The Twins announced Monday that they’ve designated right-hander Connor Gillispie for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to fellow righty Michael Tonkin, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A St. Paul. Right-hander Travis Adams was optioned back to Triple-A in a corresponding move.
Gillispie was a waiver claim out of the Marlins organization last month. He appeared in four games (three starts) with the Twins’ top minor league affiliate but was shredded for 22 runs in 13 2/3 innings. Prior to landing in Minnesota, he’d won a spot in Miami’s Opening Day rotation. Gillisipe made six starts with the Fish, the first three of which went fairly well (3.86 ERA in 14 innings), before being pummeled for 19 runs over his next dozen innings. The Marlins optioned him to Triple-A Jacksonville at that point, and he hasn’t pitched in the majors since, leaving Gillispie with a bleak 8.65 ERA in 26 MLB frames this season.
The 27-year-old Gillispie (28 in November) spent last season in the Guardians organization. He pitched fairly well, logging 113 1/3 innings with their Triple-A club en route to a 4.05 ERA, a 25% strikeout rate and a 10.1% walk rate. That led to a brief big league debut, wherein Gillispie tossed eight innings of relief and held opponents to two runs with an 8-to-5 K/BB ratio. Cleveland non-tendered him nonetheless, after which he signed a major league deal with the Braves and bounced to the Marlins after Atlanta tried to pass him through waivers.
Tonkin, 35, was a 30th-round selection by the Twins back in 2008. He returned to the organization last year when Minnesota claimed him off waivers from the Yankees. He’s pitched in parts of seven major league seasons (in addition to a solid 2018 season in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball). Tonkin has tossed 305 2/3 innings in the majors and carries a 4.18 ERA with solid strikeout and walk rates of 23.6% and 8.2%, respectively.
The Twins tendered Tonkin a $1MM contract over the winter, but he opened the season on the injured list due to a strained rotator cuff. Minnesota passed Tonkin through waivers last month while he was on a rehab assignment. He went unclaimed and accepted his assignment back to Triple-A, keeping him with the organization but removing him from the 40-man roster.
He’s now back on the 40-man after a strong run with the Saints. In 20 1/3 innings since coming back from that shoulder issue, Tonkin has turned in a 3.10 ERA and punched out 24 of 80 batters faced (30%) against just three walks (3.8%). His command hasn’t been quite as sharp as that rate might suggest, as he’s also plunked four batters, but it’s a been a nice run all the same. He’ll give the Twins a fresh arm after Adams tossed 3 1/3 innings in long relief yesterday (and thus would not have been available for several days).
Does anybody else always see this guy’s name and instantly think of the third baseman for the White Sox and Giants?
Conor vs Connor
Seems its not good to be either followed by a last name of Gillispie
Dan, I sure did.
I didn’t know Connie Gillespie was still playing. He’s the dude that forced a game 4 in the 2016 nlds vs the Cubs. Somehow he how a walk off homerun off Chapman.