CLEVELAND -- Royce Lewis and Willi Castro are inching closer to returning to the Twins’ active roster, but Matt Wallner and Luke Keaschall are both weeks away from playing in games, the team’s head athletic trainer said Monday.
According to Nick Paparesta, Keaschall does not need surgery on his fractured right ulna bone, but “it’s probably going to be a couple of months” before the dynamic rookie is playing in games again. He will receive weekly x-rays to make sure that his non-displaced fracture stays non-displaced, meaning no surgery is required, and will be re-evaluated in about a month.
Meanwhile, Wallner has what has been diagnosed as a “moderate to severe” left hamstring injury and began jogging on a treadmill on Monday. He is not expected to begin running outdoors for at least another week, meaning he is likely multiple weeks away from being able to play in games.
“I’ll have another evaluation process with him when we get home [from the current road trip],” Paparesta said. “We’re gone for a week, that gives me another week [of] letting him get better and get stronger, get faster, maybe even get out there running, and then when we get home we’ll have a week to see how he does with his running progression.”
Wallner would first need to advance to running in a straight line, then go to baserunning, before playing in Minor League rehabilitation games.
The news on Lewis and Castro is more encouraging. Lewis, also recuperating from a left hamstring strain, is progressing well in his Minor League rehabilitation assignment. He will play nine innings as a designated hitter on Tuesday with Triple-A St. Paul, then a full game at third base on Wednesday. It is expected that he will need to play back-to-back games in the field before being activated, so it probably will be about a week before Lewis returns to the Major League roster, but he is getting closer.
Castro has resumed baseball activities after being shut down for a couple of days. He did all activities except hitting left-handed on Monday, and hopes to try hitting from the left side on Tuesday, after which the club will decide how soon he could return. He would be eligible to return as soon as Thursday, but there is no indication yet that he will play that soon.