The Twins signed right-handed reliever Dan Altavilla to a minor-league deal in mid-December. When Minnesota signed Altavilla, who had a 2.49 ERA with a 17.5% strikeout rate and 12.5% walk rate over 29 innings with the Chicago White Sox last season before being released in September, it seemed as if he had a decent chance at cracking the Twins' Opening Day roster.
However, the Twins kept adding bullpen arms, including Anthony Banda, Taylor Rogers, Liam Hendriks and Andrew Chafin, lowering Altavilla's odds of making the Opening Day roster.
Despite the Twins' bullpen becoming crowded, Altavilla, 33, has put himself in the best possible spot to make Minnesota's 26-man roster.
Last season, Altavilla's fastball averaged 96 mph. The Minnesota Star Tribune's Bobby Nightengale reported that the righty averaged 97-98 mph during a live batting practice session last month. With his increased velocity on full display, Altavilla looked sharp during three spring training outings with the Twins, combining for three perfect innings with three strikeouts.
After his three Grapefruit League outings, Altavilla joined Team Italy for the World Baseball Classic. After hurling a scoreless inning during an exhibition game against the Chicago Cubs, Altavilla has made two appearances during the WBC.
Dan Altavilla improving chances of making Twins' 26-man roster with Team Italy in WBC
During Italy's shocking 8-6 win against Team USA during pool play last week at Daikin Park in Houston, Altavilla allowed one run on a Gunnar Henderson solo homer, struck out Pete Crow-Armstrong and Bobby Witt Jr., and got Aaron Judge to line out to center field during one inning of work.
Altavilla's second appearance of the 2026 WBC came during Italy's 8-6 win against Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals at Daikin Park on Saturday. He entered the game in the seventh inning and walked Bryan Torres, who moved to third after the next batter, MJ Melendez, reached on a fielding error. With runners on the corners and no outs, Altavilla escaped the inning unscathed, with Willi Castro lining out to shortstop Thomas Saggese before Darell Hernaiz and Nolan Arenado struck out, respectively, to end the frame.
Dan Altavilla strikes out Nolan Arenado to strand two! Italy is six outs away from the semifinals pic.twitter.com/O5v2dMlqMr
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 14, 2026
Besides the homer allowed to Henderson, Altavilla's performance during the WBC has been impressive, and the Twins have to be taking notice. Pitching well during spring training is great. Performing at a high level during a high-stakes tournament is even more impressive.
Team Italy is set to face Venezuela at 7:00 p.m. tonight at LoanDepot Park in Miami. Aaron Nola will make the start on the mound for Italy, and Keider Montero is slated to start for Venezuela. Whichever team wins will face Team USA, which defeated the Dominican Republic 2-1 last night, in the championship game tomorrow at LoanDepot Park. It's hard to imagine Italy won't use Altavilla tonight. If Italy doesn't use the Twins righty and defeats Venezuela, then he'll undoubtedly appear in the championship game.
Regardless of how Altavilla performs tonight or tomorrow (assuming he makes an appearance), the righty has certainly improved his odds of making Minnesota's Opening Day bullpen during his time with Team Italy.