Matthew Lenz

According to his 2020 scouting report from MLB.com, he has a strong arm. Despite all the strikeouts, he still has an OPS of .755 (.718 is the league OPS) and is batting 3rd in the order. He’s a rookie who, like ALL players at times, is in a slump. Let’s not overreact.

It was a rollercoaster game for the Twins and Tigers who combined for 21 runs after scoring zero runs in the first four innings. Read on to find out how the Twins ended their first half in today's game recap! Box Score Jose Berríos 7.0 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 8 K (61% strikes) Homeruns: Kepler (10), Rortvedt (2), Polanco (12) Top 3 WPA: Polanco (.534), Duffey (.486), Rortvedt (.355), Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs) Jose Berríos Falters in Fifth Berríos, coming off a great outing against the White Sox, cruised through the first three innings needing just 37 pitches to set down the Tigers the first time through the lineup. He had some help from Trevor Larnach to end the second inning on a ball that looked like it was going to be an extra base-hit. Although he didn’t allow a hit until there were two outs in the fifth inning, he really started showing signs of inefficiency in the fourth inning where he threw just 50-percent strikes and benefited from Robbie Grossman coming off 2nd base on a steal for a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play to end the inning. Ten, after getting the first two batters out in the fifth, Berríos wouldn’t get the third out until the Tigers plated four runs thanks to back-to-back walks to the eight and nine hitters and a couple hanging curveballs. He would go on to regain his form needing just six pitches in the sixth and ending his day with back-to-back strikeouts looking in the seventh. Aside from the one inning, it was a very good day for Berríos but once again he was bit by his inconsistency. Not to overreact from one bad inning, but this is why I tend to believe his ceiling is limited to mid-rotation arm on a contending team. When he’s efficient with his pitches, he is very effective and can look like a number on option but in his five plus seasons with the Twins there has been enough inconsistency to question whether he can really take the “next step”. Twins Exercise Patience and it Pays Off Through three innings, things weren’t looking great for the Twins offense. And with the exception of Max Kepler’s 10th homerun of the season, they never were able to figure out Tigers starter Wily Peralta. Fortunately, due to his inefficiency, he was pulled needing 97 pitches to get through five innings despite allowing just five Twins batters to reach base. A change on the mound was exactly what the Twins needed as they made the Tigers relievers pay for not throwing strikes. Over the next two innings, the Twins would get four hits from Jorge Polanco twice, Max Kepler, and Alex Kirilloff as well as six walks and five earned runs to take a 6-4 lead entering the eighth. In all, every Twin would reach base at least once with Polanco reaching base four times and Kirilloff, Cruz, and Kepler reaching base in three different at-bats. Moreover, the Twins continued to get production from their rookies as Kirilloff had two RBI's, a run scored, and saw 30 pitches over his six at-bats while Ben Rortvedt tied the game in the bottom of the ninth with a 410 foot blast. It was a tough series for fellow rookie, Trevor Larnach, who went 2-for-18 with 12 strikeouts including back-to-back games with four strikeouts. In addition to his day at the plate, Kirilloff saved the game in the top of the 10th with this fantastic diving play. Then of course came the walk-off... Bullpen Usage Jorge Alcala would relieve Berríos and immediately give up a solo homerun to Akil Baddoo and a single to Jonathan Schoop but was able to get the next two outs before Hansel Robles relieved him to finish the eighth. Taylor Rogers came in on the ninth and allowed the first three batters to reach followed by a Grand Slam that gave the Tigers temporarily gave the Tigers the lead. Tyler Duffey earned the win by shutting down the Tigers in the 10th. TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Law 0 50 0 0 27 0 77 Thielbar 0 20 0 20 0 0 40 Duffey 0 0 15 0 21 15 51 Rogers 0 0 6 0 0 22 28 Robles 0 0 0 24 0 3 27 Colomé 14 0 0 0 17 0 31 Coulombe 12 0 0 0 13 0 25 Alcala 0 0 0 23 0 10 33 View full article

