The Twins have been plagued by injuries in recent weeks, but they’re on the verge of getting several key players back. Right-hander Kenta Maeda will be activated from the injured list to start tomorrow night’s game against the Mariners, manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Dan Hayes of the Athletic). He hasn’t pitched since May 22, when he went on the IL due to a groin strain.
It’s been a difficult season for Maeda, last year’s AL Cy Young award runner-up. The 33-year-old has managed just a 5.27 ERA over his first nine starts. Maeda’s strikeout rate has fallen from an elite 32.3% in 2020 to a below-average 20.5% this season. He’s also seen rather significant drops in his swinging strike and groundball rates, with opposing hitters making much harder contact off him.
Those struggles aside, the Twins will assuredly be happy to get their Opening Day starter back on the mound. Minnesota’s assortment of back-end starters (Matt Shoemaker, J.A. Happ, Randy Dobnak, Bailey Ober) have struggled to varying degrees, perhaps the biggest reason for the team’s horrible 26-39 start. Making matters worse, righty Michael Pineda is day-to-day after leaving this afternoon’s start with right forearm tightness (notes Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press). Baldelli suggested Pineda could require an IL stint of his own (via Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com).
While the rotation has been a massive disappointment, the Twins also haven’t been helped by a series of injuries to some of their top position players. Byron Buxton was off to an MVP-level start, but he went down with a right hip strain on May 7. Buxton has been on the IL for the past five weeks, but Baldelli said the star center fielder will accompany the team to Seattle (via Park). The same is true of utilityman Luis Arráez, who’s been out since May 26 with a right shoulder strain.
Buxton and Arráez have been on rehab assignments at Triple-A St. Paul, but they’re evidently nearing a return to the majors. They should be followed in relatively short order by Max Kepler. The 28-year-old outfielder began a rehab assignment of his own today, serving as the designated hitter in St. Paul. Kepler put up a .212/.303/.424 line in 152 plate appearances this season before straining his left hamstring.
The train is about to start roll in’!
… right into the train wreck.
Not nearly the injuries the White Sox have had to deal with.
And the ChiSox are doing just fine…!
Good one DA
Good one
Explain….
so White Sox trolls are now trolling their division rivals instead of just the Cubs now?
Plenty of Twins fans were trolling the Sox in the offseason. Turnaround is fair play.
Bizarre comment, as if trolling is somehow unique to white Sox fans.
Feel you. Mers fan..We hit 17 of our guys at one time
As a White Sox fan, I’m actually excited about the return of Buxton. For years, he was the league’s top prospect, then it was injury or underperformance for several years. This is the first year he’s really lived up to the billing (much like Rodon on our end). I was disappointed when he went down with that injury because I like seeing the best players play, even when they’re playing against my favorite team.
Buxton is an 80 game a year guy. It’s just how he’s been his entire career and he already had some chronic injuries in his early/mid 20s. It’d be great if he could stay on the field for a full season, but it’s a pipe dream at this point.
I do feel bad for him. The physical talent is amazing!
all the injuries to the offense don’t really have meaning if you can’t PITCH. …yesterday the Twins lead the MLB in Home Runs… a meaningless stat when it comes to the reality on the ground: They Have no Pitching here or in the Minors that screams “WE ARE CHAMPIONS”.. so they must be hoping for the Magic Unicorn to win.. because they don’t have MLB Championship pitching now or in the foreseeable future..
So what can you expect from Kepler rest of season?
I don’t know if I believe it myself but I have a theory—JUST A THEORY—that the Twins pitchers who were previously using some sort of gripping substance in the past all stopped this year, perhaps influenced by an outspoken teammate (Donaldson). Maybe that’s why Maeda, Dobnak, Colome, Shoemaker, Happ, Duffey and others are suddenly putting up subpar numbers. Maybe the Twins were the only, or one of very few, teams not using any substances, and we’ll suddenly see some normalization due to the league’s crackdown.