Royce Lewis will begin rehab with St. Paul on Friday as he works his way back to the Minnesota Twins

Royce Lewis will take his first at-bats of the 2025 season Friday.

OK, it will be for the St.

Paul Saints, as the Twins third baseman makes sure his left hamstring has completely healed.

But thats not all that will be different.

Lewis will take a torpedo bat to the plate with him, at least for the time being, as he experiments with the redesigned shape that several hitters around the game have adopted this season, believing it makes them more dangerous.

The bats shift the barrel several inches closer to the handle, giving them a torpedo shape.

Whether Lewis finds greater success or not, the prospect of him returning to the majors is welcome news for the Twins.

And for Lewis, too.

The fan in me is having a lot of fun [watching his teammates].

Royce the player is bored, Lewis said.

Im just anticipating a great return.

I always have so much fun, man.

...

I expect to just come back and add some more fun to that group.

It will take several days for that fun to start, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli cautioned.

Hell have to build up.

Hell start by playing parts of games.

Hell DH some.

Hell play third, Baldelli said.

Hes going to have to get to the point where hes played at least a couple of full nine-inning games over at third base before hes ready to go.

But it starts tomorrow, so thats great news.

Festa returns to Saints David Festa allowed only two earned runs and struck out 15 over 13 innings during his three-start stint with the Twins.

But its probably the five walks he issued that will stay with him, Baldelli figures.

Hes very to-the-point when he talks about his shortcomings, which is pretty awesome.

You dont normally hear guys talk about themselves like that, Baldelli said.

Thats what gives him the opportunity to improve.

Hes not running away from anything he needs to work on.

Hell do it across town for Class AAA St.

Paul for now, the Twins decided, with Pablo Lopez set to be activated from the injured list in time to start Fridays series opener against the Angels.

But were going to see him again, Baldelli said.

I would assume hes going to make a fair number of starts for us this year.

Twins Twins Twins Its a luxury the Twins dont often have, a promising young starting pitcher with 16 major league starts of experience stashed at Class AAA.

And while the Twins dont yet trust Festa to face a lineup for a third time he faced only two batters three times in his three starts this month they hope he and fellow Saints righthander Zebby Matthews are an advantage as the season wears on.

Having that depth will help.

Youre going to see that over time, Baldelli said.

Its one thing for me to talk about it in April, its another thing to watch different guys come up and not just hold water but really contribute.

And David is certainly going to be part of that.

Lopez, who strained his right hamstring April 8, allowed three hits and one run over 413 innings in a rehab start against Des Moines on Saturday.

Game-time complications The Timberwolves playoff game with the Lakers at Target Center tips off at 8:30 p.m.

Friday, so the Twins moved the start of their game with the Angels to 6:40 p.m.

They had actually proposed moving the starting time to 6:10 p.m., but the Angels, who under MLB rules have to consent to any change of greater than 30 minutes, rejected the idea.

Thats because their players are already losing enough rest this weekend and they dont like it.

I dont think its healthy for anybody, Angels closer Kenley Jansen told The Athletic of his teams schedule, which called for a Thursday night game starting at 6:29 p.m.

Pacific time in Anaheim, then a flight to Minneapolis that is scheduled to land an hour or two before sunrise Friday.

A night game like that, [then] get in at 6 in the morning.

...

Its definitely not fair.

Outfielders Mike Trout and Taylor Ward also complained about the schedule, especially since Saturday and Sundays games begin at 1 p.m., which means the ballplayers will be at Target Field by 10 a.m.

or so.

The Angels, however, have a long history of scheduling very few getaway day games to allow the team to travel earlier, citing the greater attendance for night games.

Still, Ward said, It gives the other teams an advantage.

Etc.

Injury-plagued righthander Matt Canterino , designated for assignment late last week, has cleared waivers and become a free agent, the Twins announced Thursday.

By coincidence, Friday marks exactly 1,000 days since Canterino, the Twins second-round pick in the 2019 draft, last pitched in a regular-season game July 30, 2022, while rehabbing in a Florida Complex League game.

After a week of hoping Willi Castros strained oblique would heal quickly, the Twins finally put Castro on the injured list Thursday and recalled Mickey Gasper from Class AAA St.

Paul.

Castro, a switch-hitter, said he is healed except for when he swings from the left side and believes 10 days on the injured list will take care of that.

The St.

Paul Saints game against Indianapolis on Friday at CHS Field was postponed because of rain.

It will be made up in Indianapolis on a June date to be determined because the Indians dont return to St.

Paul after the series concludes Sunday..

This article has been shared from the original article on startribune, here is the link to the original article.