The Minnesota Twins get ready for the 2024 season with most of the AL Wild Card winning roster intact from 2023. If there's one major change to look closely at, it is the starting pitchers where All-Star and Cy Young finalist Sonny Gray no longer is after signing as a free-agent in St. Louis.
That opens up an opportunity for younger arms, one of which is Chris Paddack who the Twins front office is very high on. The right-hander, acquired in the trade with San Diego that sent Taylor Rodgers to the Padres, was activated again in September by the Twins 16 months after he had Tommy John surgery for the second time.
Speaking with Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News, Paddack said he feels great.
"Obviously we came up short on our goal as a team last year, but we did get a little bit a little bit of experience there in playoffs," Paddack said. "I gained some confidence going into the offseason with, you know, being back out there with the guys and being healthy again. I'm super excited for this team that we have, the starting rotation, all the way through the clubhouse. For me personally, just a healthy 2024 season, so I'm excited."
Paddack referenced his postseason, and he was terrific in his 3 2/3 innings including in the Game 4, season-ending loss against Houston where his innings out of the bullpen gave the Twins a chance. He threw 2 1/3 innings in that game, holding Houston to one hit and striking out four. It was a dominant performance and Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey said after the game Paddack will absolutely get his chance to start during this season with the way he has pitched.
In his first spring training action Thursday against Atlanta in Fort Myers, Paddack picked up where he left off throwing two more scoreless innings. He says the spring games are really just to get back in shape because of so many changing lineups.
"Spring training is a lot of moving parts," he says. "But for me, I've always been a big fan of pitching on the road just because you're probably gonna get a (better) lineup just because the Braves' guys, they're home. Now, obviously towards the end of spring, Correa, Buxton, those guys will travel. That's kind of what I took in. I was like, this is gonna be a good opportunity to see where my stuff's at in early spring."
Tommy John surgery, very common in baseball pitchers, typically entails either a repair of the elbow ligament by sewing and anchoring it back down to the bone, or reconstruction of the ligament by replacing it. It used to be a career-ending injury for pitchers but the ligament repair has come a long ways since they began doing the procedures. It's still a significant surgery, and a long recovery, something Paddack has now gone through twice.
"When you overcome something once you can overcome it twice," Paddack said. "I was a young kid when I had my first one, just turned 20 years old and this time I was 26 and I've learned so much since then. But even this go around, I haven't been more prepared, more confident, more excited about a season. There are some bad days during that rehab stretch when you're out of the game for 17 months and I can only go fishing and only watch so many TV shows. You have to keep yourself busy and that's not just outside of the game of baseball, but also your mind. And I just try and stay positive, lean on my family, lean on my friends, people are in my corner that support me on a daily basis."
The Twins resume Spring games Friday with a noon start against Philadelphia. They travel to Philly on Saturday, and host Tampa Bay back in Fort Myers Sunday. All three games at noon and are on 830 WCCO, 102.9 The Wolf and the Audacy app (in-market restrictions apply).