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Minnesota Twins: Nick Tepesch Tabbed to Start Saturday

By Carl Vagle

Mar 23, 2017; Clearwater, FL, USA; Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Nick Tepesch (23) throws a pitch in the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies during spring training at Spectrum Field. Mandatory Credit: Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 23, 2017; Clearwater, FL, USA; Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Nick Tepesch (23) throws a pitch in the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies during spring training at Spectrum Field. Mandatory Credit: Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Minnesota Twins and Paul Molitor have tabbed Nick Tepesch as their starter for Saturday’s matchup with the Red Sox.

Nick Tepesch began his major league career with the Texas Rangers in 2013.  A familiar face for the Twins general manager, Thad Levine, who worked with Tepesch in Texas. Nick joined the Minnesota Twins as a free agent this offseason.

Tepesch has started 40 games in his career with a 4.68 ERA in 223 innings pitched. He has 135 strikeouts to 71 walks for almost a 2/1 K/BB ratio. Paul Molitor is giving him the chance to earn a spot in the rotation.

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Tepesch’s first year with the Rangers he went 4-6 in 17 starts. He had a 4.84 ERA with 7.4 strikeouts per nine innings. Tepesch has consistently had a high ERA but got a significant amount of run support with the Rangers.

Phil Hughes has been the beneficiary of run support this year. Hughes is 4-1 but has a 5.06 ERA, hopefully the Twins can offer this run support to Tepesch on Saturday.

The Twins are probably going to give Nick more than one start to decide if he can be their starter as referenced by Phil Miller’s tweet:

Kyle Gibson was sent down yesterday giving Nick Tepesch a better chance of sticking in the Twins’ rotation. The rotation is now down to three starters with Ervin Santana, Hector Santiago, and Phil Hughes. The Twins will hope Tepesch can take over Gibson’s spot in the rotation.

Next: Twins: Kyle Gibson Needs A New Role

The Twins could look to call up Jose Berrios, but Molitor and Derek Falvey have talked about patience with him. So for the time being the Twins will see how Tepesch handles the Red Sox lineup Saturday, but look for the Twins to give him a few more chances due to Gibson being sent down.

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