The Twins' acquisition of right-handed starting pitcher Dean Kremer from the Baltimore Orioles earlier this month seemed like a rather unexciting move at the time . Sure, Minnesota desperately needed another starting pitcher, but Kremer had an awful 7.56 ERA in 25 innings across five starts in July after being reinstated from the injured list.
However, Kremer had been a decent starter in past seasons, and it seemed the Twins would only acquire Kremer if they believed he could be much better than he was in July. Obviously, a 7.56 ERA isn't going to cut it at the big-league level.
While Kremer is still extremely early in his Twins tenure, Minnesota appears to have unlocked the best version of the veteran right-hander. In his first start with Minnesota last Wednesday, Kremer allowed just one run on three hits and two walks over five innings against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
On Monday, Kremer had his best start of the season by far . Against his former team at Target Field, Kremer threw seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts on 89 pitches. He surrendered just one hit and one walk in the outing.
Again, Kremer has made just two starts with the Twins, so let's not get ahead of ourselves here by saying Minnesota 100% unlocked an ace. But his performance over his two starts, specifically the one on Monday, is nonetheless an extremely encouraging sign.
Notably, Kremer cut down on his sinker usage significantly in Monday's win . The right-hander's sinker has accounted for 15% of his pitches this year. Last night, only five of his 89 pitches were sinkers. He did the same thing in his first start with Minnesota last Wednesday, as just five of his 88 pitches were sinkers.
Kremer also has thrown his splitter 28% of the time this year and his four-seamer 25%. While he still used his splitter plenty in his past two starts, he used his four-seamer more than any of his other pitches. Last night, he threw 31 four-seamers and 23 splitters. He also threw 15 cutters, 12 curveballs and three sliders.
There's a reason the Twins had Kremer cut down on his sinker usage. This season, opponents have hit .261 with a .353 expected batting average and .478 slugging percentage against the pitch. Lowering his sinker usage seemed like a simple fix, but the Orioles apparently didn't think to do so, for whatever reason.
If Kremer's success continues, Jeremy Zoll deserves major props for making the trade. Minnesota only surrendered a teenage prospect to acquire Kremer, who is under team control through the 2027 season.
This article was originally published on www.puckettspond.com as Twins may have found the key to unlocking former Orioles SP Dean Kremer .
