Who Drafted Kyle Gibson?
Kyle Gibson was drafted in the 36th round of the 2006 MLB June Amateur Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies.
He did not, however, sign. Instead, he chose to play collegiate baseball for the Missouri Tigers, where he started behind Aaron Crow as the No. 2 starter.
He was selected as a league all-star while playing collegiate summer baseball with the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League in 2007.
Despite concerns that a stress fracture in his elbow might hurt his prospects in the 2009 MLB Draft, the Minnesota Twins took Gibson in the first round, 22nd overall, after the team’s doctor gave him the green light.
Gibson’s decision to sign with the team was pushed to the last hour before the August 16 deadline due to negotiations over his signing bonus, with Gibson ultimately agreeing to sign for $1.85 million.
Gibson’s professional baseball debut was delayed due to a stress fracture until the start of the 2010 season when he was assigned to the Class A-Advanced Fort Myers Miracle of the Florida State League.
Gibson went 4–1 with a 1.87 ERA in seven starts with Fort Myers, striking out 40 batters in 43+23 innings of work.
Gibson’s time with the Miracle was brief: on May 11, he was promoted to the Double-A New Britain Rock Cats to make room on the 25-man roster for new pitchers Loek van Mil and Andrei Lobanov.
Gibson was one of three Rock Cats players selected to appear in the 2010 Eastern League All-Star Game after winning his first three Double-A starts and posting a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.17 in his first month and a half with the team.
Gibson went 7–5 with a 3.68 ERA in 16 starts with 77 strikeouts in 93 innings at New Britain before being promoted to the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings on August 11.
He’d been brought up to replace Jeff Manship, who had been elevated to the big leagues as a fill-in for Jose Mijares, who was out with an injury.