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The Twins Have a Decision to Make About Taj Bradley After His Breakout Season
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- The Twins Have a Decision to Make About Taj Bradley After His Breakout Season
(Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images)
When Taj Bradley joined the Minnesota Twins last summer, he was coming off a difficult stretch with Tampa Bay and had just been sent down to the minors. Less than 15 months later, he finished his first full season with the Twins as their most productive starting pitcher.
That change gives Minnesota something important to consider this offseason: what kind of commitment is it willing to make to Bradley?
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The 25-year-old finished 2026 with a 3.73 ERA and 205 strikeouts over 178⅓ innings. He made a career night 31 starts and won the Twins' Joseph W. Haynes Award as the team's Pitcher of the Year. With Pablo López missing the season after elbow surgery, Bradley also took on a larger share of the responsibility than the club likely expected when it acquired him.
His improvement wasn't simply a matter of throwing harder or finding a new pitch. As Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune reported, Bradley had admitted last season that he rarely studied scouting reports in Tampa Bay, instead relying on his catchers to prepare him for opposing hitters. He described himself as hardheaded and resistant to change.
In Minnesota, he approached that part of the job differently.
"I sat down and I did the work; I studied," Bradley said, via Nightengale. "On the field, I could read swings better knowing what they were trying to be aggressive toward and switch my game plan off of that."
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The preparation gave Bradley more ways to attack hitters. He finished the season with a four-pitch mix built around his fastball, cutter, split-changeup and curveball. His cutter was particularly effective, holding opposing hitters to a .179 average after he adjusted its shape last winter.
There were still rough patches. Bradley posted a 7.78 ERA over four starts beginning in late May, a reminder that consistency remains part of his development. But he followed that stretch by allowing two earned runs or fewer in each of his next five outings, and he ultimately handled a career-high workload.
Manager Derek Shelton told Nightengale that the Twins' pitching staff spent considerable time learning how to communicate with Bradley and what approaches worked best with him. That investment appears to have paid off.
Now comes the front office's part.
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Bradley is under team control through 2029, with arbitration beginning next season. An extension could give Minnesota cost certainty and keep a young starter in place as several veteran pitchers approach free agency after 2027. FanSided's Jackson Kruse has argued that Bradley should take priority if the Twins choose to make a long-term commitment to one of their starters.
There is a risk in extending any pitcher, and Bradley's 76 walks this season show there is still room for improvement. Minnesota will need him to limit the free passes if he is going to establish himself as a reliable top-of-the-rotation arm.
Still, the Twins have seen what Bradley can do when his preparation and stuff come together. After acquiring him from Tampa Bay for Griffin Jax at the 2025 trade deadline, they now have a chance to keep him beyond his arbitration years.
Whether they pursue that deal this winter could say a lot about how they intend to build their next competitive team.
