John Shipley, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. –
BOSTON — Cole De Vries is turning heads among Twins management, who are eager to see what the Eden Prairie right-hander does the final two months of the season.
After a quality start in the Twins’ 6-4 victory over the Red Sox on Saturday, Aug. 4, De Vries is 2-2 with a 3.81 earned-run average in 10 big-league starts, all this season. Not bad for an undrafted free agent who wasn’t even invited to spring training this season.
“He changes speeds and keeps them guessing, and it makes that 90 mph fastball look like 95,” pitching coach Rick Anderson said. “To me that’s the key to pitching.”
De Vries, 27, knows he is auditioning for a chance at the 2013 roster, and the Twins are in no position to turn down a young, productive arm; not when only one pitcher, Nick Blackburn, remains from this season’s projected Opening Day rotation. So management is looking hard at each start from rookies De Vries and Samuel Deduno, and left-hander Brian Duensing, trying to recapture the form that made him an effective starter in 2009-10.
But De Vries also knows the Twins aren’t the only team watching. Minnesota had luck picking up Deduno and other minor-league free agents such as Jared Burton and Jeff Gray last winter; there’s no doubt scouts have a book on De Vries, as well.
“They tell us coming up in the minor leagues that, basically, every outing is not only an audition for your own big-league roster but for everyone else, too. That’s kind of how I take it,” De Vries said.
“I would love to be a Minnesota Twin for the rest of my career, but if that doesn’t work, it’s also audition time for every other team. You never know when trades are going to happen or anything.
“So I would like to be here, and I’d like to be part of the team next year and years to come, but you also have to kind of look at the big picture and kind of look at things for yourself.”
