After breakout '23, Stewart ready for high-leverage role

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- This time last spring, the name “Brock Stewart” would have meant something to only a handful of baseball fans outside the walls of Hammond Stadium -- but there was enough of a sense that he could factor into the Majors that Ryan Jeffers caught him a handful of times that spring.

And as soon as the pitches started coming, Jeffers knew that he was catching premium stuff.

“For sure,” Jeffers said. “It's like any of those guys. When you first catch [Griffin] Jax, it's like, ‘Yeah, this stuff plays.’ When you catch [Jhoan] Duran, ‘Yeah, this stuff plays.’ All those back-end guys, you're like, as soon as you catch their stuff, it's like, ‘Yeah, that's good.’”

Though Stewart had confidence that the work he did on his mechanics and explosiveness while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and bone spur surgery could make him a good pitcher, he had to show that to the Twins -- and to himself. He very much did, pitching to an 0.65 ERA in 28 appearances while firmly embedding himself into the back end of Minnesota’s playoff bullpen after he pushed his way onto the roster.

“Just super proud of myself,” Stewart said. “It was almost like a second Major League debut last April when I made it up with the Twins. And then to have the success I did, I didn't know if I was capable of that. I don't think anybody does until it happens.”

Now, he knows. And after he’d been fighting for a shot in the big leagues this time last spring, it’s a far different story this year. He’s maintaining the routine that he found at Tread Athletics over the last three years, trying to keep his body fully healthy for a full season. He’s getting ready to fly home to Charlotte on a moment’s notice for the imminent birth of his second son.

And the Twins are getting ready to pitch him in some really important situations.

“[He’ll be] getting outs when we’re winning ballgames,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Him having a full season of performing at his highest level would be fantastic.”

The key to that is going to be the “full season” part of it. Both in theory -- based on pitch characteristics -- and in practice, Stewart was dynamite with his five-pitch mix whenever he stepped on the mound for the Twins last season, after he reined in some early hiccups with strike-throwing.

Stewart says that not much is going to change about his routine, which he has carefully honed over the years to involve soft tissue work, corrective exercises, mobility and flexibility work, various activations, Plyo ball work and weight-room exercises. That’s the routine that got his body and his velocity to this point, and that he maintained through his IL stint last season.

Though he missed three months with elbow issues that continued to persist with some pain longer than he and the Twins had hoped, he wasn’t concerned because his stuff stuck with him, the stuff that he’d carefully honed through work at Tread on his arm path, lower half mechanics and explosiveness.

“Through the IL [stint], the ball was always coming out good,” Stewart said. “It was just that pain would come on after throwing. And once that pain subsided and I was able to throw and throw and throw without that pain coming on, I knew the velocity and stuff were still there.”

His confidence in his stuff and that arm care routine was affirmed when he came back for the playoffs as effective as ever, and he allowed one hit -- a Yordan Alvarez homer -- in three postseason innings.

There’s no set plan for Stewart’s usage, but he fully intends on helping the team in close games, and he fully intends on showing the Twins that his routine can keep him with the team for the full season, which would be the most meaningful way for him to build on his breakout success from a year ago.

“He’s got wipeout-type stuff,” Baldelli said. “It’s the type of stuff that is going to work in almost any situation. He can put the ball past almost anyone when he’s right.”

“I have a good perspective on things,” Stewart said. “This time last year, I wasn't a big leaguer, and now, I am a big leaguer. I'm just fortunate to be in this position and make the most of each day and kind of let the cards fall how they will and hopefully, help the team a lot.”