Minnesota Twins Lose Young Pitcher to Injured List

Coming into the 2025 Major League Baseball season, the Minnesota Twins felt good about their pitching depth, both in the bullpen and the starting rotation. Fast forward to just over one week remaining until the midseason trade deadline, and you wouldn’t know that’s the case, however.

The tough thing about depth at any position in professional sports is that it can be fleeting. All it takes is a down year here and an injury there, before it’s gone. And while the MN Twins may have had plenty of pitching depth to start the season, that hasn’t proven to be the case since it started.

In large part, that’s why the Twins find themselves sitting under .500, with a 49-52 record, and looking at a selloff between now and the July 31 trade deadline.

With Pablo Lopez out since the start of June, Minnesota’s rotation has looked like a shell of itself, in large part due to health, not just that of their ace, but other ancillary members of the staff, as well.

David Festa heads to IL for Minnesota Twins

Throughout the spring/summer we’ve seen all sorts of Twins pitchers go on and off the IL, like Zebby Matthews and Bailey Ober, who are both healthier now than they have been for much of the season.

But now that those two are getting back into the swing of things, the Minnesota Twins’ rotation has been dealt another blow, this time to 25-year-old righty, David Festa, who was placed on the 15-day injured list Wednesday, replaced on the 26-man roster with long-reliever, Travis Adams.

We have made the following roster moves: pic.twitter.com/HXPZ7F5fEX

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) July 23, 2025

Related: Another MN Twins Starter Nearing Return to Rotation

David Festa has made 11 appearances (10 starts) this season. His latest came Monday, against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. While he worked into the sixth inning and looked no worse for wear, something was obviously amiss in his shoulder, where he now has “right shoulder inflammation”.

The injury wouldn’t appear to be workload-related. Festa — who pitched 103 2/3 innings in 2022, 92 1/3 in 2023, and 124 2/3 last year — has thrown just 82 innings between the majors and Triple-A this season.

David Festa felt so good Monday, in fact, that manager Rocco Baldelli sent him back out for the sixth inning, to face the Dodgers’ lineup a third time through. That’s something the skipper has not done with young arms this season and would seem to indicate there were no injury concerns, at the time.

MN Twins injury issues may not be over

It’s possible that Festa simply needs a break, or that something came up when he returned to the ballpark on Tuesday. At any rate, Travis Adams is back again to replace him.

The 2021 6th round draft pick out of Cal State Sacramento has been up twice previously this season. Across three games he has pitched 9 innings allowing 7 runs (6 earned) on 12 hits, with a 6/1 K/BB ratio

Festa’s placement on the injured list was somewhat of a surprise. If there was a candidate to be cautious of it was reliever Anthony Misiewicz. He was on the mound late against Los Angeles on Tuesday and left with a pectoral injury.

LHP Anthony Misiewicz apparently sustained an injury somewhere during the instant replay delay. He's out of the game.

— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) July 23, 2025

At this point Misiewicz is considered day-to-day. He has pitched in four games for the Twins and allowed five runs on four hits in just 4 1/3 innings. As a lefty, he gives Baldelli a low-leverage option without having to utilize Danny Coulombe in those spots.

Considering Coulombe is a prime trade candidate next week, the Minnesota Twins may need to look at a recall of Kody Funderburk if they want a second southpaw in the bullpen. At any rate, Misiewicz is likely unavailable for Wednesday’s game against Los Angeles.

Hopefully he feels well enough to avoid a trip to the injured list.

Diego Cartaya sent packing

An additional move was made at Triple-A on Wednesday as well. After claiming Jhonny Pereda from the Athletics yesterday, the MN Twins opted to release Diego Cartaya. They traded for him this offseason and it never worked out. He had already been removed from the 40-man roster.

Cartaya was once a top 100 prospect for the Los Angeles Dodgers but his production has fallen off a cliff. He played in only 20 games for the Saints this year while spending most of his time on the Development List. Cartaya was just 5-for-59 with a 40/9 K/BB.

Related: Minnesota Twins Swap Out Minor League Catchers

Minnesota’s only minor league catcher on the 40-man roster is Pereda. St. Paul also employs Noah Cardenas and Patrick Winkel as additional depth.