John Brebbia Has Found His Fit In the Saints Locker Room

St. Paul – The St. Paul Saints bullpen is chock-full of major-league veterans this season, and John Brebbia has emerged as an early leader.

Earlier this week, they added 39-year-old RHP Luis Garcia on a minor-league deal after the New York Mets let him go. He produced a 7.11 ERA in six appearances with the Mets. Garcia is now the fifth reliever with three or more seasons of MLB service time, joining Dan Altavilla, Matt Bowman, Drew Smith, and John Brebbia.

With many of St. Paul’s pitchers struggling early this season, Brebbia has been one of the standouts even though he only joined the team on March 27, a few days after opting out of his spring training contract with the Colorado Rockies. The Twins had shown interest in Brebbia in previous seasons, making it a good fit this time around.

“This time around it was like, ‘I do like what they’re doing, and I think it could be a good opportunity, and where can I possibly be the best pitcher that I can be,’” Brebbia said. “The Twins have always been a name that has stood out. Now it finally feels like it came to fruition after years of maybe not.”

Brebbia was not in camp with the group of players in St. Paul. Still, he quickly settled into their clubhouse. He’s not only another veteran for the young arms to lean on, but also a fun personality to keep things loose when the going gets tough.

“He’s a phenomenal personality,” said Saints pitching coach Ryan Ricci. “He’s one of the funniest people in the locker room; everybody loves being around him. I feel like his veteran presence, just being very sure of himself and his routines, and knowing how to go about his business, has rubbed off on a lot of guys.”

“What I like most about those guys is they’ve had so much time up in the big leagues that they just simplify the game as much as possible,” Saints starter John Klein said on Brebbia and the other veteran arms. “Especially when things aren’t going well, some guys try to go full Superdome and try to figure out what to do. But a lot of the time it’s just go out, look at the catcher, throw the ball right to him.”

Brebbia’s routine has been helpful for a younger pitcher like Klein to learn how not to get so caught up in the moment when an inning or at-bat gets away from them. Meanwhile, Brebbia feels he’s learning so much more from St. Paul’s young arms.

Brebbia has always had an easy-going approach to what he’s working on with his pitch mix. He’s topped out at 100 MPH before, but those days are few and far between compared to his early days with the St. Louis Cardinals from 2017 to 2019.

He believes that Minnesota’s current prospects have a lot more going for them in terms of training themselves on their pitch mixes than when he was coming up. That’s why there is as much for Brebbia to learn from these young arms as there is for them to learn from him.

“From the time they were pitching in high school, they were designing pitches, and I’m like, ‘Well, geez, you’ve got a lot of reps under your belt. I need to learn something from you,’” he said. “And the flip side of that is if guys have questions about what it’s like in the big leagues, I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to play at that level for a little while. Sometimes I have answers, and sometimes I don’t.”

Ryan Ricci, the Saints' pitching coach, feels like Brebbia has become a valuable resource for St. Paul’s young pitchers as they navigate a full Triple-A season.

“We play 150 games for a reason, and just kind of watching how he goes about his day-to-day and how he’s able to flush things and move on to the next pitch,” said Ricci. “It makes a lot of sense why he’s been in the game so long, and he’s done a lot of really cool things in the game. So I think a lot of the younger relievers are taking some stuff away from that.”

Brebbia pitched well to start the season, throwing nine scoreless innings in his first five appearances with the Saints. However, things have been a bit more choppy recently. He has allowed 6 runs, including 3 home runs, over his last 4 ⅔ innings. Fortunately, things look to be going on the right track in his latest outing Friday night against Indianapolis, throwing two innings of one-run ball on just two hits.

As things stand, Brebbia has a 3.95 ERA on the season, 1.24 WHIP, .255 opponents' average, and leads the Saints bullpen with 18 strikeouts while allowing just three walks. The Twins have yet to dive into their veteran depth in Triple-A beyond the 40-man roster.

However, suppose his numbers keep improving after a bad outing at home last week, where he allowed all three home runs he’s given up this season. Then, he could be well on his way to be the first veteran arm the Twins call up.

Minnesota’s bullpen is 29th in the league with opponents' average (.265) and 24th in ERA (4.75). As much as he’ll keep learning from the younger guys in the Saints bullpen, John Brebbia will keep the simple approach he’s always had with the game to get himself back onto a major-league roster.

“It’s a little bit of a generic approach, but I think at this point in my career, that’s kind of the best option for it,” he said. “I’ll always try to throw 100, haven’t gotten too close lately, but I will always try to throw.”