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The ominous possibility is that he is being evaluated for some problem. But there have been no reports of injuries, and he pitched four days ago, throwing 81 pitches and striking out seven in five innings. Of course, that would also mean he is due for another start somewhere on May 24th, which is tomorrow. And he certainly does not look sad in these pictures.
On the other hand, there are also no reports of problems in the Twins rotation, and Graterol is a starting pitcher. So far this year, he's 5-0, with a 1.89 ERA and 46 strikeouts and 19 walks in 47.2 innings pitched.
Of course, the team could also have the 6'1" right-hander work as a reliever, which is where several scouts saw his future. For instance, Keith Law, in his evaluation of Graterol this preseason, said "Scouts see no projection here and a delivery that probably points to a power-reliever role."
It's also worth noting that Graterol has already been through Tommy John surgery once, in 2016.
In Twins Daily's profile of Graterol, Nick Nelson talked about Graterol's two big pitches:
His fastball gets the headlines. It's not just the velocity – reaching as high as 101 MPH and maintaining in the upper-90s throughout his starts – that makes Brusdar Graterol's heater such a lethal weapon. It's also the movement and command. The right-hander hurls fear-inducing two-seamers that sink and run in on same-sided hitters, while tailing away from lefties. He can place them all over the zone and he likes to throw inside, which is good news for grouchy old-school seamheads and bad news for hitters that have to sweat out ABs in the box.
Often lost in the shuffle is Graterol's slider, which many scouts label as a potential plus or plus-plus pitch. Tightly spun and fiercely sharp, his hard slider buzzes in around 87-89 MPH (per MLB Pipeline) and is almost unhittable when executed well.
There have also been several reports over the last few days of various minor leaguers who were brought up to throw in front of the front office. It could be as harmless as that - he's just being asked to throw in front of people, rather than bring the evaluators to the various minor league affiliates.
Stay tuned for more updates....
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