The Twins snap their five game skid and take the Sunday matinee with a 6-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals. They improved to 34-48 this year on the back of a dominant start from Kenta Maeda. That and more in today’s recap. Box Score Kenta Maeda: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K (69% strikes) Homeruns: Kepler (7), Polanco (10), Kirilloff (7) Top 3 WPA: Maeda (.387), Polanco (.093), Kepler (.087) Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs) Maeda Dominates Royals Offense Maeda only allowed one runner to get to third base and it was on a Sebastian Rivero 69 mile-per-hour bloop single to right field in the bottom of the second inning. In by far the best outing of his season, Maeda started 15 of 21 batters faced with first pitch strikes and generated 18 swings and misses over his six innings pitched. As Jim Kaat pointed out during the broadcast on Bally Sports North, this was the first time since Maeda’s second start on April 7th that he was able to make it through six innings. Throughout the day Maeda was fooling Royals batters, who sported a .222 expected batting average, with his slider generating 11 called strikes and whiffs on the pitch. Below, Rob “Pitching Ninja” Friedman, shows a great overlay on just why that pitch was so effective today. After his last start, where the spin rates of his slider, fastball, and sinker dipped, there was some concern among an opposing fan base that maybe Maeda’s 2020 Cy Young caliber season was in part due to some “sticky stuff”. It’s too early to know the exact science on just how much “sticky stuff” can impact spin rates but, for what it’s worth, Maeda’s slider was nasty today and had an average spin rate of 2493 which is close to the average spin rate of the same pitch during the 2020 season (2505). The two runs the Royals scored came in the bottom of the ninth inning when Hansel Robles gave up a Dyson single with the bases loaded. Twins Chase Brad Keller but Make Bullpen Pay Today provided a good example of why advanced stats have meaning alongside more traditional stats. Keller was able to pitch through six-and-a-third innings walking just two and striking out seven despite a strike percentage of just 61%. Patience is a virtue, as they say, but for the Twins it’s their kryptonite as they are third in all of baseball at swinging at pitches outside of the strike zone. Like Maeda, Keller never really faced in real threats from the seven baserunners he allowed, aside from the one he created after back-to-back headsy baserunning plays in the third and a Trevor Larnach two-strike, two-out single. Keller's only other mistake on the day ended up 395 feet from home plate, which was one of three long balls on the day. Richard Lovelady came in and allowed homeruns to Jorge Polanco and Alex Kirilloff in the top of the seventh. In all, four of the six runs came from the long ball with Larnach and Arraez pairing up for another RBI and run scored, respectively, in the top of the ninth giving the Twins their sixth run of the day. Bullpen Usage Chart WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Coulombe 0 0 16 7 0 23 Duffey 0 0 13 0 0 13 Thielbar 16 0 0 0 0 16 Robles 0 34 0 0 19 53 Law 0 32 0 34 0 66 Colomé 14 0 17 0 0 31 Rogers 0 0 22 0 20 42 Alcala 0 19 0 0 18 37 Jax 0 0 0 88 0 88 View full article

