Bailey Ober working on mechanics while on IL; other Twins progressing well

After a month in which he gave up runs in innings as he pitched through a hip issue that had bothered him since the end of spring training Twins starter Bailey Ober described the need to take a look in the mirror and see what s really the best program of action That curriculum of action Ober and the association decided would be to take a period of time on the injured list and get his hip injury described by the gang as a left hip impingement healed once and for all while working on fixing mechanical issues that cropped up as a upshot of the injury I came up to them and commented Hey I think this is the best thing for the company and for me just to take a little breather and try to get back to normal as much as I can and get ready for the second half Ober revealed Ober is at the moment doing certain light throwing and is hopeful to get back on the mound sometime next week From there his absence might not be an extended one but there will be a focus on getting his mechanics straightened out While Ober commented it s been better from a pain standpoint in the past meager weeks he mentioned he got to a point where he wasn t at ease with how he was throwing as he altered his mechanics to protect his hip I m trying to come in here and get back as soon as I possibly can so I m definitely putting in a lot of work right now trying to get my mechanics in line to not really compensate and affect how I m throwing the baseball Ober mentioned I feel like that s the biggest thing right now The Twins have yet to announce a replacement in the rotation for Ober but it appears they ll roll with various kind of bullpen match on Saturday with rookie Travis Adams who was in the Twins clubhouse Friday on the taxi squad likely getting his share of work Adams was called up in June but did not appear in a tournament Saturday he s expected to be added to the roster again for reliever Kody Funderburk who will be optioned to Triple-A Getting that three days before helped me get familiar with everything I needed to do and what to kind of expect Adams explained Adams who has a earned-run average across innings pitched at Triple-A this season has been primarily coming in in long relief this season as the Twins have thrown him for shorter stints in minor league games typically every four days rather than start him every five days It s been a longstanding discussion that guys can pitch every four days They just might not be able to go max effort for pitches every four days manager Rocco Baldelli noted But there s a big difference I think between throwing and I think he s done a good job with it I think he was very open-minded to it and I think the results I don t want to say they ve spoken for themselves but it s proven that this can work Other injury updates Besides Ober the Twins are also without starters Pablo L pez and Zebby Matthews both of whom landed on the injured list in June Matthews out with a shoulder strain has been throwing bullpens he is scheduled to throw another on Saturday and should that go well he ll then progress to seeing hitters next week head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta mentioned One of those hitters might be Luke Keaschall who is progressing well from a broken forearm an injury suffered in late April Keaschall has been hitting off the Trajekt machine in the cage which Paparesta noted he has come out of well and once they get final clearance they ll want him face live pitching before sending him into tournament action Paparesta noted they have younger players throwing at their facility in Fort Myers Fla and Keaschall could movement there to face them before getting in rehab games As for L pez his return from a Grade teres major strain still is not expected soon but he had magnetic resonance imaging taken on Monday and things are progressing nicely Paparesta noted His strain is healing though not all the way healed and he has not started throwing yet Paparesta declared The MRI was encouraging and we were happy with what we saw Paparesta revealed It s kind of exactly where we thought he d be at days post-injury He s moving in the right direction Related Articles Harrison Bader s walk-off home run lifts Twins to win over Rays Twins drop series with - loss at Miami Simeon Woods Richardson s strong start helps Twins past Marlins - Twins place struggling Bailey Ober on injured list Marlins blank Twins extend winning streak to eight