Many players are down and out with injuries on the Minnesota Twins’ 40-man roster. However, the injury issues aren’t much better at all minor league levels.
Each affiliate has at least four players on the injured list, and the High-A Cedar Rapids Kernels have the fewest at four. Notable prospects are hurt at each affiliate, from Walker Jenkins in Ft. Myers with a bad hamstring to Cory Lewis with the Wichita Wind Surge.
However, the St. Paul Saints’ roster will have the biggest impact on what the Twins can do in response to major-league injuries. Max Kepler, Daniel Duarte, and Carlos Correa all suffered injuries in the last week, as have Brent Headrick and Michael Helman with the Saints.
Their injuries have played some part in the options the Twins had to work with, shuffling around their roster within the last week. It has also left the Saints roster a bit more depleted because they have had an additional five players on their injured list. Brooks Lee is the notable injured Saints player.
Lee didn’t start the season with the Saints and remained in Ft. Myers after suffering from lower back pain, which prevented him from playing in a spring training game on March 21. As the Saints returned home to open the season a week later, manager Toby Gardenhire confirmed it would still be three to four weeks before he was cleared to join the team.
“Once Brooks is healthy and he gets up here it’ll be really good to see him just continue on with his progression,” said Gardenhire on Saints Media Day, March 28. “If you saw him in spring training as much as I had saw him, you’ll see a kid who’s really mature and is just an all-around good baseball player.”
It’s been two and a half weeks since then. On Monday, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reported that an update on Lee’s progress may not come until the end of the week.
Injuries have affected the left side of Minnesota’s infield the most, with Royce Lewis and Correa down. But based on the timeline estimation of Lee’s return, it could be a race between him and Correa to be activated first and how they can help the lineup.
Two of the seven players on St. Paul’s injured list could return to their roster as they embark on a six-game series in Indianapolis. Following Sunday’s 13-11 win over the I-Cubs, the Saints manager shared that outfielder Trevor Larnach and reliever Austin Schulfer could be those guys.
“Larnach’s on a rehab assignment right now, he’s down in Ft. Myers, so I am hoping that they’ll be able to send him up here with us,” Gardenhire said. “As far as the other guys, I haven’t heard much about Brooks lately yet, but I know Larnach is close to being ready to go. Schulfer is another one I think that’s probably going to be joining us next week.”
The Twins drafted Shulfer in the 19th round of the 2018 draft, but he’s not on the 40-man roster. Minnesota has played musical chairs with the relievers on its active roster. However, Schulfer will likely remain on the Saints roster to rebuild his throwing arm after being shelved with a right forearm strain to start the season.
Minnesota’s outfield depth is not as depleted as its infield or bullpen, which opens up options for utilizing Larnach after completing his rehab assignment with Low-A Ft. Myers. Larnach has played in three games on rehab and has gone two for 11 with three runs batted in and two strikeouts.
Kepler is the only player missing from Minnesota’s outfield. MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park reported that Kepler could begin a rehab assignment later in the week.
The Twins have five active outfielders on their roster and a sixth man in Willi Castro. On the other hand, the Saints officially only have two outfielders on their active roster: Yoyner Fajardo and DaShawn Keirsey Jr.
However, they are not the only players on the roster who can play out there. Still, if results bode well for Kepler as he resumes baseball activities at Target Field, Larnach may remain with the Saints once activated from his rehab assignment.
Suppose Larnach and Schulfer are activated from the 7-day injured list, and the Twins don’t call up either. Then, their return to St. Paul’s active roster will be just as important to the organizational depth. Larnach and Schulfer’s return will alleviate endless injuries for the Twins and Saints.
The Twins made 16 transactions in April alone, five of which involved activating a player from the Saints’ roster on rehab (Caleb Thielbar) or calling up a player from St. Paul to help with someone who’s gone down with an injury.
Minnesota fell to a 6-9 record on Monday night, falling 4.5 games behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians. The team must take every player activated from the injured list organizational-wide as a small victory.
Since the beginning of 2022 and counting, they have lost players to 4,343 days due to injury, one of the five highest by any franchise. Anything that halts the number from climbing higher is a small victory for the Twins, and Larnach and Schulfer can provide such relief even if the Twins don’t have them on the active roster until later in the season.
