Unfortunately for career minor leaguers (OF) Ryan Fitzgerald and (UF) Mickey Gasper, they will not be around when the Royals roll in this weekend. They no longer have Thursday night off, either.

Twins send Ryan Fitzgerald, Mickey Gasper down to Triple A

Instead, Fitzgerald (30 y/o) and Gasper (29 y/o) will be across the river, in St. Paul, playing for the Triple-A Saints, after both players were sent back to the minors this afternoon. Prior to Thursday’s roster move, the Minnesota Twins active roster had been expanded to 27 players, due to their doubleheader Wednesday. After the moves, the 26-man roster sits at just 25.

We have made the following roster moves: pic.twitter.com/ZTRie5zhaK

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) May 22, 2025

Most likely, the Twins wanted both Gasper and Fitzgerald available for the Saints today, thus why they pulled the demotion trigger early on both guys. Ryan Fitzgerald — who was called up for his MLB debut — played in two games and got three at-bats, while up with the Minnesota Twins. He scored one run, but did not record a hit or strikeout.

Gasper has not seen the MLB field since May 2. He was called up as the Twins’ 27th man for the doubleheader, but never saw the field. Gasper hit .176 (.488 OPS) with 4 walks and 3 RBI in 17 big league games prior to that early May demotion. Since being sent down.

The 29-year-old utility man has been crushing Triple A pitching, putting out a .333 batting average (1.170 OPS with 7 triples, 5 doubles and 15 RBI, in the same exact 17 games. How about that for a turnaround…

Carlos Correa set to return to Minnesota Twins active roster

According to multiple reports, the corresponding roster move that’ll eventually put the MN Twins back at 26 active players is expected to (eventually) be the activation of Carlos Correa off the 7-day concussion list. Why the delay? C4 is not eligible to return until Friday, per MLB concussion protocol.

#MNTwins option Ryan Fitzgerald to Triple-A St. Paul and returned 27th man Mickey Gasper. Both playing tonight.

No corresponding move today but it’s safe to say Carlos Correa is expected to return for Friday’s game against Kansas City.

— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) May 22, 2025

On Wednesday, reports broke that Correa was feeling much better, and that he had mostly passed all tests and protocols, even resuming baseball activities. Thus, today’s news isn’t surprising. The question now becomes… what Carlos Correa will we see step back into the batter’s box on Friday?

Related: Royce Lewis is Back and Better Than Ever… on Defense

That’s the question, because prior to his collision with Byron Buxton, which caused both players’ concussions, the 30-year-old former top 5 MVP candidate was just starting to dig himself out of the .236 BA, .605 OPS, 69 OPS+ hole he had dug himself into, to start the 2025 season.

Speaking of Buck, Hayes is being told by Minnesota Twins trainers that he too is “trending in the right direction”.

Everything Nick Paparesta said about Carlos Correa on Weds was positive. Concussion symptoms were gone after he’d performed a bunch of baseball activity. He said Byron Buxton also is trending the right direction, but was a step behind Correa. #MNTwins

— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) May 22, 2025

But after all of that went down, and while the game was on the line with less than 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter, PJ Fleck caught more heat from outsiders when his QB, Tanner Morgan, went to the ground after a big hit on a 2nd down sack. As time ticked away after that play, Tanner Morgan was trying to pull himself off the turf…. but it wasn’t going well. Rodney Smith was motioning to the Gopher sideline, that something was wrong with his QB. So Fleck told Tanner, from the sideline, to stay on the ground. Tanner didn’t want to, and the exchange that took place between him and Fleck, made some wonder if Fleck was trying to save some of the little time that was left on the clock, by forcing an injury timeout for Tanner.

We now know that Tanner was suffering from a concussion, due to the hit on 2nd down, but that didn’t stop the haters from yelling (per usual). PJ actually had to defend himself in Tuesday’s press conference because he was being accused of telling Tanner to stay down, for competetive reasons. Fleck points out how little sense that makes. First, he has two Freshman QB’s that he didn’t want to burn a redshirt game for NOR did he want to bring either of those Freshman in cold, to try and complete the biggest 3rd down of the season.

PJ Fleck LIVE for the #NWSZN presser! #Gophers #RTB https://t.co/NC6maU35wZ

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) November 19, 2019

If you go back and watch everything unfold, you can see Tanner trying to tell Fleck he can go back in… but Fleck has none of it. You can tell he knew Tanner wasn’t right. Instead of this being another reason for haters to jump all over PJ Fleck, this should be a situation where people rally around him. He made the responsible call by making sure Tanner didn’t see the playing field, for another snap of that football game, even though it was the biggest moment, of the biggest drive, in the biggest game, of his coaching career.

Tanner Morgan now sits in concussion protocol, and if you watched all of PJ’s presser, you know that he is day-to-day on whether he will return for this weekend’s game @ Northwestern. If he isn’t ready, Fleck said the QB will be determined by which of his Freshman QB’s claim the job, by practicing the best this week. Those two freshman candidates are Texas-native Jacob Clark and Eden Prairie native Cole Kramer.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan