One of the most difficult places to crack the Minnesota Twins roster this season could be in the bullpen. Rocco Baldelli’s relief corps is projected to be among the best in baseball, per Fangraphs.
Plenty of the spots are already accounted for, leaving some youngsters wondering what their role for the year could be.
Louie, or Louis, Varland isn’t going to let that deter him, though. Not only is he not worried about the talk of him “changing” his name, but he’s going to pitch in whatever role that the Minnesota Twins need him in.
Varland to the pen makes sense for Minnesota Twins
Right now it stands to reason that the starting rotation doesn’t have an opening for Louie Varland. He moved out of that role last year, and was only called upon to start when injuries necessitated it for the MN Twins. The Athletic’s Dan Hayes doesn’t see him going back, either.
“Varland began the 2024 season in the starting rotation because the Twins were short-handed on starters before they ultimately shifted him to the bullpen. Manager Rocco Baldelli hinted as early as January that Varland could be a reliever this season, but wanted to wait to see if he’d be needed in the rotation again before committing. Varland has an idea what role the Twins want him to pitch in this season, but Baldelli has asked him to refrain from saying it.”
It shouldn’t be shrouded in some veil of secrecy that pitching in relief makes more sense for Varland. He has a fastball that can touch triple digits in that capacity, rather than starting, where it may lose a mph or two as the outing goes longer. Also, the starting pitching depth is now flush with arms like David Festa, Zebby Matthews, Andrew Morris, and Cory Lewis.
The Minnesota Twins obviously want to make sure they get through Spring Training healthy first, however. Chris Paddack and Simeon Woods Richardson are in line for the final two rotation spots, if healthy. The former was hurt down the stretch last season, and needs to show that he’s good to go before they rule Varland out.
Louie Varland actually has a worse 6.33 ERA as a reliever during his career. That said, the numbers are inflated by a couple of particularly bad blowups. He owns a 38/6 K/BB rate across 29 1/3 innings, which among relievers in the past two seasons is 10th in the entire MLB (min.20 inn).
Granted, we have a pretty small sample size for Varland as a reliever, but those numbers are not something to deny. His .727 OPS allowed is also more than 100 points lower than the .851 OPS he has surrendered in a starting role.
“I’ve found some success, some failures. But it’s been fun. It’s fun coming out of the pen.”
Michael Tonkin and Jorge Alcala are currently the front runners to grab the last couple of bullpen spots, however. Varland could certainly overtake either of them with a strong spring, and it wouldn’t be a big shock to see him on the Minnesota Twins Opening Day roster.
No name change for MN Twins Varland either
Plenty has been made about what exactly you should address Varland as this spring. He is still Louie, and is simply having his government name displayed on printed materials.
“It’s not like I’m changing my name. It’s my real name and I decided just to do it because maybe my mom and grandparents would like it because I’m named after my uncle…Call me Louie. On the scoreboard it will say Louis. That’s it. Plain and simple. Everybody’s freaking out about this for no reason.”
As Louie Varland has suggested, the entire discussion has gotten significantly more interest than was ever intended. Nothing is changing with how he is to be addressed, though. When coming out of the bullpen, or announced throughout the stadium, Louie should still be the expectation.
