FORT MYERS, Fla. — In a weird way, playing with a torn ligament in his right elbow last year might have actually helped out Twins prospect Luke Keaschall.
“I swung at better pitches because when I swung at bad pitches, it hurt a little bit,” Keaschall said.
This is a 2025 photo of Luke Keaschall of the Minnesota Twins baseball team. This image reflects the Twins active roster as of Friday, Feb. 21, 2025 when this image was taken. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Keaschall, selected by the Twins in the second round of the 2023 draft, put together an impressive season at the plate between advanced Class A and Double-A, hitting .303 with a .903 OPS. He hit 15 home runs and collected 115 hits in 103 games. He also drew 62 walks (to 80 strikeouts) and swiped 23 bags.
All of that earned Keaschall, now ranked the No. 61 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline, the Twins’ Minor League Player of the Year Award.
His season came to an early end when the Twins finally shut him down, deciding to have Keaschall, now 22, finally undergo Tommy John surgery in August to get him ready for the 2025 season. Now, he’ll try to repeat his performance — and this time he’ll be fully healthy.
“I was just excited to go out there and play,” Keaschall said. “I’m happy they let me do what I wanted to do, because normally they wouldn’t let a guy play through that. But I asked them to and they worked with me, and they let me do it. So, I’m grateful for that.”
Keaschall said he had a little bit of elbow pain in college when he was playing for Arizona State but didn’t think too much of it. Last year during spring training, his physical therapist — he was rehabbing from another surgery at the time — had him get magnetic resonance imaging on his elbow because it had been bugging him.
Imaging revealed he was at high risk for a tear, leading to a six-week shutdown period. That high-risk turned into reality — about a week into the season, he got confirmation that he had fully torn the ligament.
“It just helps you focus on what you can do well and what you can’t do,” he said of the injury. “Yeah, you can’t do this well, but you can really go do a good job with the glove, or if I swing at good pitches. I know I have to be productive.”
He sure was.
Now, months removed from the surgery, Keaschall is nearly back to full strength. He expects to be back in the field — first returning to second base before venturing to other positions — somewhere between March 17 and March 24. For now, he’s limited to hitting, appearing as a designated hitter in early spring games.
“He’s got a very short swing. There is some strength to his body, his hands and to the swing itself,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “And he can run on top of that. He’s a good athlete. He’s going to be an exciting player to watch. It’s a very nice intro for him.”
Keirsey Jr. shines
A day after collecting a walk-off hit against the New York Yankees and making a catch that had Baldelli raving, DaShawn Keirsey Jr. smacked his first home run of the spring and made another nice catch, this one a diving grab in right field in a 4-0 win over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday.
Keirsey Jr., 27, debuted late last season and played in six games for the Twins. The outfielder is fighting for a backup role, and while he might not make the team out of camp, he has certainly gotten Baldelli’s attention.
“He has made a lot of adjustments over the years to make himself into a really relevant and quality young player,” Baldelli said. “And that’s from work. … If we’re being honest, a couple of years ago, he didn’t have the skills to do all the wonderful things that he’s doing now. And he worked for it. He put in the work, he got better every day, and now we talk about him. We talk about him a lot.”
Briefly
Twins ace Pablo López will make his first start on the spring on Thursday when the Pittsburgh Pirates visit Hammond Stadium. … Andrew Morris and Cory Lewis, two of the Twins’ top pitching prospects, along with left-hander Kody Funderburk, each threw two scoreless innings in the Twins’ win over the Tigers in Lakeland.
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