11:19am: The Twins will indeed re-sign McCaughan to a new minor league contract, reports Darren Wolfson of KSTP and SKOR North Radio. He’ll head to Triple-A St. Paul.
11:00am: Right-hander Darren McCaughan cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Twins and has rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency, per his transaction log at MLB.com.
The 29-year-old McCaughan pitched 5 1/3 innings with Minnesota this season, holding opponents to a run on five hits and a walk with six strikeouts. He’s out of minor league options, so the Twins had no choice but to designate him for assignment when they wanted to shuffle up the final spot in their bullpen and get a fresh arm (righty Scott Blewett) into the mix.
McCaughan signed a minor league deal with the Twins in the offseason. The longtime Mariners farmhand has now pitched in parts of four major league seasons and worked to a 6.02 earned run average with a 16.2% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate in 61 1/3 innings. He’s been a durable innings eater at the Triple-A level, piling up 546 frames with a 5.14 ERA in 101 starts there. Most recently, he split the bulk of the 2024 season between the Triple-A clubs for Miami and Cleveland, logging a combined 4.73 ERA with a sharp 25.2% strikeout rate against an 8.2% walk rate.
The Twins could always quickly re-sign McCaughan on a new minor league pact, though he’ll have the opportunity to talk with the league’s other 29 clubs now. McCaughan sits at about 90 mph with his heater but has good command and hasn’t been placed on the injured list at any point in his professional career, dating back to his selection in the 12th round of the 2017 draft.
Don’t know anything about this player, but being 29 and never being on the injured list is impressive,
A dependable, low-cost innings-eater like McCaughan may not move headlines, but in a game of small margins, the cumulative impact could add up.