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Twins To Select Andrew Stevenson

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The Twins announced that they have selected outfielder Andrew Stevenson to take one of the two spots on the expanded active roster, with left-hander Brent Headrick recalled to take the other. To open a spot on the 40-man for Stevenson, infielder José Miranda was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com reported on Stevenson’s promotion prior to the official announcement.

Stevenson, 29, spent his entire career with the Nationals before reaching free agency after last year, after which he signed a minor league deal with the Twins. He’s played 106 games for Triple-A St. Paul this year, hitting 16 home runs and stealing 44 bases. His .317/.394/.522 batting line translates to a wRC+ of 129, indicating he’s been 29% better than league average, even in the heightened offensive environment of this year’s International League.

That strong performance will get Stevenson back to the majors. He already has 248 games of big league experience from his time with the Nats, hitting .248/.322/.365 in that time. He has played all three outfield positions in the majors and with the Saints this year, giving the Twins some extra depth all around the grass.

The club already has a fairly crowded outfield mix, with Michael A. Taylor the regular in center, with Max Kepler, Matt Wallner, Joey Gallo and Jordan Luplow all in the mix for playing time. Byron Buxton recently began a rehab assignment and has started playing center field again, after only serving as the designated hitter so far this year. Taylor is hitting just .228/.280/.417 against righties this year for a wRC+ of 89. That’s led to Gallo playing center on some days of late, but perhaps the lefty-swinging Stevenson could factor in there and push Gallo to a corner or first base.

Even if Stevenson can’t carve out regular playing time, he figures to be a useful bench piece. His 44 steals in Triple-A this year suggest he could be a pinch runner in key situations, at the very least. He won’t be able to reach the three-year service time mark this year, so the Twins could retain him for three more seasons via arbitration if they so choose. He is out of options, however, and can’t be sent back to the minors without first being exposed to waivers.

As for Miranda, he’s already been out of action close to 60 days, having landed on the IL on July 12 due to a right shoulder impingement. He’ll be eligible to be activated in a little over a week but has yet to begin a rehab assignment.

MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: Ohtani’s Torn UCL, Free Agent Power Rankings and Stephen Strasburg to Retire

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:

Plus, we answer your questions, including:

  • Would the Brewers be a good fit for Pete Alonso? (21:10)
  • What will the Cubs do at first base next year and could Alonso be a fit? (24:50)
  • Could Alonso fit on the Twins? (26:35)

Check out our past episodes!

  • The White Sox Fire Their Front Office, Injured Rays and Prospect Promotion Time – listen here
  • Pete Alonso’s Future, Yankees’ Rotation Troubles and Should the Trade Deadline Be Pushed Back? – listen here
  • The Streaking Mariners, the Struggling Angels and Injured Aces – listen here

Twins Notes: Correa, Lewis, Julien, Wallner, Buxton

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Carlos Correa was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis and a muscle strain in his left foot back in late May. The Twins shortstop has played through the issue, avoiding the injured list all season.

It hasn’t been a banner year for the two-time All-Star, whose .226/.309/.398 line through 511 plate appearances is among the worst of his career. It’s not hard to connect the dots, as Correa has spoken about playing through continued discomfort on a few occasions.

Correa expanded on the injury in a recent chat with Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. The 28-year-old called it the most painful issue through which he’s played in his career. Correa rather candidly told Rosenthal he “probably would have sat out more time to let it heal” were he an impending free agent but indicated he feels the team needs him to remain as a steadying presence on the active roster — even if his production is below his typical level.

Skipper Rocco Baldelli has pencilled Correa in at shortstop for 117 of Minnesota’s 132 games. He’s logged over 1000 innings, rating as a marginally above-average defender by measure of Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Average. Public metrics have loved Correa’s glove in previous seasons, none more so than in 2021 when he rated anywhere nine and 20 runs above average by measure of OAA and DRS en route to a Platinum Glove award. It stands to reason the foot injury is also playing a role in limiting his mobility on that side of the ball, as Correa’s sprint speed is at a personal-low level.

Perhaps the Twins’ place in the standings will enable them to sprinkle in a few more rest days. Minnesotas optioned starter Bailey Ober to Triple-A this evening in a move that seems largely motivated by a desire to keep an eye on his personal-high innings total. After beating the Guardians tonight, the Twins hold a seven-game margin in the AL Central. While the division isn’t quite sewn up, it’s possible they’ll be in position to ease off a lot of their regulars by the second half of September to keep players fresh headed into the postseason.

