Among Twins' injured position players, Willi Castro is closest to returning

On the left side of the infield, Nick Gordon was taking ground balls, alternating with José Miranda and Willi Castro at third base. Byron Buxton stretched in foul territory, then did some running to test his strained hamstring. Alex Kirilloff fielded a few grounders at first base and practiced throwing to second.

All over Target Field, the Twins' injured position players made progress on returning to action on Thursday, some closer than others.

"I'm feeling a lot better. I'm happy with how everything is progressing," said Kirilloff, who has missed all of August after suffering a strained right shoulder late last month. "It's getting up to [hitting] off the machine and responding to velocity, things like that. It's feeling pretty good."

With the exception of Miranda, each of the injured Twins hopes to play again this season, a fact that may force some difficult roster decisions in the next couple of weeks. Major league teams can carry 28 players, an increase of two, beginning Sept. 1, but in the Twins' case, one of them figures to go to a pitcher.

The player most likely to return first is Castro, who will depart Friday for Omaha, where Class AAA St. Paul is playing this weekend. Castro, out two weeks since straining an oblique muscle in Philadelphia, will spend the weekend on a rehab assignment. Castro could rejoin the team early next week, though another circumstance might delay that return: His wife, Aniana, is expecting the couple's second child.

Kirilloff hopes to embark on his own rehab assignment soon, though the Twins haven't declared him ready yet. "We're still kind of waiting to see how these next couple of days go," Kirilloff said. "It's just kind of following the plan that they have for me. Hopefully, we'll talk about [joining St. Paul] soon."

It won't be until doctors assure the Twins that the first baseman is completely healthy, manager Rocco Baldelli said.

"AK is going to have to prove to himself and to us that he's able to swing. Not just that he can play — he has to play well," the manager said. "He has to feel like he can swing the bat like he needs to to be productive. And that's what we're going to find out."

Miranda is happy to be back on the field, but the second-year infielder said he is resigned to the fact that 2023, which he believed in spring training would be a breakthrough season, is instead a lost season. That's partly because he was never able to break out of the slump that afflicted him once the regular season began — he hit .211 with a .263 on-base percentage in 40 games with the Twins, roughly 60 points lower than in 2022 in both categories.

But even more frustrating is that the right shoulder impingement that sidelined him in June still bothers him.

"It got better after I had the [cortisone] shot, but there's still some inflammation there," Miranda said. "I still feel something in my shoulder when I swing a bat, and that's what we're trying to address."

Is offseason surgery a possibility? "It could be. Maybe. I hope not, but if it doesn't get better," he said. "… The main thing for me right now is to make sure I'm completely healthy for spring training next February. Whatever that takes."

Jordan Balazovic inherited fellow righthander Oliver Ortega's spot in the Twins bullpen on Thursday, four days after Ortega replaced Balazovic.

A strained lower back struck Ortega in Milwaukee on Wednesday, and he went on the injured list. Balazovic spent the past two days in Omaha with the Saints, sweating in the oppressive 100-degree Nebraska heat but not pitching in a game.

"It was more of a mental reset for him, not a physical reset, because he wasn't able to go out and pitch," Baldelli said. "He knows there are adjustments he has to make. He just wasn't able to test those out yet."

The Saints won their second game in a row in Omaha, winning 10-7 behind DaShawn Keirsey Jr.'s first Class AAA home run and five hits and four RBI from Hernan Perez.