At Twins Daily, we decided we needed to start finding some positives from this season by naming the Pitcher and Hitter of the month. Taylor Rogers and Mitch Garver took home the inaugural awards for the month of May. Now it’s time to see who takes the cake in June As has been the case all year, aside from hitting home runs, the Twins were a middling offense in the month of June and struggled with runners in scoring position. Of course, even in the worst offenses we can find some bright spots and here is our Twins Hitter of the Month. Honorable Mention #3: Ryan Jeffers As has been the case this season, the Twins lost Mitch Garver to a very unfortunate injury right as he had found his groove in the month of May. Fortunately, Ryan Jeffers was recalled from AAA and bounced back nicely after posting a .392 OPS in 37 plate appearances back in April. As Ted points out, he was plenty effective in June. He ended being stuck on those five home runs at the end of the month and finished with an OPS of .802 but that was plenty good enough to earn an honorable mention. Throw in passable defense at the most important position on the field and he’s carved out a semi-regular role even when Garver returns Honorable Mention #2: Jorge Polanco Polanco was runner-up in May and continued tearing the cover off the ball in June, which is great news for a guy who is under contract for the next four years. Specifically in the month of June, Polanco had 10 extra-base hits, including four homeruns, and had an impressive strikeout rate of just 9.7%. More encouraging from a health perspective is that he added three stolen bases on five attempts, which would indicate that his ankle is healthy enough to be active on the basepaths. At one point, it had looked like Planco may lose his role due to his performance as well as the emergence of Luis Arraez and prospects like Royce Lewis making their way through the system, but he’s indisputably established himself as an everyday player. Honorable Mention #1: Josh Donaldson He hasn’t been in the news much this month, so I thought it would be worthwhile mentioning him here. After opening a league-wide can of worms and then another, smaller can of worms in Chicago, Chris Schad of Bring Me The News has a point... In all, he posted a .992 OPS in the month of June and a wRC+ of 161. To this point, his tenure as a Twins has been more frustrating than anything else but he really was his old self in the month of June. It will be interesting to see how Rocco handles Josh as the season goes on, assuming he isn’t traded with two years left on his deal. Obviously, he needs to be in the lineup as often as possible but at 35 on a floundering team you also want to keep him healthy for 2022 and 2023. Perhaps, if the Twins deal Nelson Cruz and Jose Miranda keeps crushing, he will find himself DH-ing more and more. Hitter of the Month: Nelson Cruz Honestly, I don’t have much else to add here...Nick pretty much covered it. His final line in June was eight bombs while slashing .380/.457/.759. Although he did leave out one little tidbit… That’s right, at the beginning of the month Cruz stole his first base since 2018 but it was his 77th swipe of his career...who would have guessed that?!? Nelson has been invaluable as a member of the Twins, but in reality we’re probably only a few weeks away from him being a member of a different American League club. He inarguably was the Twins best hitter of the month in June and I think that’s fitting for what might be his last full month in a Twins uniform. Cheers, Nelly. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

At Twins Daily, we decided we needed to start finding some positives from this season by naming the Pitcher and Hitter of the month. Taylor Rogers and Mitch Garver took home the inaugural awards for the month of May. Now it’s time to see who takes the cake in June As a team, the Twins pitching staff had one of the worst months in all of Major League Baseball. In fact, according to their fWAR (2.4), they ranked 29th only finishing a half win ahead of the Diamondbacks who had made some history themselves. With that said, not everyone pitched poorly in the month of June and without further ado, here is our pitcher of the month. Honorable Mention #3: Tyler Duffey If you just look at Duffey’s ERA for the month (1.59), you might wonder how he’s the fourth pitcher on this list, and if you look at his game log where he only gave up two earned runs and four clean outings, you might really think I’m throwing him some shade. Yet, as solid as Duffey was for the Twins in June, his strikeout and walk rates leave more to be desired and he out-pitched his FIP (3.25) by more than a run. Prior to giving up runs in back-to-back appearances on June 10th and 11th, Duffey looked like he may have returned to his 2019 form… ….but ultimately he regressed back to his 2020 and 2021 self with a K/BB of 6/3 from June 12th on. Nonetheless, he made it work and got results in June, but I just don’t know how sustainable that is moving forward. Honorable Mention #2: Caleb Thielbar So much is made of Thielbar’s comeback story that it’s almost overshadowing the very good career he’s had in a Twins uniform.. ...and after struggling a bit for the first two months of the season he posted a 11/2 K/BB and a 1.80 ERA in June which, insanely enough, is 0.24 worse than his FIP. Furthemore, five of his eight appearances were clean and in three of them he was able to provide the Twins with more than one inning. Now, on the off chance you’re thinking of everyone’s favorite topic right now...sticky stuff...I’ll just point out that his spin rates actually increased from his June 20th appearance (before they weren’t checking) to his June 27th appearance. Admittedly, I’m not sure how “normal” it is for spin rates to vary from one outing to another and I’m sure it’s different for relievers versus starters but regardless I felt obligated to at least mention the increase despite the focus on the issue. His awesome story aside, I think it’s time we really start appreciating the reliable arm that Thielbar has been for the Twins over the last two seasons. Honorable Mention #1: José Berríos I’m not one to use the “co” prefix when it comes to handing out an award, and although a very good argument could be used for José to be the pitcher of the month, he wasn’t as dominant as the winner was from start to finish. After giving up four runs to the Royals to start his month, Berríos posted a 2.79 ERA and a 23/4 K/BB which are...dare I say it….ace like numbers. Specifically, against Cleveland on the 24th, he had one of his best starts of the season striking out nine over six-and-one-third innings. There’s been a lot of back-and-forth on whether we should trade and extend José. If he continues to pitch like he did in his last three starts of the month (which he didn’t do on July 1st), then he’ll make it a very hard decision as the trade deadline nears. Pitcher of the Month: Taylor Rogers For the second consecutive month, Rogers outduels Berríos for this coveted award. Like Thielbar, Rogers miniscule 1.86 ERA was actually worse than his FIP of 1.19 and he dominated with a 11/1 K/BB over nine-and-two-thirds innings. His lone bump in the road was the two runs he gave up to the Yankees, otherwise didn’t allow a run to score and had six appearances. Speaking of that Yankees outing, Doug Kern gives us a little fun fact. Not including rookie performances from Alex Kirilloff and Trevor Larnach, the bounce back season from Taylor Rogers might be the most positive result of 2021 and with one year of team control remaining he will likely be involved in trade discussions for the next month. Ultimately, the decision to trade him and/or Berríos might come down to whether the front office believes this team can contend in 2022 as both are free agents following next seasons. Congratulations to Mr. Rogers on winning back-to-back Twins Daily Minnesota Twins Pitcher of the Month Awards! Would you have given the award to Berrios or Rogers? Would you trade, extend, or hold on Berrios and Rogers? Discuss in the comments! MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

