After reflecting on dominant 2024 campaign, Jax turns focus to '25

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As the 2024 Minnesota Twins said their goodbyes in a losing clubhouse following their season-ending loss to the Orioles on Sept. 29, Griffin Jax remarked that he doesn’t usually give himself that much of an offseason -- but that this year, he’d take advantage of the early exit to take his family up north to a cabin near Duluth to unwind a bit for some slow days.

A few days later, on Oct. 4, the Twins held a press conference in that same clubhouse -- now completely empty -- to announce Thad Levine’s departure as general manager.

Well … it seemed completely empty until the door to the players’ weight room opened -- and there was Jax, by himself.

Coming off one of the best performances by any MLB reliever this season -- a 2.03 ERA, 1.94 FIP, 0.87 WHIP, 95 strikeouts and 15 walks in 71 innings -- Jax said on the last day that he’d allow himself a break to just make himself a highlight reel of his season to finally process it and appreciate it, because these sorts of seasons don’t happen for pitchers all too often.

“I think it's important just to kind of reflect and realize what you just did,” Jax said. “It's such a long season, and so much work goes into it, that I don't want to take it for granted.”

But because it’s Jax, it seems like the work never stopped, anyway.

The three-year evolution from a highly ineffective starter in 2021 to the ace of the Minnesota Twins’ bullpen took its biggest leap forward in ‘24, when Jax lowered his reliance on the wipeout sweeper he threw more than half the time a season earlier -- even though his sweeper is, frankly, good enough to be throwing that often.

Throw in some changeups, the sinker he started toying with midway through ‘23, and even some more curveballs (a pitch that he brought into Spring Training ‘24) and there’s a five-pitch reliever with a well-rounded, wipeout arsenal still centered on that sweeper -- now better than ever -- and a fastball that has seen its velocity increase every season, to a 97.1 mph average in ‘24.

“I think we did a better job as a whole of that this year, not just leaning on one pitch in particular,” Jax said. “But at the same time, when my back's against the wall, just believing now -- like I started to throughout the year -- that all my pitches are going to work. It's not just one. I think that's why a lot more doors opened up, and I saw more consistent success in that regard.”

Jax’s upward trajectory has not slowed since that ‘21 debut -- but are there even more heights to be achieved?

At the end of the season, he noted that there are likely smaller tweaks to focus on, not wholesale changes -- unless the opportunity for a much bigger change comes for him.

Jax has made no secret of the fact that he’d love the chance to start again, noting that his body is now much stronger than that of the rookie starter who pitched to a 6.37 ERA in ‘21, with his five pitches all significantly improved from that time (and, he’ll be quick to remind you, a sixth -- the cutter -- that he still thinks he can mix in).

President of baseball and business operations Derek Falvey didn’t rule it out at the start of the offseason.

“We want to continue to have conversations with him about what he thinks he needs to do to prepare for it, how he would go through a season,” Falvey said. “We're trying to be as transparent with each other as possible about, what could this look like? And then ultimately, not rule out the possibility that a starting option is in play.”

Perhaps it’s wise not to fix something that isn’t broken -- Jax was so important to the bullpen that local writers named him the club’s Pitcher of the Year, and the Twins actually have a ton of starting depth -- but starting pitchers have much more impact on a season than any relievers, and Jax has been steadfast in his belief that this new version of himself can do it.

There is growing precedent for this sort of transition, from Jordan Hicks in San Francisco to Garrett Crochet for the White Sox. If Jax’s stuff can sustain, the Twins would clearly benefit from more of it -- and the league has taken notice.

“To start having guys from other teams come up to me and tell me they love watching me pitch and saying that I'm nasty and stuff like that, and getting that nod of respect from everybody else throughout the game was really cool,” Jax said.