From North St. Paul to Concordia University and then sprinting through the minor leagues before reaching the St. Paul Saints this summer, Louie Varland has gotten the call to the big leagues and will make his MLB debut Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.
The 24-year-old pitcher will start Wednesday night against Aaron Judge and the Bronx Bombers, taking the spot in the starting rotation of Tyler Mahle, who has been placed on the injured list for a second time in the past month with shoulder inflammation.
Varland has been a strikeout machine in the minors, racking up 298 strikeouts in 238 innings. He began this season at Double-A Wichita and went 7-4 with a 3.34 ERA, striking out 119 batters in 105 innings.
His arrival in the big leagues comes after only four starts at Triple-A St. Paul, but he was dominant in those outings, posting a 1.69 ERA in 21 1/3 innings with 27 strikeouts and only three walks.
Varland is a hard-throwing right-hander with a fastball that can reach the mid- to upper-90s, along with a hard slider and a changeup. He is rated by MLB Pipeline as the Twins’ No. 10 prospect.
The scouting report on Varland from MLB Pipeline:
A focus on changing his arm action to reduce joint stress led to increased velocity and movement on his fastball, not to mention nastier secondary stuff. Varland entered pro ball maxing out at 92 mph, but averaged 94 mph in 2021 and touched 98 mph. His changeup is his best secondary offering, thrown with really good action to it, but his slider might be catching up. He throws it in the mid-80s and will continue to work on adding side-to-side movement in order to miss bats with it. He can still fold in a get-me-over slower curve to give hitters a different look.
Varland’s debut will be at Yankee Stadium, where the Twins are 13-51 since 2002, including Monday’s 5-2 loss that dropped the Twins one game behind Cleveland in the AL Central race.
Game 2 of the four-game series is at 6:05 p.m. Tuesday, with Sonny Gray pitching for Minnesota and Gerrit Cole on the mound for New York.
