According to both LaVelle E. Neal and Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Minnesota Twins will bring up a pair of pitchers to replace the two who departed following the sweep at the hands of the Houston Astros. The Twins sent struggling righty Ryan Pressly to Triple-A Rochester and designated lefty Jason Wheeler for assignment, with the two moves to be made prior to Thursday night’s game against the Angels.
Well, we now know who will be joining the Twins on the West Coast, as the team will recall left-handed reliever Randy Rosario from Double-A Chattanooga and purchase the contract of righty Alex Wimmers from Triple-A Rochester.
The Twins have not yet confirmed the moves. Here are the original reports of the moves from Seth Stohs of Twins Daily and Mariana Guzman from La Raza 95.7 FM.
Twins fans got a look at Wimmers last year, when the team purchased his contract in late August and let him work in various roles the rest of the way. The Twins outrighted Wimmers to Triple-A Rochester after the season, and he elected free agency before resigning with the Twins on a minor-league deal with an invite to spring training a couple months later.
Wimmers is a 2010 first-round pick of the Twins who has battled command and arm issues to make his way back to the big leagues, and posted a 4.15 ERA (4.94 FIP) with the team in 16 games (17.1 innings) last season. Through 16 innings with Triple-A Rochester, Wimmers has posted a 3.94 ERA (6.24 FIP) with 7.3 K/9, 3.9 BB/9 and just a 34.8 percent groundball rate.
Most likely, Wimmers will be up to give the Twins some length at the front of the bullpen, as catcher Chris Gimenez told Zone Coverage that Tyler Duffey has definitely ascended to the point where he’s right in the thick of things to work set-up innings in front of Brandon Kintzler.
The Rosario promotion seems a bit out of left field — especially since he hasn’t even worked 30 innings above A ball in his career — but after diving into his numbers, he’s certainly warranting a longer look. On the surface, his numbers look solid. The 23-year-old lefty — he’s about a week or so older than Jose Berrios — has posted a 1.90 ERA in 23.2 innings at Double-A Chattanooga this season with 7.6 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and a sparkling 0.85 WHIP.
This month, opposing batters are just 4-for-46 off Rosario
Digging deeper and Rosario’s numbers look even better. The strikeout rate may seem a bit pedestrian, but he’s held lefties to just a .490 OPS and righties to just a .486 mark. He’s induced grounders at a 55 percent rate this season — hence the low OPS marks — and he’s been absolutely incredible in May.
This month, opposing batters are just 4-for-46 off Rosario — three singles and a triple — as that comes out to .087/.143/.130 line. Also, after a slow start in the strikeout department (3.3 K/9 in April), he’s turned the corner in a big way in May (11.9 K/9) while posting an obscenely good 0.44 WHIP.
Perhaps the best part is that he too can give length, perhaps eventually in a Duffey-like role where manager Paul Molitor needs a bridge in the sixth and seventh innings. In all 10 of Rosario’s appearances with the Lookouts this season, he’s recorded at least four outs.
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