On July 28, 2024, Bailey Ober woke up with neck pain.
It was before the Minnesota Twins’ late-season collapse. When Ober awoke that day in Detroit, the Twins were 57-46, second in the AL Central. They trailed the 62-42 Cleveland Guardians by 4.5 games in the junior circuit. Only the 61-43 Baltimore Orioles and the 61-45 New York Yankees stood between Minnesota and Cleveland in the standings.
One baseball game only means so much in isolation. Still, every game feels meaningful when a team is chasing a pennant. The Twins could catch Cleveland. They could surpass the dreaded Yankees. Anything seems possible the year after they won their first playoff series since the second Bush administration.
Ownership had slashed payroll by $35 million in the offseason. However, the team didn’t detonate until Jorge Alcala imploded in Arlington on Aug. 19. The Twins were still playing meaningful baseball in the middle of the summer when Ober woke up with neck pain.
July 28 was a tranquil 85-degree day in Detroit. But Bailey Ober couldn’t move his neck, and first pitch was in a few hours.
“I woke up, and I could not [move] my head to the left,” he said at TwinsFest earlier this month. “My neck was stuck. It was a noon game in Detroit.
“I couldn’t look to the left. So I get into the field, they’re putting needles in my neck. I’m taking a muscle relaxer just to go out there and pitch.”
Ober threw 11 strikeouts in eight scoreless innings, giving up only one hit and two walks in a 5-0 win over the Tigers.
“There are games where you’re going to feel like trash, and you still are able to go out there,” Ober said. “So, I always felt like that was a possibility every single game that I was going out there.”
The Twins collapsed that year. They entered mid-August with a 90% chance of making the playoffs but finished with an 82-80 record. Still, Bailey Ober had established himself in the rotation, finishing with a 2.9 WAR and a career-high 178.2 innings pitched.
Minnesota took Ober out of the College of Charleston in the 12th round of the 2017 draft, Derek Falvey’s first draft. Baseball America described Ober as a command-oriented right-handed starter who had exceptional extension, deception, and a plus-changeup. Despite his 6’9”, 260 lbs. frame, Ober’s fastball sat in the upper-80s and lower-90s.
In 2016, the Los Angeles Dodgers drafted Ober in the 23rd round, a year after he underwent Tommy John surgery. Ober returned to Charleston for another year and moved up 12 rounds in the draft. Still, he faced long odds to reach the majors.
The Twins took Royce Lewis first overall in 2017 and Brent Rooker 35th in the competitive balance round. After that, Mark Contreras is the only other player Minnesota took ahead of Ober who reached the majors.
Ober made his major-league debut in 2021. He had a 4.19 ERA and accumulated 1.2 WAR in 92.1 innings pitched as a 25-year-old. By 2024, he had established himself as part of Minnesota’s rotation, which made last season that much more devastating.
After pitching to a 4.13 ERA in the first month of the season, Ober had a 2.76 ERA after six May starts. However, his velocity dipped in a June 7 start against the Toronto Blue Jays. Ober pitched seven innings, but he felt something was wrong with his delivery.
“My mechanics just do not feel good right now,” he said after giving up five runs and two homers in seven innings.
“Just very not smooth and disjointed. So I’m trying to work on that. I’ve been putting a lot of time in and work throughout the weeks, especially after my previous start in Seattle, where it really kind of ticked down. And then today, obviously, it ticked down a little bit, too. Just trying to figure it out.”
Ober went 0-5 with a 9.00 ERA in five June starts. In July, the Twins put him on the injured list with a hip injury. At TwinsFest in early January, Ober admitted that he wasn’t productive while pushing through the pain.
“Hindsight is 20/20,” said Ober. “At the time, I thought I was able to contribute and help. Looking back, obviously, I did not for that month of June.”
Ober injured his left hip. As a right-handed pitcher, he plants his left leg during his delivery. Therefore, he’s placing his weight on his left hip after releasing the torque in his core, resulting in pain during certain pitches and poor mechanics.
“I just didn’t feel like I had a stable base throwing,” he explained. “So it felt like my release was off almost every single throw. Sometimes, I’d have ten throws in a row where it felt great, and then the next ten, I’m like, ‘I don’t know where this is going.’”
Sometimes, he could pitch through it because of the adrenaline. But other times, he felt a sharp pain. Regardless, he was often sore after games. In hindsight, he feels he should have shut it down.
“Obviously, looking back, maybe taking a little bit more time off in June” would have been wise, said Ober, “and then being able to finish out the season and know that I was able to do a little bit better than where I left off.”
It’s a balance he’ll have to learn how to strike. Ober has pitched well when he hasn’t felt well, but he also can’t hurt the team. After the Twins traded nearly 40% of their roster, blowing up their roster and later their coaching staff, they’ll need their pitching staff to carry them this year.
That means more pressure on Bailey Ober, because the rotation will have to deliver for the Twins to play meaningful games in July this year.
