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Twins Re-Sign Scott Blewett, Yunior Severino To Minor League Deals

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The Twins have signed right-hander Scott Blewett and first baseman Yunior Severino to minor league deals, according to the club’s transactions tracker at MLB.com. Both players were just outrighted by the Twins a couple of weeks ago before electing free agency. They’ll rejoin the organization as depth options now.

This is the second straight offseason Blewett, 28, has signed a minor league deal with Minnesota. He pitched well both in Triple-A and in the majors for the Twins last season. He logged a 3.79 ERA in 54 2/3 frames with the Twins’ Triple-A club St. Paul, fanning 22.7% of his opponents against a tidy 7.1% walk rate. When the Twins summoned the former Royals hurler to the big leagues, he responded with 20 1/3 innings of 1.77 ERA ball. Blewett’s strikeout and walk rates were more pedestrian than that sparkling ERA, and metrics like FIP (4.00) and SIERA (4.05) felt he had a fair bit of good fortune, largely coming in the form of a 90.5% strand rate he’s not likely to sustain.

The 25-year-old Severino once ranked among the Twins’ top 10 prospects but has seen his stock drop as pronounced contact issues have persisted. He socked 35 homers between Double-A and Triple-A as recently as 2023 but fanned in nearly a third of his plate appearances that year. He dropped that strikeout rate to a still-alarming 27.8% in Triple-A this year but also saw his power output decline along with his strikeout rate; he hit just 21 homers while his ISO (slugging minus batting average) plummeted from .274 to .180.

In addition to the contact concerns, Severino is also a player without a clear defensive home. The former middle infielder has slid down the defensive spectrum as he’s filled out. He’s now primarily a first baseman and not considered to be a strong defender there. He’s also a below-average runner. Still, there’s clearly impressive raw power in Severino’s bat, and he’ll get another look in Triple-A at a time when the Twins’ first base situation is in flux. Carlos Santana became a free agent at season’s end, and former top prospect Alex Kirilloff surprisingly retired at just 26 years of age following a pair of wrist surgeries, a major shoulder surgery and a back injury that have resulted in him spending more time on the injured list than on active rosters in the past four seasons.

Twins Re-Sign Daniel Duarte To Minor League Deal; Three Others Elect Free Agency

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The Twins quickly re-signed right-hander Daniel Duarte to a minor league contract after passing him through outright waivers, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Three other players who were outrighted elected free agency, including right-hander Scott Blewett and former top prospects Josh Winder and Yunior Severino.

Duarte, 28 next month, bounced from the Rangers to the Reds to the Twins via the DFA circuit last winter but wound up sticking in Minnesota and getting an early-season look after a nice showing in 12 1/3 spring training innings (2.92 ERA, 12 strikeouts, no walks). He made two appearances in the season’s first week, tossing a total of four innings and allowing one run with three strikeouts and a walk, but Duarte hit the injured list with an elbow issue shortly thereafter. A month later, it was announced that he’d require season-ending elbow surgery.

Duarte has pitched 38 1/3 innings in the majors and turned in a 3.99 ERA, albeit with a sub-par 17% strikeout rate and a bleak 14.5% walk rate. Duarte showed considerably better command in his brief look with the Twins, however, walking just one of the 61 batters he faced between spring training and the regular season. He also flashed a heater that averaged 96.1 mph. It’s a small sample, obviously, but if any of the gains in command prove sustainable, Duarte is fairly intriguing as a mid-20s reliever with a strong fastball and a career 47.3% grounder rate. On a minor league flier, he’s a sensible depth add.

Blewett came to the Twins on a minor league deal last offseason and wound up pitching well both in Triple-A and the majors. The former Royal logged a 3.79 ERA, 22.7% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate in 54 2/3 innings with the Twins’ Triple-A club in St. Paul and added another 20 1/3 MLB frames with a 1.77 ERA. His strikeout and walk rates were both worse than average, however, and he benefited from a 90.5% strand rate that isn’t sustainable over a longer sample. Even with some expected regression, fielding-independent metrics felt he was a solid arm (4.00 FIP, 4.05 SIERA).

Winder, 28, once ranked comfortably within the Twins’ top 10 prospects and even drew some top-100 fanfare back in 2022, placing 78th on FanGraphs’ rankings. The 2018 seventh-rounder raced through the minors with standout showings in 2019 and 2021. However, a series of shoulder injuries has regularly set the 6’5″ hurler back. He’s posted a respectable 4.39 ERA in 110 2/3 MLB frames, fanning a below-average 18% of opponents against a sharp 7% walk rate. He’s also been on the injured list four times since 2022, owing to a shoulder impingement, shoulder strain (twice) and a stress fracture in his shoulder.

