Mitch Garver gets in his swings vs. Twins, faces surgery Monday

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – Before the premature end of Mitch Garver's 2022 season with the Texas Rangers, the former Twins catcher beat the team that traded him this past offseason. Twice, in fact. And he had to admit, it felt pretty good.

"Absolutely. Are you kidding me?" Garver said. "I want to sweep them."

Garver spent his entire professional career with the Twins — drafted in 2013 and making his major league debut in 2017 — before his spring training swap to Texas. That was one of several moves the Twins made to revamp a squad that flopped in 2021 and was a building block for bringing Carlos Correa to Minnesota.

Texas, though, wasn't exactly a fresh start for Garver, who unfortunately is in a familiar position of being injured. He will have surgery Monday morning to repair the flexor tendon in his right throwing arm and will need about seven months to recover.

Garver said he wasn't trying to time the operation so he could be the designated hitter against the Twins. But that it worked out that way did give him a chance to reconnect with his ex-teammates. He had a long chat with manager Rocco Baldelli and pitcher Devin Smeltzer ahead of Friday's game. He also hugged Byron Buxton and Max Kepler.

"They were like, 'Hey, man, we miss you. We hope everything's good,' " Garver said. "I was like, 'Yeah, I miss you guys, too.' I'd be lying if I said I wasn't."

Garver's breakout season for the Twins was in 2019, when he hit 31 home runs in 93 games. But injuries have prevented him from repeating that success with the Twins and Rangers.

"He's going to get himself right. He's going to get the procedure done, which seems like the right thing to do," Baldelli said. "And I'm sure when he hits the field again, he's going to be a really good major league player."