Two years ago with the Seattle Mariners, right-hander Justin Topa produced one of the best seasons of anybody pitching in relief in Major League Baseball. Getting back to that level of production, or something resembling it for the Twins in 2024, begins with his health.
Right now, Topa says he feels healthy despite having to stop his activities briefly around March 5 because of a sore shoulder. He closed the Grapefruit League seasons with intense appearances in games and side sessions, and said he feels strong heading into Opening Day. His final week of Spring Training was urgent and intense, but not rushed and desperate.
"Everything kind of fell into place those last couple of outings," Topa said Wednesday. "I was able to get some quick outings from an efficiency standpoint and was able to get some valuable innings in order to get ready."
At his best with the Mariners in '23, he was an indispensable option. Topa finished 49th overall in fWAR (tied with Jhoan Duran), 23rd in innings pitched, 30th in lowest BB%, and was 24th in win probability added. This is what the Twins hoped they'd be getting in the Jorge Polanco deal.
Amped Cam™: Justin Topa pic.twitter.com/PWM7lKR5AC
— Daniel Kramer (@DKramer_) August 27, 2023
The 2024 season went not as planned, starting in Spring Training when Topa slipped, jammed his foot covering home, and tore the patellar tendon in his left knee. Incredibly bad luck for a pitcher with two Tommy John surgeries in his past.
Topa managed to rehab his knee, pitch 12 innings in the minors, and make three appearances for the Twins late in 2024, so it wasn't a lost season entirely. As far as production, his results were solid in a small sample; at all levels he combined for a 19-5 K-BB ratio in 14 1/3 innings, allowing only 10 hits.
The main issue since Topa has returned is two-seam fastball velocity, which was down 3 mph in '24 and was running about 2 mph down this spring. Grapefruit results were OK other than being dinged for two home runs: six strikeouts and no walks in 5 1/3 innings.
This dinger to Bryan Reynolds was a hanging offspeed pitch that went out because of a stiff breeze:
Sorry; this was the lone Topa highlight in the MLB dot com film bank from the spring.
"I think everything is there," Topa said of his sinker. "But injuries, that's just part of it. You go through a lot of ups and downs with injuries. It's just about location, right? You try to put up zeroes any way possible."
No matter what happens next, Topa is feeling 180 degrees better than he did at this point a year ago.
"It was very frustrating with the knee, getting shut down before I was able to come back later, so it's been very nice to have a, quote, more normal spring training," Topa said. "We had a little hiccup with the shoulder, but we've got a good base to build off."
The Twins have been getting a lot of publicity about the potential impact of their bullpen in 2025, and that's considering that most projections will be conservative about Topa's individual contribution. He's excited about being part of that conversation.
"Awesome, having guys top-to-bottom who are proven at this level," Topa said. "I would say that, once the door opens, you're going to see something special with anybody who walks out.
"It's going to be a fun year. Everybody staying healthy is going to be huge."