Severino, 25, once ranked as highly as tenth among Twins farmhands at Baseball America. He belted 35 homers between Double-A and Triple-A as recently as 2023 but did so with an alarming 32.8% strikeout rate. He cut back a bit in 2024, fanning in 27.6% of his plate appearances, but also saw a downturn in power, with 21 round-trippers on the season. Severino is a .249/.337/.450 hitter in two Triple-A seasons. He clearly has plus raw power but is a below-average defender and runner whose longstanding strikeout issues still remain problematic.

Twins Outright Five Players

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The Twins have outrighted right-handers Scott Blewett, Randy Dobnak, Josh Winder, and Daniel Duarte as well as first baseman Yunior Severino off their 40-man roster, as noted by Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune. While none of the quintet were previously announced as having been designated for assignment, all five has cleared waivers and been sent outright to the minors. The club also triggered a $1.5MM club option for right-hander Jorge Alcalá, per Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic on X.

Today is a big roster churn day, as the 60-day injured list goes away and doesn’t come back until spring training. Since players on the 60-day IL don’t count against a club’s 40-man roster count, this leads to roster crunches around the league. As such, the Twins have removed five players from the roster and passed them through waivers.

Dobnak has been passed through waivers a couple of times before, a reflection of his contract and service time status. Going into 2021, he and the Twins agreed to a five-year, $9.25MM extension but his results failed to live up to that deal. Players need to have at least five years of service to both reject an outright assignment and keep all the remaining money on their contracts. Dobnak was and is well shy of that, meaning he has continually turned down chances to elect free agency, allowing him to keep collecting his paychecks on the deal. That is likely how this will play out. He got back to the big leagues this year for the first time since 2021 but posted a 5.59 earned run average over his five outings, bringing his career ERA up to 4.99.

Blewett, 29 in April, signed a minor league deal with the Twins in the winter and ultimately tossed 20 1/3 innings for them with a 1.77 ERA. However, he wasn’t going to continue stranding 90.5% of baserunners, which is why his FIP was 4.00 and his SIERA was 4.05 for the year. He has been outrighted before in his career so he has the right to elect free agency.

Winder, 28, was drafted by the Twins and has been on the roster since November of 2021. Since then, he has tossed 110 2/3 innings with a 4.39 ERA, 18% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate and 37.2% ground ball rate.

Duarte, 28 next month, was claimed off waivers in the offseason and made two appearances for the Twins this season before requiring season-ending elbow surgery. His timeline for returning to play is not currently clear. He has a previous career outright and is therefore eligible to elect free agency.

Severino, 25, was added to the club’s 40-man roster a year ago to keep him out of the 2023 Rule 5 draft. He put up a solid line of .254/.342/.434 in Triple-A this year but the offensive environment was strong in the International League this year, leading that to translate to a roughly league average wRC+ of 101.

As for Alcalá, he and the Twins avoided arbitration last year by agreeing to a $790K salary with a $1.5MM club option for 2025 that came with a $55K buyout. He went on to toss 58 1/3 innings for the Twins this year with a 3.24 ERA, 24.7% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate. Based on that performance, MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Alcalá to get a raise to $1.7MM through the abr process. The Twins have instead gone for the lower price of the club option to bring him back next year.

Twins Designate Steven Okert, Select Scott Blewett

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The Twins announced that left-hander Steven Okert was designated for assignment.  The move was made to create space on the 26-man and 40-man rosters for right-hander Scott Blewett, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A St. Paul.

Acquired from the Marlins for Nick Gordon back in February, Okert’s first (and potentially only) season in Minnesota has been inconsistent.  He had a 3.20 ERA in his first 25 1/3 innings and 29 appearances, but has since stumbled to a 9.90 ERA over his last 10 frames and 15 games.  The lowlight was a four-run implosion over one-third of an inning pitched in the Twins’ 7-5 loss to the Padres last Tuesday, though Okert did bounce back with two scoreless innings two subsequent appearances.

Okert’s 20.6% strikeout rate is the second-worst of his seven-year MLB career, and his longtime issues with control have continued in the form of a 10% walk rate.  While his hard-hit ball rate is one of the league’s best, his barrel rate is below average, resulting in six home runs allowed.  Okert has long been a fly-ball pitcher, and thus problems have arisen whenever he has been unable to keep the ball in the park.

As The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman recently observed, Okert has been hit hard in high-leverage and even medium-leverage situations this season, leaving the Twins in a tough spot whenever they’ve had to call on Okert in any beyond mop-up duty.  Okert had pretty even career splits heading into 2024, but right-handed batters have torched him for a .984 OPS over 95 plate appearances this season (while lefty swingers have only a .564 OPS in 65 PA).

