Kendry Rojas Gives Twins a Glimpse of the Rotation’s Future

The Minnesota Twins entered Saturday expecting Joe Ryan to take the mound. By first pitch, their plans had changed twice.

Ryan’s start was pushed back because of arm fatigue, leaving rookie Mike Paredes scheduled to open against the Athletics. Paredes then suffered a left oblique strain during warmups, forcing manager Derek Shelton to point toward Kendry Rojas in the dugout and tell him to start warming up.

Rojas answered that call emphatically.

The 23-year-old left-hander allowed one hit and one walk across four scoreless innings in Minnesota’s 2-0 victory, striking out five on 56 pitches. He had been scheduled to follow Paredes in relief but instead made his fourth Major League start with almost no warning.

“I was just sitting, chilling, talking, and then they told me to get the start,” Rojas said to MLB.com. through teammate Pablo López. “So I sprinted my way back there.”

Rojas rose to the occasion for one night, but his arsenal suggests the performance was no fluke.

A Development Story Reaches Target Field

Kendry Rojas delivers a pitch against the Houston Astros in the first inning at Target Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Toronto signed Rojas out of Cuba for $215,000 in 2020, when his fastball sat near 90 mph. Its gradual rise in velocity transformed him from a lower-level project into one of the Blue Jays’ best left-handed prospects. By 2025, the fastball averaged 94-95 mph and reached 97. Rojas recorded 90 strikeouts across 69 minor league innings before Minnesota acquired him and Alan Roden from the Toronto Blue Jays for Louis Varland and Ty France.

The fastball has continued gaining strength. Rojas averaged 96.4 mph and reached 98 against the Athletics, while his slider produced four of his eight swings and misses.

Through 10 Major League appearances, opponents are batting .154 with a .269 slugging percentage against his four-seamer according to Statcast. The sample remains limited, but the results provide useful context.

National League Cy Young favorite Jacob Misiorowski has held hitters to a .179 average and .253 slugging percentage with his four-seamer across 1,084 pitches this season. Rojas has thrown the pitch only 166 times, preventing any direct comparison between the two, but producing similar results during his first exposure to Major League hitters shows how effective the pitch has already become.

Those pitches give Rojas the foundation of a starter’s arsenal. His changeup and sinker are also useful alternatives, allowing him to attack with four offerings rather than survive as a two-pitch reliever

The concern remains command. Rojas has walked 19 batters in 25.2 Major League innings, contributing to a 1.40 WHIP despite allowing only 17 hits. His 42.4% zone rate also sits below the 48.7% MLB average. His raw stuff can overpower hitters, but becoming a dependable starter will require fewer free passes.

Still, Rojas owns a 2.81 ERA with 29 strikeouts through four starts and six relief appearances. Injuries have prevented him from completing more than 84 innings in any season, leaving durability as another question that needs answering.

He opened the year on the injured list with a right hamstring strain, then missed 24 games after posterior soreness in his pitching elbow was diagnosed as inflammation in his left triceps. One emergency start does not resolve either concern. But it shows why the Twins should remain patient.

Minnesota acquired Rojas during a deadline teardown built around exchanging established players for younger prospects. Less than one year later, he was asked to survive a game after two pitching plans disappeared before the opening pitch. Rojas did far more than survive the assignment. He showed why the Twins should believe in his potential to earn himself a permanent place in their rotation.

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