St. Paul is the Place for Jay Jackson’s Resurgence

[Theodore Tollefson]

After being designated for assignment by the Twins earlier this season, Jay Jackson cleared waivers, and is now pitching with the St. Paul Saints. He's had two outings so far, and spoke with Twins Daily Wednesday night after his best outing since May 16. 

Image courtesy of © David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

ST. PAUL– Jay Jackson had one the biggest smiles across his face that he’s had in a long time on Wednesday night. 

“It felt great,” Jackson said about his outing.

The 36-year-old righty threw a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the eighth, in the Saints' 5-1 victory over the Syracuse Mets. It was his first clean inning of work since May 16 against the Yankees. Two days later, his outing against Cleveland turned into a disaster, as he allowed four hits, a walk, and three runs (though all were technically unearned). 

The Twins designated Jackson for assignment the next day--technically. In reality, his locker was being cleaned out immediately after that game. It felt like the decision had been made even before the final pitch of that contest. A week later, after clearing waivers, Jackson was outrighted to the Saints. His relief appearance on Wednesday was his second in a Saints uniform. The first time around was on May 31 against the Rochester Red Wings, where he surrendered a couple of hits and a run in the seventh inning. 

“Just having a clean inning is always the goal anyway, but tonight, just working back in there, not feeling any aches and pains," Jackson said, in characterizing the appearance. "Trying to feel myself out there, get my feet under me again for the next couple of weeks, and see what happens.” 

Command hasn’t been a huge issue for Jackson this season; he only allowed eight walks in 22 1/3 innings for the Twins. He fell short in swing-and-miss stuff, particularly with his slider and changeup.

Jackson is one of the many slider-first pitchers the Twins have had in their bullpen this season, and he threw it 219 times with the club. While opponents only complied a .255 batting average against the pitch, four of the 13 hits they got were home runs, fueling a .569 slugging percentage. Jackson's mid-30s renaissance as a big-league bullpen arm has been all about his slider. He never had a chance of finding success while having the pitch get hit that hard. 

In his first two outings with St. Paul, Jackson threw his slider 15 times, with mixed success. He gave up two hits on the pitch against Rochester on May 31, but had better luck with it Wednesday. He got two called strikes with it in each of those outings. Then, on Saturday, he got three whiffs on the offering, and the pitch had the shape that has been missing for him all season.

The red, highlighted point is Saturday's game. If Jackson can start consistently throwing the slider with that kind of two-plane movement, it's back on. The tilt on the pitch out of his hand and the movement on it in this one appearance, alone, match those measurements for the pitch over his previous two seasons.

Following his outing on Wednesday, Jackson felt that his pitch arsenal was working better than it had been for a long while. 

“I think everything was mixing in the real well. I was leaving fastballs up a little bit, just coming off of them. Again, just trying to work on my mechanics and get my body right under me and just feeling myself again is the key," he said. "Just making sure everything is clicking the right way I feel like it should and getting my confidence back to where I know it should be.” 

Saints manager Toby Gardenhire also had plenty to compliment about one of his newest relievers.

“It was huge,” said Gardenhire. “He’s done it a thousand times, he’s been out there for a long time and he’s gotten a lot of outs. He knows how to do it, he knows what he’s doing out there, and he did have a tough go in the big leagues up there for a little bit. But I’m expecting him to be really good for us and hopefully, he’ll get another shot in the big leagues this summer.” 

Wednesday became a tone-setter for Jackson to recoup himself and rebuild his confidence. The smile he bore after the eighth looked like a million dollars, and from that look alone, no one would guess what he had been through with the Twins up to that point to be where he is now in St. Paul. 

“It’s just been a long year, it’d been a long offseason so it’s just all compounding but it’s just a matter of finally getting healthy and feeling myself out there," Jackson said. "It’s not changing too much because while I was up there, the numbers looked bad but I was throwing some good pitches here and there and just had some bad luck here and there."

With two good outings back under his belt, Jackson expects to keep battling hitters more with his slider and find ways to keep them chasing, rather than making solid contact. 

“I’m just down here, and I’ll just keep grinding, keep working and seeing what the next steps are going to be. If they need me they need me, if they don’t, you know, I’ll just keep working."

If the slider is locked back in, the Twins will need him, and be thrilled to have him back fairly soon. In the meantime, St. Paul looks good on him.

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[Doctor Wu]

Good article, Theo! It sounds like Jay Jackson has the right attitude and mindset, and is making some adjustments to make his pitches more effective. His short stint with the Twins was obviously disappointing, but hopefully some positive innings in St. Paul will put him back on the big team's radar. If he stays healthy and pitches well in AAA, he might be needed again this season. It seems like he will be ready. I know it's a cliche, but it's it's true: you can never have enough arms. 

[bean5302]

Glad to see Jackson having a good time out there, but he's 36. Now that he's off the roster, he's basically auditioning for next season, a trade deadline opportunity or an injury replacement opportunity.

[nicksaviking]

Sorry, but color me skeptical. Three innings in St. Paul isn't a ton of work, seems like it would be the equivalent to warming up in the pen a time or two. 

Wouldn't it be a huge indictment on the MLB coaching staff if St. Paul fixed something that could have been done throwing a side session on some random weekday afternoon?

And I don't think it's the coaches, as I said, I'm skeptical he's been 'fixed'.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

Sorry, but color me skeptical. Three innings in St. Paul isn't a ton of work, seems like it would be the equivalent to warming up in the pen a time or two. 

Wouldn't it be a huge indictment on the MLB coaching staff if St. Paul fixed something that could have been done throwing a side session on some random weekday afternoon?

And I don't think it's the coaches, as I said, I'm skeptical he's been 'fixed'.

Sometimes the moves this front office makes are just perplexing.