Twins notes: Bailey Ober's mechanical mess, calling up Travis Adams, ‘sickos' mopping up

New York Times

15 hours ago

MINNEAPOLIS — Bailey Ober has always succeeded despite being one of the softest-tossing pitchers in a league increasingly dominated by big-time velocity, averaging just 91.6 mph with his fastball while posting a 3.76 ERA in 540 1/3 career innings for the Minnesota Twins since 2021.
But even by those modest standards, Ober's velocity has been way down as of late. His fastball averaged 89.3 mph in Friday night's 6-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, his lowest mark in 101 career starts. And his next-lowest fastball velocity came in his last start, six days earlier, when he averaged 89.6 mph.
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Ober also struggled with diminished velocity in spring training, attributing it to his mechanics being out of whack, an especially big challenge for the 6-foot-9 right-hander. And now he's again battling his mechanics for the past several starts, saying Friday that he feels healthy.
'My mechanics just feel not good right now,' Ober said. 'Not very smooth, and disjointed. I'm trying to work on that. I've been putting a lot of time in, and work, throughout the weeks, especially after my previous start where it really ticked down.'
Addison Barger is on another PLANET right now 😳 pic.twitter.com/mhILDpCzS5
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) June 7, 2025
Ober still managed to get through seven innings against the Blue Jays, but he allowed five runs, including two homers, and struck out just four batters. It's his fifth consecutive start with four strikeouts or fewer. He'd previously never had more than three such starts in a row.
'I feel like the biggest thing is my stuff diminished after the third inning,' Ober said. 'Velo dropped and the margin for error was tighter because I wasn't able to have my best stuff going the second and third time through the order. I was able to throw strikes and go seven.'
Ober struck out 25.6 percent of batters faced through his first four seasons, including a career-high 26.2 percent last year, but his strikeout rate is down to a career-low 18.2 percent this year. And the swing-and-miss rates on all four of Ober's go-to pitches have dropped substantially compared with 2024.
It's a credit to Ober's control and adaptability that he's kept his ERA (3.78) under 4.00 despite declining velocity and whiffs, but it's also worrisome for a 29-year-old with no known health issues. And the Twins will need Ober to get back on track with Pablo López out eight to 12 weeks with a shoulder injury.
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'I was able to figure it out for a little while at the beginning of the season,' Ober said. 'Up until mainly the last two or three starts. When something is off, you revert back to the way you were throwing. That's why we're seeing the lower velos. I'm just trying to work through it and stay healthy.'
Having already turned to Zebby Matthews and David Festa to fill spots in their starting rotation, the Twins dipped into the minors for another young arm Friday, calling up Travis Adams from Triple-A St. Paul as bullpen help. It's the 2021 sixth-round draft pick's first taste of the big leagues.
Adams was added to the 40-man roster in November to shield him from the Rule 5 draft and ranked as the No. 25 prospect in the Twins farm system on my preseason top 40 list, which noted the career-long starter 'could be a logical candidate for a bullpen conversion.'
Sure enough, the 25-year-old right-hander made the switch to the bullpen in St. Paul this season, posting a 3.43 ERA and 37-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 42 innings spent mostly as a long reliever. That's the role Adams figures to fill with the Twins, soaking up multiple low-leverage innings at a time.
'We've altered the way he's been used this year,' manager Rocco Baldelli said. 'Slightly shorter outings and seeing how that plays over the course of a season. … When guys get called up, the vast majority of the time early on, they're going to have to give us some length. And he can do that.'
Get to know the newest Major Leaguer! pic.twitter.com/8OMu6lcHeU
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) June 6, 2025
Most starter-to-reliever converts pare down the pitch mix and add velocity in shorter, max-effort outings, but that hasn't been the case with Adams. He still has the deep bag of a starter, regularly throwing six offerings, and he averaged 53 pitches per appearance with the Saints.
'Not a whole lot of difference in pitch mix,' Adams said. 'Basically, it's just starting. Instead of starting at the beginning of the game, you're just going out there in the middle, toward the end. … Depending on the situation, eat up some innings. I just need to be ready for whenever my name is called.'
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Adams leans heavily on a 92-95 mph fastball and mid-80s slider, along with a cutter and changeup thrown mostly to lefties and a sinker thrown mostly to righties. It's an approach geared more toward grounders than whiffs, but Adams has shown some additional swing-and-miss potential in relief.
To make room for Adams, the Twins optioned Kody Funderburk to St. Paul, leaving them without a left-hander in the bullpen. But that could be short-lived, as lefty Danny Coulombe began a rehab assignment Friday with the Saints. Coulombe has been out since May 5 with a strained left forearm.
Position player Jonah Bride made his big-league pitching debut Thursday in Sacramento, mopping up for the final two innings of the Twins' blowout loss to the Athletics. He allowed two runs, but more importantly threw 21 of 38 pitches for strikes and saved some wear and tear on the actual bullpen.
Bride is the Twins' eighth position player to pitch in the past five seasons, joining Willi Castro, Willians Astudillo, Nick Gordon, Kyle Farmer, Jordan Luplow, Jermaine Palacios and Matt Wallner. Castro leads the way with six pitching appearances in that time, but the Twins wanted another option.
How did they settle on Bride, who'd never pitched in a professional game?
'He's done it before, he told me,' Baldelli joked. 'I said, 'Have you done this before?' He goes 'yeah.' Maybe he hasn't. Maybe that was totally made up.'
In fairness, Bride did pitch twice in the Northwoods League — an amateur summer league for college players — when he was 19 years old in 2015. And that's more than enough qualification to soak up meaningless innings.
'After the first inning, I asked him if he was good for another,' Baldelli said. 'He started to tell me all the things he was going to do. And I just stopped listening. I said, 'Just keep doing what you're doing, you're doing fine.''
Jonah Bride was tossing frisbees out there 😅 pic.twitter.com/ijLLGFGEyC
— MLB (@MLB) June 5, 2025
Baldelli has called on a position player to take the mound just twice in 63 games this season, because the Twins' combination of very good pitching and below-average hitting has led to lots of close, competitive games, with Thursday's being a rare exception.
'I'm petitioning our bullpen to throw in a few bucks every time we have a position player pitch,' Baldelli said. 'A little thank you and pat on the back. Trust me, no position player, or only a couple of sickos, really want to go out there and pitch. It's not that comfortable unless they're just a little cuckoo.'
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Kody Clemens, another 'sicko' position player who also happens to be the son of seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, was next in line to pitch Thursday. Clemens pitched 12 times in the majors before joining the Twins and keeps one of his father's old gloves for the special occasions.