The Twins signed right-hander Austin Voth to a minor league contract. The move was announced by their Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul, as he’ll start tonight’s game for the Saints.
Voth elected free agency on Tuesday after being outrighted by the Blue Jays. The 33-year-old had two very brief stops on Toronto’s big league roster. He made two long relief appearances, giving up six runs in as many innings. Voth surrendered eight hits, walked five batters, and threw three wild pitches while recording one strikeout.
The big league work wasn’t impressive, but Voth pitched well out of the Triple-A rotation. He made eight starts there and turned in a 2.90 earned run average, albeit while averaging less than four innings per appearance. Voth had a below-average 17% strikeout rate compared to a tidy 6.8% walk percentage. He doesn’t have big stuff but has mixed five pitches and been around the strike zone.
Minnesota pulled the plug on Simeon Woods Richardson with last week’s DFA. They traded him to Toronto for cash yesterday. Bailey Ober recently went down with a mild flexor strain that’ll shut him down completely for 10-14 weeks. He’ll be on the injured list for most or all of June. Kendry Rojas also recently suffered a triceps strain and Mick Abel has been out since the middle of April.
They’re currently operating with a four-man rotation of Joe Ryan, Taj Bradley, Zebby Matthews and Connor Prielipp. Rookie Mike Paredes is with the big league club in long relief but could draw into the rotation. John Klein is the only depth starter on optional assignment. Voth is the only other starter on the Triple-A team with MLB experience and will probably get a look as a long man at some point this summer.