Yes, thank you!! Fixed.

The Twins beat Cleveland taking the rubber match of what turned into a three game series and improving to 7-3 in their last 10 games. J.A. Was dealing and the offense was bombing…that and more in today’s recap! Box Score J.A. Happ: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K (65.7% strikes) Homeruns: Simmons (3), Donaldson (11), Cruz (17) Top 3 WPA: Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs) Happ First Quality Start Since April 28th It’s been an up and (mostly) down year for Happ but the lefty was dealing today en route to his fourth victory on the season. Originally slated to face the White Sox on Monday, who slaughter left-handed pitching, he was bumped up a day to face a much less powerful Cleveland team. Turned out to be a smart move as Happ struck out his second most batters of the season by living on the edge of the strike zone. His lone mistake was to former Twins Catcher, Rene Rivera, when he left a 91 mile per hour fastball middle-middle on an 0-2 count. Whether you still believe in the 2021 Twins or believe them to be sellers, Happ will need more strong outings like the one he had today to be of value to the Club. Speaking of, one way or another, providing value to the Club...Tyler Duffey came in and pitched a scoreless seventh inning lowering his June ERA to 2.00 but has yet to have the strikeout numbers he boasted over the last two seasons. Hey, if you're getting outs then who cares how you do it but worth noting his strikeout numbers remain down despite a significant improvement from May to June. Finally, Caleb Thielbar came on in the 8th to pitch two scoreless, hitless innings to seal the victory for the Twins. Twins Offense Blasts Off Andrelton Simmons ignited the Bomba Squad with a two-run homerun to the left field bleachers in the second, which was followed up with Donaldson and Cruz second deck, no-doubters in the third and fourth, respectively. Homeruns accounted for three of the seven hits and six of the eight runs on the day, while the Cleveland pitching staff helped the Twins by walking eight base runners. Of those eight walks, you might be surprised that Miguel Sańo had two free passes on the day AND didn’t strike out! In all, rookie outfielder Gilbert Celestino, was the only Twins batter to not reach base today while Cruz and Arraez were the only other Twins to not reach base twice. Bullpen Usage Chart MON TUE WED THU FRI SUN TOT Jax 0 0 0 0 75 0 75 Coulombe 0 16 0 0 32 0 48 Colomé 7 30 0 0 7 0 44 Shoemaker 32 0 0 11 0 0 43 Thielbar 19 12 0 4 0 30 35 Rogers 16 0 0 8 9 0 33 Robles 0 21 0 0 10 0 31 Alcalá 20 0 0 10 0 0 30 Duffey 0 11 0 0 0 23 11 The Twins will continue facing AL Central foes for their next 14 games heading into the All-Star Break on Monday, July 12th. If there are still those of you out there that believe in this club, the Twins likely need to go at least 10-4 to while getting within single digits of the division lead. View full article

