J.T. Chargois

Position: RHP
Born: 12/3/1990
Height: 6'3
Weight: 200
B/T: S/R
Acquired: Drafted in the second round of the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft (MIN).

Most Recent Stats at Time of Debut
CURRENT SEASON STATS: 0-0 with a 1.12 ERA in 22 games between Chattanooga (Double-A) and Rochester (Triple-A), striking out 34 and walking nine while allowing 14 hits in 24 innings.

Info & MLB Debut Date
Recalled from Rochester June 10 when RHP Kyle Gibson was activated from the 15-day DL and RHPs Phil Hughes and Trevor May were placed on the 15-day DL.
MLB Debut Date: 6/11/2016

Debut Details
June 11, in a 15-4 loss to the Red Sox. The fifth of six pitchers, Chargois allowed five runs, all earned, on three hits and two walks in two-thirds of an inning. Of 30 pitches, 14 were for strikes. Chargois came on to start the ninth inning with the Twins down 10-4. He got the first batter he faced, Dustin Pedroia, to line out to first base before Xander Bogaerts got things started with a single to center. David Ortiz followed with another single and was replaced by pinch-runner Rusney Castillo. A groundout by Hanley Ramirez for the second out of the inning advanced the runners to second and third, before Chargois hit Jackie Bradley, Jr., with a pitch to load the bases. Chris Young’s single to left field scored Bogaerts and Castillo, after which Travis Shaw drew a walk. A wild pitch by Chargois while Sandy Leon was at bat allowed Bradley to score, and the runners to advance, though the bases were loaded again within moments when Leon, too, walked. At this point, Brandon Kintzler came on to relieve Chargois and gave up a two-run single to Mookie Betts on his first pitch to allow Young and Shaw to score before ending the inning.

Player Notes
Don’t let Chargois’ rough debut sour you. This guy is the real deal as closer prospects go. In an event split between Chattanooga (1.54 ERA) and Rochester (0.73) to start the season before his promotion, he continued to show why he is a legit back-end of the bullpen option. Boasting a combined 2.05 ERA in 82 games since turning pro, fanning 109 while walking 39 in 88 innings over 82 games, he sports the best fastball in the Twins organization, reaching triple digits with it, but offsets that heat with a solid slider and changeup, so he’s more than a one-trick pony. Chargois, who missed all of 2013 and 2014 with arm issues that necessitated Tommy John surgery, does all the little things well – from fielding his position to mixing his pitches. In his last – and, actually, only – full season in 2015, between Fort Myers (High A) and Chattanooga, he went 2-1 with a 2.62 ERA in 48 games, collecting 18 saves and striking out 53 in 48 innings while walking 25 and giving up 38 hits. He’d sparkled as well in his brief pro debut at Elizabethton (Short-season A) in 2012 when he posted a 1.69 ERA with five saves in 12 games, striking out 22 and walking five in 16 innings.