Bailey Ober

Twins Place Bailey Ober On IL With Hip Impingement

By Steve Adams | July 2, 2025 at 1:58pm CDT

The Twins have placed right-hander Bailey Ober on the 15-day injured list with a left hip impingement. Left-hander Kody Funderburk has been recalled to take his active roster spot for now, though Ober was scheduled to start Friday’s game, so the club will need to figure out their rotation plans in the coming days. The club also announced that infielder Jonah Bride, who was designated for assignment last week, has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Saint Paul. Phil Miller of the Star Tribune reported the moves prior to the official announcement.

The towering 6’9″ Ober has been a constant in the Twins’ rotation dating back to 2021. He’s been a steady mid-rotation presence along the way, logging 471 1/3 innings with a 3.76 ERA (3.75 SIERA) from 2021-24. The 2025 season looked like more of the same. Ober was trounced for eight runs in his first start of the season but quickly righted the ship. By the end of May, he was sitting on a tidy 3.48 ERA despite that brutal first outing of the year.

The wheels came off completely last month, however. Ober started five games and yielded between four and seven runs in all of them. Opponents connected on an astonishing 14 home runs last month alone — more than half the amount he yielded all season in 2023 (22 homers) or in 2024 (27 homers). The long ball has always been somewhat of an issue for Ober, which isn’t a shock as a right-hander with sub-par fastball velocity, but last month’s sudden spike was alarming nonetheless.

Ober becomes the Twins’ third starter to hit the injured list in the past five weeks, joining ace Pablo López and top prospect Zebby Matthews. They’d already optioned Simeon Woods Richardson, who struggled after opening the season in the fifth spot, but he’s returned amid the recent injuries.

With Ober sidelined for a yet-to-be-determined period, the Twins will go with Joe Ryan, Chris Paddack, recent top prospect David Festa and Woods Richardson in the rotation. Prospects Travis Adams or Andrew Morris could get a look in the rotation moving forward, and Minnesota also claimed righty Connor Gillispie off waivers from the Marlins last week, providing a bit of additional depth.

It’s also possible the Twins will look outside the organization for more depth, as they already did late last month when signing José Ureña to a minor league deal. President of baseball operations Derek Falvey already acknowledged that he’d had some trade talks about adding more pitching in the wake of the Lopez and Matthews injuries, and further health woes could spur more urgency as the reeling Twins look to stay relevant in the AL playoff picture.

Bride, 29, came to the Twins in exchange for cash earlier this season after the Marlins had designated him for assignment. He posted a strong .276/.357/.461 slash and popped 11 homers in 71 games for Miami as recently as 2024, but he went 4-for-40 with a 33.3% strikeout rate in Miami to begin the season and batted only .208/.275/.236 in 80 plate appearances with Minnesota. Bride is a career .221/.311/.313 hitter in parts of four major league seasons but hasn’t had any success at the plate outside last year’s showing. Because Bride has fewer than three years of MLB service and has never been outrighted in the past, he can’t reject in favor of free agency. He’ll head to St. Paul and stick with the organization as a depth piece.

AL Notes: Jung, Ober, Cora

By Steve Adams and Anthony Franco | September 15, 2023 at 7:15pm CDT

Rangers third baseman Josh Jung has been out since early August after undergoing surgery to stabilize a fracture in his thumb, but the standout rookie could be back in the lineup as soon as next week, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes. Jung has been cleared for full baseball activity and is slated to take live batting practice at the team’s spring complex in Arizona. If that goes well, he could jump right back onto the roster for Monday’s series opener against the visiting Red Sox.

Jung, 25, was one of the front-runners for American League Rookie of the Year at the time of his surgery, having batted .274/.323/.489 with 22 home runs in 461 plate appearances. He’ll likely still appear on some Rookie of the Year ballots, but the roughly six-week absence has given current favorite Gunnar Henderson some runway to take a notable lead in terms of counting stats. Regardless of his standing in ROY voting, Jung’s return will be crucial for a Rangers club that has received awful production at third base since his injury. Texas third baseman have posted a disastrous .155/.238/.216 line in Jung’s absence.

