Minnesota Twins: 34-Year-Old Pitching Prospect Chris Gimenez
The Minnesota Twins took a beating Sunday night at the hands of the Detroit Tigers. In the 13-4 loss, however, was a silver lining.
Minnesota Twins’ fans were treated to the 2017 pitching debut of little-known pitching prospect Chris Gimenez.
WE ARE ALL WITNESSES.
The 34-year-old Gimenez, who for some reason is currently listed as a catcher on the official roster, made a case for more innings in potentially higher leverage situations Sunday night. Gimenez needed only four pitches to get Andrew Romine to flyout to center-field. (Talk about efficiency!)
The crafty right-hander started Romine off with a 65 MPH “fastball” on the outside corner of the plate, which he took for a strike. He then came back with a 64 MPH “fastball” at the top of the zone that Romine again took for a strike.
Gimenez followed that pitch with an 83 MPH fastball in the dirt to try and get Romine to chase, which he didn’t. The at-bat ended with Romine getting under a 69 MPH “fastball” to flyout to center.
Gimenez describes his pitches as “slow, slow, and slower”. His repertoire includes fastballs between 64-83 MPH that he hopes to locate.
Sunday marked the fourth Major League pitching appearance for Gimenez. His debut came in 2014 as a member of the Texas Rangers.
In a 15-6 loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, he quickly retired David Freese, C.J. Cron, and Hank Conger. He threw 12 pitches, nine of which were strikes, and notched a strikeout on Cron.
Gimenez’s next pitching appearances came in 2016 as a member of Cleveland Indians. He threw three relief innings over two games.
The only stain on his pitching stats came against the Toronto Blue Jays in which He allowed four hits and four earned runs. The only home run he’s allowed in his career to Justin Smoak. His other appearance was against the Texas Rangers, which was a three up, three down inning.
For his career, Gimenez has pitched 4.1 innings, allowed four hits, four earned runs, and notched one strikeout. His career ERA is 8.31, with a career WHIP of 0.923, a HR/9 of 2.1, and a K/9 of 2.1. Gimenez has thrown a total of 59 pitches and 41 have been strikes.
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Even though Gimenez looked good in his one batter faced, I think all Twins fans would agree that they would LOVE to not see the journeyman backstop take the mound again.