While the three-batter minimum has ended the days of the true lefty specialist, Okert’s splits could be enough for a reliever-needy team to consider a waiver claim, if this team thinks it can either fix his issues against right-handed batters or simply do a better job of shielding him facing righty swingers.  Okert is in his first season of arbitration eligibility is playing on a $1,062,500 salary, so picking up the last five weeks’ worth of that salary represents a pretty minimal hit to a new clubs’s payroll.

Because Okert has previously been outrighted in his career, he has the right to reject an outright assignment from the Twins if he clears waivers, and then opt into free agency.  Okert is out of minor league options so the Twins had to DFA Okert before attempting to move him to Triple-A, and it could be that the two sides have an agreement in place about Okert accepting an assignment (if he clears waivers) and biding his time in St. Paul until a fresh arm is again needed in the big league bullpen.

Blewett faced a somewhat similar scenario when Minnesota designated him for assignment last week, as Blewett rejected an outright after clearing waivers, but then quickly re-signed with the Twins after first testing free agency.  The right-hander first signed a minor league contract with the Twins back in January, and his time on the big league roster consists of a single game — a scoreless inning on August 12 in the Twins’ 8-3 win over the Royals.  At Triple-A this season, Blewett has a 3.79 ERA, 22.7% strikeout rate, and 7.1% walk rate, with a .340 BABIP inflating his bottom-line numbers to some extent.

Prior to his lone game with the Twins, Blewett’s MLB resume consisted of eight innings over five appearances with Kansas City during the 2020-21 seasons.  During the 2022-23 seasons, Blewett pitched in the minors with the White Sox and Braves, plus he spent time abroad pitching in the Chinese Professional Baseball League.  It could be that this latest call-up will result in just another “cup of coffee” type of cameo for Blewett, but he’ll get some opportunity to show what he can do for a contending Twins club.

Twins Sign Scott Blewett To New Minor League Contract

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TODAY: Blewett rejected the outright assignment to become a free agent, but then quickly re-signed with the Twins on a fresh minors deal, according to the righty’s MLB.com profile page.

Aug. 16: Blewett cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A St. Paul, per the Twins’ transaction log at MLB.com.

Aug. 13: The Twins announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander and top pitching prospect Zebby Matthews, a move that was reported yesterday. In a corresponding move, the club has designated right-hander Scott Blewett for assignment.

Blewett, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Twins over the winter and was selected to the big league roster last week. He made one appearance for the Twins and pitched a perfect inning of relief with one strikeout. He’s spent the rest of the current season in Triple-A St. Paul, where he’s totaled 51 2/3 innings of 3.66 ERA ball with a 23.2% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and a 40.6% ground-ball rate for the Saints.

A second-round pick by the Royals back in 2014, Blewett pitched a combined eight innings in the majors with Kansas City in 2020-21. He’s since bounced around pro ball, also spending time in the White Sox and Braves systems in addition to a nice stint with the Uni-President Lions in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League last year.

Now that he’s been designated for assignment, he’ll hit outright waivers in the coming days and be made available to all 29 other clubs. Waiver priority is determined by reverse order of the MLB-wide standings and is not league-specific. If Blewett goes unclaimed, he’d have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, by virtue of the fact that he’s been outrighted previously in his career (most recently by the 2021 Royals).

Joe Ryan Diagnosed With Grade 2 Teres Major Strain

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The Twins received bad news following right-hander Joe Ryan’s MRI, as he’s been diagnosed with a Grade 2 teres major strain that’ll threaten the remainder of his season, manager Rocco Baldelli announced to the Twins beat this morning (X link via Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). It’s a more serious injury than the Twins initially anticipated, and while Baldelli didn’t entirely rule Ryan out for the remainder of the season, he acknowledged that it’ll take “weeks to months” for the right-hander to recover.

Ryan is headed to the 15-day IL for now, and the Twins have also selected the contract of right-hander Scott Blewett from Triple-A St. Paul in his place. Right-hander Brock Stewart, who is headed for season-ending shoulder surgery, was placed on the 60-day IL to open a spot for Blewett. Minnesota also reinstated infielder Kyle Farmer from the injured list, placed infielder Brooks Lee on the 15-day IL due to biceps tendinitis, and called up right-hander Louie Varland as the 27th man for their pivotal doubleheader against the division-leading Guardians.