Twins Option Bailey Ober, Select Kody Funderburk

By Anthony Franco | August 28, 2023 at 6:17pm CDT

The Twins announced they’ve selected southpaw Kody Funderburk onto the major league roster. Minnesota optioned Bailey Ober to Triple-A St. Paul to clear an active roster spot. In order to open 40-man space, the Twins transferred Oliver Ortega to the 60-day injured list.

It’s a bit surprising to see the Twins send Ober down. The 6’9″ righty has been an effective starter over the course of the season. He owns a 3.67 ERA through 122 2/3 innings, striking out a solid 24.1% of opponents against a tidy 5.2% walk percentage. Ober now carries a 3.75 ERA with better than average strikeout and walk marks in 53 big league starts over parts of three campaigns.

That said, Ober’s performance has tailed off recently. He hasn’t topped five innings in any of his past six starts, allowing multiple runs in each. Ober was tagged for five runs in four frames by the Rangers yesterday, bringing him to a 6.75 ERA over his past 28 innings. It’s possible fatigue has played a role. Ober is up to 140 1/3 innings between Triple-A and the majors. His previous high as a professional was 108 1/3 frames during the ’21 campaign.

Optioning him allows the Twins to keep an eye on Ober’s workload down the stretch. Minnesota is six games clear of the Guardians in the AL Central, putting them in great position to secure a division title. They’re far enough behind the AL West and East leaders that a first-round bye is almost certainly not viable. The very likely outcome at this point is that Minnesota will get into the postseason as the #3 seed. Ober seems likely to be a factor in the playoffs, with the club using the intervening month to try to keep him fresh. Dallas Keuchel can step back into the rotation behind Joe Ryan, Sonny Gray, Pablo López and Kenta Maeda.

Funderburk, meanwhile, gets his first major league look. A 15th round selection from Dallas Baptist in the 2018 draft, the 6’4″ left-hander is a pure reliever. Funderburk has spent the majority of the season in St. Paul, working 52 innings over 37 appearances. He owns a 2.60 ERA and is striking out nearly 36% of batters faced at the top minor league level. Funderburk’s 10% walk rate is a little higher than ideal, but the missed bats and strong run prevention earn him a major league crack.

The Twins had been using Caleb Thielbar as the only southpaw in their bullpen. While Funderburk has posted reverse platoon splits in the minors this season — he’s stifling righties to a .184/.258/.234 line, while lefty hitters have posted a .195/.292/.254 slash — he’s been excellent against hitters of both handedness. He’ll give Rocco Baldelli a second left-handed option out of the ’pen.

Ortega’s season is almost certainly over. The righty just landed on the injured list with a left lumbar strain a few days ago. An offseason waiver claim, Ortega allowed seven runs in 14 2/3 innings with Minnesota this season.

Twins Reinstate Joe Ryan From Injured List

By Anthony Franco | August 26, 2023 at 9:35am CDT

TODAY: The Twins officially reinstated Ryan from the 15-day IL, and righty Jordan Balazovic was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

AUGUST 25: The Twins are listing Joe Ryan as the probable starter for tomorrow evening’s game with the Rangers. They’ll need to reinstate him from the 15-day injured list. Ryan will oppose Max Scherzer in the third contest of a four-game set.

Ryan missed three weeks after straining his left groin. It isn’t clear if he’d been pitching through discomfort before his IL placement. His results immediately prior to landing on the shelf had taken a sharp downturn, though. Ryan carried a 3.70 ERA through 107 innings into the All-Star Break. He was tagged for 18 runs in 19 frames in four starts out of the Break, pushing his season mark to a middling 4.43 earned runs per nine.

Whether that was directly tied to his groin concern, the Twins will hope the few weeks off allows Ryan to recapture his early-season form. His return could lead to a roster decision for the front office and manager Rocco Baldelli. Ryan joins Pablo López and Sonny Gray at the top of the rotation. The Twins have filled out the starting staff with Bailey Ober, Kenta Maeda and Dallas Keuchel — whose contract was selected at the time Ryan landed on the IL — this month.

Maeda has a 2.91 ERA while striking out 32% of opponents in 11 starts since returning from an IL stint of his own at the end of June. Ober still has minor league options remaining, but he’s been a quietly effective rotation piece. Over 21 starts and 118 2/3 innings, the third-year hurler owns a 3.41 ERA and has fanned just under a quarter of batters faced. He’s clearly deserving of a spot on the big league staff.

