The Twins’ rotation was battered all season, but the way the injuries hit may end up shaping a much more dangerous staff for 2027.
Pablo López never even made it to a spring training inning before an elbow injury wiped out his season. Mick Abel, who had just put together two scoreless outings and seemed to be finding his footing, then got shut down in mid-April with inflammation and never returned. Joe Ryan stayed healthy for most of the year and looked like one of the best starters in the American League through the All-Star break, only to have a glute strain throw him off course during the stretch run and send him to the injured list after a rough run of starts.
There’s no way to dress that up as anything other than a mess, and it wasn’t all random bad luck either. Ryan and Abel have durability questions, and Bailey Ober and López have their own injury histories.
David Festa also ran into setback after setback before surgery put even his spring training readiness in doubt. Still, there’s a different way to view a season like this: if the pitchers coming back can get healthy and stay that way, the Twins may be sitting on something much better next year.
That’s especially true because some injuries can be more encouraging for the future than the nagging kind. Long recoveries are painful in the moment, but surgeries like the ones López and Abel had this year often reduce the short-term risk of the same problems popping back up. When those kinds of injuries pile up together, there’s at least a path to a healthier follow-up season, though setbacks before a full return remain a real concern.
If López, Ryan and Abel are all right, that’s already a nasty core. Add Taj Bradley to the mix, and the upside starts to look even louder.
Bradley has been uneven, the kind of pitcher who can follow three strong outings with three starts that make you scratch your head. But the raw production is moving the right way.
His ERA and expected ERA both sit in the 3.00s, and his strikeout rate is 27.2%.
He has also taken a clear step in limiting the train-wreck start. Last season, Bradley made 27 starts and six of them finished with a Game Score under 30.
This season, he’s also made 27 starts, but only two have fallen under 30. Twenty of his starts have reached a Game Score of 50 or better, compared with 15 of 27 in 2025.
That kind of progress matters, and another winter of development could push him forward again in 2027.
Behind that group, the Twins have more than just placeholders. Zebby Matthews has seen his ERA drop by just over a run each year of his career so far, and Connor Prielipp has also made real progress.
Both have mid-rotation upside and can handle the back end right now. Riley Quick, meanwhile, is close enough on the horizon that there’s at least a chance he arrives in 2027.
Of course, none of this is locked in. Health will change the picture, trades will happen, and offseason moves could alter the whole shape of the staff.
The Twins could keep Ober and/or Dean Kremer, or they could trade Ryan. And there’s always the ugly possibility that one of the pitchers who looks like a future building block now-Bradley, Matthews or Prielipp-takes his turn getting hurt next season.
That’s the danger in projecting this far out.
Even with all that uncertainty, the talent is hard to miss. A healthy López and Ryan.
Bradley still climbing. Abel returning with real upside.
Matthews and Prielipp competing for spots and maybe supplying legitimate depth. After the damage this season, it would be a strange twist if the setbacks helped leave Minnesota’s 2027 rotation healthier, deeper and more threatening than it has been in a long time.
The offseason still has plenty of moving parts, and Opening Day is a long way off. But right now, the Twins’ projected 2027 rotation has the look of a group that could finally turn promise into production.
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Twins Fans Have Every Right To Demand Accountability For This Collapse
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Jeremy Zoll and Derek Shelton are part of the conversation because every collapse has layers, but this one also reflects the roster limits, the injuries, and the uneven production that have dragged the season off course. Ownership sits in the middle of it too, because when a team with this kind of midseason position slips into survival mode, fans are left asking not just what happened on the field, but who is accountable for building a club that could end up here. [Read more 🡒]