One of the adages about Major League Baseball that rings the most true is that it’s extremely tough to make it to the big leagues, but even tougher to stay there.
Right-handed pitcher Grant Hartwig has learned that lesson the hard way. Signed by the New York Mets as an undrafted free agent in 2021, Hartwig made a fairly fast climb to the big leagues, debuting in 2023 and throwing a total of 42 major league innings over two seasons.
Unfortunately, after putting up a 5.14 ERA in that major league sample size, Hartwig found himself released by the Mets this summer after spending the first three months of the season in Triple-A. He then played the remainder of the season in Japan, where he made 20 appearances at two levels for the Hanshin Tigers organization.
That experience overseas landed Hartwig a new opportunity stateside, as he recently signed a minor-league deal with the Minnesota Twins, according to the transactions log on his official roster page. The signing occurred on Tuesday, but first appeared on the log on Thursday.
In Japan, Hartwig put up a 3.65 ERA in 16 appearances for the Tigers’ big-league squad, then a 2.25 ERA in four outings for their equivalent of a minor-league affiliate. He totaled just 12 strikeouts overseas, but allowed 10 hits in 16 1/3 innings.
Heading into his age-28 season, Hartwig will try to crack the bullpen depth chart for a Twins team that traded away just about everyone who was making an impact early in the season at the July deadline. There weren’t many better organizations to sign with this offseason for fringe big-leaguers.
Meanwhile, the Mets’ bullpen collapsed in the second half this season, but there’s not much evidence to suggest keeping Hartwig around would have solved the problem.
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