There was good, if not definitive, news regarding a pair of right-handed relievers the Twins were counting on this season.
Brock Stewart, who has been lights-out when he pitches, had a successful live bullpen session before Friday night’s game against the Houston Astros at Target Field and appears close to a rehab assignment.
Justin Topa, who has yet to pitch for Minnesota since being acquired in the deal that sent Jorge Polanco to Seattle in January, will throw a bullpen on Saturday morning and said his injured left knee feels better since getting a platelet-rich plasma injection in mid-May.
Topa, who was diagnosed with a partial tear to his patellar tendon, had the PRP injection after his first attempt at rehab was unsuccessful. Last season in Seattle, he had a 2.61 ERA and 1.145 WHIP in 75 innings pitched.
Topa, 33, doesn’t appear all that close to pitching with the Twins but is improving.
“It’s been feeling really good up to this point,” Topa said Friday.
Stewart, 32, seems closer.
Since being promoted to the big league club last season, he is 2-0 with an 0.66 ERA and 1.073 WHIP for the Twins. Last year, he was limited to 28 appearances because of elbow soreness. He started this season with 12 1/3 scoreless innings but hasn’t pitched since May 1 because of tendinitis in his right shoulder.
Stewart, however, threw 20 pitches to live hitters before Friday night’s game and came off the mound feeling good, even if he did hit Kyle Farmer on the shoulder with a pitch.
“He said it’s all good, but it’s not all good,” Stewart said. “I don’t need to be hitting my teammates.”
The good news is his velocity was between 95 and 96 mph, up from 90 to 92 mph his first time back on a mound. Before being hurt, Stewart was averaging 97 mph on his four-seamer and sinker, and hitting 98 and 100 on the radar.
“Hopefully, it will keep ticking up to where it was,” he said Friday. “At the end of the day, I just want to be healthy and help the team, and I think I can help the team if I’m 95, 96. Obviously, 99 to 100, that would be great, but I just want to be able to pitch and then the next day come in here and be ready to pitch again.”
That would be great for the Twins, whose plans for this season featured Stewart and Topa playing big roles in the bullpen.
Manager Rocco Baldelli said he didn’t know what Twins trainer Nick Paparesta and pitching coach Pete Maki had in mind for Stewart before adding, “But he’s going on a rehab assignment at some point. When that is, I don’t have at the moment.”
“We’re going to have him continue throwing at a high level,” the manager continued. “We’re going to have to like what we see. He’s going to have to face some hitters in a live game situation. And then we’ll hopefully be able to bring him back. I think we’re getting towards that point, but I can’t tell you when he’s pitching.”
For starters …
The Twins sent David Festa, their top pitching prospect, back to Triple-A St. Paul on Friday and recalled right-hander Josh Winder, who went immediately into the bullpen.
Festa, 24, made two starts for the Twins, going 1-1 but allowing 12 earned runs on 16 hits in 10 innings pitched.
“The most likely scenario was that David was going to make two starts for us. So, this is not necessarily a move based on just how he went out there and performed,” Baldelli said. “I think there were things that he is gonna go and learn from, and spend a lot of time on going forward. But overall, I think he did a good job.”
Winder, 27, hasn’t pitched with the Twins since September, when he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right scapula. In 15 relief appearances with St. Paul, he was 2-0 with a 4.78 ERA and 1.909 WHIP.
With Festa gone, the Twins will need a starter for Tuesday’s game against the White Sox in Chicago and it appears it might mark the return of Chris Paddack, who’s on the 15-day injured list with arm fatigue.
Paddack, pitching his first full season since having a second Tommy John surgery in Spring 2022, recently threw an extended bullpen and, Baldelli said, is feeling strong.
“We’re in the process of it, still, but this is accomplishing what we hoped,” the manager said. “His arm needed to be reset, and this should do it, but I don’t have any final announcement on it right now.”
