Festa entered last season as the top-ranked pitching prospect in the organization. There were some growing pains during his three months in the big leagues — he permitted 12 runs in his first two major league starts — but he showed his potential, too.
As he surpassed a career-high innings total, he yielded 23 earned runs over his final 12 appearances, which the Twins believe is a glimpse of what he could bring in 2025.
“When the stakes were super high, I really enjoyed it,” Festa said. “Would I have liked to go longer in some outings? Yeah, but a lot of that is situational, which I totally understand. Some outings I felt good and I was dying to get the team through six innings, but I only went 4⅔ or whatever the case may be. Learning to navigate the lineup and being able to face guys the third time around in most of my outings, I thought I did a good job of learning how to do that.”
Festa isn’t guaranteed a spot in the Opening Day rotation next year. The Twins have three starters — Festa, Simeon Woods Richardson and Zebby Matthews — set to compete for one spot behind Pablo López, Bailey Ober, Joe Ryan and Chris Paddack, though a potential trade this winter could change that dynamic.
“The first two outings — that wasn’t me. That wasn’t very good,” Festa said. “There were some outings where out of nowhere I had a bad inning. That’s stuff I have to clean up, for sure. That’s part of the learning process, but overall, I started to adapt better.”
