What Do Minnesota Twins Have in Recently Acquired Starting Pitcher Connor Gillispie?

[Cody Schoenmann]

Image courtesy of © Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

This Monday, the Minnesota Twins claimed right-handed starting pitcher Connor Gillispie off waivers from the Miami Marlins and immediately optioned him to Triple-A St. Paul. Minnesota claimed the 27-year-old one day after starting pitching prospect Andrew Morris (who was next in line to join the Twins' starting rotation) was placed on the Triple-A injured list with a right forearm strain, signaling team decision-makers acquired the former Marlin to fortify their starting pitching depth.

Ideally, Gillispie will not grace the mound at 1 Twins Way this season. However, given Minnesota's starting pitchers' recent proclivity for landing on the injured list and frontline starter Bailey Ober undergoing significant performance struggles while nursing a left hip injury, Twins decision-makers could soon be forced to yet again call upon minor-league reinforcements to fill out the five-pitcher starting rotation.

If another injury occurred, Travis Adams (who possesses a 40-man roster spot) could be the next Triple-A starting pitcher to make a spot start or join the rotation. Given the fact that Gillispie also occupies a 40-man roster spot and has started six major-league games this season, the soft-tossing righty may have usurped Adams on the organizational starting pitcher depth chart. As noted earlier, though, relying on Gillispie would be an undesirable outcome, evidenced by his early-season struggles with Miami.

Over 26 innings pitched, Gillispie ran up an 8.65 ERA, 5.69 FIP, and a 23-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Generating a below-average 9.8% K-BB rate, Gillispie's struggles were primarily the product of him possessing five subpar pitches. The VCU product most prominently utilizes his sweeper and four-seamer, trailed by a cutter, a changeup, and occasional sinkers and curves. Only the fastball grades out decently. As noted earlier, none of Gillispie's primary or secondary pitchers are effective, evidenced by all of them generating positive run value per 100 pitches according to StuffPro (negative is better):

The reason Gillispie's pitches have generated poor results this season is the unfortunate combination of him possessing below-average Stuff+, Location+, and velocity on all five pitches. Gillispie's pitches that generate the highest Stuff+ are his four-seam fastball (94 Stuff+) and sweeper (96 Stuff+). Given the club's longstanding ability to assist pitchers in maximizing their fastballs and sweepers/sliders, Gillispie could generate more favorable results with Minnesota after fine-tuning his repertoire in St. Paul. He's nothing more than emergency starting pitching depth. Yet, due to recent injury and performance concerns, Twins Territory could soon be forced to familiarize themselves with the former Marlin.

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[LambchoP]

Not much. Between him, Wentz and now Urias, Falvey is truly desperate and dumpster diving. Do we really think picking up players who have been fired from teams just as bad as us is going to help our team? You roster these type of players, most of the time your going to get that type of level of play :(. Just goes to show they have zero hope in our supposed pitching pipeline if they would rather hire waiver wire castoffs than give any of our pitchers a shot. At least give Adams a chance in the pen, he's earned a look. These new guys, absolutely not.

[BillyBallLives]

"Over 26 innings pitched, Gillispie ran up an 8.65 ERA, 5.69 FIP, and a 23-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio."

At least Connor will have no problem making friends in the Twins organization. He'll fit in with the rest of them quite well.

[Patzky]

Thanks for the analysis. It's the other Marlin arm we should go after but for the team, the competitive ship has sailed for the year.

[Parfigliano]

The pipeline seems to be running short on product.

[DJL44]

10 minutes ago, LambchoP said:

if they would rather hire waiver wire castoffs 

Trust the process. If they grab enough players off the waiver wire, eventually that will lead to a championship, right?

[LambchoP]

Just now, DJL44 said:

Trust the process. If they grab enough players off the waiver wire, eventually that will lead to a championship, right?

I'm so tired of hearing Rocco saying just that. We don't worry about the results because we know our process is sound. Really? If the team is not getting results then your process sucks!

[Patzky]

9 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Trust the process. If they grab enough players off the waiver wire, eventually that will lead to a championship, right?

You want a pitching pipeline not a pitching wire.. unless you're looking for the high wire act we've perfected of late.

[Vanimal46]

Hopefully nothing more than filler for the St Paul Saints. If he’s on the Twins anytime soon we’re in trouble 

[Mike Sixel]

8 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Hopefully nothing more than filler for the St Paul Saints. If he’s on the Twins anytime soon we’re in trouble 

This. 

[DJL44]

It might be worth converting him to the bullpen to see if an extra couple MPH improves his stuff. I doubt it improves his location, though.

[nicksaviking]

Honestly, for the last decade this has probably been the healthiest rotation in the league. And for the last several years, a really good rotation. I'm giving all involved a pass with the starters this year; this was bound to happen sooner or later.

Zero passes for being unable to develop enough offensive + players and continually targeting replacement level free agent bats. I am happy to dog pile on these recurring failures and call for an entire system overhaul because of it.

