Minnesota Twins 2026 Spring Training Storylines to Follow

Multiple Rotation Spots Up For Grabs

Now that López will be out for the year following a recent Tommy John surgery, the Twins will rely on Ryan and Ober to be their one-two punch atop their rotation. Ryan is still in his peak, while Ober is looking to bounce back from what largely was a lost 2025 season.

You can’t blame the Twins for trying to catch lightning in a bottle with the rest of their rotation depth. Behind Ryan and Ober, you’ve got a ton of former stud prospects looking to find their footing at the big league level.

Simeon Woods Richardson, now 25 years of age, came over from the Toronto Blue Jays in the Jose Berrios trade a few years ago. The right-hander’s name came with a decent amount of hype as he ascended the minor league ladder, but he’s been decidedly average at the big league level. The Twins have given him 50 starts over the past two years, and it’s highly likely he’ll earn a spot in the 2026 rotation.

Taj Bradley was brimming with potential early in his career with the Tampa Bay Rays, but he, like SWR, didn’t take the next step. Now, he’s with the Twins and looking to step his game up in his fourth MLB season. Bradley, 25 on March 20, didn’t impress in his first six starts on the Twins last year, but his SIERA has started with a 3 in two of his three big league seasons. There’s hope he can turn it around in the coming year, and it’s likely he gets a shot in the season-opening rotation.

Assuming Ryan-Ober-SWR-Bradley is the top-four in the Twins’ rotation, this is where things really get crowded.

Mick Abel, yet another first-round pick the Twins employ, is currently penciled into the final spot according to FanGraphs’ RosterResource. The 6-foot-5 righty took the mound four times (two starts) for the Twins after coming over via trade from the Philadelphia Phillies last summer, but turned in an 8.36 ERA. While that isn’t pretty, his 2.99 FIP in 14 innings post-trade tells another story. Abel’s got such little big league experience to date, but he was at one point a top prospect for a reason.

It feels like Abel is the leading candidate for the final rotation spot, but he’s not the only one vying for playing time. Now that David Festa is dealing with a right shoulder impingement, we’re likely looking at Abel and Zebby Matthews as the two arms fighting it out.

Matthews, 25, made 16 starts in the majors last year and tuned in a 5.56 ERA with a 3.79 FIP and 77 ERA+ across 79.1 innings of work. There were times where he’d turn in a six- or seven-inning start with zero or one run allowed, but then he was also prone to blow-up outings. In his second to last start of the 2025 season, he allowed nine runs on 11 hits to the New York Yankees in just three innings. He followed that up with seven innings of one-run ball against the Texas Rangers to end his year.

Matthews has more experience at the big league level than Abel, so he’s going to be the former Phillie’s top competition.

Continued Health Will be Crucial

Losing López was a huge blow for this team before the first regular-season game even takes place. Festa is currently on the shelf as well, but these two are the only currently-injured Twins, which is a victory in itself in a weird way.

Having Buxton and Ober at full strength will be paramount for the Twins this year, especially if they want to be taken seriously in the division. It remains to be seen just how much the two of these players can carry them, but they are two of the most important figures on this roster.

Buxton, 32, is an otherworldly talent who has simply never been able to consistently stay healthy. In a big league career that dates all the way back to 2015, the star outfielder has played in 100 or more games only three times. You don’t need me to tell you that that’s not great.

However, two of those 100-game seasons came in each of the last two campaigns. Just this past year, Buxton made it into 126 contests and hit a career-high 35 home runs with 83 RBI, 24 stolen bases (in 24 attempts), and an .878 OPS. He also made his second All-Star Game, won his first Silver Slugger, and earned stray MVP votes for the third time in his career.

The Twins have a true game-changing talent up the middle, and it’s going to be interesting to see if he can stay on the field even more in 2026. To date, his career-high in games played is 140 (2017), so matching or even surpassing that total in the coming season should be the goal.

Then there’s Ober, who made 27 starts last year, but didn’t look himself at basically any point. While dealing with knee and hip discomfort, the 6-foot-9 giant basically forced himself to take the mound while others on the staff dropped like flies. This led to the results taking a nose dive.

All told, the right-hander went 6-9 with a 5.10 ERA, 4.90 FIP and an ERA+ of just 84, which signaled that he was 16% below-average on the mound. Again, not ideal.

Ober had a late start in spring training this year, but he just recently made his spring debut against the Atlanta Braves and managed to throw two perfect innings, notching a strikeout along the way. He told reports that he felt great during the outing, and you could just hear the collective sigh of relief from the Twins’ front office and their entire fanbase. It was only one outing, but it sounds like he may be back to form this year.

