Minnesota Twins: 5 controllable players the front office should pursue before the trade deadline

Kyle Barraclough, Relief Pitcher, Miami Marlins

While the Twins are on the phone with Miami Marlins there is another player they should be asking about. That is right-handed reliever, Kyle Barraclough. The problem with acquiring Barraclough is that since he is under team control until 2022 he may also come with a very high price tag attached to him by the Marlins.

If the Twins did acquire Barraclough it would bring his career a bit full circle as the Twins did initially draft the reliever in the 40th round of the 2011 draft. Barraclough, of course, did not sign with the Twins and instead went on to play for St. Mary’s College before again being drafted the next year in the 7th round of the 2012 draft by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Barraclough has always shown an ability to get batters out with stuff that induces plenty of swings and misses. He employs a mid-90s fastball along with a changup from 86-89 mph, and a slider that registers at 78-82 mph. That is quite a range of velocities and movements to help keep hitters off-balance.

That arsenal of pitches has allowed Barraclough to never register a K/9 rate lower than 10.0. So far in 2018 he has recorded a 10.0 K/9 rate over 46.0 innings and has a 2.54 ERA, owns an 11.7% swinging strike rate, and has recorded 10 saves for the Marlins. In four major league seasons, Barraclough has proven to be a valuable and effective relief pitcher and would be a great addition to the backend of the Twins bullpen as they look to compete next season.