Minnesota Twins Enter Camp with a Healthy Outlook (For a Change)

Let's start by putting this out there: jinxes aren't real. I feel like any time a topic such as this is broached, people get panicked and upset as if merely speaking on the situation will cause it to change. Maybe that just ties back to the superstitious ethos of baseball.

Knock on wood if you like, but it doesn't make a difference. Injuries are going to happen and it won't be due to this article getting written. With that said, it is worth remarking on the team's relatively clean bill of health entering camp, and how much that differs from past springs.

Two years ago, Jorge Polanco and Alex Kirilloff were the big question marks. They were both facing potentially career-threatening medical concerns. Polanco had been plagued in 2022 by debilitating knee pain – "He could barely walk. He could barely swing the bat," his manager Rocco Baldelli later said – and he was behind from the very start of camp in 2023. Kirilloff was coming back from a rare, invasive procedure to address his chronic wrist soreness, after a previous surgery failed to resolve the issue.

They were far from the only Twins players whose statuses were in doubt. Looking back at my early-camp rundown from that year, it's striking to recall at what an overwhelming narrative the injuries were heading into 2023: Tyler Mahle's balky shoulder, Kenta Maeda coming off Tommy John, Royce Lewis still recovering from a second ACL tear.

Last year there were also a number of pressing health questions heading into spring training. Carlos Correa was looking to prove he was past the plantar fasciitis that bogged him down in 2023. Kirilloff was coming off another surgery (this time on his shoulder). Planned fifth starter Anthony DeSclafani had come aboard with uncertainty surrounding the condition of his elbow.

But the microscope was clearly on Byron Buxton more than any other player. His '23 campaign had been a complete disaster, as persistent struggles with a non-cooperative right knee limited him like never before. Buxton didn't make a single start in center field and was a mere shell of himself offensively. As the new spring got underway, despite declaring himself "back" a few weeks early at TwinsFest, it was anyone's guess what to expect from the injury-ravaged star. 

The script has flipped completely coming off Buxton's healthiest season in years. He appeared in 100+ games for the second time in his career, played a good center field, and finished the season producing. As Bobby Nightengale recently highlighted for the Star Tribune, Buxton is entering camp this year with a "whole new mindset" after finally getting to experience an offseason that wasn't dominated by rehab and physical therapy. "This is probably the healthiest offseason he's had," according to Derek Falvey.

Buxton's dramatically improved health outlook from last year to this year is a good facsimile for the team as a whole. You look around and there just aren't a ton of known scary injury concerns following guys into camp. Here are the situations worth monitoring, that I'm aware of:

• Brock Stewart seems to be the biggest question mark this year. The perennially injured reliever is coming off shoulder surgery that the Twins hope will resolve his arm woes. There's been no word of roadblocks or setbacks, but the team has acknowledged he might be a little behind in camp as he ramps up. It's tough to feel all that optimistic about Stewart given his history, but I think most of us are viewing him as more of a bonus than an integral cog in the bullpen. 
• Chris Paddack, like Stewart, is inherently a wild card based on his track record, and probably not someone the Twins can or should count on. That's okay. Same as Stewart, he can be treated as as high-upside bonus in a unit that has the depth to succeed without him. But for what it's worth I've heard nothing to indicate he's off course.
• Justin Topa missed most of last year with a knee injury, and it's something he's dealt with before, but the Twins must have felt moderately confident in his condition to tender him a guaranteed contract. He's not a lock to make the team even if healthy, so again, relatively low stakes.
• Much higher stakes here: Correa is coming off another bout with plantar fasciitis, one that cost him nearly half of his 2024 season, and that's obviously something that will warrant monitoring. But he did make it back before the end of the campaign, and played well. Correa said during TwinsFest that he is completely healthy and a full go for spring training, expressing confidence he'll be able to manage both of his afflicted feet. 
• Joe Ryan is coming off a shoulder injury that sidelined him for the final two months of 2024. We may not be able to feel full confidence until we see him letting loose on the mound again, but recent scans showed no signs of the strain, suggesting it is 100% healed. He's been preparing for spring as normal. 

Certainly there are some looming health-related challenges that need to be factored into this discussion. Specifically I'm thinking about the back issues that have plagued José Miranda and Brooks Lee, and the general need for position players (i.e. Willi Castro and Lewis) to weather the marathon of the MLB season rather than wearing down. 

And regardless of what we know going into camp, we're all aware that the injury report is subject to change quickly. I'm reminded that Jhoan Durán and Caleb Thielbar were healthy coming into camp last year until they weren't. By no means am I trying to paint some overly rosy picture of what I expect from a health standpoint. There are always a few surprises once the action fires up and from there it becomes a game of chance.

But I will say this: Coming into spring training with so few prominent health predicaments sure beats the alternative. Especially because the Twins, given their highly questionable position-player depth, need key players to stay healthy in a pretty dire way. 

On second thought, maybe let's all knock on some wood, just to be safe.