The development of Cole Sands might be one of the most impressive feats of an already strong Twins pitching staff last year. What started as a fringe season for him quickly turned into a breakout, positioning him as potentially the second most reliable reliever on the team. A significant jump in his velocity, combined with a reworked pitch mix, played a huge role in this transformation.
At 27, Sands still has four years of team control left and can be sent to the minors this season. However, by mid-2024, it would be hard to imagine him being optioned to St. Paul. In his first two partial major league seasons, Sands had DRA- figures of 106 and 109, where a score of 100 is average and lower is better. But in 2024, his DRA- dropped all the way to 82. He struck out 29.1% of batters and walked only 4.1%.
This is why now could be the ideal moment to try a role change for him.
Earlier this winter, I was part of the group advocating for the team to consider moving Griffin Jax into the starting rotation. However, most fans seemed to feel that the risks of upsetting Jax’s successful relief role, and weakening the bullpen, were too high. The potential benefits of such a move were seen as insufficient:
- Adding more overall value to the roster
- Protecting the team against possible injuries to Joe Ryan or another starting pitcher
- Taking a chance on potentially developing an ace
In the end, it looks like the team and Jax both agreed to keep him in his current relief role. When asked by Dick Bremer during the annual Diamond Awards about his preferred role, Jax expressed a strong commitment to being the high-energy reliever, aligning with what we’ve heard about his mentality and why he doesn’t like pitching multiple innings from the bullpen.
That said, there might still be a possibility of converting Sands into a starter. While the chances of him turning into an ace are slimmer than Jax’s, this move would be less risky since Sands has started more recently (16 starts in 2022) and isn’t as vital to the bullpen’s current structure. It could also provide an interesting way to generate value, especially for a team with limited financial flexibility and a need to extract more value from internal resources. Sands has a year more of control before hitting free agency compared to Jax, so if the experiment succeeded, it could either make him a valuable long-term asset or a highly sought-after trade piece.
These reasons make the move worth considering. But what would make it actually work?