Perhaps that leaves Keuchel as the odd man out. The former Cy Young winner has tossed 13 innings over three outings, allowing seven runs. He has struck out just three against four walks and a hit by pitch. He’s averaging 87.5 MPH on his sinker and has gotten swinging strikes on only 6.3% of his pitches.

On the other hand, Keuchel’s ground-ball rate sits at an excellent 56.3%. That’s not quite at the levels of his peak days in Houston but is markedly above last season’s 50.2% mark. Keuchel also kept the ball on the ground at a huge 61.1% clip through six Triple-A starts before his call-up, posting a 1.13 ERA in the process.

Earlier this week, Dan Hayes of the Athletic wrote that the Twins were considering the possibility of a six-man rotation after Ryan’s activation. That’d allow the coaching staff some flexibility in workload management. Maeda missed all of last season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, though he’s only at 74 2/3 frames this year. Ober has shouldered the heaviest work of his career in 2023. Including four Triple-A starts in the opening month, he’s at 136 1/3 frames for the year. His previous high for combined innings was 108 1/3 during the ’21 campaign.

Hayes also indicates that piggybacking some combination of Ober, Maeda and Keuchel could be on the table. That’d be another means of limiting workload while reducing the number of times those pitchers face an opponent a third time in a game. While keeping all six starters on the roster would temporarily shorten the bullpen, teams are permitted to add one pitcher to the MLB club on September 1.

Twins Place Kenta Maeda On IL, Recall Bailey Ober

By Simon Hampton | April 29, 2023 at 8:56am CDT

The Twins have placed struggling starter Kenta Maeda on the 15-day IL with a right triceps strain and recalled right hander Bailey Ober to start today’s game, the team announced.

It’s been a difficult return from Tommy John surger for Maeda, who’s struggled to a 9.00 ERA in his first four starts, but it’s already been reported that this injury is not related to the surgery. Given the soreness Maeda has been experiencing to start the season, it’s difficult to know quite how much stock to put in Maeda’s woes to begin the year, but the Twins will be hoping some time out will be enough to get him back healthy.

In his absence, they’ll turn to towering right hander Ober. He’s already made one start for the Twins this season, giving up a single earned run in 5 2/3 innings. Since making his debut for Minnesota, Ober’s compiled a 3.74 ERA in 32 starts, with quality strikeout (24.1%) and walk (5.3%) rates. He also has a 2.55 ERA in four starts at Triple-A this season.

Twins To Place Kenta Maeda On Injured List

By Steve Adams | April 28, 2023 at 2:01pm CDT

The Twins are placing righty Kenta Maeda on the injured list with what’s been diagnosed as a strained right triceps, per Dan Hayes of The Athletic (Twitter links). He’ll be shut down for three to seven days. Twins trainer Nick Paparesta tells Hayes and others that examinations did not reveal anything related to Maeda’s 2021 Tommy John surgery and that he’s being treated only for the muscle strain.

The team also offered some insight into righty Tyler Mahle, who was lifted from yesterday’s blowout of the Royals after throwing just 66 pitches through four innings of one-run ball. Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com tweets that Mahle is dealing with an impingement in the back of his elbow, which contributed to his drop in velocity during yesterday’s fourth inning. The Twins aren’t yet sure whether he’ll make his start and will reevaluate him in 48 to 72 hours, after he’s been treated with anti-inflammatories.

There’s no clear timetable on when Maeda will return, but for now the Twins will turn to 6’9″ right-hander Bailey Ober in his place. The towering righty has made a full season’s worth of starts for Minnesota dating back to 2021, including one earlier this year. In those 32 trips to the hill, he’s pitched to a 3.74 ERA with a strong 24.1% strikeout rate against an even better 5.3% walk rate. Ober allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings during a spot start in place of Maeda earlier this season and has a 2.55 ERA in four starts with Triple-A St. Paul to begin the season.

If it’s determined that Mahle also requires a trip to the injured list, the Twins’ depth will be tested further, though they’re well-stocked in that regard. Right-hander Louie Varland, who’s also made a spot start already this season, owns a 3.94 ERA in six big league starts and has a 2.72 ERA with a 52-to-7 K/BB ratio in 36 1/3 career innings at the Triple-A level. He’s widely regarded as one of the team’s ten best prospects.

