MN Twins Announce Brutal Injury News; DFA Reliever
This season was expected to be a bumpy ride for the Minnesota Twins. At 22-26, they’ve somehow been treading water, staying well within striking distance of the division-leading Cleveland Guardians.
However, the season may have unofficially gone off the rails today. Within days/hours of demoting both Matt Wallner and Royce Lewis to Triple-A the Twins lost starting catcher Ryan Jeffers in the 8th inning Monday night.
Ryan Jeffers’ injury is significant
It happened when he swung and busted his bat on a first-pitch cutter from Astros reliever AJ Blubaugh. Two pitches later, the soon-to-be 29-year-old (June 3 birthday) removed himself from the eventual Twins win what was originally diagnosed as a wrist strain.
Unfortunately, an MRI Tuesday morning revealed that Jeffers’ injury is far worse than a wrist strain. It’s a broken hamate bone. Jeffers will undergo surgery and require 6-8 weeks of recovery according to Aaron Gleeman (The Athletic).
In addition to demoting Royce Lewis to the minors, the Twins also placed Ryan Jeffers on the injured list with a fractured left hamate bone.
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) May 19, 2026
That's a significant injury for Jeffers.
Twins have called up Orlando Arcia to replace Lewis and Alex Jackson to replace Jeffers.
Ryan Jeffers hit this foul ball and broke his bat.
— Ted (@tlschwerz) May 19, 2026
He then watched two balls and left the game. pic.twitter.com/JyhOyp4Pil
A broken hamate bone — an injury that can drastically impact power production, at least in the short term — is a relatively common injury for baseball players. That doesn’t make it any less unfortunate or easy to come back from, however.
What an unfortunate blow for Jeffers, who was batting .295 with a .949 OPS to open the season, easily the best production of his MLB career. The injury also comes at a terrible time for the Minnesota Twins.
Latest MN Twins News: Royce Lewis Demoted
Now, they won’t have Jeffers at their disposal for what could be months, which could very well take him off the table in trade discussions before the trade deadline. That could prove a problem, as Ryan is in the final year of his rookie contract.
Now that he is going on the injured list, it’s quite possible the MN Twins lose him for nothing this offseason, when he hits free agency for the first time. In Ryan Jeffers’ absence, recently acquired Alex Jackson, will pair with Victor Caratini as the Twins’ new backstop duo.
Minnesota Twins DFA Justin Topa
Acquired in the Jorge Polanco trade with the Seattle Mariners, Justin Topa was supposed to be a high-leverage bullpen option. He never replicated the 2.61 ERA he posted in 2023 with the Mariners, and ballooned to an 8.05 ERA this season. After another tough outing on Monday night, his time in Minnesota looks to be over.
#MNTwins made space on the 40-man roster for Orlando Arcia by DFA'ing reliever Justin Topa.
— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) May 19, 2026
Making room on the 40-man roster for recently promoted veteran Orlando Arcia, Topa has been designated for assignment. Minnesota signed Topa to a one-year deal worth $1 million this season. It’s possible another team could claim him and hope to fix the problems.
Last season Topa posted a 3.90 ERA (3.04 FIP) with the MN Twins. His track record for health has not been good however, and he’s unlikely to reinvent himself at 35 years old.
The Twins bullpen has been brutal all season, and removing a negative arm like Topa may help. That also requires whoever replaces him to show a significantly higher level of competence.
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