Joe Ryan’s exciting offseason includes travel and something more: A return to good health

Two weeks of touring Paris and exploring Amsterdam made for a “pretty amazing” offseason for Joe Ryan. Yet it was what happened the day after he returned from Europe that got the righthander even more excited.

“I got back and I had my third MRI — and they said it was complete resolution,” Ryan said, meaning the magnetic resonance imaging test in early November found no evidence of the shoulder strain that ended his season Aug. 7. “It healed really quickly.”

Far more quickly than even the Twins expected.

“I had a little bet with Masa” Abe, Twins assistant athletic trainer, Ryan said. Doctors told him “that it was going to be like a year before you have complete resolution,” Ryan said. “So that was awesome.”

So was Europe, and a vacation with his longtime girlfriend, Clare Stonich, that Ryan wasn’t sure he should take.

“I always get anxious about trips. I always feel like I can’t afford to take 10 days off during the offseason, that feels just insane to me,” Ryan said. “Fortunately, our hotels had gyms. I was able to get my work so my peace of mind was easily settled.”

It’s even better nearly three months later. His progress has allowed him to get back on the mound and feel certain he’ll be ready to pitch when the season starts in 10 weeks. He’s thrown three bullpen sessions, and though he hasn’t tried to pitch at top velocity, he’s pretty close.

“My goal in the offseason [normally] is to get like 90 [mph] before camp. That’s when I feel really good,” Ryan said. “I was like 89 my first bullpen, and I was kind of going easy. … I’m kind of stoked about everything.”

Well, not everything. He and Stonich rented a house near the beach in Los Angeles — which gave him a frighteningly close-up view of the Palisades fire, less than 5 miles away.

“It’s tragic. It’s devastating to see,” said Ryan, who attended college at nearby Cal State Northridge. “It’s something you’ll never forget.”

Ryan wasn’t the only Twins player to receive good medical news at this weekend’s TwinsFest.

“Basically, everyone here showed up tracking very well,” Derek Falvey, Twins president of baseball operations, said after attendees underwent physical exams with the Twins’ medical staff. “Every player on our roster has been cleared for full participation” in spring training, which opens in Fort Myers, Fla., on Feb. 13.

That doesn’t mean everyone will be on the same timetable, however. Relief pitcher Brock Stewart, who threw only 15⅔ innings before being sidelined by a shoulder injury that required surgery in August, will be built up more slowly than the rest of the staff, mostly as a precaution, Falvey said.

Stewart has thrown three bullpen sessions this month and said he believes he’s on schedule to start the season.

“I feel good during the bullpens. Next day, waking up, I feel good. I’m throwing 90-93 [mph] without max effort, so it’s been really positive,” Stewart said. “I haven’t asked about their schedule for me. I’m focused on attacking what’s in front of me, whatever they want me to do.”

Falvey said head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta has traveled around the country to check on the health of other players who were injured during 2024.

“He spent a couple days in Georgia with [Byron] Buxton, even stayed in his guest room,” Falvey said. “It was great news — Buck couldn’t be any more healthy than he is going into this season.”

Torii Hunter received 20 Hall of Fame votes in results announced Tuesday, the precise number necessary to reach 5 percent of the vote and qualify him for next year’s ballot.

“I kind of stopped thinking about it, but it’s pretty cool, I guess,” said Hunter, who in five years on the ballot has yet to reach 10 percent of the vote — 9.5 percent in 2021, his first year on the ballot, is his high mark — but has never fallen below 5 percent, either. “What’s the saying? It’s an honor just to be on the ballot.”

It’s an honor he swears he never thought about during his 15-year career with the Twins, Angels and Tigers.

“At the end of the day, my numbers don’t change. I am who I am,” Hunter said. “But if you had told a little boy from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, that he’d someday be on the Hall of Fame ballot, how crazy would that have sounded? I never thought I’d be on the ballot, so five years in a row, it’s something. I’m thankful, I really am.”