The Twins sweep the Texas Rangers, their first sweep since May 24th - 26th against Baltimore, winning 4-2 on Sunday and improving to 30-41 on the season. Read about Maeda regaining his 2019 form, Buxton still bombing, and more in today’s recap. Box Score Kenta Maeda: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (64% strike percentage) Homeruns: Buxton (11) Top 3 WPA: Kepler (.143), Buxton (.127), Duffey (.123) Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs) Maeda Regaining 2019 Form, Bullpen Locks Down the Win Maeda battled through command issues early on to provide the Twins with five-and-a-third innings of three hit, zero run baseball on just 66 pitches while facing 19 batters. This was following his first start since returning from the Injured List where he went four innings giving up one run and striking out seven. Although today’s start was a step in the right direction, after getting his 16th out of the game he was set to face Aldonis García and Joey Gallo who I had thought might not get the opportunity to face them a third time… That lead to back-to-back homeruns and the end of the day for Maeda. Tyler Duffey relieved Maeda and continued his stellar June needing just 21 pitches to record the next five outs allowing just a walk as his lone flaw. Jorge Alcala came in to pitch the 8th inning against the middle of the Rangers line up and was able to shut them down allowing one hit and getting a big strikeout of Joey Gallo with the tying run on base. Hansel Robles came on in the 9th to earn his sixth save of the season in eight chances. Newly Healthy Twins Lead the Offense Luis Arraez and Byron Buxton got the Twins out to a 2-0 lead before Rangers righty, Dane Dunning, could even record an out. Trevor Larnach and Nelson Cruz would follow up the 426 foot bomb with singles of their own before Alex Kirilloff would roll into a double play and Jorge Polanco would end the inning. Despite coming out on top, not taking advantage of base runners would be a theme of the day as they had 13 hits and left 21on-base going 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. In the third, the Twins took advantage of a Gallo error as a Max Kepler single, turned double, drove in Trevor Larnach and Polanco to give the Twins a 4-0 lead. Arraez, Larnach, and Andrelton Simmons had three hits apiece, five of which were singles, upping their averages to .286, .267 and .249, respectively. Larnach continues to add to his Rookie of the Year resume, which our own Nash Walker laid out on Saturday Polanco And Cruz added to the hit parade with a hit apiece, but just as the Twins get multiple starters back Cruz was pulled in lieu of Sanó after striking out in the top of third. Hopefully it’ll be just a minor absence for Cruz as he is in the midst of a hot streak. The Twins will come back home with a four-game winning streak, their longest of the season, and will host the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland for a six-game homestand starting tomorrow. View full article

Look at the bullpen spreadsheet. It was not burned up. Regardless, to not even go out to the mound and give them a breather was just odd.

I'm sorry but this just isn't factual. Over his last 47 at-bats he has an OPS of .418. We are not very good and he is one of our worst. Rortvedt hasn't been great at the plate either but he has been defensively. Until Garver is healthy, I'll take Jeffers and Rortvedt as my catchers.

Although he doesn't deserve it, I think the swap is probably Arraez for Gordon. I would like to see Rortvedt stay on the roster over Astudillo though.

