Brian

Bass

This opens up a spot for Seth Etherton on the 40-man roster. Bass had a 7.59 ERA in seven starts for Triple-A Omaha before being demoted to Wichita earlier this month. The 24-year-old is a future middle reliever at best.

The story was passed along by MyKBO.net. Bass, who turned 30 earlier this month, posted a 3.81 ERA and 105/56 K/BB ratio over 158 1/3 innings as a starter with Triple-A Lehigh Valley in the Phillies’ organization last season. He has a 5.16 ERA over 183 innings in the majors between the Orioles, Twins and Pirates.

Bass had been pitching in Korea. He’ll join Triple-A Oklahoma City’s rotation on Wednesday.

Bass put up an ugly 5.56 ERA and 46/34 K/BB ratio over 77 2/3 innings last year at Triple-A for the Astros. He hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2010 and is merely organizational filler.

Bass, 28, spent about two weeks in the majors and put up a 12.79 ERA and 2.68 WHIP in three relief appearances. He was dumped in order to make room for the return of Monday’s starter Ross Ohlendorf.

Bass, 23, is in the AFL for a second straight year after going 12-8 with a 5.24 ERA for Double-A Wichita this season. His success in Arizona last year came as a reliever and the Royals might want to think about a switch to the pen next year. Although he’s been flawless in two starts for Surprise, he doesn’t have enough to go along with his fastball and curve to succeed as a starter in the majors.

It’s apparently not enough that Surprise has the league’s best lineup, because the team is also getting some excellent pitching performances. Bass isn’t a top prospect at all, but he has given up just four hits and walked none in 12 scoreless innings.

Bass, a former Royals prospect, had a 3.48 ERA in 10 starts and 27 relief appearances for Triple-A Rochester this year. There’s little upside here, but he might get a look as a middle reliever next spring.

The Twins let Bass become a minor league free agent rather than add him to the 40-man roster last month, but they wanted him back all along, and now that they have less pitching depth, they figured it made sense to give him the major league deal. The former Royals prospect had a 3.48 ERA in 10 starts and 27 relief appearances for Triple-A Rochester last season. He could be a swingman for the club.