Since arm injuries knocked Chris Paddack and Joe Ryan from action, the Twins have looked to a small handful of young pitchers to fill the void — and they’re not just playing out the string here.

Four games out of first in the American League Central on Friday, and two up in the race for the second wild-card spot, the Twins are trying to lock down their second straight postseason appearance.

So, no pressure, guys.

Three young pitchers are now getting serious innings in a pennant race, including rookie right-handers David Festa and Zebby Matthews, who made their major-league debuts over the past month, and right-hander Louie Varland, who has been up and down between St. Paul and Minneapolis since making his debut in 2022.

After Matthews won his major-league debut in a 13-3 victory over Kansas City on Wednesday, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was asked how he and his staff will help the young pitchers matriculate during a playoff race.

“How we do that is we keep pushing them out there on the field,” he said. “I mean that. There’s no better way to gain confidence, and to feel like they’re really part of something, than to welcome them in, prepare them for the game, and let them go pitch. And that’s what we’re doing right now.”

That approach certainly worked with Simeon Woods Richardson, who started the season in a rotation with Ryan, Paddack, Jorge Polanco and Bailey Ober and suddenly doesn’t seem like a rookie anymore. In 20 starts this season, he’s 3-3 with a 3.78 earned-run average and seven quality starts in 102⅔ innings pitched.

At 23, Woods Richardson is younger than Festa and Matthews, the top two pitching prospects in the Twins pipeline and each 24, and Varland, the veteran in the group at 26 and with 22 big-league starts under his belt.

“I can tell you that we’re ready,” said Varland, who finished last season with the Twins and made one scoreless appearance in the playoffs. “I’ve seen enough of Zebby and Festa; they’re complete dawgs. They’re very good pitchers, and they’re going to step up to the challenge — them and me, as well. It’s gonna be fun.”

Varland, Festa and Matthews are

Matthews will make his second major-league start this week in San Diego, and Festa will make his sixth during a three-game series against the Padres that starts Monday at Petco Park.

“I feel like with anything, you get more comfortable as time goes on,” Festa said. “It’s not that I was uncomfortable; like, the confidence has always been the same.”

Festa, nicknamed the Slim Reaper during his time at high Class A Cedar Rapids, is 2-2 with a 5.20 earned-run average through five starts, but over his past three he is 1-1 with a 2.03 with 18 strikeouts in 13⅓ innings.

“First two outings obviously weren’t great, but I don’t think it was a lack of comfortability, it was just not great results,” he said. “But the confidence never waivered. I don’t think there was a need for crazy change, and I like the way I’ve kind of trended recently.

“I feel more comfortable. As every day goes by, I think it’s natural to feel more comfortable. We have a great clubhouse, great staff.”

There is a good chance that Ryan, out with a Grade 2 muscle strain in his shoulder, won’t pitch again this season. And when Paddack returns — he’s pitching his first full season after a second Tommy John surgery — he will likely be better suited to the bullpen role he filled late last year.

That means for the foreseeable future, the Twins will have three rotation spots filled by homegrown talent for the first time since 2021, when Ober and Jose Berrios each made 20 starts. Since then, the rotation has been dominated by players acquired through trades — Lopez, Ryan, Woods Richardson, Kenta Maeda, Sonny Gray, Chris Archer and Michael Pineda.

Ober (2017) is the first pitching prospect drafted by president of baseball operations Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine to find a role in the rotation, and Varland (2019), Festa (2021) and Matthews (2022) are the next to get that opportunity.

“I think we’re seeing the talent acquisition, the player development skill sets of our group as a whole, and how we can help players,” Baldelli said. “And then just getting these guys to improve and become good major leaguers. You have to do all of it.

“You can’t just be good at one piece of this thing. It’s a big puzzle. We’ve got to figure it all out, and I think we’re showing that we can do this very nicely.”

So far, so good, anyway. The Twins, and their young starters, have a lot of work ahead of them over the last 41 regular-season games.

“You don’t quit working just because you made it here,” Matthews said. “There’s a lot of stuff to keep doing, keep improving on. So, get back to work.”

Not locally sourced

Twins pitchers with at least 20 starts over the past three seasons, and how they were acquired:

Pitcher               Years       Starts    Acquired
Joe Ryan            2022-24     79        Trade (Atlanta)
Bailey Ober         2022-24    60        Draft (2017)
Pablo Lopez        2023-24    56        Trade (Miami)
Sonny Gray         2022-23    56        Trade (Cincinnati)
Dylan Bundy        2022         29        Free agency
Chris Archer        2022          25        Free agency
Louie Varland      2022-24    22        Draft (2019)
Kenta Maeda       2022-23    21        Trade (L.A. Dodgers)

Related Articles

Powered by 11 singles, Indianapolis edges Saints 6-4

Santana’s sacrifice fly in 9th off All-Star closer Yates sends Twins past Rangers 3-2

Twins place Byron Buxton on injured list, option Louie Varland to St. Paul

Quality start shows Twins that Louie Varland can help down the stretch

Twins weighing injured list stay for injured center fielder Byron Buxton