Paulshawn Pasqualotto’s climb through the Twins’ system has been fast enough to make you do a double take.
The 25-year-old right-hander opened 2026 in High-A Cedar Rapids as the Kernels’ closer and wasted little time putting up numbers that got attention. In 18 innings, he posted a 1.50 ERA, a 1.96 FIP, and a 44.1% strikeout rate, while collecting four saves.
Minnesota then moved him to Double-A Wichita, where he shifted into a setup role and logged a 3.94 ERA, a 3.57 FIP, and a 24.3% strikeout rate over 16 innings before earning another promotion to Triple-A St. Paul on July 2.
That means Pasqualotto needed just 34 innings to go from High-A to Triple-A, a pretty clear sign the organization is pushing him hard. The 12th-round pick is being handled like a former starter the Twins want to reshape into a major-league relief option, and he made a sharp first impression in his Triple-A debut against the Buffalo Bisons on July 3. He threw a scoreless inning, struck out three, and picked up his first save as a Saint.
Pasqualotto isn’t the only former starting pitcher getting this kind of treatment. Mike Paredes, Alejandro Hidalgo, and CJ Culpepper have also been moved aggressively this season with an eye toward helping the big-league pitching staff in some way.
Paredes has already done that. But Pasqualotto has been the most aggressively advanced of the group, which says plenty about how the Twins may be viewing him.
The timing makes sense. Minnesota’s bullpen currently ranks fifth-worst in baseball by FanGraphs fWAR, and the group has been leaning on a shaky mix far too often.
Yoendrys Gómez and Andrew Morris have emerged as usable late-inning options, but Taylor Rogers, Travis Adams, Eric Orze, Kody Funderburk, Marco Raya, and Woo-Suk Go are not arms the club can trust in high-leverage spots right now. That has left Derek Shelton scrambling with inconsistent relievers in big moments, and the result has been multiple late-game collapses.
Pasqualotto is not walking into that mess as a finished product. He has less experience and a lower prospect profile than Raya and Go, the young arms already near the bottom of the current bullpen picture.
Still, with Minnesota’s relief corps in such rough shape, he could work his way onto the 40-man roster and into the club’s eight-pitcher relief unit sooner rather than later, especially if he keeps building on that debut in St. Paul.
What stands out most is how well he has commanded the strike zone. Between Double-A and Triple-A, Pasqualotto has turned in a near-elite called plus swinging strike rate (CSW%), zone contact rate, and whiff rate.
His stuff doesn’t jump off the page - his four-seam fastball, slider, and cutter all grade out as slightly below average - but he locates everything extremely well and leans on a four-pitch mix that gives hitters different looks. His changeup works as his out pitch against lefties, while the slider is his finisher against righties.
The four-seamer sits around 96 MPH and serves as the backbone of his arsenal, used against hitters from both sides. With that mix, Pasqualotto has piled up a 34.7% strikeout rate between Double-A and Triple-A this season, showing he has the ability to miss bats at the next level.
The one concern is control, and the numbers back that up: he has a 14.8% walk rate. Even so, the Twins have kept moving him, and he has kept missing bats.
And yes, he already has a twin. Pasqualotto’s twin sister is named Brooklyn, which only makes his first name sound even more like it was designed for a whole set of siblings. For now, though, the Twins are focused on the right-handed arm himself - and it may not be long before that capital “t” starts to matter in a different way.
In Other News...
Former Twins Reliever From Polanco Trade Resurfaces In AL Central
Justin Topa has resurfaced in the AL Central after a rough stretch that pushed him out of Minnesota earlier this season. The right-hander, once part of the return in the Jorge Polanco trade, was released by the Blue Jays and has now landed in the Royals organization, a familiar kind of move for a reliever trying to get his footing back in a division where every bullpen arm seems to matter.
For the Twins, the more immediate point is that they moved on and kept searching for help, while Kansas City is trying to patch together innings of its own. The Royals have one of the leagues most troubled bullpens, and that kind of need can create a quick path back to the majors for a pitcher like Topa if he shows he can stabilize things in Triple-A. [Read more 🡒]
Twins May Be Running Out Of Time With Tristan Gray
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The problem is that the shine has worn off quickly, and the Twins are now having to weigh whether the early burst was a real foothold or just a fast start. Grays offense has backed up, and the defensive side has become harder to ignore as well, leaving Minnesota with a familiar roster question at a time when the club would love more certainty from the left side of the infield. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Just Sent A Clear Deadline Message About Their Bullpen
The Twins added another arm to a bullpen that has spent much of the season searching for stability, acquiring right-hander Tommy Nance and international bonus pool space from Toronto in exchange for minor leaguer Ryan Sprok. Nance brings five years of major league experience and has worked to a 3.82 ERA this season, giving Minnesota a veteran relief option as it tries to stay in the race.
The move also fits the way the front office is approaching the stretch run, with the club still intent on contending rather than stepping back before the deadline. Minnesota will need to clear a spot on the 26-man roster to make room for Nance, and that kind of decision can say plenty about which arms the Twins trust most as they try to steady the late innings. [Read more 🡒]