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In a move guaranteed to thrill fans of players who make contact and are, how you say, thick in the britches, the Twins are allegedly recalling Willians Astudillo from Triple-A Rochester, per both the Strib and the PiPress. The swap is necessitated by fellow large adult Bobby Wilson turning his right ankle during Minnesota’s 6-4 victory over Oakland on Thursday night.
If you somehow don’t remember Astudillo from his previous stint with the Twins, he made his debut during that remarkable Twins trip to Wrigley wherein they posted 6, 9, and 10 runs while managing to win zero games of their 3-game set. You’re forgiven if you Men in Black’ed that from your memory bank.
The Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh wrote a great piece on the Astudillo phenomenon, from his unusual body type (5’9”, 225 lbs) to his freakish inability to strikeout or walk. The phrases “large adult son” and “absolute unit” are also correctly, gleefully used.
Somehow, Astudillo’s legend grew, as he also was called in to pitch during another Twins disaster (again, no judgment if you’ve displaced Rays 19, Twins 6 for more pleasant recollections of childhood birthdays, or that time your credit card was declined on a date). For those of us who can’t let go, you may recall he gave up a home run to beloved former Twins weirdo Carlos Gomez.
Astudillo was later sent back down, and as Gleeman noted, he pitched more games (1) than he caught (zero). Even though he’s a catcher. 2018 has been a screwy year.
IN OTHER NEWS:
- If you missed it last night, the highlight of Minnesota’s surprisingly convincing victory over the surging Athletics was this outfield assist from Eddie Rosario.
"On your head, on your head
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 24, 2018
Rosie, Rosie, Rosie-ie-ie..." pic.twitter.com/IEPjVeCxnW
- State Fair note #1: If you wanna gab with LaVelle from the Strib and Twins bigshot Derek Falvey, go to the Star Tribune’s booth today.
- State Fair note #2: My employer made a second beer with former Twins reliever Glen Perkins, and The Kloser IPA is available right now at the Ball Park Cafe. Glen will be at the Fair on Tuesday to talk with WCCO about the collab.