Twins Transitioning Louie Varland Back to His Postseason Duties

The Minnesota Twins have been shuffling their rotation down the stretch with Rocco Baldelli seeking answers. That has left Louie Varland making multiple spot starts as the season has gone on. With the postseason in sight, he’s now transitioning back to the bullpen.

Louie Varland gives Minnesota Twins bullpen a new look

Last season the Minnesota Twins pushed Louie Varland to the bullpen in September and he gave them another arm to lean on. Across seven outings Varland allowed just two runs, and both of them came in the same appearance. His 17/1 K/BB was impressive and the velocity ratcheted up. The bullpen experience made watching him go back to starting difficult.

This season Varland owns a 7.62 ERA across 39 innings while operating as a starting pitcher. He hasn’t been great in that role, but injuries to Joe Ryan and Chris Paddack forced him to remain as depth. Both Zebby Matthews and David Festa are now in the rotation. The Minnesota bullpen needs help, and Varland is capable of providing it.

Rocco Baldelli has relied heavily on Griffin Jax and Cole Sands this season. The former has been one of baseball’s best relievers , and helped to mitigate the decrease in Jhoan Duran’s velocity . Between that trio though, there is a very soft underbelly in relief and it has left the Twins dropping too many games.

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Varland isn’t just a long man in the mop up sense. His stuff can get the best hitters out, and will do so for multiple innings if asked.

Why does Louie Varland work in relief for Twins?

As a starter this season Varland has averaged 95.8 mph on his fastball while utilizing it 38.4% of the time . He has thrown a cutter 26% of the time while also going to a knuckle curve (19.2%), and a changeup (11.8%). The curveball is potentially his worst offering. He has allowed a hit on the pitch nearly 10% of the time , including a home run to Cleveland’s Josh Naylor.

In the bullpen things get simplified for pitchers. There is less need to utilize a full repertoire of offerings, and velocity often ticks upwards. It’s easy to see how much Varland’s velocity jumped when going to the bullpen last year, and he also substantially tweaked his pitch mix. Although he possesses a starter’s toolkit, Minnesota asked him to become a two-pitch pitcher.

Once Varland simplified his plan of attack to straight heat, or a variation that broke just a little bit, he found himself dominating the opposition. The Twins need that sort of relief option in order to catch the Guardians down the stretch. He also lengthens the pitching plan for a rotation that will look different in October .

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Minnesota will need to ease Varland into the relief role as they did last year. If it works as it did last last time, then it may be hard for a second transition back to the rotation.

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