Minnesota Twins officially reinstate Carlos Correa from concussion IL

Correa has been out since his violent collision with Byron Buxton in Baltimore on May 15. After missing the minimum amount of time on the concussion IL, he'll almost certainly be back in the Twins' lineup and playing shortstop for Friday night's series opener against the Royals at Target Field.

This move became obvious on Thursday when shortstop Ryan Fitzgerald was optioned back to Triple-A St. Paul without a corresponding move. Twins head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta said on Wednesday that Correa's concussion symptoms were essentially gone.

Correa, 30, has had a rough start to the 2025 season. He's hitting .236 with two home runs and a .605 OPS in 41 games. However, he remains an excellent defender at shortstop, and all the Twins can do is wait and hope their highest-paid player starts to hit at his usual level (career .274 average and .819 OPS) before long. Correa's batted-ball metrics aren't great, but his expected batting average is .268, his bat speed is in the 72nd percentile, and he isn't striking out much. Maybe the time off served as a helpful reset for the 11th-year veteran?

Buxton seems to be slightly behind Correa, in part due to his concussion history and past migraine headaches. He started baseball activities this week and is being evaluated on a daily basis.

Matt Wallner (hamstring) is also getting close to a return to the Twins' outfield. He homered twice in the first game of a rehab assignment with the Saints on Thursday night.

Pablo Lopez will take the mound for the Twins (27-22) against the Royals (28-23) on Friday. Lefty Noah Cameron starts for KC.

More: What does an ideal, fully-healthy Minnesota Twins lineup look like?