Twins Unveil Plan To Keep Connor Prielipp Healthy, Effective
Connor Prielipp was a Friday night starter at Alabama, a staff ace lefthander who pitched the first game of a weekend series.
After Tommy John surgery, plus another operation to add an internal brace to his elbow, Prielipp may be a Friday starter in the Twins’ system this season, too.
First, the stuff. “He looks amazing. His pitches look different than anyone else’s,” Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. “I watched a bullpen one day, and it didn’t take long to notice the quality of his stuff.
“The velocity, every fastball in the high 90s, is nice, but the sharpness of his slider is unbelievable—you can see that right out of his hand.”
He throws basically a two-pitch mix, but for a 2022 second-round pick who has pitched just 30 pro innings, it’s a thrilling step forward.
“When we drafted him, we knew it might take some time” for Prielipp to regain the dominance he showed in college, Falvey said. “You never know if he can regain the form that made him so great. The way he looks this spring, it’s clear that he’s back. Now it’s up to us to turn that ability into results.”
They’ll do that, according to Twins GM Jeremy Zoll, by putting Prielipp on a college schedule. He will pitch once a week until he shows he’s regained some durability.
“A once-a-week schedule keeps him really routine-oriented. He’ll have some shorter outings in the early going, and we’ll build up some workload to get his feet under him,” Zoll said. “He’ll be starting in Double-A, and we’ll just let the year unfold, once a week.”
Prielipp will likely start, at least during the first month or two, but only pitch three or four innings. And while they haven’t ruled out keeping him in the rotation as his elbows heal, “his profile, internally, has evolved into more of a hard-throwing lefty reliever,” Falvey said.
“When you watch him pitch, you think he can do anything. He may be the best lefthander we’ve ever drafted. But keeping him healthy is our responsibility now, because he’s got a major league arm, and we’re going to make every decision with that in mind.”