The injury for Ryan is a gut-punch to a Twins club that was unable to acquire a starting pitcher prior to the trade deadline and has already seen its rotation depth stretched thin. The 28-year-old Ryan has been perhaps their steadiest starter in 2024, logging 135 innings of 3.60 ERA ball with a strong 27.3% strikeout rate against an outstanding 4.3% walk rate. He’s been a fixture in the Twins’ rotation since being acquired from the Rays in exchange for Nelson Cruz at the 2021 trade deadline, making 84 starts with a 3.92 ERA and consistently strong strikeout and walk rates.

With Ryan joining Chris Paddack and Anthony DeSclafani — who required season-ending surgery back in spring training — on the injured list, Minnesota will be forced to lean on a rookie-heavy rotation while trying to overtake Cleveland and fight off Kansas City in the AL Central race. Pablo Lopez and Bailey Ober provide plenty of big league experience, but they’ll be followed by Simeon Woods Richardson, David Festa and likely Varland in the season’s final seven weeks or so. Right-hander Zebby Matthews, who has rocketed up prospect rankings in 2024 while dominating High-A and Double-A, could be called to the big leagues sooner than he otherwise would have with a healthier staff. Veteran righty Adam Plutko is also in Triple-A with the Twins and has pitched to a respectable 4.35 ERA there — including a 3.38 mark over his past seven starts.

Given the increased level of strain on the pitching depth, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see the Twins pursue some additional depth. Their avenues to doing so are limited now that the deadline has passed, but they still have some options. Rich Hill, who pitched for the Twins in 2020, is planning to sign for the stretch run and showcased for teams just today. Some depth options like Xzavion Curry (Guardians) and Jackson Wolf (Padres) were designated for assignment within the past week and could hold appeal — if they make it to the Twins on waivers. As MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald recently laid out for MLBTR Front Office subscribers, we could see a handful of notable veterans hit waivers later this month if their teams falter, although the Twins slashed payroll considerably this past offseason and ownership might balk at the notion of absorbing additional payroll for the stretch run.

In the short-term, the Twins will give Varland the first start and slot Blewett, who pitched for the 2020-21 Royals, into the bullpen. Varland opened the season in the rotation after an encouraging run late last year, but the Twin Cities native was hit hard early this season, optioned to Triple-A and eventually leapfrogged by Woods Richardson and Festa on the depth chart. He’s struggled in Triple-A overall but had rattled off a 1.48 ERA with 35 strikeouts and 14 walks in his past six starts there (30 1/3 innings).

As for Blewett, he inked a minor league deal in the offseason. The 28-year-old righty was a second-round pick by the Royals back in 2014 and has bounced around pro ball, also spending time in the White Sox and Braves systems in addition to a nice stint with the Uni-President Lions in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League last year. He’s pitched 56 1/3 innings for the Saints this season and notched a solid 3.66 ERA with a 23.2% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate in that time.

The injury to Lee, 23, will open the door for Farmer’s return. Lee was the No. 8 overall pick in 2022 and currently stands as a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport. He missed the beginning of the season with a stress reaction in his back but returned to light fire to Triple-A pitching, hitting opponents at a .329/.394/.635 clip with seven homers in just 94 plate appearances before being summoned to the majors amid other injuries in Minnesota’s infield. He’ll head to the shelf himself now, leaving the Twins with Farmer and Willi Castro at second and short, Royce Lewis at third base and Carlos Santana at first base (in addition to Jose Miranda mixing in at the infield corners).

Scott Blewett Signs With CPBL’s Uni-Lions

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Right-hander Scott Blewett has signed with the Uni-Lions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League, per CPBL Stats.

Blewett, 27, signed a minor league deal with the Braves at the end of March. He’s since made 17 appearances for their Triple-A club, including 13 starts, logging 72 2/3 innings. He allowed 4.21 earned runs per nine innings in that time, struck out 24.7% of batters faced, walked 9.4% of them and got grounders on 42.6% of balls in play.

The Braves recently got Max Fried back from the injured list, rejoining the rotation next to Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton, Bryce Elder and Yonny Chirinos. Spot starts this year have gone to players on the 40-man roster like Allan Winans, Michael Soroka, AJ Smith-Shawver, Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster.

Despite Blewett’s generally solid work this year, his path towards a role on the big league club was a steep one. But it will get him a chance to prove himself in Taiwan, likely with a higher salary than he was earning in the minor leagues.

Prior to this year, Blewett spent most of his career with the Royals, who selected him in the second round in 2014. He was able to make his major league debut with that club, tossing eight innings over 2020 and 2021 with a 3.38 ERA. He was outrighted at the end of that latter campaign, then spent 2022 with the White Sox on a minor league deal without getting called back to the big leagues.

