Taj Bradley has been the starting pitcher in both Minnesota Twins wins this season, following up a good but abbreviated first start versus the Baltimore Orioles with an even better outing Thursday in Kansas City.<\/p>\n
Bradley shut out the Royals for six innings, allowing no extra-base hits and just one walk, and the Twins\u2019 lineup broke through late with a trio of ninth-inning homers in a sweep-avoiding 5-1 victory.<\/p>\n
For the second straight season, the Twins will head into their home opener with a 2-4 record. They\u2019ll host Bradley\u2019s former team, the Tampa Bay Rays, for a three-game series that begins Friday at Target Field. (Mother Nature permitting, of course.)<\/p>\n
Bradley mostly struggled in six starts for the Twins last year after coming over from the Rays in a deadline trade for reliever Griffin Jax, but it\u2019s been a much different story this season. Through two starts, he has an 0.87 ERA and 12-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 10 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s been a lot to like with Bradley beyond just the shiny ERA. He\u2019s always had impressive raw stuff, averaging 96.3 mph with his fastball before this year, but that\u2019s jumped to 97.2 mph this season, and he reached\u00a0triple digits Thursday for the first time in a Twins uniform.<\/p>\n
Bradley escaped from a two-on, two-out jam in the third inning by freezing Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr. with a 100.0 mph fastball down the middle for a called third strike<\/a>. It was the fastest recorded pitch ever thrown by a Twins starting pitcher.<\/p>\n Despite being just eight starts into his Minnesota career, Bradley already dominates the Twins\u2019 leaderboard for fastest pitches thrown by starters in the pitch-tracking era, which began in 2008. He holds the top eight spots and 16 of the top 20 spots. Here\u2019s what the top 10 looks like:<\/p>\n STARTERDATEVERSUSMPH<\/p>\n 4\/2\/2026<\/p>\n Royals<\/p>\n 100.0<\/p>\n 3\/28\/2026<\/p>\n Orioles<\/p>\n 99.6<\/p>\n 4\/2\/2026<\/p>\n Royals<\/p>\n 99.5<\/p>\n 4\/2\/2026<\/p>\n Royals<\/p>\n 99.4<\/p>\n 9\/17\/2025<\/p>\n Yankees<\/p>\n 99.0<\/p>\n 9\/10\/2025<\/p>\n Angels<\/p>\n 98.9<\/p>\n 8\/30\/2025<\/p>\n Padres<\/p>\n 98.9<\/p>\n 3\/28\/2026<\/p>\n Orioles<\/p>\n 98.9<\/p>\n 9\/27\/2025<\/p>\n Phillies<\/p>\n 98.9<\/p>\n 9\/10\/2025<\/p>\n Angels<\/p>\n 98.8<\/p>\n Bradley was a consensus top-50 prospect coming up through Tampa Bay\u2019s farm system and debuted in the majors at 22, but he posted a 4.70 ERA in 354 innings across parts of three seasons with the Rays. He showed semi-regular flashes of front-line potential but struggled with inconsistency.<\/p>\n That remains Bradley\u2019s biggest challenge with the Twins, but it\u2019s not hard to see why they valued his upside enough to swap Jax for him last summer and left little doubt during spring training that the right-hander would be in the Opening Day rotation. (I hopped on the bandwagon<\/a>, too.)<\/p>\n In spring training, Bradley praised the Twins\u2019 coaching staff<\/a> \u2014 including holdover pitching coach Pete Maki and new bullpen coach LaTroy Hawkins \u2014 for helping him to simplify things mechanically and mentally in an effort to \u201cblend art with science\u201d for better big-picture results. So far, so good.<\/p>\n Bradley\u2019s already plus fastball velocity has jumped into elite territory for a starter, and it\u2019s part of a deep pitch mix that also features a low-90s cutter, a slow curveball and a revamped splitter, each of which can thrive as swing-and-miss weapons when he\u2019s rolling like this.<\/p>\n Bradley, 25, is younger than some top pitching prospects \u2014 including reigning Twins minor-league pitcher of the year Connor Prielipp \u2014 yet he\u2019s made 75 starts and logged nearly 400 innings in the majors. He\u2019s a rare combination of youth, experience and upside, and the Twins appear to be unlocking it.<\/p>\n Where to find Twins\u2019 top prospects<\/p>\n I wrote last week<\/a> about Triple-A St. Paul\u2019s roster being absolutely stacked with top prospects to begin the season, far more so than any Twins minor-league team in recent memory, and how uncommon it is to have that much talent on the doorstep of the majors.<\/p>\n Baseball America agrees, and takes it a step further, ranking the Saints as having the most talented season-opening roster<\/a> throughout the entirety of the minor leagues, regardless of level. BA calling the Saints \u201cthe best team in the minors\u201d should provide some much-needed optimism for Twins fans.<\/p>\n