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When Jordan Balazovic joined the Saints at the start of last season he was touted as the top-rated pitching prospect in the Twins organization. Saints fans — and Twins fans — couldn’t wait to see what the big right-hander from Canada had to offer.
The way the 24-year-old Balazovic looks at it, they finally got their answer on Wednesday at CHS Field.
“Today was the best outing I’ve had since 2021,” he said after getting his first start of the season. “It’s nice to see the work is paying off.”
Balazovic pitched 3.1 innings, allowing one run on one hit. He walked three and struck out six and did not figure in the decision in the Saints’ 5-3 win over the Nashville Sounds. He got a number of those strikeouts on high fastballs, which were reaching the high 90s.
“I was locating well and the (velocity) was back up, which was nice to see,” Balazovic said. “Last year I was working on cutting the ball and I got all out of whack. I’ve been working on getting the fastball back to where it was, and I’m starting to see the results.”
Back-to-back doubles by Elliot Soto and Edouard Julien and an RBI single by Alex Kirilloff gave Balazovic and the Saints a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Balazovic walked the first two batters he faced in the fourth and was taken out after getting the next batter to ground out.
“Towards the end, tempo kind of got out of whack,” he said. “Trying to do too much. But besides that I felt pretty good.”
Balazovic got the start as a replacement for Louie Varland, who was called up to start for the Twins against the White Sox in Chicago. He stepped in having made five appearances in relief this season, allowing two earned runs in 7.2 innings.
“His last few outings, his stuff has looked strong,” said Saints manager Toby Gardenhire. “I had him in 2019 and he was really good. In 2021 he was really good. Last year his stuff didn’t seem as sharp. Right now it’s starting to look really sharp again.”
Balazovic made 21 starts for the Saints last season and finished with an 0-7 record and an earned run average of 7.39. He spoke at the time about just not feeling himself on the mound, and nothing he tried proved to be the answer to getting out of his funk.
This season got off to a rocky start as well in spring training when he suffered a broken jaw on Feb. 11 when he was punched after leaving a bar. It affected his spring training, but since returning to the field he has turned things toward the positive.
“Last year my fastball just wasn’t there, and a lot of my pitches just weren’t the same,” Balazovic said. “And it showed. Mentally, physically, it was a little bit of everything last year. It was very draining.”
In contrast, Wednesday night was uplifting. He had a limit of 65 pitches for the game and came out after throwing 60. Whether Balazovic’s immediate future will involve being a starter or a reliever is still to be determined. Regardless, the plan is to stretch him out to 75 pitches the next time he gets the ball.
“The key is, this isn’t the mountain peak that he has been looking for,” Gardenhire said. “He’s just got to keep going after this and hopefully he can keep this up.”
Against the Sounds, the Saints scored three runs in the eighth inning to overcome a 3-2 deficit. Matt Wallner drove in a pair of runs with a double to put the Saints ahead 4-3.
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