Shelton understands that Bradley has a lot of season left.
Taj Bradley had been almost untouchable through his first five starts of the 2026 season.
He hadn't allowed a single home run in 118 batters faced and carried a 1.63 ERA into Friday night's start against the Tampa Bay Rays, the team that dealt him to Minnesota last summer.
Then everything changed at Tropicana Field.
Former teammates Junior Caminero and Jonathan Aranda combined for four home runs off Bradley in a 6-2 loss that snapped his unbeaten start and dropped the Twins to 12-14.
Caminero launched a 450-foot bomb to center in the first inning and came back with a 435-foot drive in the seventh, while Aranda went deep twice with shots of 402 and 414 feet.
Shelton Puts It in Perspective
After the game, Twins manager Derek Shelton wasn't panicking about his young right-hander, even after the worst outing of Bradley's season.
"What didn't go well was obviously the home runs," Shelton told reporters in Florida. "Three of them were hit on balls that were 97 or 98 [mph]. The breaking ball to Aranda was a bad pitch. Other than that, two good young hitters just got him today."
That response says a lot about how Shelton sees Bradley's future with this club.
He acknowledged the pitches left over the plate, but he pointed out that Caminero and Aranda are legit young hitters who did damage on pitches most guys can't touch.
Three of the four home runs came off fastballs in the upper-90s, and that doesn't happen often.
Why Bradley Will Be Fine
Even after Friday's rough outing, the bigger picture still looks strong.
Bradley sits at 3-1 with a 2.91 ERA through six starts, and before the Rays game he ranked third in the AL in ERA while striking out 34 batters across 27.2 innings.
Earlier this month he outdueled two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal in a quality start against Detroit and threw a 100 mph fastball that was the hardest pitch by a Twins starter in the Statcast era.
One bad night doesn't erase all of that.
Bradley's velocity is still up over a full mile per hour from last season, his splitter has been one of the best pitches in baseball, and the confidence he has been building isn't going to vanish because two former teammates caught some heaters.
Minnesota Needs Him Going Forward
The Twins sit at 12-15 through 27 games and have dropped seven of their last eight after an 11-7 start.
Their pitching staff has dealt with injuries all season, with Pablo Lopez out for the year and Mick Abel sidelined.
Against the Rays (15-11), Bradley just had a rare off night where talented hitters squared him up.
Minnesota needs him to be a front-of-the-rotation arm, and nothing about Friday suggests he can't be exactly that.