CHICAGO — The Twins did not name a starter for Saturday night’s game in the hours before the first game of their series against the Chicago White Sox, but there was one 6-foot-5 hint who had a locker in the Rate Field visitor’s clubhouse.

Mick Abel, the top pitching prospect the Twins acquired at the trade deadline, traveled with the team to Chicago and is expected to make his Twins’ debut on Saturday, giving them their first look at a pitcher whom they expect to be a rotation piece in the future.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Abel said. “It’s been nothing but good vibes here, (since) when I first got here, so I’ve been looking forward to it for a while.”

The 24-year-old, whom the Twins landed in the deal that sent closer Jhoan Duran to Philadelphia, made his major league debut earlier this year and pitched in six games for the Phillies, pitching to a 5.04 ERA across 25 major league innings.

Since switching organizations, Abel has a 1.75 ERA across three starts for Triple-A St. Paul. In his last game, he struck out 11 batters.

“I think it was definitely a shock more than anything, as much as I could have prepared for it,” Abel said of the trade. “Definitely still a shock to the system. It’s an exciting opportunity. I’m just ready whenever.”

One of the first things mentioned to him upon his arrival in the organization is that the Twins would like him to test out a sweeper. Abel had worked on the pitch with the Phillies but hadn’t really brought it out because he wasn’t yet comfortable with it. Since joining the Saints, he’s been working on it and has been pleased with the pitch.

“It was in the back pocket for the first couple bullpens here and then my first home start in St. Paul, I deployed it for the first time,” Abel said. “It was only in two-strike counts, but I’m much more comfortable with it now.”

Abel’s Twins debut provides some excitement for the future for the Twins, who are also expected to get their first look at Taj Bradley a day later. The Twins have yet to name a starter for Sunday’s series finale, but it will likely be Bradley, who was acquired for Griffin Jax at the trade deadline, and has been pitching in the Saints’ rotation alongside Abel this month.

Briefly

Pablo López needed 45 pitches to get through just 1 2/3 minor league innings on Friday, but Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said as far as he knew, “everything went well physically,” for both López and Simeon Woods Richardson, who threw 64 pitches and gave up four runs (three earned) in 3 1/3 innings pitched. It was López’s first rehab start since suffering a Grade-2 teres major strain in early June, and Woods Richardson’s second rehab outing since dealing with a parasite that he believes he got from eating seafood. … Outfielder Alan Roden underwent surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb on Friday. Roden is expected to make a full recovery and be ready for spring training 2026.

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Royce Lewis watched his sixth-inning fly ball die on the warning track on Thursday afternoon, landing in the glove of Athletics left fielder Tyler Soderstrom, and retreated back to the first-base dugout at Target Field, where he proceeded to remove his helmet and slam it.

And then, in the far corner of the dugout, he kept slamming it before letting out a yell.

“You go find a nice, private spot and you just let it fly and sometimes you feel mildly better walking away,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Honestly, it’s part of the game. The game can be frustrating.”

It sure has been for Lewis this season and on Thursday, the normally cheerful infielder got to a “boiling point,” which just so happened to be caught on camera.

The Twins third baseman entered the day with his numbers down across the board — his .225 batting average, .287 on-base percentage, .361 slugging percentage, .658 OPS and 77 OPS+ are all career lows — enduring what has essentially amounted to a season-long slump that began at the end of last season.

“When you’re a 9-year-old kid and you get frustrated and lost in your video game over and over again, obviously you have to keep working and figuring out,” Lewis said. “That’s what we’re doing. It’s exactly how it feels.”

The search for answers has been a constant one for Lewis, who said he hasn’t felt comfortable at the plate all year.

“It’s hard to make a full in-season adjustment because you can try that and those 30 at-bats of trial go towards your stats,” Lewis said. “I’m fighting for taking care of myself and my family. I don’t want to put any of those stats in jeopardy. But feeling like I’ve been on an island, it’s kind of tough.”

There was a stretch in which his numbers picked up and things seemed to be on the upswing for Lewis. He hit .293 in the month of July, hitting three of the six home runs this season entering Friday. Within that, he had a particularly good road trip to Colorado and Los Angeles, in which he hit .471 with a 1.644 OPS and eight hits in five games.

But even his better performance, he said, was more because he was around his family, which helped raise his spirits, rather than actually feeling more comfortable at the plate.

“This whole year, it’s felt uncomfortable and I’ve been missing pitches,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if (pitchers are) adjusting or not. They’re middle-middle. A Little League hitter would at least put them in play and I’m fouling them straight back. That’s where it’s frustrating.”

It was easier, he said, to handle some of that frustration when he had “some mentors that were there to help.” But after the Twins shipped off 10 major leaguers at the deadline, now Lewis said he mostly looks to Byron Buxton for mentorship. And though he has close relationships with former players Torii Hunter and Matt Kemp, both two-time Silver Slugger Award winners, he said he feels bad reaching out to ask them for help, too, leading him to feel somewhat alone.

“I feel like I’m kind of on an island and trying to figure it out on my own,” Lewis said. “It’s really hard.”

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By WILL WEISSERT and MICHELLE L. PRICE

WASHINGTON (AP) — With National Guard troops in the streets and federal agents at the door of his former adviser, President Donald Trump spent a heavy dose of his Friday channeling his inner tourist and reliving his bygone days as a sports team owner and construction mogul.

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He stopped by a gift shop near the White House, visited the Kennedy Center that he now chairs and returned to his increasingly gilded Oval Office to trumpet the U.S. cohosting next year’s World Cup.

“We have a lot of fun,” Trump said. “We’re fixing up the whole world.”