While the weakness of the division is a big reason for Minnesota’s comfortable place in the standings, the Twins have also simply played well of late. They’re 24-17 in the second half and have matched their season high by pulling six games above .500 at 69-63. As Aaron Gleeman writes for The Athletic, the Twins’ strong rookie core has played a big role in that success.

Minnesota has received well above-average play from each of Royce Lewis, Edouard Julien and Matt Wallner. None of that trio began the season on the active roster. Lewis started on the injured list rehabbing from a second straight year with a torn ACL. Julien and Wallner opened the year in Triple-A. They’re now all healthy and playing regular roles thanks to their strong performances.

Lewis has secured the third base job, which had been up for grabs after José Miranda struggled early on. The former first overall pick is up to a .317/.366/.521 line through 153 plate appearances after tonight’s game, in which he hit a grand slam off Cleveland righty Xzavion Curry. Lewis had connected on a grand slam in yesterday’s extra-inning win over Texas as well, becoming the first player in franchise history to hit one in consecutive contests.

Julien is working as the primary designated hitter. The lefty-hitting infielder had manned second base while Jorge Polanco was on the shelf. While he struggled defensively, he’s been an excellent offensive player, putting together a .285/.378/.478 line in 292 trips to the plate. Wallner, meanwhile, has grabbed the left field corner opposite Max Kepler with 10 homers, six doubles and a triple through 156 plate appearances. That has pushed the struggling Joey Gallo into a platoon center field role alongside Michael A. Taylor.

Minnesota could soon welcome Byron Buxton back into the outfield rotation. The Twins had limited the Gold Glove winner to designated hitter early in the season in an effort to keep him healthy. Buxton nevertheless landed on the injured list with a hamstring strain a few weeks ago, but he doesn’t seem far off a return. He went through an on-field workout today and could soon head on a minor league rehab stint, tweets Darren Wolfson of SKOR North. The Twins are expected to give Buxton center field reps on that assignment as they evaluate his readiness to handle defensive work for the final few weeks.

Twins Option Bailey Ober, Select Kody Funderburk

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The Twins announced they’ve selected southpaw Kody Funderburk onto the major league roster. Minnesota optioned Bailey Ober to Triple-A St. Paul to clear an active roster spot. In order to open 40-man space, the Twins transferred Oliver Ortega to the 60-day injured list.

It’s a bit surprising to see the Twins send Ober down. The 6’9″ righty has been an effective starter over the course of the season. He owns a 3.67 ERA through 122 2/3 innings, striking out a solid 24.1% of opponents against a tidy 5.2% walk percentage. Ober now carries a 3.75 ERA with better than average strikeout and walk marks in 53 big league starts over parts of three campaigns.

That said, Ober’s performance has tailed off recently. He hasn’t topped five innings in any of his past six starts, allowing multiple runs in each. Ober was tagged for five runs in four frames by the Rangers yesterday, bringing him to a 6.75 ERA over his past 28 innings. It’s possible fatigue has played a role. Ober is up to 140 1/3 innings between Triple-A and the majors. His previous high as a professional was 108 1/3 frames during the ’21 campaign.

Optioning him allows the Twins to keep an eye on Ober’s workload down the stretch. Minnesota is six games clear of the Guardians in the AL Central, putting them in great position to secure a division title. They’re far enough behind the AL West and East leaders that a first-round bye is almost certainly not viable. The very likely outcome at this point is that Minnesota will get into the postseason as the #3 seed. Ober seems likely to be a factor in the playoffs, with the club using the intervening month to try to keep him fresh. Dallas Keuchel can step back into the rotation behind Joe Ryan, Sonny Gray, Pablo López and Kenta Maeda.

Funderburk, meanwhile, gets his first major league look. A 15th round selection from Dallas Baptist in the 2018 draft, the 6’4″ left-hander is a pure reliever. Funderburk has spent the majority of the season in St. Paul, working 52 innings over 37 appearances. He owns a 2.60 ERA and is striking out nearly 36% of batters faced at the top minor league level. Funderburk’s 10% walk rate is a little higher than ideal, but the missed bats and strong run prevention earn him a major league crack.

The Twins had been using Caleb Thielbar as the only southpaw in their bullpen. While Funderburk has posted reverse platoon splits in the minors this season — he’s stifling righties to a .184/.258/.234 line, while lefty hitters have posted a .195/.292/.254 slash — he’s been excellent against hitters of both handedness. He’ll give Rocco Baldelli a second left-handed option out of the ’pen.

