Arlington, Texas – Luke Keaschall was happy he was about to enter the off-season healthy for the first time in his pro career last week. Then an awkward slide on a steal of second base in Monday’s 4-1 over the Rangers changed everything, and what was once a hope is now another setback.
Call it a bad slide, some bad luck, or the curse of a non-traveling writer trying to get ahead on off-season narratives during the final homestand. However, whether the cause of Keaschall’s injury was physical or superstitious, it is now the third time in the last year that he has had to sit on the bench while his teammates play on.
“We’re just going to have to see and let the doctors take a look at him and make a diagnosis,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said postgame Tuesday. “We obviously only have five games left here. So we’re going to make sure we know what we’re dealing with as opposed to playing it day by day and testing it out on the field. We’re just going to get him looked at.”
The reports from Arlington on Wednesday stated that Keaschall’s official injury was a sprained left thumb, which will likely require surgery. Keaschall will see a specialist after the regular season concludes next week. Still, until then, there’s no clear indication of what his offseason will look like.
He had wrist surgery in 2023, Tommy John surgery in 2024, and now a thumb sprain this season. Fortunately, for Keaschall, any surgery on the thumb would result in the shortest recovery time. However, he’s now 3-for-3 entering the off-season with an injury, which is all the more disappointing when he was looking forward to setting a new routine.
“It’ll be different, I mean, I’ve never had a healthy offseason,” Keaschall said pre-game Saturday. “So I’m excited to see how that looks, I’m excited to find ways to increase my game and find ways to get better offensively and defensively. Most importantly, I’m just excited to be healthy going into the off-season, and all that good stuff.”
Before the Twins shut him down, they had thrown around the idea of Keaschall playing winter ball to provide him more playing time at different positions than second base. Now that will be put on hold until spring training at the earliest. As with the thumb injury, the Twins will more than likely want his offseason positional work to remain focused on the infield.
Since Keaschall has been going full throttle in his work since spring training, they’ll also likely keep him from playing in any winter ball this offseason.
“This is a young player who has put in a full body of work, even though it wasn’t all as an active player, and it wasn’t all at second base,” said Baldelli. “He’s had a full year. At no point was he sitting on his butt and rehabbing for an extended period of time, doing nothing. He’s worked pretty hard.”
The good news with this thumb sprain is it’s not on his right hand. He has already had Tommy John surgery and a broken forearm on his right arm.
Even if he won’t be able to have a full rest and reset this offseason, he will at least avoid any setbacks with his throwing arm. This is an even more encouraging sign when Keaschall noted how healthy his arm felt down the stretch this year.
‘I feel good. I think it’s just a day-to-day battle of finding your swing and figuring out a way to attack each pitcher and be successful,” he said. “Yeah, I mean, there’s always more to learn from, more to do, but at the same time, I’m not like mad with how I’m doing. I just feel like there’s a little bit of meat left on the bone.”
It may be a while before Keaschall can pick more meat off the bone in the offseason, but the work ethic he’s established in his rookie year, from taking extra time on the field pre-game to take grounders, to a few extra swings in the batting cages. Keaschall was able to put together a solid campaign in his first 49 games in the big leagues.
A .302/.382/.445 slash line, four home runs, 28 RBI, 14 stolen bases, a 129 OPS+, and an even 2.0 bWAR over 207 plate appearances. Keaschall and the Twins would have loved to have seen more from him this year. Still, it’s a strong baseline established for what will be a successful career in a Twins uniform for years to come.
“This guy has stuck to the plan real well,” said Baldelli. “He’s not cutting anything short, and he’s handled it great. It’s all gone well during the season for him. I think it’s going to be a little bit of everything for him, just because he needs the time and the reps to catch back up. I’ve been pleased with what I’ve seen from him, generally speaking.”