Beyond Ober and Varland, the Twins have options on the 40-man, including righty Simeon Woods Richardson and lefty Brent Headrick, both of whom have made their big league debuts already. Headrick was in a long relief role with the Twins for a chunk of April but worked a three-inning outing against the Red Sox in his debut appearance and tossed 84 pitches over five innings of two-run ball in relief of Maeda after his early exit against the Yankees this week. Given those pitch counts, he’d be an option to start at the MLB level, should the need arise.

Twins Designate Trevor Megill For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | April 25, 2023 at 2:25pm CDT

The Twins announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Brock Stewart, a move that was reported earlier today. To open a spot for Stewart on the active roster, righty Bailey Ober was optioned to Triple-A St. Paul yesterday. To get Stewart onto the 40-man roster, righty Trevor Megill was designated for assignment.

Megill, 29, made his major league debut with the Cubs in 2021. He posted an 8.37 ERA in 28 appearances, though he struck out 26.1% of batters faced and walked just 7%. He was claimed off waivers by the Twins at season’s end, though they quickly non-tendered him and re-signed him on a minor league deal. He got selected to the roster in May and made 39 appearances for the Twins last year, registering a 4.80 ERA. It’s possible that he deserved even better, given his .368 batting average on balls in play and 62.5% strand rate. Decent peripherals like a 25% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 45% ground ball rate led to a 3.29 FIP and 3.38 SIERA.

The righty was optioned to Triple-A to start this season but has gotten out to an atrocious start. He’s tossed 9 2/3 innings over seven outings, walking 25.5% of batters faced, which has contributed to an unsightly 13.03 ERA. He struck out 31.4% of batters faced and got grounders at a 50% clip, but the overall results were clearly not great.

The Twins will now have a week to trade Megill or pass him through waivers. Despite his rough start to the year, other clubs may overlook that small sample and take a flier on the righty based on past results, as he still has a couple of options and has yet to qualify for arbitration.

Twins Recall Bailey Ober

By Nick Deeds | April 23, 2023 at 9:03am CDT

The Twins have recalled right-hander Bailey Ober to start this afternoon’s game against the Nationals, per a team announcement. To make room for Ober on the active roster, right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson has been optioned to Triple-A.

Ober, 27, has yet to pitch in the majors this season but impressed in 11 starts last year, pitching to a 3.21 ERA (120 ERA+) with a 2.92 FIP in 56 innings of work. Ober struck out 22.5% of batters faced while walking a microscopic 4.8%, though not all of his success appears that sustainable; just 4.8% of Ober’s fly balls last season left the yard for home runs in spite of a 11.7% barrel rate. More fly balls leaving the yard could be a significant issue for Ober, for whom fly balls made up 51.2% of his total balls in play in the majors last year.

Following Kenta Maeda’s return from Tommy John surgery and the club’s acquisition of Pablo Lopez from the Marlins, Ober ultimately found himself pushed out of the rotation to open the season. He’s seen great success in Triple-A to start the year, however, with a 2.55 ERA and 2.71 FIP in 17 2/3 innings of work so far in 2023. That performance, combined with the need for a spot starter in today’s game, led to Ober’s first call to the majors this season, which should give the Twins additional time to determine if Maeda will require a stint on the 15-day injured list after being hit with a line drive in Thursday’s game against the Red Sox. Should Maeda require a trip to the IL, Ober figures to slot into the big league rotation for longer than today’s spot start.

Woods Richardson, meanwhile, heads back to Triple-A after making just one appearance, a 4 2/3 inning relief outing yesterday during which the 22-year-old righty surrendered five runs on seven hits and three walks. The youngster is considered the club’s 8th best prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, and was viewed as a top 100 prospect in the sport as recently as 2021. Despite his prospect pedigree, it seems unlikely the youngster will factor into Minnesota’s rotation plans this season, given the club’s considerable depth at the position. For now he will head back to Triple-A, where he’s posted a 3.30 ERA in 43 2/3 career innings, and wait for his next big league opportunity.