Ortega’s season is almost certainly over. The righty just landed on the injured list with a left lumbar strain a few days ago. An offseason waiver claim, Ortega allowed seven runs in 14 2/3 innings with Minnesota this season.

Twins Reinstate Joe Ryan From Injured List

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TODAY: The Twins officially reinstated Ryan from the 15-day IL, and righty Jordan Balazovic was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

AUGUST 25: The Twins are listing Joe Ryan as the probable starter for tomorrow evening’s game with the Rangers. They’ll need to reinstate him from the 15-day injured list. Ryan will oppose Max Scherzer in the third contest of a four-game set.

Ryan missed three weeks after straining his left groin. It isn’t clear if he’d been pitching through discomfort before his IL placement. His results immediately prior to landing on the shelf had taken a sharp downturn, though. Ryan carried a 3.70 ERA through 107 innings into the All-Star Break. He was tagged for 18 runs in 19 frames in four starts out of the Break, pushing his season mark to a middling 4.43 earned runs per nine.

Whether that was directly tied to his groin concern, the Twins will hope the few weeks off allows Ryan to recapture his early-season form. His return could lead to a roster decision for the front office and manager Rocco Baldelli. Ryan joins Pablo López and Sonny Gray at the top of the rotation. The Twins have filled out the starting staff with Bailey Ober, Kenta Maeda and Dallas Keuchel — whose contract was selected at the time Ryan landed on the IL — this month.

Maeda has a 2.91 ERA while striking out 32% of opponents in 11 starts since returning from an IL stint of his own at the end of June. Ober still has minor league options remaining, but he’s been a quietly effective rotation piece. Over 21 starts and 118 2/3 innings, the third-year hurler owns a 3.41 ERA and has fanned just under a quarter of batters faced. He’s clearly deserving of a spot on the big league staff.

Perhaps that leaves Keuchel as the odd man out. The former Cy Young winner has tossed 13 innings over three outings, allowing seven runs. He has struck out just three against four walks and a hit by pitch. He’s averaging 87.5 MPH on his sinker and has gotten swinging strikes on only 6.3% of his pitches.

On the other hand, Keuchel’s ground-ball rate sits at an excellent 56.3%. That’s not quite at the levels of his peak days in Houston but is markedly above last season’s 50.2% mark. Keuchel also kept the ball on the ground at a huge 61.1% clip through six Triple-A starts before his call-up, posting a 1.13 ERA in the process.

Earlier this week, Dan Hayes of the Athletic wrote that the Twins were considering the possibility of a six-man rotation after Ryan’s activation. That’d allow the coaching staff some flexibility in workload management. Maeda missed all of last season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, though he’s only at 74 2/3 frames this year. Ober has shouldered the heaviest work of his career in 2023. Including four Triple-A starts in the opening month, he’s at 136 1/3 frames for the year. His previous high for combined innings was 108 1/3 during the ’21 campaign.

Hayes also indicates that piggybacking some combination of Ober, Maeda and Keuchel could be on the table. That’d be another means of limiting workload while reducing the number of times those pitchers face an opponent a third time in a game. While keeping all six starters on the roster would temporarily shorten the bullpen, teams are permitted to add one pitcher to the MLB club on September 1.

Twins Considering Using Byron Buxton In Outfield

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Byron Buxton played through knee soreness for much of the 2022 season, eventually resulting in an arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in late September.  In the aftermath of that procedure, the Twins took a caution approach in returning Buxton to action, to the point that the former Gold Glove and Fielding Bible award-winning center fielder has played exclusively as a DH for the entirety of the 2023 season.  The strategy hasn’t entirely worked in keeping Buxton healthy, as he missed two weeks in June due to a rib contusion and hasn’t played since August 1 due to a hamstring strain.

Buxton has started taking part in baseball activities as he works his way back from the hamstring problem, and this time off might also contribute to getting Buxton back into the outfield.  As Twins manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press), the club is at least considering the possibility of giving Buxton some limited time in center field.

“His legs are probably going to be in the best position possible for him to be able to play in the outfield after this period of time,” Baldelli said.  “If it’s going to happen this season, it’s going to be after recovering and building himself up.  And it’s going to be now.  This is going to be his best opportunity.”

The plan is by no means set in stone, since as Buxton put it, “my biggest thing right now is just getting back on the field however that’s possible.”  This means no setbacks, and getting through some minor league rehab games before returning to Minnesota’s lineup in any capacity.  That said, a minor league rehab assignment would provide an avenue for Buxton to maybe log some actual game action as a center fielder, as a way of re-acclimating himself to the grass after not playing in the outfield for almost a full calendar year.

