MLB analyst pours cold water on Twins fans with Taj Bradley's hot start to 2026

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TL;DR

The Minnesota Twins are off to a surprising 11-7 start, leading the AL Central, with Taj Bradley boasting a 1.25 ERA. However, MLB analyst Andy McCullough warns that Bradley's impressive performance may not be sustainable and could be misleading.

MLB analyst pours cold water on Twins fans with Taj Bradley's hot start to 2026 originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Minnesota Twins have so far shocked the Major League Baseball world with their 11-7 start to the season. They're sitting atop the AL Central and have one of the best records in the sport.

But, while it's likely for their overall record to fall back a bit as the season goes along, the Twins do still have a lot of fun individuals to be excited about. One of them is Taj Bradley, who has a 1.25 ERA to begin the season.

However, Andy McCullough of The Athletic poured some cold water on Twins fans who are hyped about Bradley, calling this hot start a mirage rather than a real breakout.

Twins get cold water poured on Taj Bradley hype

"I lean toward mirage," McCullough writes, "even after Bradley put together another five innings of one-run baseball against Toronto last weekend."

So far this season, Bradley has a 1.25 ERA, and hasn't allowed a home run yet either. As McCullough notes, those are "not sustainable."

If Bradley's breakout this season were real, and he could keep this up for a full season, he'd be one of the better pitchers in baseball. Or, at the very least, a frontline starter.

But, McCullough see's Bradley as more of a "back-end" starter even with such a strong start to the season.

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While he isn't ruling out Bradley becoming a mid-rotation starter, this is a disappointing analysis of Bradley.

The 25-year-old the Twins picked up in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays involving Griffin Jax has looked great this season, but with his 4.86 ERA in the previous 73 starts and 385.1 innings in his big league career, this 21.2 inning sample size isn't convincing.

Bradley might not be as dominant as his 1.25 ERA indicates, but seeing McCullough still have so little faith in Bradley as a possible frontline starter is a disappointing analysis. It's some cold water on Bradley, who's off to a very hot start this year.