Prielipp could be a candidate to pitch bulk innings in relief behind starter Joe Ryan (glute) during Monday's game in Detroit, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com reports.
As he makes his return from the 15-day injured list Monday for his first appearance for the Twins since Aug. 4, Ryan isn't expected to be ready to handle a traditional starting role after tossing just three innings and 42 pitches in his lone minor-league rehab start prior to being activated. The Twins had already been planning on managing Prielipp's workload as the season winds down, so skipping the rookie's turn in the rotation and having him cover a few innings behind Ryan would seem to be a sensible approach. Ryan should be mostly stretched out the next time his turn in the rotation comes up, so Prielipp could be headed for a more flexible bullpen role following Monday's contest.