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Last week, the Twins called up hard-throwing Alan Busenitz from Rochester. In an article on Busenitz, we mentioned that Trevor Hildenberger was also very deserving.
The side-arming righty was the Twins Daily choice for Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year in 2015 and again in 2016.
In 21 games for Rochester this season, he is 2-1 with six saves. In 30.2 innings, he has allowed 27 hits, walked eight and struck out 35.
Following Thursday night's game, Hildenberger got the news every ballplayer wants to hear. And, he was able to share it with a couple of very important people. Hildenberger said, "It was awesome having my parents in Rochester and being able to tell them face-to-face."
Hildenberger's story is a great one. He was the 22nd-round pick of the Twins in 2014 out of Cal-Berkeley. He was at Berkeley for five years (a redshirt year), and he barely got on the mound until his fourth year because of a change he made on the mound.
As he told Seth in the Twins Prospect Handbook 2016, "It started back at the end of my third year at Cal-Berkeley when my teammate wore the wrong number jersey to practice. My pitching coach, Mike Neu, commented on what he pictured when he saw my teammate's number. I asked him what he pictured when he saw my number 26, and he said a sidearm pitcher because UCLA and Washington both had sidearm relief pitchers with the number 26. At that point in time, I had thrown a cumulative 12 innings in three years and was clearly not effective enough to compete. So he asked me to throw a bullpen from a lower arm angle. I obliged, not realizing it was a permanent change. He liked what he saw and sent me off to summer ball in Bend, Oregon, in the summer of 2012 to refine my new style and experience some growing pains."
The change worked. He had a great final season at Cal, got drafted and on Thursday night, received the call that every baseball player hopes for, a call to the big leagues.
Hildenberger is comfortable with himself now as a pitcher and what it takes for him to be successful. In that same article, he said, "I really pride myself on throwing strikes with all three of my pitches, and the ones over the top too. If I get to a 3-2 count, I have no problem throwing from side-arm, fastball, changeup or slider. I really believe I can put it in the strike zone when I need to."
At Berkeley, Hildenberger majored in American Film and Media. It's something he has a passion for. He told us, "I'm a big movie guy. I wrote about film a lot in college. I watch films that are a bit more off the beaten path, some foreign films or independent films that are played in really small theaters.
But it's on the pitcher's mound that Hildenberger has dominated, really since signing back in 2014. Like Busenitz, Hildenberger has earned his promotion.
The 22nd-round pick becomes the first member of the Twins 2014 draft to reach the big leagues. If healthy, it's likely both Nick Burdi and Jake Reed would be up too, and John Curtiss is certainly a name to watch as he's dominating in AA. Nick Gordon was the team's top pick, and he's put up an all-star first half in Chattanooga.
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