To date, Ober has never been an All-Star and he’s never earned Cy Young votes. What he has done, is eat a ton of innings and quietly be a rock-solid starter for the Twins basically ever since he debuted in 2021. The right-hander posted a combined 3.66 ERA and 3.74 FIP from 2022 to 2024 all while sporting a 115 ERA+ in the process.

He has lived in the shadows of López and Ryan for years, but it was extremely noticeable when Ober’s production fell off last year. Even if he’s not the ace of the staff, having him right on the mound is vital.

How Does the Bullpen Shake Out?

Last year, the Twins’ bullpen finished 26th in ERA (worth mentioning that their 3.87 FIP ranked 9th), so the front office was busy this offseason remaking the group.

Now, old friend Taylor Rogers is back after spending the first six years of his now 10-year career in Minnesota. The left-hander has filled multiple roles in the ‘pen over the past decade, including getting a few shots at closing games with the Twins (2019) and San Diego Padres (2022).

Rogers, 35, will be taking that spot back for the 2026 Twins after posting a 3.38 ERA and 130 ERA+ across 57 outings last year. He may not have a ton of experience closing out games, but he’s got the most of the bunch, and someone needs to be the guy back there.

Kody Funderburk and Cole Sands are returning to take late-inning roles and should be consistently relied upon to keep the Twins in games through the seventh and eighth innings. The former, a 29-year-old left-hander, made a career-high 39 appearances last year and finished with a 3.51 ERA and 3.35 FIP. The latter, a 28-year-old right-hander, also had a career-high in games (69) last year and wound up with a 4.50 ERA and 3.58 FIP.

Beyond this trio, there’s some uncertainty in the Twins’ bullpen. Anthony Banda, Zak Kent, and Eric Orze are the newcomers on the 40-man roster, but Dan Altavilla, Matt Bowman, Julian Merryweather, Andrew Chafin, and another old friend in Liam Hendriks are all on hand as non-roster invitees.

Rogers, Funderburk, Sands, and Justin Topa – who has just two healthy seasons under his belt since he debuted in 2020, one of them being 2025 – should all have a roster spot. Beyond them? There are a ton of options to fill out innings in this year’s bullpen.

One thing is clear: the Twins need experience in their relief corps. Bringing Rogers back was a good call, but giving playing time to Chafin, Banda, and even Hendriks might be good for a staff without a whole lot of veteran leadership.

Too Much Stuff, Not Enough Space!

The Twins have a ton of different options for their outfield, but there simply isn’t enough playing time to go around. Obviously, Buxton is going to return to center field and the hope is that he can cross the 100-game threshold for just the fourth time in his 11-year career.

Otherwise, you’ve got Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner, Martin, Alan Roden, James Outman, Gabriel Gonzalez, Hendry Mendez, and can’t-miss prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez (Just Baseball’s No. 50 prospect) looking to fill out the other two spots.

Of this bunch, only Outman is out of minor league options, so the good news is that there’s a bit of flexibility here. The fact of the matter is, though, that there are a ton of left-handed-hitting options that are limited to the outfield or even a DH role. With players like Josh Bell, Ryan Jeffers, and Victor Caratini soaking up ABs at DH, that leaves even less room for someone trying to sneak their way onto this roster.

As it is, things are pretty cramped. If the Twins can move someone like Larnach or Wallner for anything of value (preferably in the form of starting pitching), that’d be the best-case scenario.

Rodriguez, 23, is the one to watch here. After sporting a walk rate north of 20% with a 135 wRC+ and .839 OPS in 65 minor league games last season, he turned a lot of heads. Then he hit four home runs with a .292 average and 1.063 OPS in 18 Dominican Winter League Games. After that? He hit .421 with a pair of home runs and a 1.318 OPS in his first 11 spring training games in 2026.

Now, Rodriguez is practically kicking down the door for a roster spot at the game’s highest level. Injuries have hobbled him quite a bit since his pro career began back in 2021, but he has such a valuable blend of pop, speed, pitch recognition, and defensive prowess in center field that he looks to be a legitimate stud-in-the-making.

Said roster crunch is not going to leave a spot for Rodriguez on the season-opening roster; as a matter of fact, he was optioned to the minor leagues on March 9. That doesn’t mean that he’s not impressing the right people and putting himself in a good position to contribute early on in the year, though.