FORT MYERS, Fla. – Corey Kluber won 19 regular-season games last summer, counting a Class AA rehab start, and took home his second Cy Young Award.
Zack Littell tied the Indians star for most victories in pro ball with 19 wins of his own, and was rewarded with something that made him almost as happy: his beard.
"It's funny, that made me as excited as anything," the 22-year-old righthander said. "I love wearing a beard, but the Yankees don't allow them. So when I got traded [to the Twins], I asked about their policy first thing."
The answer: If you can pile up wins like North Carolina cordwood, you can grow it out like Rip Van Winkle. Wins credited to a pitcher have been discredited as a measure of a starter's ability, and Littell is quick to testify that his numbers reflect great teams rather than stellar pitching. Still, the 19-1 record that Littell assembled at Class A and AA in 2017 gets your attention, and it's 20 wins counting his Southern League playoff victory. And if you include his two months at Class A Bakersfield to close the 2016 season, the soft-spoken native of Mebane, N.C., has a 28-2 record for his last four teams.
Zack the Unbeatable, eh?
"Oh, I still know how to lose a game, believe me," Littell protests. "It's easy to pitch when you're backed up by teams that just hit and hit and hit. I got a lot of help."
He got a lot of attention, too, not for the crazy stat but for his ability to keep hitters off-balance by moving his fastball around and mixing in a sharp curve that dives across the plate. As Littell roared up the Yankees system, posting a 1.77 ERA at Class A Tampa in 13 starts, then dominating Class AA at Trenton with a 2.05 ERA, the Twins were impressed enough to ask for him when they shopped Jaime Garcia at the deadline last August.
Suddenly, Littell went from the heat of an Eastern League pennant race, to the heat of a Southern League race. And from clean-cut Yankee to bearded Confederate general lookalike. The winning didn't stop, though; Littell went 5-0 at Chattanooga, gave up only one homer in 42 innings and posted a 2.81 ERA.
"It was exciting. My goal is to improve every year, and I thought it might be a big year for me," Littell said. "I tell myself every winter, 'You could be better. What will that take?' And I work toward doing that."
Once he joined the Lookouts, he had the added advantage of playing, and living, in familiar surroundings. His great-grandmother Joe Stuart's farm in Cleveland, Tenn., is only 30 minutes from Chattanooga, and the farmhouse has remained empty since her death, with the extended family renting the land to cattle farmers and using the house as vacation property. His grandfather, executor of the estate, suggested he live there while with the Lookouts, so Littell occupied deluxe quarters while winning games.
By season's end, the 11th-round pick of the Mariners in 2013 had made himself one of the best upper-level pitching prospects in the Twins system. He is ranked 15th among all players, and sixth among pitchers, by mlb.com's analysis of the Twins' system. And he's on track for a major league debut late this season or next, assuming his four-pitch mix keeps earning him wins.
"He should be really proud of having a season like that," Twins manager Paul Molitor said of Littell, who was added to the 40-man roster in November and is attending his first major league camp. "He's got really good mound presence and pitches. He throws it over. So we'll see how it plays."
It plays by using a two-seam fastball that breaks at the end, generating lots of ground balls, and by not being afraid to throw his fastball, even though it tops out around 92 mph, on the inside corner. "I kind of pride myself on that," he said of his fastball command. "It got me here, so that's pretty good."
