Twins Acquire RHP Garrett Acton from the Marlins

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of © Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

Shortly after the Twins left Kansas City following a 5-1 win over the Royals on Thursday afternoon, the team announced that they have acquired right-handed pitcher Garrett Acton from the Miami Marlins in exchange for minor league righty Logan Whitaker. 

Acton will report to St. Paul this weekend. This might just be another case of an arm that the Twins can use their five options per season on as they need pitchers to move up and down throughout the season.  The 28-year-old has a combined 31 days of MLB service time, and he's got two years of minor-league options remaining. There may be some value in that information. 

Acton is a native of Illinois and was the 35th round pick of the White Sox way back in 2016. He decided not to sign and instead went to the University of St. Louis. After missing the 2018 season, he transferred home to pitch two seasons at the University of Illinois. Of course, in that 2020 season, he only pitched in six games before the season ended abruptly. In those six innings, he tossed 6 2/3 innings and recorded six saves. 

Late that summer, he signed as a non-drafted free agent with the Oakland A's. In 2021, e combined for 34 games between the two Class A levels. In 2022, he split the season between Double-A and Triple-A. 

In 2023, he went 5-2 with a 5.59 ERA over 29 innings with Triple-A Las Vegas and posted an ERA of 12.71 in 5 2/3 inning of big-league action.   

He missed the entire 2024 season due to Tommy John surgery. In December of 2023, the Rays signed him to a two-year minor-league deal. 

In 2025, he made 45 appearances for the Rays Triple-A ballclub and went 5-1 with a 3.68 ERA over 58 2/3 innings. He pitched one inning for the big-league club. The Rays DFAd him after the 2025 season completed and the Rockies claimed him. In early February, the Rockies DFAd him and the Marlins claimed him.   

He made two appearances this weekend for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. and had four strikeouts in 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Acton's average fastball is about 95 mph, and he also throws a changeup 8-10 mph slower, as well as a slider. 

Logan Whitaker is a 25-year-old right-handed pitcher. The Twins made him their 19th round pick in 2025 out of North Carolina State. He pitched in two games for the Mighty Mussels in 2024, and last year, he combined for 25 games between Cedar Rapids and Wichita. He went 4-0 with a 2.11 ERA. In 38 1/3 innings, he had 33 strikeouts and 10 walks. 

He was set to begin his 2026 season with the Wind Surge.

To make room on the Twins 40-man roster, David Festa was transferred to the 60-Day Injured List. 

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[bunsen82]

Well shows they are continuing to work on the bullpen.    Who gets demoted or does he go to AAA immediately.  

It is odd they didn't claim him in February when he was on waivers if they like him.  Unless his stuff has looked significantly better this spring.  The rockies claimed him in November (didn't get past the Twins) but then would have passed them to be claimed by the Marlins in late Winter.  

[Irishman]

Marlins got a better deal.    

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Eh.

[Nshore]

Festa seems to be sliding toward needing an arm transplant or something.  Too bad.

[Linus]

As Scotty Bowman once said, Nothing for nothing ain’t much. 

[nicksaviking]

Well if there's one thing the Twins don't have enough of, it's 28-year-old AAAA players.

He was DFA'd by the Rays last November. I'm wondering what it was that he's done since then that the Twins didn't ask for him to be included in the Bradley/Jax deal; obviously TB would have handed him over.

[twinstalker]

If this is the type of guy we go after, I'm afraid it might lead to a losing season.

Seriously, all the bullpen moves are clearly designed to minimize embarrassment.  Which means there's a substantial amount of embarrassment at play here.

[TheLeviathan]

[dberthia]

I can't even muster the energy to make a witty, snide comment anymore.

[JADBP]

43 minutes ago, twinstalker said:

If this is the type of guy we go after, I'm afraid it might lead to a losing season.

Seriously, all the bullpen moves are clearly designed to minimize embarrassment.  Which means there's a substantial amount of embarrassment at play here.

No not embarrassing, just losing.  
 

It’s gonna be a long season.  
 

Twins approach seems to be just cycle through every possible “free” RP and hope one catches fire.  It’s unlikely to happen. But the problem is that the Twins don’t need one RP to catch fire, they need 4-5 to do so!!!! 
 

Meanwhile, good job Taj!!

[Baumer67]

Triple A is going to be who's who of released veteran pitchers.  Basically the only young pitching down there are the starters.