Braves, Scott Blewett Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Braves agreed to a minor league contract with Scott Blewett yesterday, according to the right-hander’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’ll be assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett.

Blewett, 27 next month, pitched in five big league contests with the Royals between 2020-21. A former second-round pick of Kansas City, he changed organizations for the first time last year. Blewett signed a minor league deal with the White Sox, spending most of the season in Double-A. He started 22 of 24 appearances, working to a 5.03 ERA with a 20% strikeout rate across 111 innings. Blewett never got a big league look in Chicago and returned to minor league free agency over the offseason.

The New York native will try to work his way back to the MLB level in Atlanta. He’s surely a fair ways down the depth chart after a middling showing in Double-A, but he’ll add some organizational depth as the Braves navigate a number of rotation injuries. Kyle Wright opened the season on the injured list, while Michael Soroka started the year in Gwinnett after a hamstring issue set him back in Spring Training. Atlanta already tabbed a pair of rookies, Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd, for season-opening rotation spots.

The injury troubles continued today, as ace Max Fried appears ticketed for the IL after straining his hamstring during his start against Washington. Blewett’s signing predated the Fried injury and is unrelated, but the Braves now look likely to count on one of Bryce Elder or Ian Anderson to temporarily step into the rotation alongside Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton, Shuster and Dodd.

White Sox, Scott Blewett Agree To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Scott Blewett, according to the club’s transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Double-A Birmingham.

Blewett has spent his entire career in the AL Central, but this’ll be his second organization. He entered pro ball as a second-round pick of the Royals in 2014. Despite progressing up the minor league ladder fairly slowly, he was placed among Baseball America’s top 30 Kansas City prospects every season between 2015-19 and again heading into 2021. BA wrote early in his career that Blewett could develop into a mid-rotation starter, but struggles against high minors hitters eventually changed his projection to that of a depth starter or long relief option.

The New York native got to the big leagues for the first time in 2020, making a pair of relief appearances. He also pitched in three games last year, tossing eight innings of three-run ball over his first five MLB outings. Blewett worked solely as a reliever in the majors, but he started 10 of 23 games with Triple-A Omaha last season. In 69 innings with the Storm Chasers, he posted a 6.39 ERA with a below-average 20.1% strikeout rate. He allowed 19 home runs, an untenable 2.48 longballs per nine innings.

The Royals outrighted Blewett off their 40-man roster last September, at which point he elected minor league free agency. The 26-year-old has yet to find his stride even at the Triple-A level, but he has a solid track record of throwing strikes up through Double-A and can work as either a starter or multi-inning reliever. Blewett will hope a change of scenery can allow him to miss a few more bats and tamp down on homers to earn another crack in the big leagues.

Royals Outright Hanser Alberto, Scott Blewett

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The Royals announced that infielder Hanser Alberto and right-hander Scott Blewett have cleared outright waivers and elected free agency. Kansas City’s 40-man roster tally now sits at 38, but they have an additional four players on the 60-day injured list who will need to be reinstated before the start of the offseason.

Alberto had been eligible for arbitration, so the Royals’ designation will function as an early non-tender. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected Alberto to land a $2.1MM salary in 2022, a price the club deemed too high after a below-average showing. It’s the second consecutive winter in which Alberto has been cut loose, as the Orioles non-tendered him last offseason.

Baltimore’s regular second baseman from 2019-20, Alberto signed a minor league deal with K.C. and cracked the Opening Day roster, locking in a $1.65MM salary. He spent the year in a utility role, starting games at each of third base, second base and shortstop. Over 255 plate appearances, the 29-year-old hit .270/.291/.402 with a pair of home runs.

Alberto has been one of the game’s tougher players to strike out in recent years, helping him post consistently strong batting averages. That has come with virtually no walks or power, though, capping his overall value. By measure of wRC+, Alberto was sixteen percentage points below the league average this past season, and his 1.4% walk rate was the second-lowest mark of the 362 hitters with 200+ plate appearances. He might be looking at another minors pact this winter.

Blewett was not arbitration eligible, but the Kansas City front office evidently determined they didn’t wish to devote him a 40-man roster spot all winter. Blewett was passed through outright waivers in April but re-selected to the big league club in September. He tossed five innings of one-run ball there, but he was far less effective with Triple-A Omaha.

The 25-year-old Blewett worked in a swing capacity for the Storm Chasers, tossing 69 innings in 23 appearances (including ten starts). He posted a 6.39 ERA, largely on account of the nineteen homers he served up. The Royals’ second-round pick in 2014, Blewett now hits the open market and could find himself in a different organization for the first time in his pro career.

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