Following the Twins’ 5-4 victory over the Royals, La Velle E Neal revealed that the team decided to send right-hander Anthony Swarzak back to Rochester. Swarzak experienced a soul-crushing month of August going 0-4 with a 14.85 ERA. Like most young pitchers, Swarzak will have to relearn the value of getting that all-important first strike. Following a first-pitch strike, opponents held an OPS of .635 but crushed him (1.120 OPS) if he fell behind 1-0. After getting ahead of hitters regularly in June (59.1 first-pitch strike) and July (56.0 FPS), Swarzak’s ability to attack the strike zone vanished in August (48.7 FPS) which led to 8 home runs in the month and a .900 slugging percentage.
Prior to demoting Swarzak, the Twins tapped 25-year-old Armando Gabino from Rochester and scheduled him to start Tuesday against Baltimore. The Twins landed Gabino from the Indians organization in 2004 during the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft and spot-started w...
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