Twins designate Juan Minaya, select fellow righty Griffin Jax

The Twins have designated right-hander Juan Minaya for assignment, as per a team press release.  Right-handed pitching prospect Griffin Jax’s contract has been selected from Triple-A (as reported earlier Saturday by Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press), and Jax will take Minaya’s spot on the active roster.

Minaya inked a minor league deal with the Twins in the offseason and had his contract selected just last week, so he could potentially be moving on after appearing in only four games for Minnesota.  The veteran righty posted a 4.26 ERA over 6 1/3 innings, getting his first bit of major league action since 2019 when he was a member of the White Sox.  The Twins also signed Minaya to a minor league contract prior to the 2020 season but designated him for assignment before he could make any appearances last year.

With Michael Pineda battling a sore forearm, his scheduled start for Sunday has been pushed back, so it’s possible Jax could be in line to take that start for his MLB debut.  A third-round pick out of Air Force in 2016, Jax isn’t one of MLB Pipeline’s top 30 Twins prospects, but he has posted a 3.33 ERA and 25.9% strikeout rate over 27 innings for Triple-A St. Paul this season.