The Twins fell in a blowout to the Astros 14-3, losing the series two games to one, and falling to 26-39 on the season. Read about the game in today’s recap. Box Score Michael Pineda: 4 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K (60.9% strikes) Homeruns: Jeffers (3), Cruz (13) Bottom 3 WPA: Dobnak (-.161), Pineda (-.117), Larnach (-.074) Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs) Twins too Aggressive Early, Never Put Together a Threat Framber Valdez is a very good pitcher for the Astros, but shouldn’t have been as effective as his box score looked over his seven innings. The first indication is the three walks he surrendered in just three-and-a-third innings when he averages less than two walks per nine innings, but look a little closer and it’s clear the Twins were really helping him out. He’d follow up the first two innings with a four pitch walk of Andrelton Simmons which lowered his strike percentage to just 37% on the day, but really settled in after that with the only real scathe on his record being an absolute moon shot from Ryan Jeffers in the fifth inning. In all, Jeffers had a good day at the plate hitting all three of his balls-in-play harder than 96 miles per hour and having a .510 xBA despite only one hit. In continued good news, Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz also continued stinging the ball today, including Cruz hitting his 13th home run of the season in the 8th inning with the game far out of reach. Twins Pitching Staff Gets Rocked from Start to Finish In short, this might be all you need to know about today’s team pitching performance for your favorite boys of summer… In length, after allowing back-to-back hits to start the game, Pineda was able to sit down 11 consecutive Astros hitters although the metrics behind those at-bats may suggest that the fourth inning two-out rally was inevitable. The Astros had been tagging balls off of Pineda all afternoon and sported an xBA of .281 heading into the fourth inning. Regardless, Pineda was one Donaldson diving grab from a 1-2-3 fourth inning, even still had only given up three earned runs, and thrown just 64 pitches before being pulled for the “bullpen”. I put that in quotes because in his place, Rocco Baldelli went with starter, turned reliever, turned starter, turned reliever Randy Dobnak who had started just four days prior. It didn’t take long for the Astros to assert their dominance over Dobnak, including 41st percentile sprint speedster Yordan Alvarez swiping his first Major League base and hitting a no-doubt 425 foot shot in the next inning. In just two innings of work, Dobnak was responsible for eight baserunners and six earned runs which has increased his season ERA to 8.38. What was really interesting, and maybe telling, to me (and Ted) was how Baldelli and/or Wes Anderson handled Dobnak getting shelled Pineda and Dobnak weren’t the only two to get stung by the Astros. Alex Colomé came on in the 7th and gave up two runs, Shoemaker entered in the 8th giving up two runs including a 420 foot blast to Chas McCormick on his third pitch of the inning and an additional run in the 9th. TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Shoemaker 0 0 0 35 0 43 78 Jax 23 51 0 0 0 0 74 Colomé 9 25 0 0 0 24 58 Alcalá 21 0 7 15 0 0 43 Duffey 0 0 20 22 0 0 42 Farrell 19 0 23 0 0 0 42 Rogers 20 0 0 3 9 0 32 Robles 0 0 11 0 15 0 26 Dobnak 0 87 0 0 0 40 I don’t know how much to read into the bullpen usage in this game. All three relievers have struggled mightily this year, but specifically using Dobnak and Shoemakers as relievers and leaving them out there when they were clearly struggling to get outs was interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a move or two before the Twins leave for their six-game road trip against Seattle and Texas. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email3b View full article

Twins right-handed pitching prospect, Bailey Ober, made his Major League debut on May 18th against the Chicago White Sox. Unlike his rise to the majors as a 12th round pick, we were a little slow to this but, as they say...better late than never! Let’s take a look back at his rise to the Majors in his prospect retrospective. He was knocked around a bit in his debut going four innings, allowing six baserunners and four earned runs off of two homeruns while striking out four hitters. In his second start, against the Kansas City Royals on June 6th, he once again went four innings with four strikeouts but kept the ball in the ballpark and allowed just one run. Prep Career Ober attended Charlotte Chrisitan School in Charlotte, NC where he helped his team win state championships in his Junior (2012) and Senior (2013) years. His bio at the College of Charleston, where he would go on to played for three years, goes onto say that as a Senior he “posted [a] 10-0 record with 0.45 ERA and 99 strikeouts”, and actually played baseball with another local professional athlete: Ober started his college career strong as head coach Monte Lee, who is now at Clemson, said “Ober has been our guy. He really commands the strike zone well and doesn’t miss his spot...He spots his fastball well and his changeup is very good. The breaking ball, over time, has become a much better pitch, too” in an Mid Major Spotlight article by Perfect Game. He would go on to be selected as Freshman Pitcher of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association posting a 10-3 record, 1.52 ERA, and 85 strikeouts across 106.2 innings. Unfortunately, Ober was forced to take a redshirt for his true sophomore season as he required season-ending Tommy John surgery. Although he was not as dominant upon his return in his redshirt sophomore, he did well enough to get drafted by the Dodgers in the 23rd round of the MLB Draft but ultimately elected to return to Charleston for his redshirt Junior year where struck out more than one hitter per inning and more than six strikeouts to each walk across 10 starts. That lead to him getting drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 12th round of the 2017 MLB Draft Professional Career Despite striking out 11.7 batters per nine in his final collegiate season, Ober was drafted being known for his command of the strike zone and having a four-pitch arsenal with great movement. That said, in his first three professional seasons he continued to strikeout more than one batter per inning combined with an elite walk rate of around one per nine. His success lead to a quick ascension through the Minor League system starting the 2019 season with the GCL-Twins and ending the season at AA-Pensacola, where he posted a 0.69 ERA and 11.11 K/BB over 78.2 innings and 13 starts. In 2020, Ober was rated as the 30th best prospect in the organization and moved up to 23rd in 2021 despite losing a second season of competition in six years. Following the 2020 season, Ober was added to the 40-man roster and prior to making his 2021 debut, he had made four starts for AAA-St. Paul with a 2.81 ERA and a 4.20 K/BB. Ober was then called up on May 18th after the Twins moved Michael Pineda to the IL. Twins Daily Coverage READ: Get To Know Twins RHP Prospect Bailey Ober by Seth Stohs in January of 2018. READ: Bailey Ober on His 2019 Successes by Seth Stohs in September of 2019. READ & WATCH: Highlights: 4 Twins Prospects Off to Hot Starts by Tom Froemming in May of 2015. READ & WATCH: Twins Spotlight: Episode 9 (Bailey Ober) by Seth Stohs in November of 2020. READ: Twins Daily 2021 Top Prospects: 16-20 by Tom Froemming in February of 2021. READ: The Next Minnesota Twins by Steve Lein in April of 2021. READ: Time for a Changing of the Guard by Cody Pirkl in June of 2021. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

