Sands making most of leverage opportunities with Twins

This story was excerpted from Do-Hyoung Park’s Twins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Let’s throw it back to last week, when the Dodgers and the modern-day Murderers’ Row at the top of that lineup rolled through the Twin Cities -- and one pitcher struck out Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith consecutively, a feat that hasn’t been equaled by anyone else this season.

That was Cole Sands.

“When you're out there, you don't really notice those things,” Sands said. “I was just kind of pitching. I guess after, you kind of realize it.”

It’s entirely bizarre that a reliever would earn his first two career saves before his first career hold, but that’s reflective of the nontraditional usage that Sands has seen in the Twins’ bullpen in the past two seasons: He has largely served as a low-leverage bulk man, entering when games are out of reach in either direction, mostly to eat innings.

He was mostly just fine in that role last season, posting a 3.74 ERA, 21 strikeouts and 13 walks in 21 2/3 innings and often going a week at a time without pitching.

Here’s what he’s done this year: 8 1/3 innings with one earned run allowed (1.08 ERA), and the most striking part is the 13 strikeouts against only one walk. It doesn’t seem to be a mirage, either, as Statcast loves the poor quality of contact Sands is getting this year.

“With him, when he’s been in Triple-A, he’s thrown the ball good,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “When he’s come to the big leagues previously, we haven’t seen the same version of Cole Sands. Right now, I think we’re just getting the version he’s been when he’s been in St. Paul, the more comfortable version of a guy that is settled in, has his feet under him.”

Here’s what’s interesting about Sands’ past two appearances: For the first two times in his career, he’s entered games with the Twins holding a late lead of three or fewer runs. He held the lead in both occasions, earning the save for a depleted bullpen in the second half of the Twins’ doubleheader in Detroit on April 13, then holding a lead in the seventh inning on Saturday.

Perhaps that’s indicative of what might await Sands if he keeps pitching the way he does.

“There is no limit to something like that,” Baldelli said. “If Cole is going to go out there and look the way he’s looked, and he continues to pitch like this, you end up finding yourself in winning games and leverage spots.”

It’s because this is a different Sands than the fringy version that first came up as an ineffective starter in 2022.

Much like Brock Stewart, Sands took his offseason work to North Carolina-based Tread Athletics over the past two winters. He prioritized cleaning up his mechanics, addressing his hip mobility and getting much stronger, with a focus on both his upper body and his lower body, as well as core strength, something he didn’t think he’d ever worked on in his life.

He knew he felt far stronger, but he hoped it would translate to games. In his first Spring Training game, Sands had no idea how hard his fastball would be when he threw for the first time -- and when he turned around, instead of seeing 91 mph, he saw 96 mph and 97 mph, he said.

His fastball velocity has jumped from an average of 91.8 mph in 2022 to 93.8 mph in '23 to 94.6 mph this year, and the three hardest pitches of his career (the only ones to top 96 mph) have all come this season. Sands reared back for 95.8 mph to strike out Mark Canha to end that seventh inning on Saturday.

“Just trying to get as strong as possible while also refining my offspeed,” Sands said. “I'm happy that it's showing right now. All that hard work does pay off, you know? A lot of strength work and refining some offspeed stuff.”

It’s the cutter that has made a huge difference this year, Sands said. Not only is he throwing it more often than his four-seam fastball now, but he said he’s refined the usage to make it much more effective in the strike zone this season.

It perhaps took Sands a while to get here, but the work is paying off.

“There's not always going to be a perfect way,” Sands said. “Not everybody just comes up here and has success. If you can find ways to get better and continue to progress like that, I think that's the best way to do it.”