Kyle Gibson made his major league debut on Saturday and unfortunately for Twins fans, he may be the last top Twins prospects Twins fans get to see at Target Field in 2013.
Gibson was very impressive in his debut especially with all the hype leading up to his start on Saturday. He went 6 innings with 5 ks and 8 hits and zero walks. He spoiled us Twins fans by showing us that you can throw strikes consistently and not be a pitch to contact pitcher like every other pitcher on our staff right now. And unfortunately Twins fans won't be able to see anymore power pitchers this season due to Meyer's injury.
On June 11th Alex Meyer had an MRI on his throwing shoulder due to shoulder discomfort and was expected to begin his rehab at the beginning of July after the MRI showed no damage. This afternoon via Twitter I found out that he will be shut down now for the whole month of July.
With Meyer not beginning his rehab now until August at the earliest he has not shot of making his major league debut this season and before his injury he was realistically the only other top prospect who had a shot this year. Now we just have to wait and hope for the best and hope we didn't give up Span for nothing.
Now I know you are thinking Sano has a legit shot to be a September call up, and he does and would deserve it, but I just don't see the Twins doing it. Here are a few reasons why:
1. He is not on the 40 man roster. He will probably be added in the offseason, but the Twins don't have many at bats for him and wouldn't want to waste his service time if he isn't going to play. Only way they open up at bats is by moving Willingham, Morneau, and/or Plouffe. I don't see any of those guys being moved.
2. Trevor Plouffe. He may not be hitting the homeruns he was hitting last year, but he seems to have taken a step forward at the plate batting .273 which is 34 points above his career average of .239. The Twins always reward their players with playing time when they are showing improvements and Plouffe seems to have a better approach this season.
3. And finally it's not the "Twins Way" Aaron Hicks absolutely destroyed AA pitching last season and was not rewarded with a September call up, so why should we think they would be different with Sano? The Twins have this need to try and please everyone and make everyone feel equal. So why would should we expect anything different?
All in all Twins fans enjoy watching Gibson every 5 days, Arcia mash and Hicks (when he returns from the DL) cover tons of ground because these are the only big pieces of our future we will get to see the rest of this season. Do I hope I'm wrong? Of course I do. I want to see the bright future this organization has sooner rather than later.
Written by Nick Calo, follow me on Twitter for more updates and sports thoughts @PRH1987
Gibson was very impressive in his debut especially with all the hype leading up to his start on Saturday. He went 6 innings with 5 ks and 8 hits and zero walks. He spoiled us Twins fans by showing us that you can throw strikes consistently and not be a pitch to contact pitcher like every other pitcher on our staff right now. And unfortunately Twins fans won't be able to see anymore power pitchers this season due to Meyer's injury.
On June 11th Alex Meyer had an MRI on his throwing shoulder due to shoulder discomfort and was expected to begin his rehab at the beginning of July after the MRI showed no damage. This afternoon via Twitter I found out that he will be shut down now for the whole month of July.
With Meyer not beginning his rehab now until August at the earliest he has not shot of making his major league debut this season and before his injury he was realistically the only other top prospect who had a shot this year. Now we just have to wait and hope for the best and hope we didn't give up Span for nothing.
Now I know you are thinking Sano has a legit shot to be a September call up, and he does and would deserve it, but I just don't see the Twins doing it. Here are a few reasons why:
1. He is not on the 40 man roster. He will probably be added in the offseason, but the Twins don't have many at bats for him and wouldn't want to waste his service time if he isn't going to play. Only way they open up at bats is by moving Willingham, Morneau, and/or Plouffe. I don't see any of those guys being moved.
2. Trevor Plouffe. He may not be hitting the homeruns he was hitting last year, but he seems to have taken a step forward at the plate batting .273 which is 34 points above his career average of .239. The Twins always reward their players with playing time when they are showing improvements and Plouffe seems to have a better approach this season.
3. And finally it's not the "Twins Way" Aaron Hicks absolutely destroyed AA pitching last season and was not rewarded with a September call up, so why should we think they would be different with Sano? The Twins have this need to try and please everyone and make everyone feel equal. So why would should we expect anything different?
All in all Twins fans enjoy watching Gibson every 5 days, Arcia mash and Hicks (when he returns from the DL) cover tons of ground because these are the only big pieces of our future we will get to see the rest of this season. Do I hope I'm wrong? Of course I do. I want to see the bright future this organization has sooner rather than later.
Written by Nick Calo, follow me on Twitter for more updates and sports thoughts @PRH1987