Twins nab reliever Ian Hamilton off waivers

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins again added to their growing bullpen depth on Friday by acquiring right-hander Ian Hamilton off waivers from the Phillies.

Considering the Twins' recent track record of pitching development, it should come as no real surprise that the 25-year-old Hamilton is a hard thrower with a promising slider. That offers yet another developing skillset to pitching coach Wes Johnson, who has extracted value from several lesser-known arms over his two seasons with Minnesota and saw great success with slider-heavy Matt Wisler in 2020.

The Twins now have 39 players on their 40-man roster, with the reported deals for Nelson Cruz and Alex Colomé yet to become official. That means Minnesota will need to remove a player from the 40-man as a corresponding move for one of those deals, which are expected to become official next week.

Hamilton had a 4.50 ERA in parts of two seasons with the White Sox, though he's only pitched 12 innings in the Majors across 2018 and '20. He's been a strong performer in the Minors, with a 3.24 career ERA and 185 strikeouts in 172 1/3 innings, but he hit a setback in June 2019, when he was struck in the face by a line drive and required surgery to repair multiple facial fractures.

Hamilton's fastball averaged 96.6 mph in 2018, but that slowed down a tick to 94.3 mph last season. His slider has also been a strong swing-and-miss pitch and generated whiffs on 62.5 percent of swings in 2020, when he pulled back a bit on the velocity and added some movement.

Hamilton is the third reliever the Twins have added in the past three days, joining Colomé, who agreed to terms on a one-year deal with an option on Wednesday, and Shaun Anderson, who was acquired in a trade with the Giants on Thursday. Hamilton is also the third reliever Minnesota has claimed off waivers this offseason, joining Ian Gibaut and Brandon Waddell. Wisler was also a waiver claim last offseason before the Twins transformed him into a core part of their bullpen.

Though the bullpen was a glaring area of need entering the offseason, the Twins now have the makings of a late-innings core in Taylor Rogers, Tyler Duffey, Colomé and Hansel Robles; other known commodities in Cody Stashak, Jorge Alcala and Caleb Thielbar; new faces who could compete for spots in Anderson, Hamilton, Gibaut and Waddell; and developing arms like Edwar Colina. That depth could prove all the more important as the Twins ramp up their pitching staff from a 60-game season to the planned 162-game campaign.