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Pitchers

Starters

Dustin Warren

The team’s 5^th round pick, the 30 year Warren has been named St Cloud’s opening day starter. The righty has 4 solidly above average pitches, including a cut fastball that he throws as hard as 93 mph. He mixes his pitches well which should lead to a decent strikeout rate, and he was always good at limiting walks during his amateur career. Unfortunately, he has to keep the hitters off balance, as often times his pitches straighten out and if the batter guessed right he can hit the ball a long way. The Lake Shore native has avoided injuries throughout his career and Rox hope he can provide them a durable arm at the front of the rotation.

Dean “Nervous” Geston

Grabbed one round before Warren, the 29 year old Geston will be asked to be the club’s number 2 starter. Scouts have always drooled over Geston’s fastball, which he throws as hard as 99 mph. Unfortunately, his secondary offerings are average at best, and this can lead to trouble against better hitters. Some think there is still some untapped potential left in Gesson’s right arm, but a sketchy injury history makes him quite the gable for the Rox. The Mound View native has always been viewed a good teammate, and through spring training seemed to be the leader of the pitching staff.

Brian Gifford

The final three spots in the Rox rotation will be filled by southpaws, all of whom have their warts. The 25 year old Gifford is a bit of a junk baller, mixing 4 mediocre to average pitches (including the always entertaining knuckle curve) and not touching more than 92 on the gun. All of pitches seem to have pretty good downward action, leading to lots of groundballs. The Savage native still has room to grow as a pitcher, but his upside is pretty limited.

Chris Scarver

You might call Scarver a poor man’s Brian Gifford, which is not much of a compliment. The 28 year old was taken in the 13^th round by the Rox, and lacks any dominant pitches. The Minneapolis native is a hard worker who generally can limit homeruns, but mediocre control will not help his cause. Hey, at least he is a good bunter.

Kevin Dirk

Unlike the previous 2 lefties, Dirk still seems to have some untapped potential. The 26 year old has two very good pitches, a fastball that isn’t thrown that hard but has plenty of movement, and a devastating slider. He also mixes in a solid circle change up and has been working recently on more of a straight change. His lack of stamina is a concern, and if the Bloomington native doesn’t show the ability to work through the middle innings of games on a consistent basis his future may lie in the bullpen.

Bullpen

Ellis Hart

While there are plenty of question marks throughout the Rox rotation, it looks like the bullpen might be a relative strength. The 36 year old Hart will be counted on to close out games, but could also be used in high leverage situations earlier in the game. The Edina native has a fastball in the mid 90s and uses a devastating curveball as his strikeout pitch. His pinpoint control helps him avoid free passes, and even when runners reach he is one of the hardest relievers in the game to steal on. Of course, at 36, things could fall apart quickly, but the team has full confidence with the game in Hart’s hands.

Allen Houts

The 27 year old Houts was selected in the 19^th round and will serve as one of the team’s primary setup men. While he doesn’t have one dominant pitch he mixes in 4 different pitches and has confidence in any of them. The native of Minneapolis has a rubber arm and could very well lead the club in games pitched this season. There are some in the organization that think it may be worth trying to stretch out the righty and see if his 4 pitch arsenal would work as a starter, though it does not appear the teams has any plans to do so at this point.

Matt Caldwell

The team’s counterpart to Houts from the left side will be the just turned 26 year old Caldwell. While he doesn’t throw as hard as most late inning relievers he mixes 3 above average pitches to keep hitters off balance. Caldwell can be a frustrating pitcher at times as he demonstrated during spring training. When he is on he hits all his spots with great precision, but in some outings he seems to lose his arm slot and his control goes with it. If the Wilmar native can find a way to always replicate his delivery each outing he could become a very dangerous weapon.

Brent Albrecht

The 33 year old Albrecht was claimed off waivers from Brooklyn Park just prior to spring training, and impressed enough during the exhibition games to make the squad. The righty throws in the mid 90s while also mixing in decent curveball, however, his control can be very spotty. Albrecht probably doesn’t have a very long leash at the start of the season, there were a number of pitchers competing for the last few spots in the bullpen, and Albrecht is getting may be getting the first shot at the job simply because is out of options. Albrecht already had a friend on the team when he came over, as he grew up with Nick Jernigan in Chisholm.

Robby “Major” Millar

The 34 year Millar gives the Rox a 2^nd lefty out of the pen, and he will likely be used as a matchup lefty early in the year. While he can hit 97 on occasion his fastball is fairly straight and his off-speed pitches are nothing to write home about. The Albertville native has been used as a starter at times during his amateur career, and with the lack of big league ready pitching in the St. Cloud system he may be called on to start if there are any injuries in the rotation.

Tim Bruce

Similar to Albrecht, one of the reasons Bruce made the team was that he was out of options and if he gets off to a poor start he may not be long for the team. The 29 year old Bruce is the definition of a junkballer, he rarely hits 90 mph and has to get buy on guts and guile. As a 4^th righty out of the pen a team could do worse, but the North St Paul native probably doesn’t want to look into any real estate in the St. Cloud area.