The Twins may have stumbled into something real in Yoendrys Gómez.
That’s a pretty wild sentence considering where his season started. In 2025, Gómez was designated for assignment by three different teams, spent the final weeks of the season as a starter, and then got traded again this offseason.
After another stop on the waiver wire, Minnesota took a shot on the young right-hander. Since then, he has turned into one of the most dominant closers in baseball.
The Twins claimed Gómez from the Tampa Bay Rays, and he has rewarded them with perfect results in the ninth. He’s converted 18 out of 18 saves, logged a 1.85 ERA in 39.0 innings, and held opponents to a .563 OPS while striking out 39 batters.
The stuff looks different, too. Gómez has made a major pitch-mix shift from 2025 to 2026, starting with the removal of his curveball, which he threw 14% of the time last season. That change has come with a heavier fastball load - 46% this year compared to 33% last year - and more usage of his slider, sweeper, especially against left-handed batters, and cutter, according to Statcast.
He’s also changed the look of his delivery. Gómez lowered his arm angle from 34° in 2025 to 31° this season, and that, combined with the altered pitch mix, has helped create deception. Batters have looked uncomfortable against him, and the results have backed that up.
Still, there’s a reason the Twins can’t just assume this runs forever. Gómez came into the year with a shaky track record, and some regression could be coming.
Statcast has his expected ERA at 5.02, which ranks in the 15th percentile, and he’s allowing a 44.1% hard-hit rate. Those are the kinds of numbers that make a bullpen nervous, even when the saves keep piling up.
The hard-contact issue stands out even more when you compare it to last season. Gómez was better than league average at limiting hard contact in 2025, when batters posted only a 37.4% hard-hit rate against him. That’s a sharp drop in that area, even if the surface numbers have gotten better.
And now the timing matters. The Twins have the final AL Wild Card spot, and every game from here on out carries weight. Closers can look untouchable for long stretches and still unravel in a hurry, and Minnesota cannot afford a pile of blown saves over the final 30 games if it wants to keep its October push alive.
For now, the hope is simple: Gómez keeps doing what he’s been doing and keeps throwing up zeros when it matters most.
In Other News...
Twins Make A Surprising Roster Choice As Playoff Questions Grow
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The move also says something about how the Twins are balancing the present and the future. Rather than push top prospect Walker Jenkins into the mix, the organization opted to leave him in Triple-A for more development, even as the major league roster takes on a little more protection behind the plate. Bauelos may not be in line for immediate playing time, but his promotion shows Minnesota is willing to use an uncommon roster wrinkle to give itself another layer of coverage as the season enters a more uncertain stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Just Sent A Message With Sweep Of First-Place Braves
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Minnesota kept pushing from there, adding insurance in the seventh and then leaning on strong relief pitching to hold the lead in the eighth. For a Twins team looking to stack meaningful wins early, sweeping Atlanta at home carried the kind of weight that goes beyond one afternoon in the standings. It also left Culpepper's breakout performance and the way the lineup responded as the bigger takeaway, even with plenty of season still ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Already Have An Early Catching Debate Worth Watching
The Twins have spent the early part of the summer getting a close look at two of their most intriguing young catchers, both of whom are already logging regular work for Low-A Fort Myers. Vahn Lackey and Carson Tinney, the clubs top two 2026 draft picks, are off to very different-looking starts, which is part of what makes the situation worth following. Lackey has brought steady plate discipline and athleticism, while Tinney has flashed the kind of raw power that tends to stand out immediately in the lower levels.
For now, the comparison is more about traits than finished products. Lackeys early line includes a .205 batting average and a strong ability to control the running game, while Tinney has paired a lower average with patience and some legitimate thump. Both are still early in their pro development, and the Twins are in the useful position of letting the two catchers build their cases side by side before anything resembling a long-term answer has to be made. [Read more 🡒]