouts over 5 ⅔ innings. His ERA reflected a game-changing swing in the World Series.

Banda had three scoreless appearances before Game 1 of the World Series before the Dodgers brought him in during the sixth inning for a lefty on lefty match-up against pinch-hitter Addison Barger with the bases loaded. It was a favorable match-up for Banda on paper, but he left Barger a slider up and in on a 2-1 count, and Barger made World Series history off Banda, hitting the first-ever pinch-hit grand slam in its 122-year history.

Ultimately, Banda got the last laugh when the Dodgers won their second straight World Series for the first time in franchise history.

Therefore, it was a bit shocking when the Dodgers DFA’d Banda from their 40-man roster following their claim of former Twin Ben Rortvedt off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds. Having gone through and moved from one organization to another many times before, Banda understands it’s just part of the business. But his time with the Dodgers was unlike any other experience in his career.

“I have nothing but great things [to say],” he said. “They treated me super amazing, everybody in there, fans, everybody. It was such a highlight of me and family’s life to experience that and what they showed and the love and care. You don’t really know what the full grasp is unless you go through it or experience it.”

Now in camp with the Twins, Banda is one of four lefty relievers who look to be a part of Minnesota’s Opening Day bullpen alongside fellow veterans Taylor Rogers and Andrew Chafin, as well as Kody Funderburk.

The results haven’t been favorable in Banda’s five relief appearances. He’s walked four batters, given up three hits, and four earned runs in five innings of work. On paper, it’s not great; however, spring training stats can be misleading.

What’s most important for Banda now is getting his posture on the mound straightened out so he can get back to the same levels of control he had back in 2024. With so many lefty options for the Twins bullpen in 2026, Banda will unlikely have as large a workload as the Dodgers gave him out of the pen last season.

“There’s specific movement patterns you want to get into to basically maximize the output of the force into the ball,” he said. “I’m talking very analytical right now, which is kind of weird, but yeah. That’s what I mean. It’s just body posture on the mound and just kind of repattern those movements. Get into a state where it’s consistent in the sense of feel and go from there.”