The Twins have acquired minor league right-hander Taylor Floyd from the Brewers. The move completes the late-April deal that sent Trevor Megill to Milwaukee, as Floyd will act the player to be named later that was owed to Minnesota.
Floyd was a 10th-round pick for the Brew Crew in the 2019 draft, and the Texas Tech product has spent his entire pro career in Milwaukee’s farm system. Working exclusively as a reliever, Floyd has missed a lot of bats (30.68% strikeout rate) over his 147 1/3 innings in the minors, but his walk rate rose drastically when pitching at high-A and Double-A ball in 2022. As Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen explains, an unusual offseason training quirk altered Floyd’s normal submarine delivery heading into the 2022 season, which probably accounted for his lack of control.
Longenhagen still ranked Floyd as the 39th-best prospect in the Brewers’ system even in the wake of that shaky 2022 campaign, and it seems like Floyd has stabilized things in 2023. In 23 2/3 innings at high-A, Floyd has a 3.04 ERA, 34.8% strikeout rate, and a much more palatable 7.6% walk rate. The right-hander also has a 49.1% grounder rate, continuing his career-long trend of keeping the ball on the ground roughly around half the time.