Buxton is naturally looking forward to the idea of perhaps once again playing his regular position, and giving some Minnesota some extra roster flexibility during the pennant race.  Buxton’s fate will be determined by “how the body feels, how the knee feels, how everything all together feels.  So for me, it’s putting us in the best situation so when we do get to that spot, get to the playoffs, to make sure that I’m in the lineup.”

Despite a modest 64-60 record, the Twins have started to take command of the lackluster AL Central, holding a five-game lead on the second-place Guardians entering Sunday’s action.  While there’s plenty of baseball left to be played, Buxton’s return to the outfield could both help the Twins in the playoffs, and ease their path in clinching the division crown.

Michael A. Taylor has handled most of the center field action with Buxton relegated to DH duty.  Taylor is a superb defensive player in his own right, but not much of a hitter, with only a .220/.270/.423 slash line over 324 plate appearances for the Twins this season.  If Buxton is able to start in center field once or twice per weeks, the Twins can take Taylor out of the lineup and use the open DH spot for any of several better bats vying for playing time.

How this reshuffled lineup might look is still an open question, as beyond Buxton, the Twins are also waiting to see how Willi Castro, Alex Kirilloff, Nick Gordon, and possibly Jose Miranda return from their own stints on the injured list.  A revolving door of injuries has kept Minnesota from fielding its first-choice lineup for basically the entire season, though rookie like Edouard Julien and Matt Wallner have also played well enough to earn regular or semi-regular playing time.

Alex Cole Passes Away

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The Guardians announced that former big league outfielder Alex Cole recently passed away. He was 58 years old. The club also announced the passing of Dick Tomanek, who you can read about here.

Cole was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1965. He attended the State College of Florida and was selected by the Pirates in the 11th round of the 1984 draft but didn’t sign. The next year, the Cardinals took him in the second round and he put pen to paper this time around. He climbed the minor league ladder with the Cards but was twice traded in 1990, first going to the Padres and then the Indians.

It was with that latter club that he made his major league debut, getting into 63 games in that 1990 season. He didn’t show much power, not hitting any home runs in his 256 plate appearances that year. But he produced a batting average of .300 and stole 40 bases in just 63 games.

He carved out regular playing time in the seasons to come and generally produced in a similar fashion, not providing much power but using his speed to propel himself around the basepaths. He stayed in Cleveland in 1991 before being traded to the Pirates midway through the 1992 campaign. After that season, he was selected by the Rockies in the expansion draft, becoming an inaugural member of that franchise. He would eventually reach free agency, signing with the Twins for 1994-1995 and Red Sox for 1996, which would prove to be his last season in the big leagues.

Over parts of seven seasons, Cole got into 573 major league games and made 2,012 plate appearances. He batted .280 in that time, racking up 493 hits, including 58 doubles, 26 triples and five home runs. He stole 148 bases in 207 attempts. He scored 286 runs and drove in 117.

We at MLB Trade Rumors extend our condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.

The Twins’ Breakout Rookie

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The Twins have rattled off five consecutive wins, pushing themselves a season-high six games above .500. Paired with the Guardians dropping eight of their last 10, Minnesota has stretched their lead in the AL Central to 5.5 games. All of a sudden, only the Braves have a larger cushion at the top of a division.

That’s somewhat a reflection of an otherwise dismal AL Central, of course. Yet Minnesota has a 19-12 record since the start of June and the sixth-best run differential overall (+53) among American League clubs. They’re playing like a legitimate playoff team.

Among the reasons for Minnesota’s improved production of late: a somewhat quiet building case for Rookie of the Year consideration. Edouard Julien owns a .299/.389/.512 batting line through his first 235 plate appearances. Among the 43 first-year players with 200+ trips to the dish, none is reaching base at a higher clip. Only Corbin Carroll, Matt McLain, Yainer Diaz and Luke Raley have a better slugging mark.

Julien has only played 65 games, roughly three-fifths of the action logged by the likes of Josh Jung and Gunnar Henderson. He’d be behind that duo in Rookie of the Year consideration if the season ended today. There’s a chance for Julien to close that gap in the season’s final couple months (particularly with Jung set to miss six weeks thanks to a thumb fracture that’ll require surgery).

