The Minnesota Twins made a slew of roster moves on Wednesday afternoon, but the most notable sent Marwin Gonzalez to the IL and recalled Willians Astudillo.
After the Minnesota Twins’ marathon game with the Boston Red Sox, the team decided to make a slew of roster moves on Wednesday afternoon. While there were some that were merely formalities, one of those moves is sure to get the Twins’ fan base excited as Willians Astudillo was recalled from Triple-A Rochester.
Astudillo has become a fan favorite during his time in Minnesota, but his effectiveness so far with the Twins was leaving something to be desired. When the Twins sent the utility man down on June 8, he was hitting just .250 with a .630 OPS and found himself lost in the shuffle between two hot hitting catchers in Mitch Garver and Jason Castro.
Upon arriving in Rochester, however, Astudillo responded by approaching the plate like a kid at a pinata party. In nine games with the Red Wings, Astudillo hit .526 (20-for-38) with three home runs and 11 RBI. He also recorded an OPS of 1.288 which pretty much got the attention of the Twins front office to call him up as soon as possible. Once his mandatory 10 days at Triple-A expired, the Twins brought him back to Minnesota.
While many fans will be happy to have Astudillo back, it doesn’t come without some bad news as Marwin Gonzalez was put on the injured list with a strained right hamstring. The fellow utility man was getting back to himself after a rough start to the season and was hitting .255 with nine home runs and 26 RBI.
In addition, the Twins put reliever Blake Parker on the family emergency list. Parker had the inverse season of Gonzalez, getting off to a strong start, but has been struggling in the month of June. He currently has a 4.26 ERA on the season.
To replace Parker, the Twins selected the contract of Sean Poppen from Triple-A Rochester. The 25-year old has had a strong season with the Red Wings registering a 4-0 record with a 1.55 ERA to go with 34 strikeouts and 12 walks in 29 innings.