After spending parts of four seasons in the minors and rebounding from Tommy John surgery in late 2011, Kyle Gibson and the rest of the Minnesota Twins organization can breath easier after Saturday afternoon, as Gibson garnered his first career victory in his major league debut against the Kansas City Royals.
Gibson was impressive in his debut, working six innings and surrendering two runs on eight hits, while striking out five and walking none. Gibson was pulled after making 91 pitches following the sixth, wherein he appeared commanding on the mound, working the strike zone well and utilizing both his fastball and off-speed offerings with plus control.
Coming out of the University of Missouri, Gibson was a highly touted pitching prospect, but concerns regarding a drop in velocity and a stress fracture in his forearm during his senior campaign caused him to drop to 22nd overall in the 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft, as the Minnesota Twins took a chance on the young right hander.
Gibson’s two primary pitches have been his fastball, which he paints across the plate with excellent sinking action, and a changeup that also has plus sink and serves as a devastating out pitch.
His tendency to throw the ball down in the zone from a downhill plane allows him to induce a decent amount of groundballs and can work deep in the game with excellent control as a result.
In 15 games this season with Triple-A Rochester, Gibson has posted a 7-5 record and 3.01 ERA, along with 79/28 strikeout to walk ratio in 92.2 innings of work. While not flashy in his time with Rochester this season, Gibson has been solid and was ready to make the transition to the big leagues (following the 2009 Draft, Gibson was originally projected to make a quick transition to the majors), which he did on Saturday by registering his first career victory in his big league debut.
The Twins won the game by a score of 6-2, highlighted by a five-run first inning that included the likes of a Justin Morneau two-run double and Trevor Plouffe two-run home run that was crushed to left center.
After being upended 9-3 in yesterday’s loss to the Royals, the Twins were able to take a 2-1 lead in the four-game series against Kansas City at Target Field. In head-to-head play this season, the Royals have taken six of nine games and have outscored the Twins 36-24 in those games.