Award consideration aside, the more meaningful development is the introduction of a middle-of-the-order caliber bat into Minnesota’s lineup. That didn’t come out of nowhere. The lefty-swinging Julien had been regarded as one of the more talented offensive players in the minor leagues before making his MLB debut. There’s some amount of uncertainty with any prospect before they get exposure to big league pitching, though, and Julien has only 38 games of Triple-A experience under his belt.

The 24-year-old hasn’t had any issues against MLB pitching thus far. His results in the minors had been built on power and an extremely patient plate approach. He’s showing the same profile at the MLB level. Julien almost never chases pitches off the plate; his 18.9% swing rate on offerings outside the strike zone is lowest among all MLB hitters with 200+ plate appearances. Julien is swinging at pitches within the zone at a roughly average clip. That’s generally the approach one would want to see from a hitter, particularly a rookie — patient without getting too passive.

Julien’s comfort working deep counts is naturally going to come with a fair number of strikeouts. There’s also just some swing-and-miss in his game; he’s made contact on 72.2% of his swings, roughly four percentage points below the 76.4% league average. Julien will probably strike out too often to be a .300 hitter. His .410 average on balls in play is bound for some regression.

There’s no need for Julien to run a near-.300 average to be a productive player, though. He’s going to work plenty of walks to keep his OBP floor high. Prospect evaluators have credited him with above-average to plus power potential. Julien has shown that at the MLB level, connecting on 10 homers with a quality 42.9% hard contact percentage.

The remaining concern in Julien’s offensive profile is probably his limited track record against same-handed pitching. The Twins have shielded him against southpaws, keeping him to 29 MLB plate appearances thus far. In 2022, he had marked platoon splits in Double-A. Julien hit .332/.465/.566 against righties in the minors last season compared to a .210/.373/.276 showing versus left-handers.

For now, the Twins are happy with a rookie who’s mashing right-handed pitching. The Twins have struggled as a team against southpaws, but they have Donovan Solano, Kyle Farmer and switch-hitting Willi Castro on hand as righty-capable infielders who can take some pressure off Julien in the short term.

Moving forward, the bigger question is where Julien fits best defensively. Scouting reports have long pegged him as a well below-average defender at second base, where he’s spent the majority of his professional career. Public metrics have panned his work over his first 366 MLB innings at the keystone.

The Twins have lived with the subpar middle infield glove to inject more life into the offense. Julien’s two promotions have been in response to injuries to Jorge Polanco. The latter is now healthy, but the Twins reshuffled their infield to keep Julien in the lineup. Polanco has started four times at third base since being reinstated from the IL on July 28, his first work at the hot corner in seven years.

Whether Minnesota feels that’s a long-term option remains to be seen. The Twins could welcome Royce Lewis back from an oblique strain within the next couple weeks. The former first overall pick has battled myriad injury issues throughout his career but been a productive player whenever healthy. Lewis is probably ticketed for regular run at the hot corner when he returns. That could push Polanco back to the keystone and perhaps move Julien into a primary designated hitter capacity.

That’d enable Minnesota to cut into the playing time of Joey Gallo, who is hitting .156/.276/.349 since an excellent first month. Beyond this season, Julien’s emergence figures to only raise more questions about the possibility of subtracting a left-handed bat to add more lineup balance. Gallo’s impending free agency will remove one player from the group, while the club will have a net $9MM option decision on Max Kepler.

If they’re comfortable with Julien as a tolerable (if fringy) defender at second base, that could lead to an interesting question on Polanco’s future. Minnesota can bring the veteran infielder back on a $10.5MM option. That’s solid value — before this year’s injury-plagued season, Polanco was one of the league’s better offensive second basemen — but could make him a potential trade candidate. The Brewers, for instance, exercised an option on Kolten Wong before dealing him to Seattle last offseason.

Those are decisions the Minnesota front office could weigh three months from now. In the interim, they’ll be thrilled with Julien’s excellent start to his career. Wherever he plays, he looks like an impact piece in the lineup, at least against right-handed pitching. The Twins are in pole position for a division title after a disappointing 2021-22 stretch, in part because of their hot-hitting rookie.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Twins Notes: Paddack, Lewis, Kirilloff, Jeffers

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Twins right-hander Chris Paddack is making progress in his rehab from Tommy John surgery, per The Athletic’s Dan Hayes. Hayes relays that, according to Twins training staff, Paddack is around ten days away from facing live hitters for the first time since he went under the knife last May.