The Twins come out on top against the Royals on Sunday afternoon after another game of struggling to push across runs. They were able to split the four-game series against the Royals improving to 23-35 on the season. That and more in today’s game recap. Box Score Bailey Ober: 4 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K (72.5% strikes) Homeruns: none Top 3 WPA: Rogers (.452), Larnach (.120), Duffey (.110) Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs) Ober Efficient in Second Career Start Like his first Major League start, Ober gave the Twins four strikeouts in four innings but this time he was able to keep hitters in the ballpark leading to just one run scored. Ober was looking good early after going six up-six down in the first two innings including three strikeouts, executing the scouting report on the Royals: The “Rocco pulls his pitchers too early” crowd will not be happy as Ober only needed 51 pitches to get through those four innings, but the Royals were hitting the ball hard and had an xBA of .342 going into the top of the fifth. Moreover, in the third the Royals had runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out before Miguel Sanó was involved in his third triple play in as many years and the fifteenth in franchise history: Even in the fourth inning, Royals hitters were starting to get to Ober after Alex Kirilloff misplayed a lead-off Whit Merrifield single, turning it into a standup triple. Fortunately, Andrelton Simmons was shifted behind second base to snare a Carlos Santana line drive that helped limit the damage of the inning to just one run on three hits. Twins Load the Bases but Struggle to Score I mean that both figuratively and literally. Brady Singer needed 106 pitches to get through five and two-thirds innings where he allowed eight hits and three walks, yet the Twins were only able to manage two runs scored going 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position. But literally in the fifth, Polanco placed a bunt perfectly down the third baseline which loaded the bases with nobody out. After back-to-back strikeouts from Kirilloff and Sanó, the Twins were able to scrape together a run thanks to a Trevor Larnach hit-by-pitch. On the day the Twins finished going 2-for-11 with 10 left on base. With all of that said, it’s hard to be totally negative when you are able to get on base 13 times like the Twins did today. Strikeouts aside, Miguel Sanó continued to hit the ball hard today with an RBI double that gave the Twins their first lead in the third, as well as hitting a shot to centerfied in the 6th that had an exit velocity of 96.5 miles per hour and an xBA of .390. More encouraging is the continued hitting of Nick Gordon who went 2-for-4 upping his OPS to .979 while swiping his third base on the season, as the Twins organization continues to develop middle infield talent after seeing Luis Arraez and Jorge Polanco experience success in recent years. Bullpen Turns in Solid Series A Taylor Rogers high leverage save was a great way to cap off a tremendous weekend by the Twins bullpen. After a taxing six and two-thirds inning on Friday night, the Twins relief pitchers were able to shut down the Royals for three innings on Saturday and five innings on Sunday, not to mention three innings of one (unearned) run ball on Thursday night. Although it may be too little too late for 2021, the Twins will likely be seeking to get some value out of one-year rentals Alex Colomé and Hansel Robles via trades while also giving pitchers like Jorge Alcala and Luke Farrell an opportunity to showcase their talents for 2022 and beyond. WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Anderson 0 0 62 0 0 62 Farrell 0 11 0 0 13 24 Colomé 21 0 0 0 0 21 Robles 0 20 0 10 15 45 Duffey 0 12 0 7 14 33 Alcala 3 0 7 0 10 20 Rogers 0 0 0 12 0 12 A lot of fans were hoping that 13 games against the Orioles and Royals would ignite this team into the playoff contender they were projected to be. Unfortunately, the Twins end up going 6-7 over that stretch and now face Yankees and Astros for six games at home after an off-day on Monday. I’d imagine these last two weeks were the figurative “nail in the coffin” for even the most optimistic fans. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

