The Minnesota Twins won their first spring training game of 2026 on Sunday, defeating the Atlanta Braves 8-1 at CoolTodaypark.
There’s plenty of excitement to be had, but let’s take a look at Eric Orze. The 28-year-old right-handed reliever, who was traded from the Tampa Bay Rays to the Twins, made his debut with Minnesota on Sunday – and he made quite the first impression.
Orze pitched the seventh inning for the Twins and was nearly perfect in a 1-2-3 frame. He threw 10 pitches, including eight for strikes, which is sure to get fans excited for the production he can provide to a bullpen staff desperate for an anchor.
Eric Orze dominates in his Twins debut, the first outing of 2026 spring training
Orze showed off his arsenal of a four-seam fastball, a slider and a splitter to strike out the team in order. He struck out John Gil on two pitches to start the seventh inning. He then turned three consecutive splitters against Alex Lodise to eliminate him swinging.
Do you remember DaShawn Keirsey Jr. yet? The former Twin also struck out, all against a splitter, to end the inning with a solid first outing from Orze.
What stood out most about Orze’s day was that he threw six splitters, and they were all swings and misses. He threw that pitch 48.5 percent of the time with the Rays in 2025, and for good reason. That pitch yielded a 31.8 whiff rate and 22.9 putaway rate, totaling 30 of his 40 strikeouts.
His splitter also had a .194 xBA. He didn’t allow a home run on that field either. So basically the splitter is its bread and butter. Reasonable. But if he can immediately overwhelm the opponent with that throw during his first spring training with a new team, it could cause quite a stir in the dugout. His supply is already gone, and his teammates must be loving it.
If the Twins can rely on someone like Orze — who cemented a 3.02 ERA in 41.2 innings in 2025 — to be a consistent reliever this year, it could reassure fans that there is someone in the bullpen they can rely on. Some teams have that luxury, but the Twins historically haven’t, outside of a few star closers. Games can be won and lost in the middle innings, and hopefully the Twins struck gold with Orze on staff. He made a big impression against a strong club like the Braves.
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