Initially, Paddack was hoping to return to the big league mound this month, though given the time he’ll need to spend building up stamina after graduating to facing live hitters, it’s hardly a surprise that timeline was more recently pushed back to sometime in September, with the distinct possibility that return will have to come out of the bullpen rather than as a member of the rotation. While sixteen months away from the majors following Tommy John surgery is a certainly a longer rehab process than has become the norm in recent years, it’s worth remembering that this is Paddack’s second surgery, as he also went under the knife as a prospect back in 2016.

Regardless of if Paddack ultimately makes it back to pitch for the Twins this year, the 27-year-old hurler figures to be a key piece of Minnesota’s pitching staff in the long term. The Twins agreed to a three-year deal with Paddack this past offseason that guaranteed him $12.5MM while buying out what otherwise would have been the first year of his free agency. With Paddack locked up through the end of the 2025 season and current rotation pieces Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda both slated for free agency this coming offseason, Paddack figures to join Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, and Pablo Lopez as part of Minnesota’s rotation of the future.

For his career, Paddack has been a roughly league average starter with a 4.20 ERA (97 ERA+) and a 3.94 FIP in 330 1/3 innings of work. Those career numbers are somewhat hampered by Paddack’s struggles in a pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign and an injury-shortened 2021 season; the Twins are surely hoping that, once fully healthy, Paddack can return to the form he displayed in 2019 when he posted a 3.33 ERA in 140 2/3 innings of work.

Also taking positive steps in his attempt to return from injury is infielder Royce Lewis, who has missed the past month with an oblique strain after starting the season on the injured list while recovering from knee surgery. Per Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune, Lewis took batting practice on the field yesterday as he continues to ramp up his rehab process. Nightengale indicates that Lewis could rejoin the Twins’ lineup as soon as this month, though he cautions that Lewis’s return is still a matter of weeks away rather than days.

Lewis’s return would surely provide a major boost to a Twins lineup that has suffered a variety of injuries throughout the season, with Byron Buxton, Alex Kirilloff, Nick Gordon, and Jose Miranda all currently joining Lewis on the shelf. In 26 games this season, the talented youngster has slashed .326/.354/.474 that’s good for a 131 wRC+. That figure would represent a massive upgrade over the club’s current production at the hot corner, as Twins third basemen have combined for a wRC+ of just 90 this season with a 0.7 fWAR that ranks bottom ten in the majors.

While Minnesota’s lineup has received encouraging news on Lewis, the same cannot be said regarding first baseman Alex Kirilloff, who went on the injured list with a shoulder strain at the end of July. Per MLB.com, Kirilloff, who previously underwent an MRI and received a cortisone injection in his ailing shoulder, “was still in the resting and strengthening phase of his recovery” yesterday, with no clear timetable for return. The 25 year old was enjoying something of a breakout season at the plate prior to his injury, locking down first base for the Twins with a slash line of .270/.357/.442 (124 wRC+) in 258 trips to the plate this season.

With Kirilloff on the shelf for the foreseeable future, the Twins have needed to look elsewhere in the lineup for offensive production. Fortunately for the club, they’ve found it in the bat of 26-year-old catcher Ryan Jeffers. While he’s played just 63 games this season thanks to sharing time behind the dish with offseason acquisition Christian Vazquez, Jeffers has slashed a phenomenal .292/.392/.503 (152 wRC+) in 203 trips to the plate this season. That production has seemingly earned Jeffers additional playing time, as The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman relays that manager Rocco Baldelli has indicated Jeffers will receive starts at DH while Buxton is on the shelf in addition to his usual timeshare with Vazquez.

Twins Place Byron Buxton On Injured List

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5:21pm: Minnesota will reevaluate Buxton after a two-week shutdown, bench coach Jayce Tingler tells reporters (including Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). He’ll obviously be out beyond a minimal stay.

4:52pm: The Twins placed designated hitter Byron Buxton on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 2, with a strained right hamstring. Waiver claim Jordan Luplow takes his spot on the active roster.

Buxton had a brief IL stay a couple months ago with a rib issue. More notably, overarching right knee problems have kept the former Gold Glove winner off the field defensively. All 80 of Buxton’s appearances this season have come as a DH. He’s connected on 17 home runs but is hitting just .207 with a .294 on-base percentage.

It’s unclear how long the Twins anticipate Buxton being out of action. Matt Wallner gets the nod at designated hitter tonight against Arizona right-hander Merrill Kelly. The 25-year-old Wallner could earn regular run — at least versus right-handed pitching — in Buxton’s absence. He’s hitting .254/.369/.584 in 27 big league games after a .291/.403/.524 showing at Triple-A St. Paul.

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