MINNEAPOLIS -- As they navigate Connor Prielipp's first year in the Major Leagues, the Twins find themselves in a curious spot. On one hand, Prielipp is as green as a Major League starting pitcher can possibly be, with 195 2/3 innings pitched since he finished high school in 2019.
On the other, Prielipp’s one of four healthy starting pitchers on a team that has been absolutely shellacked by rotation injuries. And for the most part, he’s an effective starting pitcher on a team that is still figuring out how to effectively deploy a bullpen that can best be described as an ongoing work in progress.
Those tensions -- the desire to protect Prielipp’s health and his future, and the need to get quality innings from a talented starter -- are at play every time he takes the mound. And they were certainly highlighted on Tuesday, in a 6-4 win against the White Sox at Target Field, as Prielipp showed both why he’s still something of a work in progress himself, and why Minnesota is so excited about him.
Coming off the first two subpar outings of his young career, Prielipp found himself in trouble in the third, but he got out of it and went on to turn in six-plus strong innings -- coming up one out short of what would have been his longest outing at any point in professional or college baseball. He struck out seven, walked two and collected his first win since April 27.
“Connor did a good job,” said manager Derek Shelton. “He settled back down after he had the tough inning, and I think he went three 10-pitch innings in a row -- which as we talk about signs of growth, that's a sign of growth. It's probably the first time he's ever pitched in the seventh inning in his professional career. He did a really good job.”
The hard-throwing 25-year-old lefty was charged with four runs, making for a line that might not catch your eye. But if you watched Prielipp pitch, you saw it: He can do things other pitchers can’t do. His fastball and slider are both the kinds of pitches that left-handers, especially left-handed starters, don’t tend to have. He averaged 95.7 mph on his four-seam fastball and 95.3 on his sinker. He got 12 whiffs on 45 swings, including four on his slider.
And to be fair, the line doesn’t really do Prielipp justice. Yes, all of the runs were earned, but that doesn’t mean they were all necessarily deserved. Two stolen bases and a throwing error led to one run. Another resulted from an infield single that probably should have been an out. A runner reached against him due to catcher’s interference, and though no runs scored from it, those were still extra pitches that he shouldn’t have had to throw.
“I feel like it was just some unlucky hits,” Prielipp said. “I was able to keep my process good throughout the game. It was nice. … Sometimes hitters, they hit the ball. They are professionals as well. You just have to keep going.”
And so even as the Twins are watching Prielipp’s workload aggressively, when the seventh came around, there was a decision to be made. He was only at 84 pitches. And while the Minnesota organization tends to put a lot of stock in “ups” -- the number of times a pitcher sits down between innings and then comes back out again -- the pitch count and the spot in the lineup argued for bringing him back out.
Prielipp allowed two hits and didn’t get that elusive 19th out, but there were no regrets.
“We knew at some point he was going to have to go [into the seventh],” Shelton said. “We were going to run him to 95 [pitches], I think he got to [94]. And we were at [eighth and ninth in the White Sox order] and the nine hitter was a lefty with no ability for them to pinch hit because of the way their bench was.
“So, it seemed like as we take steps with Connor, it was the perfect time to give him one of those steps.”