Rookie Pitcher Albers Major League Debut Tonight

[DonBo]

Quote:

Twins southpaw Andrew Albers will face a tall order in his Major League debut on Tuesday, when he faces the red-hot Royals. Albers was 11-5 with a 2.86 ERA in 22 starts at Triple-A Rochester.

In 132 1/3 innings at Rochester, Albers recorded 116 strikeouts and issued 32 free passes. The 27-year-old was a 10th-round pick by the Padres in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft.

"He put himself on our radar. You can't overlook what he's accomplished down there every time he pitches," general manager Terry Ryan said. "He has a knack of being able to produce quality innings. He's got just enough funk, he's got location, he's got deception, he's got the stomach and the heart."

Be nice if the Farm System started puting out some decent pitchers. Doesn't look like we're

going to purchase any.

[B. Amish]

heard he's jamie moyer'esque. does not throw hard at all.

when do they give jamey carroll a start?

[Jarrid Houston]

Hoping for the best!

[harvey lee]

I sure hope he works out as the Twins need some pitching for next season if we want to improve at all.

DeDundo seems to be doing very well but we need another for the starting 4.

I just doubt that the owners will go out and spend any funds for a GOOD proven, not worn out pitcher.

Let's keep our fingers crossed.

[harvey lee]

Through 5, he is almost perfect less the one hit. Awesome start so far.

[eyebenband]

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but what did Scott Diamond look

like last year??

[Mid-Lake Rock]

The Royals are doing it wrong. They aren't cooperating with the whole pitch to contact philosophy of the Twins.

[zepman]

What a gutless call by Gardy to take the kid out in the 9th.

[thatoneguy]

Gutless? I would have liked to see the kid finish the game, but it's hardly a gutless move. 109 pitches in a brilliant debut...not much wrong with letting somebody mop up and the the guy walk off on top. Nice to see a Twins pitcher besides Deduno keep hitters off balance.

[BartmanMN]

I was fun to see someone hit their spots. Great job kid.

[DonBo]

Outstanding debut. Lets hope he can keep it up. It's obvious the Twins aren't going to spend any money on decent pitching, let's hope our prospects can step it up and give us something good in the next few years.

[Huskie]

Jamie Carroll set the tone the night before!!!!

[thatoneguy]

I was fun to see someone hit their spots. Great job kid.

No doubt. But if he's going to repeat his success, he needs to be able to miss more bats. The reason (or at least one reason) that the whole "pitch to contact" philosophy doesn't work is that ground balls and line drives, over time, tend to find holes and turn into hits at a fairly consistent level (see: Slowey, Kevin et alia).

That can be mitigated somewhat by location, movement, and mixing speeds, but you still need to be able to induce more swing-and-miss from the hitters to find long term success.

That said, it was sure fun to watch him work last night, and his K-rate at AAA is encouraging. I look forward to his next start!

Totally unrelated: how about the dominating season Francisco Liriano is having? Lends some ammo to the "Fire Rick Anderson" crowd, eh?

[nofishfisherman]

Totally unrelated: how about the dominating season Francisco Liriano is having? Lends some ammo to the "Fire Rick Anderson" crowd, eh?

Moving to the NL certainly played a part in his improved numbers.

[B. Amish]

albers admitted he was out of gas in the ninth. did you see how soaked the players jerseys were last night?

[zepman]

Gutless? I would have liked to see the kid finish the game, but it's hardly a gutless move. 109 pitches in a brilliant debut...not much wrong with letting somebody mop up and the the guy walk off on top. Nice to see a Twins pitcher besides Deduno keep hitters off balance.

I can see it if the game actually meant something...but let's face it, the Twins are on their way to their 3rd straight 90 loss season. We were up 7-0 in a meaningless game...he needed 2 f'n outs for a debut complete game shut-out. At the very least, let the kid lose the shut-out before taking him out.

Blylevens head almost exploded last night....

[nofishfisherman]

Not sure I'd call the decision gutless but I'd have let the kid make the call. If he thought he could finish it I'd let him keep the ball. If he continues to struggle then pull the plug.

The one defense I can find of Gardy is that he did throw 4 straight balls after being on point the entire game. Its an obvious sign of fatigue. But still you got to let the kid have his chance.

[greebs]

I often have to search to find positives with much involving gardy but think that was a good idea to pull him at that point. sure a complete game would have been nice but to get the win and let him walk off the mound with hopefully some confidence and not take a chance of him giving up a few runs at the end to think about probably did him more good.

That being said, I have to think this guys been in the minors all this time for a reason and don't really expect a whole lot out of him long term.

[thatoneguy]

greebs - he actually has only a little over 3 minor league seasons under his belt, and performed very well at each stop. He was out of baseball for a few years due to (I think) an arm injury, so he's a bit of an older rookie at 27, but it's not like he's a career plugger who never showed anything. His career ERA in the minors is under 3 and he averaged almost 8 Ks/9 IP.

Now I don't think he'll sustain that K rate in the bigs, but it's clear that he knows how to pitch.

[luckydog25]

He has a pretty neat story. He is from Saskatchewan, got drafted by the Padres but blew out his elbow right away. The padres released him and he had Tommy John surgery. He then pitched in a Canadian league as a reliever for a season hoping to get noticed by a MLB team with no luck. The next year he tried out for a couple teams in the Arizona spring training league with again no luck getting signed. He then drove to Florida on his own dime as a last chance effort to make a MLB club and the twins signed him to a minor league deal 2 seasons ago.

Cool story, but I don't think he is much more than a back of the rotation guy. I hope I am wrong, but he seems to be another pitch to contact guy with an 88 mph fastball.

[eyebenband]

Complete game tonight. Not too bad.

[DonBo]

Yep, great start to his major league season. Finally, a reason to watch this team.

[harvey lee]

Awesome performance last night. Won't miss his next game as he is fun to watch.

[CaptainMusky]

The doppelganger for Morneau!!

Deduno tonight, he should have another strong performance. Been pitching well overall.

[BartmanMN]

Great defense behind him making big plays. Great game.