{"id":122625,"date":"2025-11-19T08:21:52","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T08:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=122625"},"modified":"2025-11-19T08:21:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T08:21:52","slug":"breaking-minnesota-twins-acquire-relief-pitcher-eric-orze-in-trade-with-tampa-bay-rays-could-this-move-change-their-bullpen-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=122625","title":{"rendered":"Breaking: Minnesota Twins Acquire Relief Pitcher Eric Orze in Trade With Tampa Bay Rays \u2014 Could This Move Change Their Bullpen Forever?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a bid to reload their undermanned bullpen, the Minnesota Twins sent a low-level prospect to the Rays, in exchange for funky righthander Eric Orze…<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Image courtesy of \u00a9 Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
In what is sure to be the blockbuster move of the winter season (just kidding\u2026 maybe?), the Twins and Tampa Bay Rays made a trade Tuesday, swapping major league-ready hurler\u00a0Eric Orze\u00a0for minor-leaguer\u00a0Jacob Kisting.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-4 Orze made his debut with the Mets during the 2024 season, before the team dealt him to the Rays for\u00a0Jose Siri. He ranked 51st on Tampa\u2019s seemingly endless prospect chart.<\/p>\n

Orze did not make the Opening Day roster, but he appeared only two weeks into the season, and eventually posted a 3.02 ERA over 41 2\/3 innings. The underlying stuff offers cause for some concern, including a 4.65 xFIP and a 10.7% walk rate. Tampa optioned Orze back to Triple A in July, but the decision allowed some tinkering that pushed his game forward.\u00a0Though trading with the Rays can be a dangerous game, the team often ends up with a roster crunch that pushes good players through their cracks; ask\u00a0Joe Ryan.<\/p>\n

Orze transferred from Northwest Florida State College to the University of New Orleans, before he discovered that he had testicular cancer in 2018. When he was ready to return to the mound, the pandemic pushed him back to the sidelines. Despite the short track record, the Mets drafted him in the fifth round, as the 150th overall pick.<\/p>\n

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He relies on a splitter with lots of depth, which plays off a four-seamer and a slider. The splitter shows signs of wildness, hovering around 84mph and often dropping out of the zone to induce swings and misses\u2014but without much luck getting strikes if hitters don’t chase. In that case, he pushes a fastball that comes in around 94 mph, from a true three-quarter arm lot. His slider has a fine spin rate, but hitters demolished for a .404 AVG and an .844 SLG last year.\u00a0Prospect analyst Eric Lonenhiggen suggested last year\u00a0that Orze could comp to\u00a0Trevor Richards, if he could manage more strikes. (But, like the good Trevor Richards. Not the Twins version.)<\/p>\n

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Sent off in the trade is Jacob Kisting, drafted out of Bradley University in the 14th round in 2024. Kisting pitched mostly in relief for the Low- and High-A Twins affiliates in 2025, leaning on a high strikeout rate for an overall 3.79 ERA over 73 2\/3 innings, and getting at least a couple votes from the Twins Daily staff for minor-league reliever of the year.<\/p>\n

Like most prospects at this level, it\u2019s hard to know exactly how he might develop, though never discount the Rays when it comes to developing monsters from anonymous relief arms<\/p>\n

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Expect Orze on the Opening Day roster. If the stuff is there, he could manage his way up the relatively open pecking order into a 7th- or 8th-inning role. The Rays generally left him as a one-inning guy, but called upon him a few times to go a second. If his stuff is less than stellar, he might do the same for the Twins.<\/p>\n

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In a bid to reload their undermanned bullpen, the Minnesota Twins sent a low-level prospect to the Rays, in exchange for funky righthander Eric Orze… Image courtesy… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":122632,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nBreaking: Minnesota Twins Acquire Relief Pitcher Eric Orze in Trade With Tampa Bay Rays \u2014 Could This Move Change Their Bullpen Forever? - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=122625\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Breaking: Minnesota Twins Acquire Relief Pitcher Eric Orze in Trade With Tampa Bay Rays \u2014 Could This Move Change Their Bullpen Forever? 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