The Twins announced Friday that they’ve reinstated outfielder Kyle Garlick from the 10-day injured list and designated infielder Tim Beckham for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster.
Beckham, 32, inked a minor league deal with the Twins over the winter and recently had his contract selected as Minnesota deals with a deluge of injuries both in the outfield and around the infield. He appeared in a dozen games with the Twins but took just 25 plate appearances and went 2-for-25 with nine strikeouts in that time.
Beckham has had a monster season in Triple-A, hitting .413/.481/.579 in 133 plate appearances, but it was never particularly realistic to expect the journeyman to sustain anything close to that level of output in the big leagues, where he’s a .247/.299/.426 hitter in 1776 plate appearances. He’ll be placed on waivers or released within the coming days now that he’s been designated for assignment.
Garlick, 30, will give the Twins a much-needed healthy outfielder and some desperately needed help against left-handed pitching. He’s hitting .257/.319/.514 in 116 plate appearances this year and has carved out a role with the Twins based on his ability to clobber southpaws. In 172 career plate appearances against lefties, the right-handed-hitting Garlick is a .266/.314/.576 hitter.
More must-reads: