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St. Paul Saints

Caught in an Arms Shuffle, Saints Add Two to Pitching Staff

June 5, 2021 - International League (IL)
St. Paul Saints News Release


LOUISVILLE, KY - Amidst a flurry of roster moves for the Saints, two pitchers will see their names listed on a Triple-A roster for the first time: left-handed pitcher Bryan Sammons and right-handed pitcher Matt Mullenbach.

Sammons will get the start against the Louisville Bats on Saturday night because the scheduled starter, Griffin Jax, had his contract selected by the Minnesota Twins. Sammons started the 2021 season in Double-A with the Wichita Wind Surge where he was off to an 0-3 start with a 6.45 ERA. The 26-year-old has gone at least four innings in each of his five starts. In each of those five starts, the lefty has struck out six in all but one start, where he struck out five.

A Wilmington, NC native, Sammons went 9-6 in the 2019 season. Making 24 starts, he struck out 131 while walking 49, and garnered a 3.18 ERA. He started the season with Fort Myers, where he went 4-0 with an 0.94 ERA, which earned him a ticket to the 2019 Florida State League All-Star Game. He finished the season with Double-A Pensacola, where he went 5-6 and collected an ERA of 4.24, throwing his lone complete game of his career with the Blue Wahoos.

Sammons spent most of his 2017 and 2018 seasons in Cedar Rapids. It was in 2018 that he made the transition to becoming a full-time starter, starting all but two games since then. His professional career got off to a hot start in 2017, where he went 5-1 between Elizabethton and Cedar Rapids, striking out 66 batters while only walking 18.

Sammons played his collegiate baseball at Western Carolina University where he finished third in the Southern Conference in strikeouts and was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American. The Twins drafted Sammons with the first pick in the eighth round of the 2017 First-Year Player Draft.

Mullenbach joins the Saints from the Fort Myers complex. He's pitched in two professional seasons; in 2021 where he started with the Lake Erie Crushers of the Frontier League and in 2019 with the Brooklyn Cyclones, at the time the short-season affiliate of the New York Mets.

In two games for Lake Erie this season, Mullenbach gave up three earned runs in 4.0 innings, walking three and striking out five.

The 24-year-old pitched in 19 games for the Cyclones out of the bullpen, finishing with a 1-5 record and a 2.84 ERA while collecting five saves. He dominated right-handed bats, allowing just a .123 average in 57 at-bats in the 2019 season that saw the Cyclones win the New York-Penn League title, where Mullenbach posted 0.2 innings of relief in Game One of the Championship Series.

The Urbandale, IA native played his college ball with Lincoln Memorial University, where he finished with an 11-7 career mark, making 36 starts in 60 games. The Mets signed him as an undrafted free agent after his college career finished.

Mullenbach was signed by the Twins to a minor league contract on Friday.

The Minnesota Twins selected the contract of Griffin Jax on Saturday and was added to the Twins roster, the first time he's reached the Major Leagues in his career. Jax was 3-1 with a 3.33 ERA in five starts. In 27.0 innings pitched he walked 10 and struck out 29 while opponents hit .257 against him. Jax struck out a career high 10 in his last start on May 28 at Iowa. He becomes the first Air Force graduate that was drafted out of the Academy to reach the Major Leagues.

The Saints roster now consists of 28 players, 16 pitchers and 12 position players with two players on the injured list and one on the temporary inactive list.

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