Austin Martin's left hamstring strain will likely sideline him into September, and the injury seemingly cleared the way for the Twins to fill his roster spot with one of two Triple-A prospect types who could add a much-needed boost for a lineup that has struggled for most of the second half:
Either a right-handed batter (Gabriel Gonzalez, Aaron Sabato, Ben Ross) to take over Martin's limited platoon role matching up against left-handed pitchers or a left-handed batter (Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Matt Wallner, Hendry Mendez) capable of taking on a more substantial role.
Instead, the Twins bypassed all of those options in favor of calling up 30-year-old journeyman catcher Alex Jackson, a career .174 hitter in the majors who spent the previous month collecting dust on the bench as a third-string player behind Ryan Jeffers and Victor Caratini.
Even weirder, the Twins had just designated Jackson for assignment days earlier, following a two-week stretch in which they punted a roster spot by giving him a single at-bat in 10 games. Odder still, Jackson passed through waivers unclaimed by the other 29 teams Monday morning, just hours before rejoining the Twins.