​Nelson Cruz was at Target Field, gearing up for a night game against the Los Angeles Angels, when whispers started to move through the ballpark: the veteran slugger had been traded to the Tampa Bay Rays. Meanwhile, Joe Ryan was roughly 6,000 miles away, eating breakfast in the Olympic Village, when he heard the same news from Team USA teammate Eric Filia. He shared a knowing glance with Shane Baz, the two Rays prospects wondering which member of the organization had been dealt. Ryan finally got his answer when he checked his phone.
Five years had passed since the Twins orchestrated a trade that sent Cruz and minor league pitcher Calvin Faucher to the Rays in exchange for two pitching prospects, Ryan and Drew Strotman. That swap has by far been the strongest in recent Twins history, largely because Ryan has blossomed into one of the league’s premier pitchers. He will represent Minnesota at the All-Star Game for the second straight year this Tuesday in Philadelphia, cementing his status as a standout.
The signs were evident early. Catcher Ryan Jeffers recalls facing Ryan, then 26, when they were both in Class-A Advanced in 2019. He left a mark. “It was before anyone knew much about velocity metrics,” Jeffers said. “You face a guy. He’s throwing 90, and you think, ‘I can’t hit that.’ When the trade happened, a lot of us, especially the younger guys, understood who he was. It was like, ‘Oh yeah, this kid—no one can touch his heater.’”
Yet, despite his success in the minors, the Rays had not yet given Ryan a shot at the majors. In 2019, he posted a 1.96 ERA across three levels in his first full professional season, fanning 183 in 123 2/3 innings and finishing at Double-A. He spent 2020 at the Rays’ alternate site as a pandemic-shortened season erased the minor league slate, and he recalls being told there was “no chance” he would be called up to the big leagues that year. “I didn’t know where I really stood,” Ryan said. “Looking back, I was pitching pretty well, but it felt like I wasn’t because they were telling me I wasn’t going to the big leagues.”
The following season, Ryan pitched in the Olympic qualifier and, ultimately, the Tokyo Games. The Rays’ willingness to let him go overseas to compete in Tokyo signaled that he wasn’t in any immediate major league plans. So, on that July day—the 22nd in the United States, the 23rd in Japan, where Ryan was—the sell-off by the Twins, who were trading Cruz to Tampa Bay, marked a major turning point toward Ryan finally getting the opportunity he sought. “This is a guy—his numbers speak for themselves,” said then-Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey, underscoring the impact of the move and the potential it unlocked for Ryan.