As the defending American League Central champion Minnesota Twins enter spring training, they've gotten positive injury updates on pitchers Anthony DeSclafani and Josh Staumont, both of whom were acquired this offseason.
Per Twins' reporter Bobby Nightengale on social media:
New Twins pitchers Anthony DeSclafani and Josh Staumont - they ended last year on the IL - are full go entering spring training. Both have been throwing for months.
DeSclafani was recently brought in via a trade with the Seattle Mariners. He'll likely enter the season in the back end of the team's starting rotation.
DeSclafani is 33-years-old and has pitched in parts of nine seasons with the Marlins, Reds and Giants. He's 54-56 lifetime with a 4.20 ERA. He won 13 games back in the 2021 season for the Giants.
As for Staumont, he hasn't pitched since midway through the 2023 season after undergoing thoracic outlet surgery.
At one point, he was one of the best bullpen arms in the American League, so it's a good risk by Minnesota to bring him in the fold. The righty made his major league debut in 2019 with the Kansas City Royals and served as a key member of the bullpen until going down in 2023. He's 9-7 in his career (169 appearances), working nearly exclusively as a reliever. He's posted an impressive 4.01 lifetime ERA, including a dominant 2.45 in the COVID 2020 season and a 2.88 in 64 games in 2021.
He's thrown 168.1 innings in his career and has registered 191 strikeouts, which is the kind of swing and miss stuff that teams salivate over.
The Twins bullpen has several power arms including Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax and Justin Topa, so Staumont is hoping to join them.
More must-reads: