Mitch Garver's College Coach Tweets That He's Headed to MLB

[Brandon Warne]

Coach Birmingham tweeted it, Gail Garver -- Mitch's mom retweeted it.

 

http://zonecoverage.com/2017/twins/report-twins-to-promote-mitch-garver/

[Otwins]

Great news- Thanks for posting

[curt1965]

Best news I've heard since, well, winning the WS in '87 and '91 I guess!

[Brandon Warne]

Now his mom just tweeted that they're flying in tomorrow, and that Garver's wife is already in Minneapolis for work. Brilliant!

[DocBauer]

Huge fan and believer in Garver, and have been for a while. But roster construction wise, don't we still need to find room for Granite with Grossman out?

[Brandon Warne]

Not with three center fielders in the starting lineup. Garver is good corner insurance -- he's played 14 games in LF this season -- and will probably DH for the time being.

[curt1965]

I'm excited about Garver. This team definitely needs a right-handed presence in the lineup. I believe Park got hosed at the spring training cutdown, and indications he would be brought up soon never happen since an injury ruined his first two matches months at Rochester. Vargas has been horrible from the right side of the plate all year. I hope we address this obvious weakness in the off-season.

[howeda7]

This is good. But it shouldn't be for Grossman. Let's get Vargas up here too. Giminez can catch a 13 day flu. 

[dbminn]

Congratulations to Mitch Garver - well deserved! 

[Doomtints]

Yes, Garver is up... and I bet he never goes back down.

[Mike Sixel]

Congratulations and good luck!

[Doomtints]

We know Garver's hitting is good, always has been.  He probably should have been up to AAA a year and a half earlier.

 

As for his defense, all we have for the minors is Range Factor. His range factor per game this year is 8.58 which would be in the top 5 in MLB history for a catcher.  His RF/9 is even higher and would be a record.

 

He has a lot of passed balls this year, but that's the only negative on paper.

[Oldgoat_MN]

 

Huge fan and believer in Garver, and have been for a while. But roster construction wise, don't we still need to find room for Granite with Grossman out?

Granite is dealing with an injured hand.

 

Congratulations to Mitch Garver. Really happy for him.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Cool, glad to see him up. Good for him.

[drjim]

I'll be curious to see how they use him. With Grossman on the shelf, does seem to at least open up some dh at bats. I doubt he starts a game at catcher, and I don't think Rosario/Buxton/Kepler sit much. Mauer off days likely are taken by Escobar (with Sano at 1b).

 

He should play every game against a lhp at least.

[Doomtints]

 

I'll be curious to see how they use him. With Grossman on the shelf, does seem to at least open up some dh at bats. I doubt he starts a game at catcher, and I don't think Rosario/Buxton/Kepler sit much. Mauer off days likely are taken by Escobar (with Sano at 1b).

He should play every game against a lhp at least.

 

Why wouldn't he catch?  Gimenez does a fair amount of catching and he has not been good recently.

[drjim]

 

Why wouldn't he catch?  Gimenez does a fair amount of catching and he has not been good recently.

 

I'm very skeptical they'll keep a vet like Gimenez on the bench while they break in an inexperienced catcher late in a race for the playoffs, but perhaps I am wrong.

 

Gimenez certainly had one atrocious inning, but I haven't heard much else negative about his catching.

[Bill Brown69]

 

I'll be curious to see how they use him. With Grossman on the shelf, does seem to at least open up some dh at bats. I doubt he starts a game at catcher, and I don't think Rosario/Buxton/Kepler sit much. Mauer off days likely are taken by Escobar (with Sano at 1b).

He should play every game against a lhp at least.

 

I think Sano needs a few days off. Let EE play 3rd when Sano sits and let Garver get 5 games a week. 3 at DH, 1 at first and 1 at catcher.

[drjim]

I think Sano needs a few days off. Let EE play 3rd when Sano sits and let Garver get 5 games a week. 3 at DH, 1 at first and 1 at catcher.

He should get a game a week in lf. I would guess he goes about half time at dh and an occasional game in lf, less certain about c and 1b because there are clear alternatives.

 

He may get a little run at c at the end of a game if the Twins get blown out.

[yarnivek1972]

Huge fan and believer in Garver, and have been for a while. But roster construction wise, don't we still need to find room for Granite with Grossman out?

Why? Garver can't be substantially worse than Grossman defensively.

[BenB]

This should free Gimenez to do some more relief work.