FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 In the wake of devastating news for starter Pablo L\u00f3pez, who has an elbow injury that seems likely to require season-ending Tommy John surgery, the phrase \u201cnext man up,\u201d has been continuously thrown around in the Twins\u2019 clubhouse.<\/p>\n
The Twins believed that their rotation depth was a strength this seaosn, and now they\u2019ll have to tap into it earlier than expected. As it sits now, with L\u00f3pez out of the picture, the Twins have seven starting pitchers in the mix for five rotation spots, with some spots solidified and some up for grabs.<\/p>\n
With Joe Ryan and Taj Bradley headed off to compete in the World Baseball Classic next month, the Twins should get an extended look at some of their rotation options. Here\u2019s a look at that group.<\/p>\n
Joe Ryan<\/p>\n
Ryan established himself as an all-star starter last season, and with L\u00f3pez out, he is at the top of the Twins\u2019 rotation. The 29-year-old made 30 starts last year for the first time in his career, threw a career-high 171 innings and finished with a 3.42 earned-run average.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I can provide some guidance and some help for guys that need it, absolutely, I\u2019m always going to be there,\u201d Ryan said.<\/p>\n
Bailey Ober<\/p>\n
Ober is looking forward to this season after a difficult 2025 campaign marred by a hip issue that eventually forced a monthlong stint on the injured list.<\/p>\n
He finished the season with a 5.10 ERA. He allowed 30 home runs, 14 in June alone. It was a far cry from the results the Twins have come to expect out of the right-hander, who has been among their most consistent in previous years.<\/p>\n
Taj Bradley<\/p>\n
The Twins acquired Bradley from the Rays in the trade deadline deal that sent Griffin Jax to Tampa Bay, and they let him briefly acclimate to the organization at Triple-A before calling him up.<\/p>\n
Aside from Ryan and Ober, Bradley has the most big league experience of the younger group, spending much of the past three seasons pitching at the major league level. He made six starts with the Twins in August and September to mixed results, but the early returns in camp have been promising.<\/p>\n
\u201c(There) were so many things Taj did well (Monday),\u201d manager Derek Shelton said earlier this week. \u201cHis stuff looked really good, first and foremost. Hitters did not get great swings on him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simeon Woods Richardson<\/p>\n
Woods Richardson made one major league appearance in 2022 and in 2023 before staking out a claim to a rotation spot in 2024. The starter made 28 starts for the Twins that year and 22 (23 games) last year.<\/p>\n
Many of his starts were limited to five innings or fewer last year, but he had a particularly strong finish, posting a 2.33 ERA across 27 innings\u00a0 while turning in a couple of his longest outings. The 25-year-old enters this year out of minor league options.<\/p>\n
Zebby Matthews<\/p>\n
Matthews, who is slated to start the Twins\u2019 spring training opener on Friday against the Gophers, made 16 starts last season for the Twins, missing time with a shoulder strain. Though he started the season in Triple-A, Matthews spent much of the season pitching for the Twins.<\/p>\n
David Festa<\/p>\n
Festa was hampered by shoulder issues throughout 2025, eventually receiving Botox injections late last season to treat a case of thoracic outlet syndrome. He has been throwing bullpen sessions, but his health is still somewhat of a question mark. Between injuries and stints at Triple-A, Festa last year made 11 appearances in the majors, 10 starts, and posted a 5.40 ERA.<\/p>\n
Mick Abel<\/p>\n
Abel, 24, was acquired From Philadelphia as part of the return for Jhoan Duran at the last trade deadline. He made 10 major league appearances last year, eight starts, and could be the most likely candidate to begin the season back in Triple-A.<\/p>\n
Shelton was raving about what he saw from Abel on Tuesday, citing his \u201celectric stuff,\u201d and the fact that the first pitch out of his hand was a 98 mph sinker to Byron Buxton.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m coming in here and competing for a spot,\u201d Abel said. \u201cWhether I make it or not, I\u2019m just here every day to get better and compete.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 In the wake of devastating news for starter Pablo L\u00f3pez, who has an elbow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,1455,822,60,3190,4,185,148],"class_list":{"0":"post-580631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-twins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-joe-ryan","10":"tag-minnesota","11":"tag-minnesota-twins","12":"tag-minnesotatwins","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-twins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116095974510664596","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}