The Minnesota Twins should be announcing any time now the return of left-handed reliever Craig Breslow. MLB reporter Ken Rosenthal tweeted that Breslow informed him of his return to the Twins on a minor league deal.
Craig Breslow just told me he has agreed to a minor-league deal with the #MNTwins, turning down better financial offers from other clubs.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 8, 2017
The Breslow addition is interesting because even he admits that he hasn’t been good for three years. He posted a 1.81 ERA with Boston in 2013 before falling apart with three consecutive poor seasons.
Now 36 years old, Breslow has changed his arm angle in hopes of re-establishing himself as a good lefty reliever with the help of analytics.
“We all just watched [Cleveland left handed relief pitcher] Andrew Miller dominate the post season with his devastating slider,” Breslow told Sports Illustrated. “There are a number of factors that go into his ability to make the ball do what it does. He’s 6’8”, he’s got incredibly long levers. He’s got a great ability to spin a ball. At 5’11” and probably a wingspan two feet shorter, I may never be able to impart the same spin rate on a baseball as he can, but I should be able to spin it in the same direction, which will give me the same shape of the breaking ball.”
If Breslow can be anything like Miller it’s going to make this signing a tremendous one for the Twins.
“The best I can come out of this offseason is with a sinker that moves 50 percent more, a breaking ball that’s 50 percent bigger in terms of horizontal and vertical displacement,” Breslow added.
Breslow earned a double-major at Yale in molecular biophysics and biochemistry, earning him the “smartest man in baseball” tag from beat writer LaVelle Neal when he played for the Twins in 2008-09, according to MLB.com.
Because he’s still in the experimental stage of his MLB rebirth, it makes sense that Minnesota only committed to him on a minor league deal.
Here's the video again of Craig Breslow throwing for scouts. Has new arm angle. No prior history w/ Falvey, but Derek won him over. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/7QjBouDB0O
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) February 8, 2017
