There have been plenty of questions surrounding Bailey Ober’s health entering Minnesota Twins camp this spring. Last season, he pitched through a hip injury in June, which led to his worst performance in a single month of his career.
Ober had an even 9.00 ERA in June, when he allowed 38 hits, 14 home runs, and struck out only 24 hitters over 30 innings of work across five starts. The Twins shut Ober down on July 2, and he didn’t return to the mound until August 2. He fared better after recovering from the injury. Still, he had a 4.80 ERA, .245 opponents’ average, and 4.15 FIP.
However, Ober has shown some improvement over the last two months since returning from the injured list. Ober only owned a 4.1% walk rate, 21.1% strikeout rate, and nine home runs allowed in 54 ⅓ innings across 10 starts. There were signs of improvement, but nobody knew how Ober would feel entering camp.
“Physically, I’m feeling good,” he said last month. “Throwing more bullpens this year, just making sure everything mechanically is lined up. Yeah, feeling good. My bullpens have been pretty good.”
Bailey Ober spent more time working in bullpens than in game action compared to his starting rotation mates. He didn’t make his first spring start until this past Friday, mostly due to a dip in velocity on his fastball during his bullpen sessions.
Ober has never been a high-velocity pitcher. However, he was barely throwing over 90 MPH, and he wanted to take his time before getting into game action. The velo took a dip while he was injured last season, which is why it averaged 90.3 MPH in 2025, down from 91.7 MPH in 2024.
Fortunately, that paid off for Ober when he made his first start on Friday. His fastball touched up to 91.1 MPH as he threw two perfect innings with a strikeout on 25 pitches in a home game against the Atlanta Braves. He was never going to hit 92 MPH, his career high velo, in his first spring start. Still, topping out over 91.1 MPH shows Ober is making steady progress in his recovery.
Ober’s recovery is vital for Minnesota. He’ll be one of two veterans, along with Joe Ryan, who they’ll be relying on after Pablo López’s season-ending Tommy John surgery. The Twins are setting Ober up to be their No. 2, and he’s all but guaranteed to get one of the three starts in Baltimore to open the 2026 season.
With López on the IL, Ober will be the Twins starter with the longest service time in MLB. He will be a veteran presence in the rotation for young starters like Zebby Matthews, Mick Abel, and Andrew Morris to rely on.
“Outside of just pitching, you can be a little bit more of a voice to the younger guys,” Ober said. “I would say that was probably the only thing that me and Joe will probably do a little bit extra. Not necessarily on the field stuff, but just be there for the younger guys and see where we can help out in any way possible. Try to give those guys the most amount of confidence they can have while they’re up here.”
Minnesota’s front office is relying on young pitchers to play vital roles in the rotation this year. No team in the modern game can get through a season without a minimum of eight starters. Pitchers frequently get hurt, and sometimes teams have starters skip starts as a precaution.
Twins GM Jeremy Zoll still feels confident with Minnesota’s starting rotation depth behind Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober going into the season. Pablo López’s absence creates plenty of opportunity for the Twins to evaluate their young pitchers instead of filling a spot with a veteran reliever who the Twins could easily trade away come July.
“We spent a lot of this offseason talking about the strength of our roster being in the rotation depth and view it as a real opportunity as a next man up,” said Zoll. “It starts with Joe at the top, but looking at guys like Bailey Ober and Simeon Woods Richardson and Taj Bradley, and the whole group. Zebby, and Mick, and David Festa, and the list goes on.
“In a lot of ways, view this as a real opportunity for someone to step up and take advantage of that. We’ll pick up the pieces once we have a better handle on things and catch our breath from where everything has shaken out here.”
Bailey Ober is trying to maintain his health and continue building his in-game velocity to 92 MPH. It isn’t the most overpowering fastball in the world, but Ober’s stuff is effective in the strike zone. He has a career strikeout rate of 24% and a walk rate of 5.3%. If he can maintain those numbers, then he’ll be a solid No. 2 man in the rotation for the Twins in 2026.
