Minnesota Twins: 4 Takeaways after the Twins’ First 25 Games

Takeaway No. 2: The Rotation Depth on this Team has Been very important, and it will play an even bigger role for the Minnesota Twins as the season continues.

As mentioned earlier, the Minnesota Twins’ rotation coming into the year was seen as a serious weakness. Sonny Gray was a great starter (though not a true ace), but relying on bounceback candidates (Dylan Bundy, Chris Paddack, and Chris Archer) and unproven young arms (Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober) seemed like a disaster waiting to happen.

So far, it’s been the opposite. Gray has been hurt, and while he was excellent prior to injury, Ober is hurt as well, but the Twins rotation has kept chugging along, posting one of the top ERA numbers in all of baseball.

How have they been able to do this? Well, a variety of ways. For starters, Joe Ryan is a legitimate ace. Sure, his numbers suggest a little regression is incoming, but it won’t be enough to take away that ace status. Chris Paddack has a 3.15 ERA (1.95 FIP), a 16-2 K-BB ratio, and his analytic numbers have been even better than that.

Josh Winder’s first career start was excellent, and he’s been dominant as a long reliever. Chris Archer and Dylan Bundy have been mostly good, but as depth starters they’ve been solid. With Kenta Maeda likely back as a bullpen arm closer to the playoffs and prospect reinforcement depth inbound, the rotation’s depth is going to be key to building a contender.