St. Paul – He has the longest career in professional baseball out of any of the players in the Twins organization.

Now pitching his 18th season at the age of 35, Michael Tonkin finds himself as the leading veteran of the St. Paul Saints bullpen.

To give an idea of how long Tonkin has been around, he’s one of the last Twins relievers in the org to have had not just one, but two at-bats over two games in interleague play back in 2016 when the Twins were playing a series in Washington, D.C.

Tonkin started the 2025 season on the injured list with a shoulder strain, and the Twins had shut him down before spring training concluded.

After a month on the IL, he began a rehab assignment with the Saints, throwing over an inning at a time, but still dealing with the pain.

“The back of the shoulder was kind of always the issue,” said Tonkin. “I tried to pitch through it, tried to get better, never really got better. I mean, I had days where it was tolerable, but never to the point where I felt like it was back healthy.”

Tonkin made six rehab appearances from April 18 to May 8, and had only one scoreless outing, two strong scoreless innings, with three strikeouts against the Columbus Clippers.

Then, he had another setback when his bicep tendon flared up.

“Once the bicep tendon flared up, it was like, ‘I can’t pitch with both of these going on,’ and it just, I mean, I couldn’t just pitch like that. So that’s when I went back on the IL or was taken off of rehab assignment, and I got the cortisone shots.”

The shots required another month of rest before Tonkin returned to game action.

He resumed his rehab assignment on June 7 and pitched in two back-to-back scoreless outings in his return, allowing only one walk and one hit with a couple of strikeouts.

However, once the time came for the Twins to activate him from the IL, they dropped him from the 40-man roster and outrighted him to St. Paul.

Tonkin has been involved in numerous transactions like these throughout his career.

He frequently traveled between Minneapolis and the Twins’ former Triple-A affiliate in Rochester, NY. He pitched his way through Japan and Indy Ball before revitalizing his career again with the Atlanta Braves in 2022.

His most recent demotion isn’t much different from the previous times teams have sent him back down to the minors.

Tonkin knows he has the stuff to get back to the majors and will continue to put in the work to return to Minnesota’s bullpen this season.

“Hopefully there’s an opportunity up there, and hopefully I get a chance to show I can still pitch in the big leagues.”

But while he’s still in St. Paul, all the young pitchers in the Saints bullpen have gravitated to pick his brain for all they can learn from him, and the catchers, too.

“He’s obviously rubbing off on the young guys, and he keeps the mood light, which is great,” said Saints pitching coach Jonas Lovin. “He’s done a really nice job with the catchers, too, just helping understand pitch calling, strategizing, and how to attack hitters. I think that’s honestly what we’ve seen more of his impact.”

The only two people in the Saints clubhouse with a longer tenure in professional baseball than Tonkin are pitching coach Carlos Hernandez, who made his pro-ball debut in the Houston Astros organization in 1999, and Saints manager Toby Gardenhire.

The Twins drafted Gardenhire in 2005. However, his tenure in baseball dates back much further, to when his father, Ron, first became Minnesota’s third base coach in 1991.

Toby Gardenhire became the full-time third base coach with the Red Wings in 2017, and he and Tonkin really got to know one another after a nearly 10-year window of being at different levels of the Twins organization.

Seeing his status in the clubhouse now has been a real treat for Gardenhire.

“That’s the thing about Tonk, he’s a veteran, we’ve had him, as you said, he was playing in the organization when I was still playing, and then I was with him in 2017 when I was coaching,” said Gardenhire. “He’s a great guy, and he comes to work, and I’m rooting for him to throw well here and get himself back up there because I know he can do it. He’s got good stuff, and he’s definitely a guy that’s good to have around.”

“Playing for Toby is awesome,” Tonkin said. “Toby’s the man. He’s the man. I can’t say enough about having him as a manager; he’s cool.”

The cortisone shots have helped Tonkin feel 100% since he began throwing in games again on June 7. He holds a 4.09 ERA with 12 strikeouts and just one walk in 11 innings of work over six outings.

The Saints will continue to use him in both short and long relief roles, and Tonkin will adjust his mechanics accordingly for each matchup.

“Now that I feel good,” he said, “it’s now just a matter of getting back to being on a mound, getting familiar with the catchers, and getting back to where I feel like everything is flowing mechanically.”

Tonkin says Twins legend Jason Kubel is doing well

Tonkin’s brother-in-law is Twins fan favorite Jason Kubel, who first put him on the Twins’ radar all those years ago. Tonkin said he and his sister, Blake, are doing well, living the family life.

Although the baseball season keeps them from talking frequently, he assures Twins fans that life is going well for the Kubel and Tonkin families.