Twins Blog: Alex Meyer's First Big League Start
We're big fans of the Major League Debut here the the WCCO.com Twins Blog.
That moment has come and gone for pitcher Alex Meyer.
But in a way, Tuesday night is the next best thing... his first big league start.
Meyer was acquired by the Twins on Nov. 29, 2012 in a trade with the Washington Nationals. In return, the Twins sent their starting center fielder, Denard Span, to the nation's capital.
At the time, the Twins were desperate for pitching prospects having swung and missed – if you'll forgive the parlance – with recent pitching draft selections. At the time, the outfield was considered to be a position of depth, and so General Manager Terry Ryan made the call to ship out the 20th pick of the 2002 draft who'd established himself as an every-day Major Leaguer, for the 23rd pick of the 2011 draft, who was filled with potential.
It's not difficult to see what scouts liked about Meyer. He's 6-feet, 9-inches tall with a relatively lean 225 pounds on that frame. He throws hard and with that height, ought to be able to get a strong downward-plane on his pitches.
Things have not gone the way the Twins had hoped, however, when they acquired Meyer. He jumped from Rookie-ball to Double-A quickly enough, and by 2014 was in Triple-A Rochester. But the only consistent thing about his performance was its inconsistency.
He'd string together several good starts, tease fans with the prospect of being a bona fide top-of-the-rotation starter, and then lose his mechanics and start walking guys at an alarming rate.
Finally the Twins made the decision to move him to the bullpen in 2015, thinking that perhaps shorter, yet more frequent appearances might help him find his "mechanical groove" as it were.
At first, the results were promising. In nine appearances in which he threw no more than four innings (and that length only once), he put together a 0.53 ERA, surrendering just six walks while striking out 20 batters over 17 innings.
It was that success that led to a call-up to the big club, allowing Meyer to make his big-league debut on June 26th, 2015, against the Brewers.
That game didn't go so well. Meyer went 1.2 innings, giving up four runs on just three hits (two of which left the ballpark) and a walk. His next appearance on the 29th in Cincinnati went slightly better as he gave up only one run on one hit (not a homer), though he did walk two more batters.
Those performances got him sent back to Triple-A Rochester, where things got decidedly worse. Over the next 21 games, Meyer posted a 4.29 ERA with just over a 2-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
So when 2016 began, it was a chance to for Meyer to start with a clean slate. "Start" being the operative word. After finishing out a game in his first appearance of the season, he rejoined the rotation in Rochester for his next two outings.
In those three games, Meyer put together an impressive 1.04 ERA, striking out 19 batters, while walking only four.
Those numbers were good enough to get him recalled to the Twins on April 25, just a day before Kyle Gibson and Ervin Santana were officially placed on the DL.
But how would the Twins use him? They clearly needed help in the bullpen after a bruising trip to Washington. But with 2/5 of their starting rotation suddenly on the shelf, perhaps it was wisest to use him there?
The decision was ultimately made for them when Tommy Milone struggled once again in his most recent start, causing the Twins decision-makers to shift him to the bullpen and insert Meyer the next time that spot came up.
In the mean-time, the Twins got him an inning of work last Friday against Detroit, and once again, Meyer was shaky coming out of the pen. He gave up a pair of runs on five hits and a walk while also notching a strikeout.
To be fair, he hadn't pitched for eight days prior to that appearance. Something that GM Terry Ryan noted the next day.
"He was a bit rusty. I think that's safe to give him a little bit of benefit of the doubt, that he hadn't been out there for quite a few days," Ryan said, "He was amped up. There's no question. That wasn't the prettiest of appearances. Hopefully he'll be better the next time out."
That next time out is Tuesday night in Houston against the also-scuffling Astros.
For his part, Meyer says shifting between relief and starting roles isn't a big change for him.
"I don't really view it that way. It's just going out there and pitching. Essentially it's the same thing," Meyer said, "I'm just worried about, right now, Tuesday night and focusing on that and trying not to worry about anything else."
He's also not trying to get caught up by the notion that he'll be starting for the first time as a big-leaguer.
"I mean yeah, it'll be exciting. Obviously that part of it'll be different," Meyer said, "but again, just trying to look at it the same way. Just go out there and take it as another day. And as it unfolds, just go with it there."
If things progress as the Twins hope, Ervin Santana will be ready to rejoin the rotation this weekend, meaning someone will have to make room for him. Conventional wisdom holds that Berrios and Meyer are the obvious candidates to create said room.
Berrios once again had shaky command in his second big-league start. Yes, he struck out eight Astros, but also walked five and gave up a pair of homers on the way to his first Major League Win.
Will Meyer fare better? We'll find out Tuesday night.