[CRF]

What do they have? You're kidding, right? You have to ask? Obviously, he's the new "ace" of the staff. 

[BillyBallLives]

Never say quit right?  Look at the 1914 Boston Braves.
 

The 1914 Boston Braves pulled off one of the greatest turnarounds in baseball history.

They were dead last on July 4th, 15 games under .500. But they caught fire, surged all the way to first place by Labor Day, and then swept the powerhouse Philadelphia A's in the World Series—a team that had won 3 of the last 4 titles.

Twins fans, here is your dose of hope:
Never say never. Even a lifeless, underperforming team can turn legendary if they get hot at the right time.

What do you all think?

Either I'm "on something"     or    "on to something?"
 

[TwinsDr2021]

Maybe they convert him to one of those magical, less innings less pitches superstars they been trying to say is the future. 

[MMMordabito]

Twins pitching pipeline

[Brett]

I weep for the future.

[Mike Sixel]

Just now, Brett said:

I weep for the future.

Because they picked up a guy to fill the AAA rotation? The minors are filled with these kinds of guys. 

[Linus]

I fear that he will get a shot before Adams. 

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

I'd prefer bringing up a prospect vs this dumpster diving approach.  At least you start to get the kids some MLB reps so that they can positively contribute before they hit their 26th+ birthday.

You get to see if the prospects can make a positive contribution at all.  I'm sure the dumpster dive will work this time though.

[Schmoeman5]

Hey! Hold on now. He struck out Schwarber.  I saw it on the video. 

[lukeduke1980]

Insurance for Jonah Bride

[Rod Carews Birthday]

I’m sure he’s not being brought in to be a part of the rotation in the majors.  He’s exactly the kind of signing that every team makes of “guy that is capable of starting a game in the majors and we don’t really care what we do with him afterwards”.   That way, they can bring him up in a pinch, have him start a game or two (or long relief) and either demote or cut him and are no worse off.  At the moment, between injuries and ineffectiveness, things are a little lean in the starting pitching department.  

[mikelink45]

Quote

The reason Gillispie's pitches have generated poor results this season is the unfortunate combination of him possessing below-average Stuff+, Location+, and velocity on all five pitches. 

Now there is a scouting report that is bound to get us excited.  Maybe Wentz can be his opener and Bride can close!

[jmlease1]

57 minutes ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

I’m sure he’s not being brought in to be a part of the rotation in the majors.  He’s exactly the kind of signing that every team makes of “guy that is capable of starting a game in the majors and we don’t really care what we do with him afterwards”.   That way, they can bring him up in a pinch, have him start a game or two (or long relief) and either demote or cut him and are no worse off.  At the moment, between injuries and ineffectiveness, things are a little lean in the starting pitching department.  

I think this is basically it. With a couple of guys in the AAA rotation struggling and/or fighting an injury, there was room to add another guy. They probably have him as one of those "hey, if we can fix XX, maybe he could do something" guys; I'm sure there's something they like about him. But I doubt there's any real expectation there, and if he get called up for a start it's because other guys are still injured/ineffective at AAA. 

Seems like a normal depth move to me, I doubt they're expecting him to be in the rotation in a few weeks and are probably hoping Zebby is back before they ever "need" him.

[AceWrigley]

"Gillispie's struggles were primarily the product of him possessing five subpar pitches."

That's encouraging.

[Doctor Gast]

Why couldn't they see the fragile position of our MLB rotation before? We don't need a AAA filler, we need a MLB  SP filler & long relief. We needed one 3 weeks ago, where is that person? What's more important?

[Patzky]

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

I think this is basically it. With a couple of guys in the AAA rotation struggling and/or fighting an injury, there was room to add another guy. They probably have him as one of those "hey, if we can fix XX, maybe he could do something" guys; I'm sure there's something they like about him. But I doubt there's any real expectation there, and if he get called up for a start it's because other guys are still injured/ineffective at AAA. 

 

Seems like a normal depth move to me, I doubt they're expecting him to be in the rotation in a few weeks and are probably hoping Zebby is back before they ever "need" him.

If we want old fish Dylan Floro is available (again)

[Mike Sixel]

35 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Why couldn't they see the fragile position of our MLB rotation before? We don't need a AAA filler, we need a MLB  SP filler & long relief. We needed one 3 weeks ago, where is that person? What's more important?

What SP was traded in June or May the last five years? This isn't a realistic hope.

[Road trip]

An interesting transaction history for him, at least.

Somehow, back in 2023 Cleveland saw something in Gillespie and made him a rule 5 pick, taking him from Baltimore.  After a brief run in MLB, Cleveland managed to pass him through waivers and stash him in AAA for most of 2024, where his stats looked very mediocre.  He got released at the end of the year.  I gotta be honest... Cleveland seems to be better at creating starting pitchers out of assorted spare parts than any org in MLB.  If they gave up on improving/fixing him after one year... well, this looks like the absolute longest of long shots.