MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Twins closer Jhoan Duran took a crucial step in his recovery from an oblique strain before Friday’s 5-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers, facing hitters for the first time since suffering the injury in mid-March.
“I woke up and I had a lot of energy today like my kid,” Duran said. “It was cold outside, but it was good.”
Duran threw 21 pitches in a pregame batting practice session at Target Field versus teammates Jose Miranda and Jair Camargo, reporting no discomfort.
“He was supposed to throw 20 and he wanted an extra one, so that tells you he’s feeling good,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He looked like himself. He looked very comfortable and he looked like someone who is just about ready to go face some hitters in real games.”
Barring a setback, Duran should soon be cleared to begin a multi-appearance rehab assignment at Triple-A St. Paul. Initially feared to be sidelined well into May, there’s now optimism Duran can return by the end of April, which would provide a big boost to a banged-up, 6-12 team in need of any help it can get.
“I think that does a lot of good things for our team and our bullpen,” Baldelli said. “It pushes guys into some other roles and our bullpen gets even thicker at that point.”
Jhoan Duran is throwing at Target Field right now. We could use his flame throwing, it’s only about 38° right now.
Duran started the season on the 15-day injured list due to a strained oblique.#MNTwins pic.twitter.com/oun9olAW7t
— Alec Ausmus (@A_TwiceKSTP) April 19, 2024
Stockpiling quality relievers was clearly an offseason priority for the Twins, who built one of the majors’ best on-paper bullpens, only to have Duran, Justin Topa and Caleb Thielbar go down with spring training injuries. Duran and Topa are yet to throw a pitch, and Thielbar missed the first two weeks, but somehow the Twins’ patchwork bullpen has still managed to be a strength.
Twins relievers have combined for a 2.70 ERA with 87 strikeouts in 67 innings, holding opponents to a .208 batting average. They have the American League’s highest strikeout rate, by a fairly wide margin, and also rank among the top five bullpens in ERA, opponents’ batting average, walk rate, strikeout-to-walk ratio, average fastball velocity and Win Probability Added.
To do that without Duran, the Twins’ most valuable reliever and one of MLB’s most overpowering arms, is impressive, and it suggests the bullpen indeed has a chance to rank among the league’s elite units once he returns. Duran has a 2.15 ERA with 173 strikeouts in 130 career innings and he led with the majors with a 101.8 mph average fastball velocity last season.
Max Kepler, who began a Triple-A rehab assignment with the Saints by playing designated hitter Thursday and right field Friday, will likely beat Duran back to the Twins, returning from a right knee contusion as soon as Sunday or Monday.
“We’ll make a determination after he gets through his game in the outfield, just where he’s at, and we’ll make a call,” Baldelli said. “I think it’s close. I need him to tell us he’s ready before we can make any calls, though.”
Kepler fouled a ball off his knee on Opening Day, missed two games and then struggled through a 1-for-16 stretch before being placed on the injured list on April 9. Once he’s deemed ready to return, Kepler is expected to resume being the Twins’ starting right fielder and jump back into the middle of the lineup.
This is Kepler’s eighth stint on the injured list since 2020, and the 31-year-old impending free agent has a lot to prove in what may be his final season with the team that signed him as a 16-year-old from Germany in 2009. Last year’s second half was the best extended stretch of Kepler’s career, as he hit .306/.377/.549 in 66 games to reverse a multiyear decline.
Now more than ever, that’s the type of production the Twins desperately need from Kepler, and it’s also the type of production that could make him a ton of money on the open market this offseason if he can put together back-to-back above-average hitting campaigns for the first time since 2019 and 2020. As a group, Twins right fielders have hit .141 this season.
There’s no timeline yet for Carlos Correa’s return from a mild intercostal strain, but Baldelli said the shortstop’s rehab “has gone pretty positively” so far and he “could be close” to testing the injury with rotational movements.
Correa will be eligible to come off the 10-day injured list early next week, but he seems unlikely to be ready by then. Fill-in shortstops Willi Castro and Kyle Farmer have struggled offensively and defensively in his absence, and Friday’s loss dropped the Twins to 2-5 without Correa in the lineup.
(Photo: Brace Hemmelgarn / Minnesota Twins / Getty Images)
