Minnesota Twins Offer Good News on Injured Stars

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Pablo Lopez, Minnesota Twins
Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

There has not been much in the form of good news for the Minnesota Twins this season. That’s what happens when you’re 7-15 through your first 22 games, landing your best bullpen pitchers on trade candidate lists and your manager on the hot seat.

The Twins have placed a bunch of players on the injured list in the first month of the season, which has caused all sorts of shuffling around in St. Paul and on both the 26-man and 40-man rosters. Fortunately there were some positive developments on the injury front Tuesday evening, prior to their first of three games vs the White Sox.

Pablo Lopez back on Thursday for Minnesota Twins

A couple of weeks ago, Pablo Lopez landed on the injured list with a hamstring strain, after he was pulled from the mound in the 5th inning of his last start vs the Kansas City Royals back on April 7. Thankfully, after a Triple-A rehab start on Saturday, Pablo is on his way back up to the big leagues, and will take his spot back in the Minnesota Twins rotation on Thursday, in the final game of their current home series vs the South Siders.

The Twins haven’t announced which day López will be activated from the 15-day injured list — he’s eligible to return Thursday — but nothing in their rotation order is solidified beyond David Festa scheduled for Wednesday’s start.

“He’s in a really good spot to return to the big leagues, not have to make another rehab start and rejoin the rotation,” said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, who didn’t elaborate.”

Star Tribune

Through three turns through the rotation this season, Lopez owns a 1.62 ERA (3.28 FIP) with 14 strikeouts and only two walks in 16 2/3 innings. That’s a much better start than the 4.08 ERA he finished 2024 with. The Minnesota Twins will get one more turn from David Festa before he is likely optioned back to Triple A.

Related: MLB Insider Names Minnesota Twins Most Likely Trade Candidate

Given how well he’s pitched since his promotion, sending him down might not be the best option available to the Twins. Through nine innings so far this season (two starts), Festa has turned in 9 innings of 1 run (unearned) baseball, allowing eight hits and two walks vs 10 strikeouts.

MN Twins await Royce Lewis too

Unlike Pablo Lopez, Royce Lewis wasn’t on the Minnesota Twins Opening Day roster. Just like Lopez, however, the 2017 No. 1 overall pick is recovering from a hamstring injury that was originally tagged with a six-to-eight week recovery time.

Lewis last played for the Twins on March 16, during Spring Training. He suffered his injury trying to leg out an infield single. On Tuesday, Lewis ran the bases and responded well to the next phase of testing for his injured hammy. The Star Tribune’s Bobby Nightengale is reporting that a rehab assignment could come as soon as this week for the Minnesota Twins’ third baseman… should he continue to progress.

“Royce Lewis ran the bases before Tuesday’s game, moving him closer to starting a rehab assignment, which is expected to begin later this week. Lewis, who has been doing defensive drills and took on-field batting practice for a couple of weeks, ran sprints during Monday’s off day before working with third base coach Tommy Watkins on Tuesday. He ran out of the batter’s box a few times, and he practiced running first to third.”

Bobby Nightengale – Star Tribune

Royce Lewis hasn’t seen game action for such a substantial amount of time that a week or more of rehab games wouldn’t be surprising. Then again, teammate Brooks Lee played in just three rehab games with St. Paul before rejoining the lineup.

Minnesota is desperate for offense and that could put Lewis in a position to return sooner than may be traditionally expected. For the first time in his career he struggled offensively last season batting just .233/.295/.452 with 16 home runs in 82 games.

This spring Lewis posted a .346/.469/.423 slash line across 26 at bats. If he’s seeing the ball like that, then Baldelli will gladly welcome him back into the lineup immediately.

Less promising Twins injury news

Unlike Lopez and Lewis, Willi Castro suffered an injury but was not placed on the injured list. Despite his oblique injury forcing him from last week’s contest against the New York Mets, he still remains out of action. It has now been six days since he has been in the lineup and the Twins have played short.

Sure, the 40-man roster is exhausted, but that’s more a reflection of the team-building done by Derek Falvey. The fact that Minnesota has no one else available to replace a player missing six straight days rather than place them on the 10-day injured list is silly.

Michael Tonkin, who recently had his rehab assignment moved to Triple-A St. Paul on Tuesday, was shelled. It’s not clear where he fits in the bullpen regardless, but getting eyes on him wasn’t pretty.

Not only did Tonkin struggle to show any semblance of his already mediocre velocity, but Triple-A batters feasted on his lack of command. He’s going to need more outings for the Saints to prove a promotion is worthy. Even then, a DFA may not be far behind.

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