The president’s stops around the city came as the nation’s capital is increasingly on edge amid Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and federalization of Washington’s police force in an effort to better curb crime.

Just before he left the White House, officials announced there had been 76 arrests citywide the previous evening as part of the crackdown. The Pentagon also said National Guard troops patrolling the streets of D.C. would soon start carrying weapons.

“We are going to make D.C. totally safe. When people come from Iowa, Indiana, all of the beautiful places, and they come, they’re not going to go home in a body bag,” Trump said after visiting the People’s House exhibit and its gift shop. “They’re not going home in a coffin, and it’s very safe right now.”

With the crackdown now entering its third week, however, many Washington residents and visitors don’t feel as safe as the president suggests, with persisting concerns that the White House is amplifying racist narratives about urban crime and tearing down homeless camps where the most vulnerable live.

Trump has shrugged off criticisms and declared, when asked about the FBI searching the home and office of his former national security adviser John Bolton, “I’m actually the chief law enforcement officer.” Still, he spent far more time looking and acting like a president relishing the parts of the job that make him happiest.

WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 21: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to law enforcement officers alongside Interior Secretary Doug Burgum (R) at the U.S. Park Police Anacostia Operations Facility on August 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. The Trump administration has deployed federal officers and the National Guard to the District in order to place the DC Metropolitan Police Department under federal control and assist in crime prevention in the nation’s capital. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

At the Kennedy Center, Trump’s activities Friday weren’t public, but he told reporters he’d show off the marble that might be used to refurbish the building — along with other planned renovations, including change the paint on its signature columns from gold to white.

Trump has begun frequently joking about renaming it the Trump Kennedy Center but deadpanned Friday: “We’re not prepared to do that quite yet. Maybe in a week or so.”

WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 21: U.S. President Donald Trump visits the U.S. Park Police Anacostia Operations Facility on August 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. The Trump administration has deployed federal officers and the National Guard to the District in order to place the DC Metropolitan Police Department under federal control and assist in crime prevention in the nation’s capital. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The president also said he’ll be leading yet more White House renovations — this time on the bathroom attached to the iconic Lincoln Bedroom. It last underwent renovations in 2005.

“We’ll be doing the Lincoln Bathroom which was Art Deco,” Trump said, adding, “We’re making it actually incredible.”

The president even floated the idea of refurbishing the sprawling Old Executive Office Building on the White House grounds, saying it was “such a beautiful building, but it doesn’t look it.”

Trump has already made extensive changes to the White House, redoing the Oval Office to add gold decor, installing patio seating with external speakers around the Rose Garden, erecting two towering flagpoles on its lawn and promising to build a ballroom.

Later in the day, Trump was joined in the Oval Office by FIFA President Gianni Infantino to announce that the Kennedy Center would host the draw for the 2026 World Cup, which will be played in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, from right, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Vice President JD Vance, Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees and Andrew Giuliani listen in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The former owner of the New Jersey Generals of the USFL, Trump has been heavily promoting sporting events that will take place during his second term, including the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“I just left the Kennedy Center. We’re spending a lot of money wisely and making it really beautiful,” Trump said during the event with Infantino. “It’s going to be beautiful again. It’s like Washington, D.C.”

By MELISSA GOLDIN

After the Trump administration announced Thursday that it is reviewing the valid visas of more than 55 million people, social media users began using this figure to inflate the number of noncitizens living in the U.S. by tens of millions.

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Posts claimed that these 55 million visa holders, plus about 25 million or more people living in the country illegally, means that nearly a quarter to a third of the people living in the U.S. are not American citizens. The total U.S. population is about 342 million.

But government data contradicts these figures, and experts say the estimates spreading online are highly inflated.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: Approximately 70 million to 100 million people living in the U.S. are not American citizens.

THE FACTS: This is false. There were nearly 22 million noncitizens residing in the U.S. in 2023, according to the latest Census Bureau data. That includes people in the country both legally and illegally.

The 55 million visas, which includes tourist visas, is not representative of U.S. residents, as not everyone with a visa resides in the U.S. The number of people in the U.S. illegally is nearly 14 million, according to a recent Pew Research Center report. Trump routinely inflates the number of people living in the country illegally, the majority of whom he says entered under the Biden administration, most recently citing totals of 25 million to 30 million.

“The 55 million figure is the total number of visa-holders worldwide, not people who are currently in the United States,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. “The 25 million figure for undocumented immigrants is also completely false.”

Still, many social media users overstated the number of noncitizens living in the U.S., pointing to these figures.

“55 million on visas, tens of millions of illegals—close to 100 million are foreign aliens,” reads one X post. “Almost 1/3 of the entire country are foreigners. Completely insane if you really think about it. America has no reason or obligation to tolerate this. If America doesn’t deport the tens of millions it needs to, it will cease to exist as a nation.”

In 2024, there were 3.6 million people residing in the U.S. on temporary visas, such as diplomats, exchange visitors, students, and temporary workers, according to the Department of Homeland Security. This does not include people with tourist visas. An additional 12.8 million people were green card holders.

Experts noted that the 55 million people with U.S. visas includes tens of millions who hold tourist visas, which can last up to 10 years, depending on one’s nationality. The State Department issued nearly 6.5 million tourist visas last year.

“I think no one would consider a tourist who comes to the U.S. for a week or two a U.S. resident,” said Michelle Mittelstadt, a spokesperson for the Migration Policy Institute.

A Pew Research Center report released Thursday estimated that in 2023 there were 14 million people living in the U.S. illegally. Other recent estimates cite similar figures. The Center for Immigration Studies, which calls for restricting immigration, found the number to be 14.2 million as of July. On the lower end, the Center for Migration Studies estimated 12.2 million as of mid-2023.

Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.