Taj Bradley Does Something No Twins Pitcher Has Ever Done Before

Taj Bradley accomplishes rare feat in Twins loss to A’s.

Taj Bradley, Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Taj Bradley's mother, Ana Mosley, has kept notes in a personalized scorebook for every one of her son's starts since he debuted for rookie-level Princeton in 2019. When she couldn't attend in person, she followed his outings via streaming broadcasts.

186 starts. 186 scorebooks. She tracks every single pitch.

And in all of those notebooks, she has never tracked anything like the bottom of the fifth inning of Bradley's start last night in West Sacramento.

Her son threw the first Immaculate Inning in Twins history. An Immaculate Inning is when a pitcher gets three strikeouts on nine pitches.

Bradley started by striking out the number eight hitter, Carlos Cortes, on three pitches, finishing him off with a 92.3 mph splitter well below the zone that Cortes swung through.

He then struck out A's catcher Brian Serven swinging on an 0-2 curveball that was blocked by catcher Victor Caratini.

Leadoff man Henry Bolte came to the plate standing between Bradley and an Immaculate Inning.

89.1 mph cutter for a called strike, 0-1

92.7 mph splitter for a called strike, 0-2

With Bradley needing one more pitch to complete the rare feat, Caratini called for the heat.

99.8 mph four-seam fastball for a called strike at the very bottom of the zone.

Henry Bolte, take three pitches and call me in the morning.

Good morning, good afternoon, good night. Times three.

The first Immaculate Inning in Twins history, and the 124th in MLB history. Nine pitches - four called strikes, four swinging strikes, and just one foul ball.

Bradley is now in the record books along with pitchers like Sandy Koufax, Chris Sale, and Max Scherzer, who are tied for the all-time record with three Immaculate Innings.

Taj Bradley throws the first immaculate inning in Twins history! pic.twitter.com/h3QnDa8GJz

— MLB (@MLB) August 26, 2026

The fifth inning strikeouts were the seventh, eighth, and ninth strikeouts of Bradley's 11, tying a career-high.

The Texas Rangers now stand alone as the only current team without an Immaculate Inning, as well as the only team to be on the other end of two Immaculate Innings against them in the same game.

"On the last pitch, that's why I called a fastball, because I was like, [expletive] it, best pitch," Victor Caratini told MLB.com. "He threw, like, 100 and the batter was frozen."

The Immaculate Inning Demonstrated Bradley's Improved Arsenal

While it is hard to argue with a painted 99.8 mph fastball to finish off an Immaculate Inning, and with his catcher, the numbers would indicate that Bradley's best pitch is actually his cutter. Among 43 pitchers who have thrown 300 or more cutters, Bradley tops the list in terms of K%, Whiff %, xBA, xSLG, wOBA, and xwOBA

The numbers say that among starters, Bradley has the best cutter in baseball, and it is not even close.

Data Source: Statcast

Bradley has 54 strikeouts on his cutter in 2026 compared to 25 all of last season. Bradley is throwing over 70% fastballs (four-seam and cutter), has ditched his sinker in 2026, and reduced his curveball usage from 15% to 9%. He throws the cutter twice as often against right-handed batters as he does against left-handed hitters.

The Immaculate Inning was representative of his overall pitch mix with Bradley throwing 4 four-seamers, 2 cutters, 2 splitters, and a curve.

Bradley has anchored the Twins' rotation, especially with Joe Ryan injured. He leads Twins hurlers in innings pitched (147), strikeouts (169), and wins (9). His 3.1 WAR (Baseball Reference) trails only Byron Buxton (3.3) among all Twins players, and Buxton left Tuesday night's game with an injury. The 3.1 WAR is nearly four times the WAR of his prior three seasons combined.

Bradley arrived in Minnesota at the 2025 Trade Deadline straight up for Griffin Jax, the eighth Twins trade that week and part of the decimation of their bullpen. Given the Rays' savviness with pitchers, Tampa shopping the recently demoted Bradley around seemed like a bad sign for the once highly touted prospect.

The Twins sent Bradley to Triple-A St. Paul to work on his splitter. The work has paid off: Bradley has a 37% whiff rate on his splitter, up from 23% last season, per Baseball Savant. Bradley's four-seam fastball velocity is also up from 96.3 mph to 97.1 mph, and batters are slugging over one hundred points lower against his four-seam fastball (.535 vs. 423).

Data Source: Baseball Reference

Bradley Still Needs to Refine His Command

Bradley is just 25 years old and won't be eligible for free agency until after the 2029 season. He is far from a finished product, with the biggest area of opportunity being better command.

His walk rate is in the 32nd percentile, but more concerningly, he allows very hard contact, and much of it is in the air. He allows an average exit velocity of 90.8 mph (5th percentile) and his 34.4 GB% is in the 10th percentile. His 3.8 BB/9 would also be a career high, up from 3.5 BB/9 last season.

The key to his improvement has been the improved strikeout rate, which is up 6% from 2025. His 169 strikeouts and 10.3 K/9 both rank 5th in the American League.

Taj Bradley, Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Despite the Immaculate Inning last night, Bradley still allowed four hits and seven runs. Two of those hits were by his former travel ball teammate Lawrence Butler. Bradley grew up in the Atlanta area and is childhood friends with fellow Atlanta area alums Chandler Simpson and Michael Harris II.

The Twins lost 4-2 despite Bradley's outing and Ryan Kreidler's homecoming home run. They will try to bounce back tonight with Connor Prielipp on the bump.

A Mother-Son Connection

While in the minors, Taj had been keeping a journal filled with coaching instructions from his minor-league coaches and his own pitching assessments.

So one year, for Christmas, Ana bought Taj three journals to write in: one for pitching assessments, one for motivational quotes, and one for off-the-field lessons. Bradley likes to take motivational quotes and life lessons from podcasts and celebrities like Jim Carrey and Denzel Washington.

Taj purchased a $13 pen on Amazon to write in those journals. With all the fancy technology and analytics, he still prefers an old-school pen.

That's one proud mom!

Ana Mosley drove down from Atlanta this morning so she could be at the Trop for her son's MLB Debut! #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/PyztHZ4gfI

— FanDuel Sports Network Florida & Sun (@FanDuelSN_FL) April 12, 2023

Bradley debuted in 2023 on Ana's birthday. It was extra special because Ana, a strong single mother, had also beaten cancer. In a post-game interview with the Rays sideline reporter Tricia Whitaker, Bradley declared, "Mom, we made it."

Tuesday night, "we" made Twins history.

And you can put that down in ink.