The Twins announced that outfielder Trevor Larnach has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a right groin strain, via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The move is retroactive to May 7. Catcher Jose Godoy has been recalled in a corresponding move.
The Twins have been fairly snakebitten recently, with position players Kyle Garlick, Luis Arraez, Miguel Sano and now Larnach all heading to the injured list in the past week or so. There have also been other minor injuries to players that haven’t resulted in IL placements. (More on those in a moment.) Larnach made his MLB debut last year and struggled in his first taste of the big leagues, putting up a line of .223/.322/.350, 89 wRC+. His sophomore season has been a nice step forward so far, as he’s currently hitting .313/.365/.448. His strikeout rate is still quite high at 31.3%, but he’s still put up a wRC+ of 141 on the year so far. That progress will now have to be put on pause with this groin strain, but it doesn’t seem like it will be a length absence. Bench coach Jayce Tingler tells Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com that they’re hopeful he will be out of action for only about a week.
There’s even better news around the rest of the roster, though. Byron Buxton left Saturday’s game due to hip tightness, which was diagnosed as a low-level strain, per Helfand. She notes that Buxton could return as soon as the Astros series, which begins on Tuesday. That will surely cause Minnesota fans to breathe a sigh of relief, as it seems they can avoid another big trough on the Buxton rollercoaster. In his career, he has frequently oscillated between flashes of brilliance on the field and extended stays on the injured list. So far this year, he’s hitting an incredible .278/.342/.722, producing a 211 wRC+. With Larnach on the shelf and Buxton temporarily unavailable, the club has an outfield of Max Kepler, Gilberto Celestino and Nick Gordon for Sunday’s game.
In other good news, manager Rocco Baldelli tells Helfand that Luis Arraez and Dylan Bundy, both on the COVID IL, are feeling better and flying back to Minneapolis on Sunday. The club will have an interesting decision to make once Bundy returns, as prospect Josh Winder has stepped into the rotation and has been excellent so far. Through his first 22 1/3 innings of MLB action, he has a 1.61 ERA, along with a 24.7% strikeout rate and 4.9% walk rate. With the activation of Sonny Gray on Saturday, the club now has a rotation of Winder, Gray, Joe Ryan, Chris Archer and Chris Paddack. With Bundy returning, they could go for a six-man rotation or perhaps bump someone to a long relief role out of the bullpen. Bailey Ober could also re-enter the mix soon, as he went on the 10-day IL with a groin strain April 29.
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