The Twins announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Austin Voth. The 40-man roster had a vacancy due to Justin Lawrence being designated for assignment a few days ago. Righty Cody Laweryson was optioned to Triple-A St. Paul in a corresponding active roster move.
Voth, 34 on Friday, has been in the majors a few times already this year. He began the season with the Blue Jays on a minor league deal. The Jays added him to their roster in April to give them a bulk arm as they dealt with a few injuries. Since he’s out of options, he was designated for assignment after one game. He cleared waivers, elected free agency and signed a new minor league deal. The same sequence happened again in late May, with Voth added to the roster and then getting bumped off after one appearance.
Once again, he cleared waivers. But instead of re-signing with the Jays, he signed with the Twins. Minnesota had just designated Simeon Woods Richardson for assignment and put Bailey Ober and Kendry Rojas on the injured list, leaving them down a few guys on the depth chart.
Voth has been pitching competently this year. Between the Jays and Twins, he has thrown 44 1/3 Triple-A innings, allowing 3.65 earned runs per nine. His 20.6% strikeout rate is a bit below average while his 7.7% walk rate is better than par. The major league work wasn’t quite as nice, in a tiny sample, as he allowed six earned runs in six innings while recording just one strikeout, walking five and throwing three wild pitches.
He will likely be tasked with a bulk role today. Joe Ryan was supposed to be starting today’s game but he was scratched due to illness. Rojas, back from the IL, is starting tonight but likely won’t be able to go deep. Before coming off the IL, Rojas made just one rehab appearance. He tossed 33 pitches over 1 1/3 innings for Triple-A St. Paul on Thursday, so he shouldn’t be able to provide more than two or three innings. After providing some cover today, Voth could stick around in a long relief role but it’s also possible he is bumped right off the roster, due to his aforementioned out-of-options status.
Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images
