Twins closer Jhoan Duran adds a new pitch to his arsenal: a sweeper

KANSAS CITY, MO. – When Jhoan Duran struck out the Houston Astros’ Jake Meyers in the eighth inning Sunday, it was a pitch two years in the making.

Duran throws a fastball that can reach 104 mph. His splinker, so good at creating ground balls, inspired other pitchers around the majors to copy it. His curveball has been his best swing-and-miss pitch. Now, welcome his newest pitch: a sweeper.

The 87-mph sweeper Duran threw to Meyers, drawing a whiff in a 1-2 count, was the first time Duran threw the pitch this season. He was so excited, he turned and hopped into his preferred skip-step celebration at essentially the same time the ball reached catcher Christian Vázquez’s mitt.

Duran wanted to start throwing a sweeper last year, a slower pitch that can move away from righthanded hitters. He used it once in a game last year, but it badly missed the strike zone, so he shelved the project until the offseason.

“I felt it change my arm [slot],” Duran said. “I went too far down when I threw that pitch. When I came back to spring training, I started throwing it again because I wanted some coaches to see what we can do to figure out the arm.”

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Assistant pitching coach Luis Ramírez gave Duran a new grip for his slider during spring training, and they used differential baseballs (some are 5% larger than a normal baseball, some 5% smaller) to train his hands to stay in the same position.

Duran — who declined to discuss his new pitch until he threw one in the regular season — holds it like his curveball, but he applies pressure on the ball slightly differently.

“I figured it out, I’d say, maybe the middle of spring training,” Duran said. “I threw it in a live [batting practice] and I threw it like 92 mph, but it moved too much. It looked like a regular slider. I kept trying and trying.

“I threw it in a [spring training] game, maybe the energy in the game a little bit, and I threw it like 87, the same velo as my curveball. The next day, I had the meeting with the coaches, and they showed me the movement was really good. I was like, OK, I’ll keep throwing it.”

The feedback on Duran’s sweeper, so far, has been positive. When Royce Lewis saw it during a live batting practice session, he told Duran, “Hey, that pitch is really good.”

Duran consulted other pitchers, too. Justin Topa has a similar pitch mix, but Topa’s arm slot in his delivery is too low for Duran to replicate. Griffin Jax’s sweeper is one that Duran would love to mimic.

“It’s crazy how Jax throws that pitch because his arm is [upright] like me and he throws that pitch like a fastball,” Duran said.

Duran doesn’t mind that that his sweeper is the same speed as his curveball. The movement he saw when he struck out Meyers was exactly what he wanted, and it’s another weapon that hitters will have to think about in the batter’s box.

“It’s hard, I never throw so many breaking balls,” Duran said. “I try to put a new pitch in my arsenal and it’s not easy.”

After the Twins bullpen pitched 11 innings over the previous two games, the team promoted reliever Scott Blewett from Class AAA and Darren McCaughan was designated for assignment.

Blewett made two appearances for the St. Paul Saints, giving up three hits and three runs in a third of an inning Friday. He relieved Simeon Woods Richardson in the sixth inning of Monday’s 4-2 loss to the Royals, throwing 31 pitches in 2⅓ scoreless innings.

“We need guys that can give us a little bit of a length but also pitch in a tight ballgame, if necessary,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Blewett can do all those things.”

McCaughan yielded five hits and one run in 5⅓ innings. The Twins have one week to trade him or place him on waivers.

“We do need to run into a stretch, at some point soon, where we’re not running through guys and our starters are out there giving us the innings that they’re capable of giving us,” Baldelli said. “Then things fall into place. But over the course of six months, this does happen to every team. It’s just happening to us a little bit earlier.”