The Minnesota Twins won their first 2026 spring training game on Sunday, defeating the Atlanta Braves, 8-1 at CoolToday Park.
There is plenty of excitement to go around, but let's have a look at Eric Orze. The 28-year-old right-handed reliever, who was traded to the Twins from the Tampa Bay Rays, made his debut with Minnesota on Sunday — and he made quite the first impression.
Pitching the seventh inning for the Twins, Orze was nearly perfect in a 1-2-3 frame. He threw 10 pitches, including eight for strikes, which definitely gets fans hyped for the production he can provide to a bullpen staff desperate for an anchor.
Eric Orze dominates in his Twins debut, first outing of 2026 spring training
Orze showed off his arsenal of a four-seam fastball, slider, and splitter to retire the side in order. He got John Gil out on two pitches to begin the seventh inning. Then he dialed up three consecutive splitters against Alex Lodise to strike him out swinging.
Remember DaShawn Keirsey Jr.? The former Twin also struck out on three swings, all against a splitter, to end the inning to a solid first appearance form Orze.
What stands out most about Orze's day was that he threw six splitters, and all of them were swing and misses. He threw that pitch 48.5 percent of the time with the Rays in 2025, and for good reason. That pitch provided a 31.8 whiff rate and 22.9 put away rate, totaling 30 of his 40 strikeouts.
His splitter also had a .194 xBA. He didn't allow a home run on that pitch, either. So basically, the splitter is his bread and butter. Fair enough. But when he can straight up overwhelm the opposition with that pitch in his first outing of spring training with a new team, that can caus quite the stir in the dugout. His stock is already up, and his teammates have to be loving it.
If the Twins can rely on someone like Orze — who bolstered a 3.02 ERA in 41.2 innings in 2025 — to be a consistent reliever this year, that can calm fans down that there is someone in the bullpen who can be relied upon. Some teams have that luxury, but the Twins historically don't, outside of a few star closers. Games can be won and lost on middle innings guys, and hopefully the Twins struck gold with Orze on the staff. He made a great impression against a strong club like the Braves.