Danny Coulombe, who landed on the 15-day Injured List on May 18 with a left forearm extensor strain, made a successful rehab appearance with the St. Paul Saints on Friday, throwing a scoreless inning with a flyout and two groundouts on nine pitches, seven strikes. According to The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman, Coulombe, who has yet to allow a run this season with 19 strikeouts and two walks across 16 ⅔ innings, should return to the Twins’ bullpen soon.
Jorge Alcala or Travis Adams will likely lose their roster spot when Danny Coulombe returns to the Twins
Alcala or Adams are the most likely options to lose their spots on Minnesota’s 26-man roster once Coulombe returns from the IL, as relievers Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Justin Topa, Cole Sands and Brock Stewart have all been key pieces in the Twins’ dominant bullpen.
If the Twins opt to get rid of Alcala, he would be DFA’d and could be picked up by another team since he is out of options. On the other hand, Minnesota could demote Adams, who earned the call to the big leagues on Friday as Kody Funderburk was demoted to Triple-A St. Paul, to Triple-A without running the risk of losing him. Adams has yet to make an appearance for the Twins.
Given the fates suffered by Darren McCaughan, Scott Blewett and Randy Dobnak earlier in the season, Adams, who posted a 3.43 ERA with 37 strikeouts across 42 innings for the Saints this season, could very well just be in the majors temporarily to provide a fresh arm who can eat some innings before getting demoted.
However, Alcala has struggled significantly this season with the Twins, posting an awful 7.54 ERA, 4.89 FIP and 1.68 WHIP with 28 strikeouts, 14 walks and four homers allowed in 22 ⅔ innings. Surprisingly, Alcala holds an xERA of 3.23 (72nd percentile), xBA of .194 (95th percentile) and hard-hit percentage of 31.7% (91st percentile), suggesting a resurgence is possibly on the horizon. Still, it is impossible to ignore his overall abysmal results, highlighted by a 13.6% walk percentage (5th percentile) and a 10% barrel percentage (27th percentile). There is a very good chance the Twins will opt to demote Alcala due to his continued struggles, but they might want to hold onto him a little longer since many of his peripherals are excellent.