Twins outfield prospect, Gilberto Celestino, made his Major League debut on June 2nd against the Baltimore Orioles going 0-for-2 with a strikeout before being lifted in the top of the 8th by a pinch hitter. Let’s take a look back at his rise to the Majors in his prospect retrospective. Amateur Career Coming out of the Dominican Republic, there isn’t really any statistical data on his amateur career before being signed as an international free agent in July of 2015. At the time he was considered the #11 international prospect and MLB.com’s scouting report read as follows: “Known for his athletic ability and instincts in the outfield, Celestino is projected to start in center field and likely stay there as he develops because of his speed, arm and his ability to get good jumps in the outfield. He's lean but is expected to fill out as he matures. Scouts like his makeup and expect him to reach his potential once he signs with a team and receives daily instruction. One of the most polished players in the class, Celestino is known as a "gamer" because he has a track record of success in tournaments in the Dominican Republic. He's gained a reputation as one of the better game players in the class, despite varying opinions on his some of his tools.” Professional Career After signing with the Astros for a total of $2.5 million, including a $2.25 million signing bonus, Celestino played 56 games between the Dominican Summer League and Gulf Coast League with two home runs, 15 stolen bases, and an OPS of .758. Over two and a half seasons and 152 games, Celestino sported an OPS of .753 with 10 homeruns and 39 stolen bases reaching as high as AA for the Astros. Just nine days before he was traded to the Twins, The Runners Sports published this article comparing him to the 6th overall pick from the 2012 MLB draft. On July 29th, 2018 the Twins received Celestino and right-handed pitcher Jorge Alcala in a package that sent Ryan Pressly to the Astros. At the time, Celestino was their 15th rated prospect in a farm system that ranked 10th best in baseball according to Sam Dykstra of MiLB.com. In his one-and-a-half seasons prior to losing the 2020 Minor League season to COVID, he hit 11 homeruns, stole 22 bases, and had an OPS of____. The Twins thought highly enough of the speedy centerfield to add him to the 40-man roster following the 2019 season and added him to the 60-man player pool in 2020. After many injuries at the Major League level and a solid start at AA-Wichita he was called up on June 2nd. Twins Daily Coverage WATCH: Highlight Reel created by Tom Froemming in February of 2020. Consider this his HYPE video. READ: Trade Retrospective: How Did the Twins Do in the Ryan Presley Trade? by Cody Christie in August of 2020. I don’t know that we are any closer to a clear answer right now, but it’s encouraging that both pieces from that trade have made it to Minneapolis. READ: Twins Daily 2021 Top Prospects: 11-15 by Nick Nelson in February of 2021. He came in as Twins Daily 11th ranked prospect in 2021, one spot ahead of Brent Rooker, which is one spot higher than he was in 2020. READ: Celestino Looking to Impress this Spring, Debut this Summer(?) by Seth Stohs in March of 2021. Is there anyone more in tune with the Twins farm system than Seth? My vote: “nay”. READ: One Twins Prospect to Watch at Each Minor League Level by Cody Christie in May of 2021. Celestino was Cody’s prospect to watch heading into this season...who knew we’d get to do it at Target Field or on Bally Sports North?! Oh yeah, Seth had a feeling. READ: Examining Minnesota's Center Field Depth by Cody Christie in June of 2021. This was written days ago amid the Twins throwing Rob Refsnyder and Kyle Garlick in centerfield. Welcome to the bigs, Gilberto! MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article