[DocBauer]

I don't mind the deal. But I had my eye in Whitaker and was impressed with the numbers he posted last year. I was holding out hope that he might repeat good numbers in Wichita and see St Paul before the year was out.

I think was made for 2 reasons: a) Acton has options, and at some point they are going to shuttle some relievers between the Twins and Saints, b) a full season removed from TJ, and with a nice pair of weekend performances...and almost certainly a solid report on his velocity...the thinking is he might be ready to turn a corner.

Remember, St Paul has 4 or 5 guys on the IL right now. So they are starting the season a little light. So it's a low level move for a AA pen arm to bolster AAA, and maybe help the Twins at some point.

Nothing exciting, but it makes sense.

[RaoulDuke]

This is the pool they are choosing to swim in.

Acquire 5-10 of Kent/ Atlavilla/ Acton/ Lawyerson/ Whomever the other 2 new signs are, ect, and one might turn into a serviceable reliever for a half year, hopefully.

With this approach and how the pen is being used I am kinda shocked Hendriks and/or Chafin were not kept around.  Can they really be that cheap lol?  Funkerburk to Topa has been the entire middle of the bullpen for 2 series now, they are going to throw 100+ innings each on this pace.

 

[DataNerd]

Another low-cost reclamation project arm.  Makes sense with the open roster spot, but probably more likely to be cut than promoted.

[Riverbrian]

He has a little velocity. The pen could use a little velocity. Make it a little less crafty. 

[ashbury]

2 hours ago, dberthia said:

I can't even muster the energy to make a witty, snide comment anymore.

 

[DarrenPS]

Looks like an aggressive release. I mean it's a cheap price so just see what you can do with it I guess.

[theBOMisthebomb]

7 hours ago, ashbury said:

 

 

7 hours ago, ashbury said:

  9 hours ago, dberthia said:

I can't even muster the energy to make a witty, snide comment anymore.

At least the Twins took Acton to address their bullpen woes.

[CRF]

This guy should fit right in with our collection of nothing.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

11 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Well if there's one thing the Twins don't have enough of, it's 28-year-old AAAA players.

He was DFA'd by the Rays last November. I'm wondering what it was that he's done since then that the Twins didn't ask for him to be included in the Bradley/Jax deal; obviously TB would have handed him over.

The Twins certainly have a 'type'...

[laloesch]

Dumpster diving at it's finest.  Every once in a few decades you find treasures, most times you climb out of the bin empty handed, stinky, and humiliated in front of your fans.

[WarPath1211]

I'm guessing this was partially motivated by Kent and Laweryson looking, uh, less than reliable in their first action on Wednesday.
 

I'm perfectly fine with the extra competition for the backend of the bullpen. Logan Whitaker had nice surface-level stats, but was a late pick and doesn't appear on any prospect lists, so I'm assuming the upside is limited there.
 

This makes Acton and Marco Raya the only pure bullpen guys in AAA who are on the 40-man roster, so you'd have to assume they have the inside edge to get the first callup in case of injury or a demotion. John Klein probably has a chance if they want a reliever who can give them some length.

[Baumer67]

11 hours ago, RaoulDuke said:

This is the pool they are choosing to swim in.

Acquire 5-10 of Kent/ Atlavilla/ Acton/ Lawyerson/ Whomever the other 2 new signs are, ect, and one might turn into a serviceable reliever for a half year, hopefully.

With this approach and how the pen is being used I am kinda shocked Hendriks and/or Chafin were not kept around.  Can they really be that cheap lol?  Funkerburk to Topa has been the entire middle of the bullpen for 2 series now, they are going to throw 100+ innings each on this pace.

 

The Twins are keeping going like last year picking up a bunch of DFA'd pitchers.

[strumdatjag]

When do the Twins Playoff tickets go on sale??? 

[theBOMisthebomb]

1 hour ago, strumdatjag said:

When do the Twins Playoff tickets go on sale??? 

2036 if we are fortunate. 

[Cris E]

This is exactly where Brock Stewart came from, so don't get too proud to recycle. 

On the other hand, this is also where we met Josh Staumont, Caleb Boushley,  Dylan Floro, Thomas Hatch, Joey Wentz, Genesis Cabrera...

[ashbury]

6 hours ago, theBOMisthebomb said:

At least the Twins took Acton to address their bullpen woes.

[Hubie29]

             

 

YES!!!!

 

[AceWrigley]

He hardly has to change hats.