The Twins signed veteran right-hander Adam Plutko to a minor league contract, per the crew’s transaction log at MLB.com. The CAA shopper will presumably head to Triple-A St. Paul as soon as he’s constructed up, however he wasn’t with a crew in spring coaching and will thus want some work on the crew’s spring complicated earlier than becoming a member of an affiliate.
The 32-year-old Plutko spent the previous two seasons pitching within the Korea Baseball Group — for the LG Twins, coincidentally — and pitched fairly nicely abroad. Via 285 1/3 innings out of LG’s rotation, he labored to a 2.40 ERA with a 21.7% strikeout charge, a 6% stroll charge and a 46.5% ground-ball charge.
Previous to that run within the KBO, Plutko pitched in components of 5 massive league seasons between Cleveland and Baltimore, logging a 5.39 ERA in 273 2/3 innings whereas pitching each out of the rotation and in a protracted aid position. He’s fanned 17% of his massive league opponents towards a 7.2% stroll charge. Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey labored in Cleveland’s entrance workplace from the time Plutko was drafted in 2013 till his eventual hiring in Minnesota following the 2016 season, so he must be fairly acquainted with Plutko.
Plutko offers the Twins some low-cost depth at a time after they’ve already seen their rotation thinned out. Righty Anthony DeSclafani underwent season-ending flexor surgical procedure earlier than Opening Day, and younger right-hander Louie Varland struggled in his preliminary rotation take care of displaying promise in his first 22 MLB appearances in 2022-23.
Rookie Simeon Woods Richardson has stepped into the rotation and pitched nicely in three begins, however Minnesota’s choices behind Woods Richardson and Varland aren’t plentiful. Left-hander Brent Headrick is on the 60-day injured checklist within the minors as a result of a forearm pressure. High prospect David Festa has pitched to a 2.18 ERA in Triple-A, however he’s additionally posted a 14.8% stroll charge and has all of 33 profession innings north of the Double-A degree. Proper-hander Randy Dobnak has an ERA simply shy of 6.00 via his first six appearances of the season. Plutko doesn’t have an ideal massive league monitor document, however he’ll add a wanted depth choice that’s had some latest success abroad.