David Festa

David Festa

25-Year-Old PitcherSP
Minnesota Twins
2025 Fantasy Outlook
Festa showed promise in his first season in the majors and enters 2025 ready to secure a spot in the big league rotation. Nicknamed "The Slim Reaper," the 6-6 top pitching prospect excelled at Triple-A to begin last season with a 13.1 K.9 and 3.3 BB/9 while posting a less than impressive 4.06 ERA (3.68 FIP, however). Festa held his own in the rotation when called up in June with a 10.8 K/9 and 12.7% swing strike rate but a 4.40 ERA (though a 3.75 FIP). Festa has improved his velocity from the low-90s mph early in his pro career to reaching the high 90s mph and averaging a 94.5 mph fastball in the majors last season. His slider has become a plus pitch as it held batters to a .249 wOBA last season. Festa struggled in a few areas as he didn't pitch far into games averaging just 4.6 IP per start, gave up a few too many homers (1.26 HR/9) and had a 6.03 ERA on the road with seven homers allowed in six starts. Both his fastball and change-up, which were plus pitches in the minors, graded below average in the majors. Still, there's reason to think he'll improve as he had low home-run and walk rates in the minors and should get more efficient to extend his outings. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#334
ADP
$Signed a one-year contract with the Twins in March of 2025.
Gets into win column Wednesday
PMinnesota Twins
June 11, 2025
Festa (1-1) earned the win over Texas on Wednesday, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks while striking out four batters over six innings.
ANALYSIS
Festa finally picked up a victory in his fifth start of the season and also notched his first quality start. In fact, Wednesday marked the first time over his five outings that the right-hander has completed more than 4.2 frames. It was certainly a promising turnaround after Festa surrendered eight runs across 3.2 innings against the A's in his previous start. Festa has an opportunity to lock down a rotation spot with Pablo Lopez (shoulder) and Zebby Matthews (shoulder) both out for an extended period, and Festa's performance Wednesday could go a long way toward achieving that goal. He'll try to take another positive step the next time he takes the mound, which tentatively lines up to be on the road against Cincinnati.
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Pitching Stats
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2025
2024
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2024 MLB Game Log
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Pitching Appearances Breakdown
Average Pitch Count
78
Last 10 Games
78
Last 5 Games
78
How many pitches does David Festa generally throw?
 
1-10
 
11-20
 
21-30
 
31-40
 
41-50
 
51-60
 
61-70
 
71-80
 
81-90
 
91-100
 
101-110
 
111-120
 
121+
 
1-10
 
11-20
 
21-30
 
31-40
 
41-50
 
51-60
 
61-70
 
71-80
 
81-90
 
91-100
 
101-110
 
111-120
 
121+
 
1-10
 
11-20
 
21-30
 
31-40
 
41-50
 
51-60
 
61-70
 
71-80
 
81-90
 
91-100
 
101-110
 
111-120
 
121+
What part of the game does David Festa generally pitch?
 
 
 
1st
 
 
 
2nd
 
 
 
3rd
 
 
 
4th
 
 
 
5th
 
 
 
6th
 
 
 
7th
 
 
 
8th
 
 
 
9th
 
Extra
 
 
 
1st
 
 
 
2nd
 
 
 
3rd
 
 
 
4th
 
 
 
5th
 
 
 
6th
 
 
 
7th
 
 
 
8th
 
 
 
9th
 
Extra
 
 
 
1st
 
 
 
2nd
 
 
 
3rd
 
 
 
4th
 
 
 
5th
 
 
 
6th
 
 
 
7th
 
 
 
8th
 
 
 
9th
 
Extra
% Games Reaching Innings Threshold
% Games By Number of Innings Pitched
Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2023
 
 
-13%
BAA vs LHP
2025
 
 
-22%
BAA vs LHP
2024
 
 
-10%
BAA vs LHP
2023
No Stats
BAA Batters K BB H 2B 3B HR
Since 2023vs Left .228 180 49 19 36 8 2 5
Since 2023vs Right .263 194 53 13 47 10 1 8
2025vs Left .211 46 11 6 8 3 0 1
2025vs Right .271 51 14 3 13 1 0 3
2024vs Left .233 134 38 13 28 5 2 4
2024vs Right .260 143 39 10 34 9 1 5
2023vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2023vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2023
 
