This story was excerpted from Matthew Leach’s Twins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
SAN FRANCISCO – Bailey Ober would prefer to be starting every fifth or sixth day, just like he always has throughout his big league career. But if he was going to come out of the bullpen, he had one request.
“I kind of joked with them before,” Ober said, “like, get me a save.”
And the Twins did. Making the first relief appearance of his big league career on Sunday, Ober pitched three shutout innings – and got his first save. It was the continuation of an unusual second half for Ober, one that has seen him frequently pitch on very extended rest and also be handled with a very short leash in the games he has started.
Since his return from the injured list in July, Ober has pitched with seven or more days’ rest in four of his 11 starts. He’s only started on four days’ rest twice in that span. It’s an adjustment for someone who has spent the bulk of his big league career as a reliable, innings-eating rotation stalwart.
“The routine’s definitely been different the last 3-4 weeks or so,” he said. “Just kind of making sure I’m ready to take the ball whenever I need to, and whenever they want me to go throw, I’ll be ready. That’s kind of just been my mindset, control what I can control and just be ready to take the ball.”
Understand, Ober’s preference would absolutely be to do what he has always done. But just as surely, he’s accepted the change in plans with grace and dignity – to no one’s surprise.
“How he’s handled it is extremely professional in all cases,” said manager Derek Shelton. “I give him a ton of credit for it. I think communication is a big key here, making sure we overcommunicate. I think the main thing is he has an idea of the ‘why’ when we’re doing things. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he agrees with it, and I’m not saying he pushed back on it at all, but I do think it really shows how quality of a teammate he is by his ability to take some of the adjustments that we deemed necessary.”
And because of that personal appreciation, Shelton acknowledged that it was meaningful that Ober was able to record a save and have something to show for his relief contribution.
“That is probably the greatest thing that happened,” Shelton said. “To be able to honor him postgame. … To be able to give him his first ball, your first Major League save, his teammates being able to acknowledge, me being able to acknowledge in front of his teammates how good of a teammate he is, 100 percent that there's a statistical component to it I think is very important and again goes into the appreciation factor.”
Ober is likely to get one more start before the season ends, over the weekend at home against Texas. And he’s aware that there’s no guarantee it’s not his last start in a Twins uniform. He’s one year from free agency, likely to receive a raise in arbitration from the $5.2 million he’s made this year, and part of a potentially very crowded mix for rotation spots in 2027.
“I feel like there’s always going to be options,” he said. “Especially when we have eight starters. Guys like me, Joe [Ryan], Pablo [López], and Dean [Kremer] will all be free agents in the same year. And then you have a lot of young guys that have a lot of potential behind us. So there’s always going to be chatter and thoughts. You never know if you’re going to get moved whenever that stuff is. … Obviously I’d love to stay here. But you never know. It’s kind of up to the bigwigs up top to decide that.”