The Minnesota Twins were one of the many teams to sell during the 2025 MLB trade deadline, as they were eight games below .500 heading into the month of August.
Although the major league club struggled to pick up wins, it didn’t mean that the front office couldn’t create wins of their own to better set them up for success the following season.
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One of those wins, in my opinion, was when Minnesota traded away reliever Griffin Jax to the Tampa Bay Rays for a young and promising arm in Taj Bradley; and I believe that this is the year that Bradley takes a leap forward.
Minnesota Twins Pitcher Taj Bradley (26) | © Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Every year, there’s always one or more starting pitcher(s) to take that big leap into baseball superstardom. Now, it would be an unfair expectation to put that on Bradley, but it’s not too crazy to think that he could be the next pitcher to take that big leap.
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At only 25 years-old, Bradley has unlimited potential that Tampa Bay wasn’t able to tap into. However, his 2024 season just scratched the surface of how good Bradley can be.
In 25 games started (138.0 innings), Bradley posted a strong 4.11 ERA, 1.22 WHIP with 154 strikeouts and a 1.7 WAR.
In Bradley’s sophomore campaign, he set career highs in almost every category besides innings pitched.
Unfortunately for Bradley, Tampa Bay gave up on him only three years into his major league career. Bradley would post a 4.61 ERA for Tampa last season, which was ultimately the final straw in their decision to trade him away.
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However, there’s a saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” and I think that Minnesota may have gotten the treasure that is Bradley.
Bradley has yet to record lower than a 4 ERA in a single season, but his outlying numbers are extremely promising. On average, Bradley has posted a 9.6 K/9 and a 3.3 BB/9 in his career, displaying his ability to strikeout batters without walking at a high rate.
Minnesota’s pitching rotation is currently led by Joe Ryan, but grows to be quite weak outside of him. With guys such as Mick Abel, Simeon Woods-Richardson and now Bradley on the verge of breaking out, Minnesota could have one of the most improved rotations in all of baseball this season.
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With that being said, Bradley is the most likely to breakout out the bunch, as his three years of experience will prove to be much needed in what should be a down year for Minnesota. 1