Twins Notes: Maeda, Ober, Kirilloff, Buxton

By Mark Polishuk | April 22, 2023 at 10:47pm CDT

X-rays were negative on Kenta Maeda’s left ankle after the Twins starter was hit by Jarren Duran line drive on Thursday, though it isn’t yet clear if Maeda will still require a stint on the 15-day injured list. The team is planning to push back Maeda’s next turn in the rotation, and reporters (including MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park) were told that more on Maeda’s condition will be known after he gets through a light throwing session today, and then a bullpen session on Monday.

Bailey Ober is being called up on Sunday for a spot start in Minnesota’s game with the Nationals, thus pushing back the rest of the Twins rotation and providing a bit more time for Maeda to recover. If Maeda is able to pitch, he’d take the mound at some point during the Twins’ four-game series with the Royals from April 27-30.

Maeda missed all of the 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery, and the results have been somewhat mixed in his first three starts back in action. Beyond the obvious negative of the ankle bruise, Maeda has been allowing a lot of hard contact, his 23.1% strikeout rate is barely above the league average, and his fastball velocity has dropped to 89.9 mph from his previous career average of 91.2mph (though velo has never been a big part of Maeda’s arsenal). On the plus side, he has a 4.15 ERA over 13 innings, with an elite-level chase rate and walk rate — the right-hander has issued just one walk to date this season.

In other injury news, Alex Kirilloff has yet to play this season, as the former star prospect opened the season on the 10-day IL while still recovering from his season-ending wrist surgery last August. Kirilloff is nearing the end of his 20-day minor league rehab assignment, but The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman reports that some team officials feel Kirilloff won’t immediately join the Twins’ big league roster once activated from the IL, as he instead could be optioned to Triple-A.

Kirilloff has played in only seven minor league games during his rehab assignment, and didn’t see any game action during Spring Training. As a result, the Twins might feel he simply needs more time to fully ramp up to face MLB pitching, even though Kirilloff has been hitting very well during his limited minor league at-bats. The returns of Jorge Polanco and Joey Gallo from the IL have helped bolster the Twins’ lineup, and in Gallo’s case specifically, he has been playing first base — ostensibly Kirilloff’s position when he eventually gets back to the Show. Since Minnesota has no glaring need in the lineup and naturally the team wants to be cautious with Kirilloff given his history of wrist problems, it could mean a more extended stint at Triple-A.

Speaking of injury histories, Byron Buxton has thankfully remained off the injured list thus far in 2023, which could be in part due to the Twins’ deployment of the outfielder has a full-time DH. Buxton has yet to play in the field this season, and manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including John Shipley of the St. Paul Pioneer Press) that he didn’t know when or necessarily even if Buxton would be back in the outfield. “I am enjoying the fact that I get to write his name in the lineup virtually every day right now. And at this point, I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize that, because I think that’s the most important thing,” Baldelli said.

For his part, Buxton admitted that “I wouldn’t say comfortable” about the arrangement, saying that being a DH is “still a job that’s not normal for me. It’s still something I’m figuring out.” However, Buxton also said that “as long as I’m playing, that don’t faze me.” Buxton has been solid if unspectacular at the plate thus far, hitting .243/.316/.443 with three homers over 79 plate appearances, translating to a 113 wRC+.

AL Central Notes: Guardians, McKenzie, Twins, Shaw

By Nick Deeds | March 26, 2023 at 6:42pm CDT

The Guardians appear to have mostly finalized their Opening Day roster, though president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti noted to reporters (including Mandy Bell of MLB.com) that “there is some chance that we make an external acquisition, and if we do, that will affect the composition of our roster.”

Barring such an acquisition, however, it seems likely that Cleveland will open the season with three catchers on their roster, as both Cam Gallagher and Meibrys Viloria appear set to make the team and back up starting catcher Mike Zunino. With multiple back-up options, the Guardians are hoping that Zunino will have a lighter workload in 2023 after missing the second half of the 2022 season due to surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. That comes at the expense of depth in the infield and outfield, however, as Gabriel Arias figures to be the sole infielder on the bench, with Will Brennan the sole outfielder. On the other hand, that should help both youngsters get additional playing time to aid their development. That’s particularly valuable for Arias, who played just 82 games last year between Triple-A and the majors after missing two months on the injured list last season.

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