The Minnesota Twins pulled out yet another victory on Saturday afternoon, this time against division rival Kansas City. That makes manager Rocco Baldelli & Co. 16-2 in their last 18 games.
Heading into the evening, Minnesota holds sole possession of 2nd place in the AL Central, now just 3.5 games back of the Detroit Tigers, who currently hold the best record in the American League, at 33-19. And the good news continues to roll in for the red-hot MN Twins.
On Friday, news broke that 31-year-old center fielder Byron Buxton — who remains on the concussion list after colliding with Carlos Correa in shallow center over a week ago — is getting very close to his return.
This, now a couple of days after the other 2012 top two overall draft pick involved in that outfield crash last week found his way off the concussion list and back into the Twins lineup.
Buxton following behind Correa throughout this process is no surprise, given Byron’s past history with head injuries.
Bring on all the good news Minnesota Twins injury updates
On more than just a baseball level, it is very good to hear that Buck is feeling better. But the good news injury updates continued to roll in on Saturday.
This time, it involved Matt Wallner, who has been out since mid-April with a hamstring strain, but recently began a rehab assignment with the St. Paul Saints.
According to SKOR North’s Declan Goff — who’s been on the Twins’ home beat for a couple of seasons now — reported that the 27-year-old outfielder will get today off, before traveling with the Saints to continue his rehab assignment on the road, in Omaha, Nebraska.
Then, at some point next week during Minnesota’s upcoming 10-game road trip, reports Declan, Matt Wallner is expected to re-join the Twins lineup.
Looking ahead, that 1.5 weeks on the road will begin with a series in Tampa Bay, vs the Rays. After they are finished with the Rays, they’ll fly cross-country for three in Seattle vs the Mariners, before wrapping up the extended trip with four games in Sacramento vs the Athletics.
When can we expect Matt Wallner back and how has he been feeling?
If I were to use context clues in order to project Matt’s return to Minnesota’s active roster, I’d pin it on Friday, May 30. That is the Twins’ first game of the road trip out West. Of course, should something happen that requires Wallner to rejoin the lineup sooner than anticipated, I think it’s safe to say he’d be ready.
In the first two games of his rehab assignment with the St. Paul Saints (both vs the Norfolk Tides), Matt Wallner went 5-of-9 (.556) with 6 RBI and 4 runs scored.
He’s done most of his damage via two home runs in his rehab debut. The Forest Lake, MN native then returned the next night and smacked a double.
Prior to being placed on the injured list, Matt was one of the best and most consistent hitters in a Minnesota Twins lineup that desperately needed it, at the time. Whenever Wallner is eventually activated, he will look to improve on an already impressive .263/.373/.474 slash line.
In 57 big league at-bats so far this season, the Twins starting right fielder is touting an .847 OPS and 135 OPS+. Batting exclusively in the leadoff spot, Matt Wallner has batted in three runs and scored another seven.
He’s splattered numbers all over the box score, hitting one homer, five doubles and a triple, to go with 19 strikeouts and 9 walks. We’ll see if Rocco wants to insert Matt back into the leadoff role, and if so, how quickly.
