5 potential breakout candidates for Twins in 2024

Opening Day is right aroud the corner, and the Minnesota Twins are hoping it's the start of a journey that carries them even further than last year.

For the first time in two decades the Twins won a playoff series and in the process ended the most miserable losing streak in sports. Part of the reason the team got there was thanks to a handful of guys stepping up and delivering huge seasons against steep odds.

Pablo Lopez broke out as the team's top starter and future ace, holding up his end of the big trade Minnesota made before the season. Carlos Correa reminded everyone in the ALDS why the Twins paid him $200 million, and guys like Donovan Solano and Michael A. Taylor filled in for the team in ways it couldn't have imagined before the year.

That's a trend that needs to continue this season, with new players stepping into the role of guys who broke out in big ways to help the Twins.

5 potential breakout candidates for Twins in 2024

Bailey Ober, SP

If there's one guy to buy a ton of stock in before Opening Day, it's Bailey Ober.

Last year he emerged as a potential sleeper to keep an eye on, and eventually developed into a pitcher who the Twins started in a playoff series. That was more out of necessity, but by the time the ALDS rolled around Ober had started to earn his stripes in a big way as a meaningful part of the rotation.

That's something he can build on in 2024, and the early signs seem to indicate that he's going to do exactly that.

He's only pitched just 4.1 innings so far this spring, but has struck out 10 batters and boasts an impressive 1.150 WHIP alongside. Batters are hitting just .176 against him, and the guys he's faced aren't a bunch of non-roster invites that he's using as cannon fodder. Ober went three innings against the Philadelphia Phillies at the beginning of March, striking out Bryce Harper, Bryson Stott, Darick Hall, Rodolfo Castro, and Cal Stevenson, while striking out Kyle Schwarber twice.

That means a bulk of his ten strikeouts came against some of the best hitters in the National League and he caught them all swinging.

Bryce Harper went so far as to shout Ober out after facing him, noting that his stuff is already this nasty and he's only just started shaking off the winter rust. The sky is the limit for Ober and he's looking like a potential playoff-caliber starter and it's only Spring Training.