For Ober, the Best News Was How Good He Felt

[John Bonnes]

Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

FORT MYERS - Bailey Ober made his first spring training start Friday night and looked crisp from the outset, tossing two scoreless innings on just 25 pitches, including 19 strikes. He did not allow a hit or a walk and recorded one strikeout, an efficient first step as he begins building toward the regular season. More than anything, Ober sounded relieved to finally be back in game conditions after progressing through live batting practice. “Felt great,” Ober said of his outing. “Felt really good to be out there during game action instead of being in live BP like I have been. Felt really good to put the uniform on, have the defense behind me and be in a game atmosphere.”

Ober said he was especially focused on getting a feel for his changeup early in the outing, wanting to reestablish a pitch that remains central to his arsenal. “It’s my pitch — my highest off speed usage pitch,” Ober said. “Just trying to get a feel of it early so I can progress that and put it in my back pocket.” That process appeared to go well; he threw nine changeups, six for strikes, and got two swings and misses with the pitch.  

By Ober’s own assessment, the outing checked a lot of boxes. “Definitely taking steps forward to where I want to be,” he said. “I felt like the ball was coming out good. I felt like I had uncomfortable at-bats the whole time. I was throwing strikes. Didn’t seem like anyone really hit anything hard.” He added that while he would still like to sharpen his two-strike execution to turn more of those counts into strikeouts, the overall objective was clear: “That’s kind of what I’m looking for when I’m out there — just being able to locate.”

Maybe more important than the results was how Ober felt physically. After pitching through a nagging hip issue last season, he said taking the mound healthy again changed everything. “It’s night and day,” Ober said. “It doesn’t matter what I did out there. I was gonna have a smile on my face, just being able to feel healthy and do what I love, pain free.” Ober said the plan is to continue stretching out over his next few outings, with three innings likely next time, then four, then five, as he ramps up toward being ready for his first turn in the regular-season rotation.

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[DocBauer]

I have a belief that many fans suffer from the "what did you do yesterday" syndrom. And this is in regard to Ober.

He had a poor 2025. He put up video game numbers in MILB, but was often injured as his body kept breaking down due to poor mechanics. He was a surprise add to the 40 man, and while nursed a bit his rookie season, he flashed and got better and better. Why? Because the Twins ironed out his mechanics to keep him healthy and tweak his offerings. And he became a really good #3 who occasionally threw like a #2. 

Chicken or the egg, did Ober have a bad hip that threw off his mechanics, or did he lose his mechanics and that induced a hip injury? Do we care?

There was a recent article about Ober that I simply ignored. Why? Because I believe in the work ethic and pure stuff and production of this mountain of a man. If the hip feels good, and the mechanics are feeling right, I don't have to read an article questioning Ober.

Have the Twins been a little slow with him this ST? You bet. They're just doing due diligence. They're doing the same with Ryan. 

Losing Lopez is going to be hard to overcome. Ryan and Ober are going to lead this rotation. And I'd rather have Lopez do that, of course. What I DON'T want is Ryan and Ober to feel they have to replace Lopez.  I just want them to be their selves. It's up to SWR, Bradley, Matthews, and Abel to pick up the slack. 

And while ST is mostly about just getting ready for the season, we've seen some flashes that make us optimistic that the rotation might still be strong. And if SOMEONE cranks it up to another level...looking at Bradley, Matthews, and Abel directly...takes a step forward to move Ober back to being the #3 option, so much the better.  

But don't bet against Ober being what he had been the past few seasons.

[Vanimal46]

John, unless I'm missing something, you're not reporting the most important metric about Bailey Ober. His velocity. Your podcast partner has, however...

And so we begin. He has to build up to his 2022-2024 level to be effective, Which wasn't flame throwing as it was, around 92-93 MPH. 

[SteveLV]

I don't want to go through all the math again, but because of Ober's size and his release point, his fastball is effectively a couple MPH faster than the pure speed recorded.  In other words, the time it takes the ball to go from his hand to the plate is a shorter interval because the ball needs to travel a shorter distance.

But he certainly would be better with higher velo.

[PatPfund]

This is a positive first note as I have Ober in the "anything positive we get is gravy" category. (So dubious I wouldn't have offered arbitration to one of my favorite Twins.) I'm glad this went well, and the hip seems healthy, but I'll also be watching for a velocity ramp up, because he has always needed those extra few MPHs to be effective; it's what turned him from a low prospect to an MLBer, and extension only gets you so far (playing up from 92 to 95-ish worked, but playing up from 88 to 90-ish last year resembled batting practice).

[Steve J]

Yeah, but Gleeman notes that it was not unusual for Ober to be hitting 92-93 in early spring games in prior seasons.  

[TopGunn#22]

His fastball NEEDS those extra couple mph because if he doesn't have it, his change up looks way too similar to his fastball.  When you're talking major league hitters, the margin between a successful pitch and one that gets crushed is razor thin.  

It was encouraging to see him throw yesterday.  He's essentially the #2 SP now unless and until one of Abel, Zebby, Bradley or SWR out-pitches him.  I still believe we won't be able to compete this season, but we should have enough to keep the White Sox in last place. 

But at the trade deadline, if we have guys like Ryan, Ober, Jeffers and Bell healthy and producing, we should be able to maximize what we get back to lay a more solid foundation to build off of for 2027 and beyond.  We will also have a better idea if Lee or Culpepper can handle SS or what E-Rod, Jenkins, Gonzalez and Prielipp can do going forward.  

[OregonTwinsFan]

I'll believe he's not washed up when I see that he is not washed up.

[HerbieFan]

As long as "89-91" becomes "91-93", we're good