The Minnesota Twins remain in the mix for an American League Wild Card berth despite a 63-68 record and a recent sweep at the hands of the San Diego Padres. Their next assignment is a road series against the Athletics, a stretch that could prove pivotal if they hope to stay within striking distance of the postseason.
Amid that larger picture, the organization made a quieter roster move on Monday, releasing right-handed pitcher Jacob Webb from its Double-A affiliate, the Wichita Wind Surge.
This is not the Jacob Webb who has spent years in major-league bullpens. The 27-year-old from Dayton, Ohio, spent his entire professional career in the Boston Red Sox system after being selected in the 14th round of the 2021 draft out of Miami University.
The Red Sox released him from Triple-A Worcester in mid-June, and Minnesota signed him as a free agent shortly afterward, assigning him to Wichita.
Results with the Twins were poor. Across 16 innings he allowed 14 earned runs for a 7.88 ERA. Combined with his earlier work at Worcester, he finished 2026 with a 6.90 ERA in 44 innings.
Those numbers made continued roster space difficult to justify as the minor-league season winds down and organizations begin trimming staffs.
What has always stood out in Webb’s profile is his ability to miss bats.
Over nearly 295 innings in the minors he has compiled 349 strikeouts, a rate that consistently hovered around 10.6 per nine innings even when his earned-run average climbed at higher levels.
That swing-and-miss talent first showed itself in college and carried through his early professional seasons in Salem and Greenville, where he posted some of his strongest strikeout totals.
The command and consistency never quite matched the stuff at Triple-A, where his ERA sat well above 7.00 in limited work, but the strikeout numbers remained a calling card that kept organizations interested.
Now a free agent again, Webb will look for another opportunity. With many minor-league seasons wrapping up, another club may wait until the offseason to offer a minor-league deal.
For a pitcher who has shown he can generate swings and misses, the path back is not closed; it simply requires another organization willing to bet that the strikeouts can eventually be paired with better run prevention.
The Twins, meanwhile, turn their attention to the Athletics and the remaining weeks of a season that still holds playoff implications.
Roster decisions like this one are part of the late-summer housekeeping that accompanies a push for October baseball.
