Not everyone who finished the 2025 season in the Minnesota Twins bullpen is a lock to be in their bullpen on Opening Day 2026. Some of the younger relievers the Twins used throughout the season will have to make their cases next spring training for one of the five open spots. Travis Adams and Pierson Ohl are two pitchers to follow closely.

The Twins initially called Adams and Ohl up to fill starting rotation spots following injuries to Pablo López in June and David Festa in late July. Adams and Ohl combined for only five starts in the majors this year. Minnesota primarily used them as long relievers, throwing four innings every four days, as Adams and Ohl had in the minors.

Adams and Ohl faced varying degrees of success and adversity in the majors. Even if they hadn’t had as much success as they hoped for in their rookie years, they certainly learned a lot about themselves.

“I think just the game doesn’t really change from Triple-A and stuff,” said Adams. “It’s still baseball, and I think it’s just the way you hold yourself and just continue to attack hitters. It’s all confidence, I think up here. Realize that and you’ll have success.”

“I feel like I’ve been doing a good job of sticking to my game plan and executing,” Ohl said. “Sometimes when I put the ball in play, it beats the shift, it’s a blooper or whatever it may be. I feel like I’ve had a handful of those that just haven’t gone my way, where I’m starting to get to that point where I’m not feeling sorry for myself anymore, and I’m able to miss bats and generate weak contact.”

The numbers from their rookie years will hopefully serve as a floor from which they continue to improve in their major-league careers. Adams had a 7.49 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, 10.8% walk rate, 19.6% strikeout rate, and six home runs allowed in 33 ⅔ innings over 18 outings. Ohl’s numbers were slightly better in 14 relief outings, pitching in 30 innings with a 5.10 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 5.3% walk rate, 20.3% strikeout rate, and five home runs allowed.

Adams and Ohl mostly struggled early in their major-league stints. However, Adams and Ohl showed signs of improvement in September after they adjusted their approaches to hitters. Six of Adams’ last eight outings of the year were scoreless, and he held a 4.32 ERA and 3.02 FIP over that stretch. Ohl was scoreless in all of his six outings in September, allowing just 10 hits and two walks in 9 ⅓ innings.

No game better highlighted their adjustments than the New York Yankees game on September 15, when the Twins shut the Bronx Bombers at home for the first time in 17 years, with help from Adams and Ohl.

Adams was the second pitcher out of the bullpen in relief of Simeon Woods Richardson after Kody Funderburk held the Yankees scoreless through seven. Adams faced some trouble walking Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge with two outs in the eighth, but Austin Martin’s foul-ball catch in deep left field bailed him out.

Ohl pitched a perfect ninth inning to close the door.

That game gave both young relievers encouragement with what they can do with their stuff against one of the game’s best lineups going into next year.

“With Judge, it was a situation where he stole, there was a base open, and there’s no need to [attack]; obviously, we’re still up seven, but a swing of the bat can change the momentum of the game,” said Adams on his approach. “So there’s no need to give him anything he cannot do with, like hit a home run with. And then Bellinger had a really long at-bat, was glad Martin made that catch.”

“If you can keep the train moving and find success in outings like that, where it’s the ninth inning, we’re talking it to them,” Ohl said. “But going out there and still maintaining that focus and relentlessness. I mean, that’s a special lineup, so if you take your foot off the gas for a second, it can get out of hand. So yeah, having success there was great.”

Adams and Ohl ended their year on a positive note. They’re part of the last Twins rotation to shut out the Yankees at home. But even as they turned around from their struggles early in their 2025 season, they’ll still need to make their cases to be in the Twins Opening Day bullpen for 2026.

What helped both of them get to the majors and stay there was their ability to keep their feet planted in the present while in the minors and to earn their callups at the right time, when the Twins needed them. They’ll maintain that mindset as they improve their stuff over the offseason, hoping to improve themselves and Minnesota’s bullpen for a better next season.

“I think it’s really just not going into the off-season knowing I don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” said Ohl. “I know sometimes, you go into the off-season after a tough year and you’re like, ‘Okay, where do I start?’ But having these good outings down the stretch, it’s kind of like, ‘Okay, I know what I need to maintain, and maintaining is so much easier than just creating something.”

“The more I throw and seeing what I can do at times is giving me confidence and allows me to build off of it,” Adams said. “I think the biggest thing, obviously, being the bullpen type of role, going into the offseason, obviously, can always throw harder. Velo is a good thing, and then just executing pitches. That’s really the biggest thing I’ve noticed up here is if you can execute, you’ll be perfectly fine.”