4 pitchers Twins could call up if Louie Varland and Bailey Ober struggle
By Josh Hill
José De León, RHP
Some of the names that will be tossed out are probably familiar to Twins fans, but others might seem like more drastic options to lean on.
José De León might fall under the latter category, through no real fault of his own.
De León has been pretty decent with the Saints this season, posting a 3.27 ERA in eight games and three starts, with a 1.44 WHIP. He's worked 22 innings in total so far, It was his performance in the World Baseball Classic that piqued some interest around Twins Territory.
Pitching for Puerto Rico he worked 5.1 innings, striking out ten batters without giving up a single hit. He also had a pretty great performance in the Puerto Rican Winter League where he posted a 3.75 strikeouts-to-walks ratio in almost 47.2 innings pitched.
That's who the Twins are hoping they'll get if they call him up, but chances are it'll be somewhere in the middle of the two sample sizes we have for him.
One thing working against De León getting the call is that he's not on the Twins 40-man roster. Adding him to help the rotation would mean making DFA'ing someone, and while there are certainly candidates it's tough to see the Twins moving off someone just to see if De León has what it takes.
It would be a gamble, but it all comes down to how desperate the team is to plug holes while Maeda and Mahle are out.