MINNEAPOLIS -- There’s never been any doubt about Kendry Rojas’ stuff. The Twins’ rookie left-hander and No. 10 prospect, acquired last summer in the Trade Deadline deal that sent Louis Varland to Toronto, has elite raw ability. The only question has ever been location.
Rojas showed on Monday what he’s capable of when he stays in the strike zone.
Throwing more than two-thirds of his pitches for strikes and pitching with exceptional efficiency, Rojas was outstanding in the first start of his Major League career. He allowed two hits and one walk over four scoreless innings, striking out three, as the Twins beat Houston, 6-3, in a game delayed one hour and 57 minutes by rain.
Rojas was even more effective than he had been coming out of the bullpen for Minnesota, and the four innings were the most he’d pitched in any game in the Majors or Minors this year.
“The mentality is the same,” Rojas said via interpreter and assistant pitching coach Luis Ramirez. “I just have to prepare a little differently because I was just starting the game. I felt good and I felt comfortable starting because this is something that I’ve done before.”
There’s a non-zero chance it was also Rojas’ last start for a while, but if that’s the case, he certainly gave the organization something to think about.
“I thought he was outstanding,” said manager Derek Shelton. “The thing we’ve seen with Kendry is when he puts the ball on the plate, he causes issues. … I thought he did a really good job navigating. He threw strikes, everything was sharp. We didn’t know what we were going to get out of him. And the fact that we got four out of him, and he threw, what, [46] pitches? That was really impressive.”
Rojas’ high-octane arsenal was on full display as he averaged 96.0 miles per hour on his four-seam fastball and 94.0 on his sinker. He also successfully mixed in his changeup and slider, getting swings and misses on both, but the fastball was the star of the show. He got five whiffs on 12 swings against the pitch, and when opposite-side hitters are swinging and missing at fastballs in the strike zone, you’ve got something special.
“Kid’s special,” said catcher Ryan Jeffers, who was removed from the game due to a wrist injury. “Kid’s got really good stuff. Super efficient today. Worked himself into some trouble early but super efficient, so props to him for kind of settling in there. I think hopefully we can build some volume there and maybe let him go a little longer.”
As with quite a few things about the Twins’ rotation these days, Rojas’ immediate future is not completely clear. He started in place of Simeon Woods Richardson, who had been in a deep slump but pitched an effective inning of relief behind him. It’s certainly possible Rojas gets another start, though with Taj Bradley returning from injury soon there may not be an opportunity just yet.
But whether he stays in the rotation, returns to the bullpen, or is sent down to Triple-A St. Paul to pitch in their rotation, Rojas made an impression that won’t soon be forgotten. He joins Connor Prielipp and Zebby Matthews as pitchers who started the year in the Minors but have delivered key performances in the Twins’ rotation this year.
And as for Woods Richardson, he also came out of the game with some good feeling for the first time in a while. He only pitched one inning but would’ve gotten more if not for the rain delay, which hit with the Twins batting in the bottom of the fifth. It’s not known -- even to Woods Richardson himself -- what the plan is for him going forward, but the change in fortunes was welcome.
“You've just got to chop the big-ass tree one [swing] at a time,” he said. “You've just got to keep going. … I think you've just got to keep executing, keep executing pitches, doing a better job.”