Twins reliever Ryan Pressly handling increased workload just fine

Twins manager Paul Molitor has frequently talked about being careful with Ryan Pressly, who in 2015 didn't pitch after July 6 because of a lat strain. But Molitor ends up turning to Pressly when he needs a clean inning late in games.

Molitor has tried to avoid using Pressly in consecutive games, but he has used him that way four times over the past month.

It's at the point now where Molitor has to admit he has a reliable bullpen workhorse in the 27-year-old righthander, in his fourth season with the Twins after being selected in the 2012 Rule 5 draft.

Pressly is 6-5 with a 3.53 ERA. Over his past 40 games, he is 5-3 with a 2.66 ERA, one save and nine holds. Opponents are batting .220 off him during that span, with a low .592 on base-plus-slugging percentage.

And Pressly began Tuesday leading the American League with 55 appearances. He is on pace to pitch in 79 games, which easily would be a career high and tie him with Matt Guerrier (2009) and current Twins bullpen coach Eddie Guardado (1998) for the fourth-most in club history. If he picks up the pace, Pressly could catch J.C. Romero, who appeared in 81 games in 2002.

Molitor has used Pressly in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings and has not been disappointed.

"I still am concerned about his workload," Molitor said. "That was a fairly major injury that he had to recover from. And he is on pace to appear in 75-80 games. In a good year for a good reliever in that type of role, that would be the high end and near the league leaders. It's hard not to go to him when he's had a day off, maybe even a couple of days in certain situations.

Pressly spent the rest of last season and the offseason making sure he was healthy. He still remembers standing on a field in January wondering how his arm would respond to throwing 120 feet for the first time since the injury. He threw a pitch and felt nothing wrong, and he has not worried about his health since.

He is averaging a career-high 95.0 miles per hour with his fastball while mixing in a slider and a sharp curveball that spikes straight down.

"I just want to keep putting good outings together and string good outings together," Pressly said. "I want to keep earning trust from Mollie. Every time I get the ball, that's what I want to do."

Molitor pointed out that he has until the end of the month to be careful about overusing Pressly since rosters will be expanded on Sept. 1, giving him more options from which to choose.

• Molitor went with the starting infield of Joe Mauer, Brian Dozier, Jorge Polanco and Trevor Plouffe on Tuesday for the second game in a row. Polanco at shortstop is the most interesting development, because Molitor appears willing to let Polanco prove he can stay there. "I just like how he is playing," Molitor said, "and I think it is wise to keep him in there." Polanco didn't play a single game at shortstop at Class AAA Rochester this season.