By admin 
MINNEAPOLIS – There were sentimental reasons Taylor Rogers wanted to rejoin the Twins as a free agent after four years elsewhere.
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He was nearing 10 years of service time, a major milestone for players, and he wanted to commemorate it with the organization that drafted him and gave him his first six seasons in the big leagues.
The 35-year-old Rogers wanted to play for manager Derek Shelton, who became a friend when Shelton served as the Twins bench coach in 2017-18. Rogers told Shelton in a phone call, as he finalized his one-year, $2 million contract, that if Shelton was managing a team in Fargo, he would be willing to play there.
Almost everything played out the way Rogers envisioned.
He was the only member of the Twins bullpen who was on the active roster all season. He celebrated his 10 years of service time in April. He became Target Field’s all-time leader in appearances (202 games).
He was mostly used in a lower-leverage role this year, posting a 4.33 ERA in 65 games, but now ranks eighth in Twins history with 384 pitching appearances and 11th with 52 saves.
“Especially like late July, it was matching exactly because I told Shelton on the phone about how we lost over 100 games in 2016 and made the playoffs in ‘17, so that’s possible. It was looking picture perfect,” Rogers said. “Yeah, man, I can’t complain. It was everything I was hoping for.”
The Twins’ bullpen, ravaged from last year’s trade deadline fire sale, ended the season in a much better place than it was at the beginning. Andrew Morris, Yoendrys Gómez and Travis Adams showed meaningful development.
Coaches credit Rogers’ influence. Bullpen coach LaTroy Hawkins lauded Rogers as the “grandfather” in the bullpen who mentored younger pitchers all season.
“He does so many other things that I don’t see, but I heard about,” Hawkins said. “The young guys, they have to work out with him in the weight room. He started that months ago. Just little things that go unnoticed, but when you hear about it, you’re like, ‘I’m not surprised.’ That’s him.”
For Hawkins, a first-year major league coach, having Rogers was like having an extra coach in the bullpen. He learned from Rogers, too.
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“When I first got down there, I still had a player’s mentality,” Hawkins said. “He was kind of coaching me through it, ‘No, this the way you have to do it.’ I’m bouncing stuff off him: I said something to somebody already, can you help me reiterate it? Or if I’m wrong, help me get it right.”
There were two elements that made Rogers an effective leader in the bullpen, Shelton said. The left-handed pitcher doesn’t take himself too seriously, an important trait for a reliever who must have a short memory after each outing.
Plus, Rogers brought an old-school mentality. He helped younger players develop a professional mindset and learn to respect certain aspects of the game.
“Whenever Shelty called down there asking how guys feel, he could be feeling terrible and he’d say, ‘Tell Shelty I’ve got an inning for him,'” Hawkins said. “He was just willing to do anything for the team.”
Rogers wants to continue pitching next year, listing the Twins and the Toronto Blue Jays, where his twin brother, Tyler, pitches, as his preferred options if the teams were interested.
Stats aside, Rogers felt like he pitched better this season than he did in 2025, when he put up a 3.38 ERA in 57 games with the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs.
“I’ve been there, being the oldest guy in the bullpen,” said Hawkins, who pitched his final big-league game in 2015, three months short of his 43rd birthday. “It’s tough, especially when you’re a guy who is aging in the game. You’re seeing all these young guys come up throwing harder, doing all the things that you used to be able to do. Some guys get bitter. Not Taylor. He embraced his role.”
Rogers enjoyed working with all the young pitchers that shuffled through the Twins roster. That was him at the start of his Twins career, and he felt like he achieved what he wanted to in his return.
“It was so fun to watch them grow,” Rogers said. “Have those chances and succeed, then not succeed and figure out how they were going to do it, how they were going to set themselves up for the future.”
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This story was originally published October 5, 2026 at 2:38 AM.