Minnesota Twins: 5 minor league players who could impact the major league season

The Minnesota Twins at some point will need to call on their minor league players for reinforcements in the majors. Who could those reinforcements be?

The Minnesota Twins have started off their season in solid fashion. Many of their initial roster decisions are paying off and all of the key players are currently healthy. That level of health will likely not remain the case through the whole of the 2018 major league season.

Every season, every major league baseball team is faced with players encountering injuries or slumps in performance. It is then that every franchise has to rely on the talent they have assembled in their minor league systems to provide the depth of players they need to continue competing. Even if faced with a major injury.

Last season on their way to the playoffs the Twins and their fans saw first hand how important it is for players to emerge from the minor league ranks to help the team. The Twins bullpen may not have seen the improvement they did if it wasn’t for two midseason promotions.

Trevor Hildenberger came into the Twins bullpen and proved his worth outing after outing. Hildenberger threw 42.0 innings and held a 3.21 ERA, 44 strikeouts, and even picked up a save. The biggest accolade that HIldenberger picked up throughout the 2018 season was the trust of his manager. It was clear that he became the go to bullpen arm down the stretch run for the Twins.

Alan Busenitz also came up as a reinforcement from the minors for the 2017 Twins. He may not have filled quite the role that Hildenberger did, but was still a very important cog to the Twins bullpen. In Busenitz’s first major league experience he pitched 31.2 innings, held a 1.99 ERA, and struck out 23 batters.

Into every major league season major league teams hope that they will be able to continue and run out their Opening Day lineup game after game. The reality is teams also know that never happens and at some point a reserve player or minor league player will need to step in and play some significant innings.

That is why today we will be looking at five players who could step in and have a significant role in the Twins run towards a hopeful second consecutive playoff appearance. On this list we have tried to pick out some players that haven’t already had significant time with the Twins. So players like Zack Granite, John Curtiss, and Busenitz all could truly be on this list themselves. Because of their 2017 call ups we have chosen to go with some new players that may impact the 2018 Twins.