It's impossible to evaluate a pitcher after two starts, but Minnesota Twins right-hander Taj Bradley has been as good as his team could've hoped for so far this year. The 25-year-old is 1-0 with a 0.87 ERA after tossing a six-inning shutout in the Twins' 5-1 win over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.

Minnesota is now 2-4, and its only other win was in Bradley's first start on Saturday. The club beat the Baltimore Orioles after he allowed one run on three hits over 4.1 frames. He also logged nine strikeouts against three walks, and reliever Anthony Banda earned the victory after finishing the fifth inning. 

Bradley earned his first win of the season on Thursday, as he left the game with a 1-0 lead. The score stayed that way until the Twins scored again in the top of the eighth, and the closest Kansas City got was 2-1 in the bottom half of the inning.  

Bradley allowed five hits with three punchouts and one walk, tossing 65 strikes out of 100 pitches. The Georgia native didn't give up any extra-base hits and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth.

Bradley's form to start this season is unusual, as he's 19-27 with a 4.83 ERA over 76 career outings (74 starts). The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder's best season was when he went 8-11 with a 4.11 ERA over 25 starts for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2024. 

The Rays sent Bradley to the Twins in exchange for reliever Griffin Jax at the trade deadline last season, and Jax performed better for the rest of the year. The latter player went 0-2 with a 3.60 ERA over 23 outings (two starts) after the deal, while Bradley went 0-2 with a 6.61 ERA across six starts.

However, the trade will age well for Minnesota if Bradley stays hot.

Although Minnesota has 2025 All-Star Joe Ryan as its ace, he has a mutual option on his contract for 2027. The 29-year-old might not be on the team after this season, but Bradley is a different story.

Bradley is under team control through 2029, as he's still in pre-arbitration. The 2018 fifth-round pick first pitched in the big leagues in 2023, when he went 5-8 with a 5.59 ERA over 23 games (21 starts) for Tampa Bay.

If Bradley develops into a reliable option moving forward, he could be a key piece in the rotation whether Ryan stays or not. The Twins will especially need pitching help if Ryan leaves, so Bradley would be a cheap young player to help them transition.

Minnesota might not be a juggernaut anytime soon, but this season will help it learn which young players it can build around. So far, Bradley is making his case to be in that group.