5 Twins pitchers who have raised their stock with the organization in Spring Training

On Monday, Dave Brown issued his list of five Twins hitters who had most improved their stock within the organization due to Spring Training performance.

You probably know where this is going, so in this edition we'll share the five(ish) who've done the most to improve their standing in Grapefruit League play.

Louis Varland

The old phrase is "i before e, except after c" but in this case, it's except after Lou-ie. Varland has adopted the slightly altered version of his name as a nod to his uncle, whom he's named after.

It would be gauche to say he's pitched like a brand new man, but he's been used in a role that would likely mirror what he'll do in the regular season. That is, be available for an inning or sometimes more, and relatively often.

Varland leads the team with six appearances this spring, and could be a key pivot point for what's shaping up to be a solid Twins bullpen. He won't necessarily be leaned on early in big spots with pitchers like Brock Stewart, Griffin Jax, Jhoan Duran and possibly Danny Coulombe (situationally), but he has also shown he's capable of it if the need arises.

These would be instances such as not wanting to work one of the aforementioned on consecutive days, a two-of-three situation, etc.

Varland has tossed 7.0 shutout innings so far this spring with five strikeouts, no walks and five hits allowed (0.71 WHIP, .192 BAA).

With Justin Topa and Michael Tonkin both dealing with health issues and Eiberson Castellano looking less and less likely to make the team, Varland has gone from one foot in, one foot out in the big-league bullpen to prohibitive favorite for one (of potentially two?) of the open spots.

Kody Funderburk

If Castellano doesn't make the team, it feels like the Twins will try to shoehorn a lefty into the mix. Enter Funderburk, who hasn't really set the world on fire in the big leagues but has had more than a few stretches where he's been a perfectly competent middle reliever.

This spring, Funderburk has allowed just one earned run in five appearances (6.0 innings) and has held opposing batters to a .158 batting average.

The bigger issue is he's also hit two batters and walked five, which pushes his WHIP up to a worrisome 1.33 (small sample size caveats apply).

If the Twins decide they need a lefty, I'd put the odds in Funderburk's favor due to his standing on the 40-man roster.

However...

Anthony Misiewicz

Misiewicz represents another left-handed option in the bullpen, and while he's not on the 40-man roster, he has shown a bit more in the majors to garner a look.

Adding a player to the 40 may also be as simple as moving Matt Canterino to the 60-day injured list. Daunting as it sounds, a completely shut down pitcher needs time to ramp back up — which may already account for a month in the first place, as that's the length of the maximum pitcher rehab stint — and the Twins are going to be more than cautious with Canterino this time around.

Here's how Misiewicz compares to Funderburk over their careers per Fangraphs:

Misiewicz is more of a fly ball pitcher and thus has slightly higher home run rate, while Funderburk gets more strikeouts, more walks and more grounders but has pitched a bit worse (5.01 career ERA) than his underlying stats would seem to indicate (4.07 FIP/3.73 xFIP).

Misiewicz has thrown four innings this spring, allowing two earned runs (4.50 ERA, if that even matters) and has held opponents to a .214 batting average.

Zebby Matthews

The starting rotation is quite likely full as is, but it's not as though Matthews hasn't made it a tougher decision than expected.

Matthews has thrown 6.1 shutout innings, and has allowed just four baserunners in that span (0.63 WHIP/.182 BAA) while finding some new levels of heat with his fastball.

Zebby's primary issue right now is that he's slowed by a hip issue suffered against the Yankees, which doesn't appear to be serious but will likely cost him precious, albeit little, time this spring in his uphill battle to crack the rotation.

But Matthews' arrow is pointed squarely up as of right now.

Andrew Morris

Morris has been terrific in camp, throwing 7.0 shutout innings while holding batters to a .087 average. He's only allowed two hits and two walks (0.57 WHIP), and he looked terrific on Tuesday against a Blue Jays lineup that was closer to an Opening Day lineup than a Spring Training version.

Morris allowed just one hit in his 3.0 innings of work in Dunedin, and fanned three batters while throwing 30 of 40 pitches for strikes. He also induced six swinging strikes — a healthy 15 percent — and touched 96.3 mph with his heater on the afternoon.

He also dotted a 94.69 mph fastball to strike Anthony Santander out in the first inning, which was pretty great (though probably a ball if challenged):

Honorable mention

Randy Dobnak continues to be a good soldier, and that's going to continue as he likely makes about $100,000 per start wherever it is in 2025. His $3 million salary is part of the last guaranteed year of the extension he signed after 2019, and it also effectively gives the Twins a swinging door on the 40-man roster as 41st player who'll likely move through waivers with ease if needed all season.

Dobnak has been very good in two spring outings spanning 6.0 innings, fanning seven and walking three. Having him as the team's eighth starter with a functionally free Light Rail ticket between Minneapolis and St. Paul could actually prove useful this season, not only to soak up innings but to do so in a role he was competing for with the now-injured Erasmo Ramirez.