 
-15%
ERA at Home
2025
 
 
-90%
ERA at Home
2024
 
 
-40%
ERA on Road
2023
No Stats
ERA WHIP IP W L SV K/9 BB/9 HR/9
Since 2023Home 4.56 1.35 53.1 1 4 0 10.1 3.7 1.4
Since 2023Away 5.35 1.28 33.2 2 3 0 11.2 2.7 1.3
2025Home 1.89 1.16 19.0 1 0 0 9.0 3.3 0.5
2025Away 19.64 2.18 3.2 0 1 0 14.7 4.9 7.4
2024Home 6.03 1.46 34.1 0 4 0 10.7 3.9 1.8
2024Away 3.60 1.17 30.0 2 2 0 10.8 2.4 0.6
2023Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2023Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does David Festa compare to other starting pitchers?
This section compares his stats with all starting pitcher seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 120 innings)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 120 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • K/BB
    Strikeout to walk ratio.
  • K/9
    Average strikeouts per nine innings.
  • BB/9
    Average walks per nine innings.
  • HR/9
    Average home runs allowed per nine innings.
  • Fastball
    Average fastball velocity.
  • ERA
    Earned run average. The average earned runs allowed per nine innings.
  • WHIP
    Walks plus hits per inning pitched.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many balls in play against a pitcher go for hits.
  • GB/FB
    Groundball to flyball ratio. The higher the number, the more likely a pitcher is to induce groundballs.
  • Left On Base
    The percentage of base runners that a pitcher strands on base over the course of a season.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Barrels/BBE
    The percentage of batted ball events resulting in a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Spin Rate
    Spin Rate is the rate of spin on a baseball after it is released. It is measured in revolutions per minute (rpm).
  • Balls Hit 95+ MPH
    The percentage of batted balls hit that met or exceeded the 95 MPH threshold.
  • Swinging Strike
    The percentage of pitches that result in a swing and a miss.
K/BB
3.00
 
K/9
11.3
 
BB/9
3.8
 
HR/9
1.6
 
Fastball
94.8 mph
 
ERA
5.40
 
WHIP
1.50
 
BABIP
.366
 
GB/FB
0.68
 
Left On Base
67.3%
 
Exit Velocity
82.0 mph
 
Barrels/BBE
5.8%
 
Spin Rate
2389 rpm
 
Balls Hit 95+ MPH
23.3%
 
Swinging Strike
13.3%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Pitching Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Stats Vs Today's Lineup
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
Armed with a 93-96 mph fastball, an above-average changeup and an above-average slider, Festa has the stuff to pitch in Minnesota's rotation long term. He threw a career-high 103.2 innings in 2022 and was limited to 92.1 innings in 2023, not due to any major injury, but just due to the fact he averaged less than four innings in his 24 appearances. Festa walked nine in 12.1 innings in his three starts at Triple-A with automated balls and strikes, but he displayed starter-caliber command with human umpires prior to reaching Triple-A. A .349 BABIP and 66.1 LOB% at Double-A resulted in a bloated 4.39 ERA and 1.36 WHIP, which contributed to his shorter outings, but his 20.8 K-BB% was excellent and he deserved better ratios. The lanky 6-foot-6 righty could be the first man up whenever the Twins look to Triple-A to plug a rotation hole, assuming Louie Varland breaks camp in the big leagues.
Festa was an unheralded 13th-round draft pick in 2021 who had a breakout season in 2023 due in large part to increased velocity. Festa went from reaching the low 90s with his fastball when he was drafted to sometimes reaching the upper 90s last season. His mid-90s fastball led to an increased strikeout rate to 9.4 K/9 between Low-A and High-A last season. He also has improved his control to 2.3 BB/9 at High-A. He'll need to refine his offspead pitches as he advances, but he could be on the fast track for the majors with a strong 2023 season.
More Fantasy News
Remaining in rotation
PMinnesota Twins
June 10, 2025
Festa is slated to start Wednesday's game against the Rangers at Target Field.
ANALYSIS
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Tagged for eight runs in loss
PMinnesota Twins
June 5, 2025
Festa (0-1) was the pitcher of record in Thursday's 14-3 loss to the Athletics after allowing eight earned runs on six hits and two walks while striking out six over 3.2 innings.
ANALYSIS
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Promoted for Thursday's start
PMinnesota Twins
June 5, 2025
The Twins recalled Festa from Triple-A St. Paul on Thursday.
ANALYSIS
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Starting for Twins on Thursday
PMinnesota Twins
June 5, 2025
The Twins are expected to recall Festa from Triple-A St. Paul to start Thursday's game against the Athletics, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
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Looks poised to start Sunday
PMinnesota Twins
June 4, 2025
Festa has been scratched from his scheduled start Wednesday with Triple-A St. Paul and appears likely to enter the Twins rotation Sunday against the Blue Jays in place of the injured Pablo Lopez (lat), Declan Goff of SKOR North reports.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Could debut soon with Paddack on IL
PMinnesota Twins
June 25, 2024
Dan Hayes of The Athletic labeled Festa as a "potential difference maker" for the Twins, and the right-hander could soon be called up for his MLB debut after Chris Paddack was placed on the 15-day injured list Tuesday with right arm fatigue.
ANALYSIS
Festa is the organization's top pitching prospect and has a 3.82 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and 91:26 K:BB across 63.2 innings for Triple-A St. Paul this season. One thing working against the 24-year-old is that he's not yet on Minnesota's 40-man roster, and it's unclear if the organization is ready to make that transaction. Depending how long Paddack is sidelined, the Twins may be more likely to turn to Caleb Boushley or Louie Varland, both of whom already possess 40-man roster spots.
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