On Saturday in Seattle, Jorge Alcala was handed a one-run lead in the seventh inning. Before that outing, the Twins had avoided using Alcala in a spot like that, as he had been relegated to low-leverage duty. Workloads forced him into this spot, though, and he promptly walked Cole Young, Seattle’s No. 8 hitter playing in his first major-league game. He then served up a two-run homer to J.P. Crawford. That was the difference between a win or a loss in the game.
Alcala now owns a 7.08 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP on the season. Since last year’s All-Star break, he has allowed 30 earned runs in 40 innings. That’s nearly a full season’s worth of work with results that range from underwhelming to disastrous. It is a sharp decline from the promising start he had to 2023, and at this point, the Twins have clearly lost trust in him. He has been relegated almost exclusively to mop-up duty, with just six of his 19 outings this year coming in even moderate leverage. In three of those six, he gave up 4, 3, and 2 earned runs, respectively, providing little reason to believe he is turning a corner.
Yet, the Twins find themselves in a bind. Alcala is out of minor-league options. Sending him to Triple-A St. Paul would mean exposing him to waivers, where another team would likely scoop him up. His fastball still averages 97 MPH, and his pitch arsenal continues to generate strong expected stats. His expected batting average against is .193, good for the 96th percentile, and his expected ERA is a solid 3.25. There is evidence in the peripherals that the tools are still there, and certainly enough that a team would be enticed to give him a shot.
But results matter. For three straight seasons now, Alcala has not been able to turn his stuff into consistent, reliable production. The long ball continues to hurt him. He has not solved his struggles against left-handed hitters. And time and again, when given a shot in a meaningful moment, the results have gone the wrong way.
It raises a tough but necessary question: Is the value of Alcala’s upside worth the cost of carrying a reliever who cannot be trusted, especially in a bullpen that has been otherwise very good this year? With Danny Coulombe on the injured list, Kody Funderburk’s struggles have been tolerated because he is the lone left-handed reliever on the roster. Once Coulombe returns, Funderburk is a clear candidate to head back to Triple-A, with minor-league options making that decision a straightforward one—leaving Alcala as the one remaining weak link with no easy path to improvement.
If the Twins want to shake things up, they do have options. Right-hander Travis Adams has quietly put together a strong showing in St. Paul, with a 3.43 ERA and a 37:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 42 innings. Anthony Misiewicz has posted a 3.54 ERA and a 23:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 20 1/3 innings and would allow the Twins to have another lefty in the bullpen. Both pitchers could potentially fill Alcala’s low-leverage role with less risk and more upside.
Alcala is already making $1.5 million this year, one of the higher-priced arms in Minnesota’s bullpen. With another year of arbitration eligibility on the horizon, it is hard to imagine the team bringing him back for 2026 unless something drastically changes. At this point, there is little to suggest that change is coming.
Jorge Alcala still looks like a big-league pitcher on paper, but for a long time now, he has not pitched like one when it matters. If the Twins cannot trust him with real innings, and if the only role he serves is to soak up outs in blowouts, then maybe it is time to find out whether someone else can offer more, both now and in the future.
What do you think the Twins should do with Alcala? Would you keep trying to make it work, or is it time to move on? Share your thoughts in the comments.