Twins Claim New Pitcher; Officially Place Ace on IL
While February is almost in the rearview mirror, the Minnesota Twins have not yet turned the first page of their season calendar. There’s a long way to go, which is good news. The bad news is that their stay down in Fort Myers, so far, has been difficult, to say the least.
Pablo Lopez is out due to a torn UCL, and though there was a bit of good news on his timeline, following his Tommy John surgery, he’s now been moved to the 60-day injured list, where he will remain for the rest of the season.
Zak Kent claimed by MN Twins
To fill Lopez’ 40-man roster spot, the MN Twins announced during their game Thursday against Pittsburgh, that they have claimed right-handed pitcher Zak Kent, who was recently waived by the St. Louis Cardinals.
We have made the following roster moves: pic.twitter.com/qpyMbHaXf1
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) February 26, 2026
A 9th round pick in 2019, Kent went to the same college (Virginia Military Institute) as former Twins pitcher Josh Winder, before he made his big league debut last season with the Guardians.
Related: Minnesota Twins Injury Bug Strikes Lineup
In Cleveland, the 28-year-old pitched 17 2/3 innings across 12 games (finished 11 games), posting a 16/8 K/BB and a 4.58 ERA (3.59 FIP). In the past three months, Kent has been waived by the Guardians (1x) and Cardinals (2x), the last of which was on February 16.
Congratulations to Zak Kent on making it to The Show yesterday! Kent went 3.0 innings and struck out four, including a big strikeout against 2x MVP, Aaron Judge.#RahVaMil | #VMIBaseCo https://t.co/51ImPbMyfZ pic.twitter.com/SsSxTMwHg5
— VMI Baseball (@VMIbaseco) April 24, 2025
Zak Kent has been dominant at Triple-A, where he held a 2.84 ERA in 38 innings at Columbus last season. His 11.8 K/9 is INSANELY high, and likely one of the top reasons Minnesota went after him. However, his 5.0 BB/9 is a big problem.
Minnesota’s bullpen has some spots accounted for, but the bottom few openings are still available for the taking. Kent still has one minor league option remaining, so he could be sent to St. Paul, out of camp, without going through waivers again.
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