Garrett Acton

[Kenny Powers]

Full disclosure - it's too early to get overly excited.  But this is an under the radar guy that I'm starting to watch for the following reasons:

1.)  Age.  He's 27 (soon to be 28).  Certainly too old to be a prospect.  But it's not like he's one of these guys who's been around forever and has zero upside i.e. Matt Bowman.

2.)  Velocity.  He was hitting 95 regularly in his last appearance.  I realize that's not overly impressive in today's game.  But per Fangraph's, his vFA would put him at the top of the current bullpen guys (aside from Morris who was just called up).  And again, higher than someone like Bowman or even Topa.

3.)  K Rate.  Looking at his minor league numbers, he had 287 Ks in 213.2 innings (12.09 K/9).  So far he has 5 Ks in 4 innings for us (11.25 K/9)

4.)  (Very) Early Returns.  4 innings.  5 Ks.  2.25 ERA and 0.75 WHIP. 

I hope this post doesn't jinx him, but just maybe we plucked a diamond in the rough.  But even if we just ride an unstainable hot streak, it appears to be a good pick up for bullpen depth.  

 

Edited April 15 by Kenny Powers
Spelling error caught by another poster

[Linus]

Hopefully you are correct. Does he have options?

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

18 minutes ago, Kenny Powers said:

Full disclosure - it's too early to get overly excited.  But this is an under the radar guy that I'm starting to watch for the following reasons:

1.)  Age.  He's 27 (soon to be 28).  Certainly too old to be a prospect.  But it's not like he's one of these guys who's been around forever and has zero upside i.e. Matt Bowman.

2.)  Velocity.  He was hitting 95 regularly in his last appearance.  I realize that's not overly impressive in today's game.  But per Fangraph's, his vFA would put him at the top of the current bullpen guys (aside from Morris who was just called up).  And again, higher than someone like Bowman or even Topa.

3.)  K Rate.  Looking at his minor league numbers, he had 287 Ks in 213.2 innings (12.09 K/9).  So far he has 5 Ks in 4 innings for us (11.25 K/9)

4.)  (Very) Early Returns.  4 innings.  5 Ks.  2.25 ERA and 0.75 WHIP. 

I hope this post doesn't jinx him, but just maybe we plucked a diamond in the rough.  But even if we just ride an unstainable hot streak, it appears to be a good pick up for bullpen depth.  

 

I tend to think you might be onto something. Of all the 'fliers', he's the one that might have the best chance to make a meaningful impact.

[stringer bell]

Was misspelling Garrett’s last name a bit of word play?

I’ve seen things to like from a few bullpen arms—Orze, Acton and Laweryson come to mind—and a couple of grizzled vets have done all right at St. Paul. I shudder when thinking how these guys will die when the weather warms up. 

[Kenny Powers]

25 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Was misspelling Garrett’s last name a bit of word play?

I’ve seen things to like from a few bullpen arms—Orze, Acton and Laweryson come to mind—and a couple of grizzled vets have done all right at St. Paul. I shudder when thinking how these guys will die when the weather warms up. 

Ha - I fixed it.  I'm not clever enough for that sort of word play. 😁

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

I'll take any and all promising or under the radar arms that the Twins manage to pick up or hold onto this season. Hopefully, guys like Acton will still and produce results, but until we find some more established arms, we will need to continue trying our waiver claims and other means.