Minnesota Twins

Twins' Gibson turning heads at spring training

Published Mar. 27, 2017 4:05 p.m. ET

Tom Dierberger

Kyle Gibson has been turning heads during spring training.

He's been throwing so well that fellow pitcher Trevor May -- fresh off Tommy John surgery on March 22 -- took the time to tweet with his one healthy arm about his teammate.

May’s tweet came after another solid pitching performance for Gibson on Sunday. The former first-round pick out of Missouri threw six shutout innings, whiffed four batters and allowed a mere four hits to a Boston Red Sox team that had scored at least seven runs in five of its last seven games.

The six-inning effort was Gibson’s longest appearance this spring, but he has pitched at least five innings in his last four starts.

Here’s a breakdown of Gibby’s spring training:

DATE	OPP	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Feb. 24	Tampa Bay	1 2/3	2	0	0	2	0.00
March 1	Pittsburgh	1 2/3	6	2	1	0	5.40
March 6	St. Louis	4	2	1	1	2	3.68
March 11	Boston	5	4	0	1	4	2.19
March 16	St. Louis	5	1	1	1	5	2.08
March 21	Philadelphia	5	5	1	1	2	2.01
March 26	Boston	6	4	0	0	4	1.59
	TOTAL	28 1/3	24	5	5	19	1.59

Gibson leads his team's staff in innings pitched (28 1/3), strikeouts (19), ERA (1.59) and WHIP (1.02) for Twins pitchers who have thrown at least 10 spring-training innings.

He will look to carry his success into the regular season after a disappointing year in 2016.

The 29-year-old missed the whole month of May on the disabled list with shoulder and back injuries. Gibson struggled to find his groove again after the injuries, posting a 6-11 record with a 5.07 ERA in 147 1/3 innings pitched -- all career lows since his debut season in 2013.

But the right-handed pitcher showed promise towards the end of the year with a few outstanding starts. He recorded a complete game in August and shined in an eight-inning effort during a 8-1 win over the Detroit Tigers in September.

His strikeout-to-walk ratio in spring training (3.80) is drastically improved from last season (1.89), when he recorded 55 walks to only 104 strikeouts.

Although Ervin Santana will likely be the Twins' opening day starter, manager Paul Molitor will look to Gibson to be a reliable pitcher towards the front of the rotation.