Keuchel has chance to show what he can do with Ryan out

ST. LOUIS -- It’s time to find out what Dallas Keuchel has left in the tank.

With Joe Ryan going to the 15-day injured list on Thursday with a left groin strain, the Twins got the opportunity to select Keuchel from Triple-A St. Paul to avoid him opting out of his Minor League deal with the organization, setting up a chance for the 35-year-old veteran left-hander to pitch in the Majors for the first time since last September.

Keuchel is expected to start one of the upcoming games over the weekend against Arizona, though the Twins haven’t yet specified which one.

“This is a man who knows how to pitch,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He’s had a ton of success at the Major League level and he’s spent a lot of his own time and energy devoted to getting back to where he wants to be. He’s a very motivated guy right now. He’s been doing well. He’s been pitching well. He looks good physically.”

Keuchel worked with Driveline Baseball to improve the quality of his stuff following a brutal 2022 in which he posted a 9.20 ERA in 14 starts with the White Sox, D-backs and Rangers. He did everything he could to make his case with Triple-A St. Paul after signing a Minor League contract with the Twins in June, pitching to a 1.13 ERA in six starts with the Saints and earning International League Pitcher of the Month honors.

And now, it seems that the 2015 AL Cy Young Award winner will have the length of Ryan’s recovery to show that he can still pitch in the Majors after leapfrogging Louie Varland (who was optioned to Triple-A St. Paul on June 20) in the potential rotation pecking order for the Twins to see what he’s got.

It’s unclear for now how long Ryan’s recovery will take, but it’s an issue that has bothered him for over a month -- corresponding with the seven-start stretch in which he allowed a highly uncharacteristic 17 homers in 32 1/3 innings, culminating in a season-high seven runs allowed on four homers by the Cardinals on Wednesday.

“Sure, I would love to say that's exactly the reason,” Ryan said. “It probably has some stuff to do with that.”

Ryan said he first felt the pull high up on his left thigh during his pregame stretches ahead of his June 27 start in Atlanta, and he has since felt it every time he has tried to get on top of the ball at the very end of his delivery on offspeed pitches in particular.

He has seen some velocity dips and less of an ability to drive through the ball at the bottom of the zone, which might have led to his propensity in allowing homers on his splitter of late. Because he hadn’t dealt with an issue before, Ryan tried to work through the issue by himself instead of alerting the Twins, he said, which he now recognizes was a mistake.

“The communication on this certainly has to be better, and he knows that,” Baldelli said. “We talked about that with Joe. It was something that he thought he could just manage himself and pitch through easily and not worry about it. I think he came to the realization that he needs to let us know these things.”

Unfortunate as that is for Ryan, typically one of the Twins’ steadiest starters, it does give the Twins a chance to not have to let go of Keuchel, who had just exercised a contract opt-out.

Keuchel was up to 88.6 mph with his sinker and averaged 87.2 mph with the pitch as he allowed two runs in six innings against Toledo last Friday while striking out eight.

Those aren’t exactly eye-popping numbers, but Keuchel has never relied on velocity to be successful, as the sinker averaged 90 mph during his ‘15 Cy Young season, and he was effective at an 87.2 mph average in ‘20, when he owned a 1.99 ERA in 11 starts during the COVID-shortened season and finished fifth in Cy Young voting.

“He knows how to pitch,” said Carlos Correa, who was teammates with Keuchel in Houston from 2015-18, winning a World Series together. “That's what kept him in the league so long. The velocity has never been really up there, but he knows how to locate and mix and match. That's what we expect him to do. He's a smart guy. He knows what he's doing.”