Minnesota Twins: 5 trade targets to improve the Twins’ starting rotation
By Chris Schad
Sandy Alcantara
While there hasn’t been much smoke from the Twins on the trade market, a rumored partner has been the Miami Marlins. While the Twins have floated out the idea of sending Eddie Rosario or Jake Cave to Miami to acquire one of their young pitchers, the best-case scenario of a Marlins deal would be landing Sandy Alcantara.
Like many of the trade targets in this slider, Alcantara’s name isn’t going to have people jumping for joy, but he could be a pitcher on the rise. The 24-year old made his first All-Star game in 2019 despite recording a record of 6-14 and a shockingly low K/9 rate of 6.9. But just like the others, there are positives in his game that at a young age could make him a great target.
When it comes to his inability to strike hitters out, it’s more of a matter of inexperience than talent. Alcantara’s fastball velocity (95.6 MPH) registered in the 84th percentile according to Statcast and he projected favorably in exit velocity (81st percentile) and fastball spin rate (75th percentile). Mix in his movement on his changeup and fastball trending upward over his first three seasons and Alcantara definitely gives Wes Johnson something to work with.
Alcantara’s weakness has been his control, which saw his BB/9 rates above six before getting it down to 3.7 this past season. However, the right-hander saw increases in his K/9 rate (7.6) and BB/K ratio (1.49 to 2.38) in the second half and could be an interesting project moving forward.