Trevor Larnach returns with healthy swings but faces battle to make the Twins

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Trevor Larnach, his manager said this week, has been "dying to get back out there," which is true. But what Larnach really wants is to stay out there.

The Twins' young outfielder was sidelined for March's first week by mild tightness in his groin, but returned with "some fantastic swings" on Tuesday, according to manager Rocco Baldelli, that produced a single and a well-struck lineout against the Orioles. "I don't know if he could have come back swinging the bat any better."

But whether he will get the opportunity to keep swinging that way remains frustratingly unclear for Larnach. The Twins signed another lefthanded corner outfielder, Joey Gallo, in the offseason, traded for Michael A. Taylor to give them additional outfield depth, didn't follow through on their much-rumored plans to trade Max Kepler, and filled their projected bench with utility players Nick Gordon, Kyle Farmer and Donovan Solano.

So is Larnach still in the Twins' plans?

"Oh, for sure. We recognize the challenges that Trevor has confronted, health-wise, over the past two years," Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. "I would say our focus has been on expanding our depth all over the field. That sometimes is interpreted as reflecting on the players already here, but after last season, we understand what the cost of having less-robust roster depth can be. … Adding talent is a good thing, and Trevor is part of that, just like Matt Wallner and Alex Kirilloff and others."

Except that Larnach has had a bigger taste of big-league life than the others. In fact, over the past two seasons, the three Twins with the most plate appearances as outfielders are Max Kepler, Byron Buxton — and Larnach. RBI, same trio. He is second in walks by an outfielder, and fourth in home runs. First in strikeouts, too.

"I don't know what the numbers say, but I'll trust you on that," Larnach shrugged. "Crazy to hear that. I mean, time is flying."

So much so, in fact, that the 26-year-old already feels a bit like a veteran, experienced beyond his 130 career games.

"I feel like I've learned so much. Yeah, I have that experience, if that makes sense," the Bay Area native said. "I've learned so much from even the injuries, the time I've played, guys I've talked to, veterans I've played with. I've soaked in so much."

Not all of it happy. Larnach's 2021 rookie season got stronger as it went on, until a mid-July hand injury sapped the power from his swing; he batted .152 over his final 28 games and was sent back to Class AAA in mid-August.

Then last year, his luck got worse. Larnach batted .313 with nine doubles over the first five weeks, but suffered an adductor strain in his groin. He returned two weeks later, but within a month, he was hitting .231 and in obvious pain. Doctors told him he returned too fast, tried compensating for the injury, and probably made it worse.

"I thought I did pretty well with the chance that I was given, for the time that I was healthy. If I had stopped a little bit earlier ..." Larnach said. "I've always been that way, ever since high school [and] college. I've always tried to grind through anything. But sometimes you can't. And I got to that point."

Which is probably why Baldelli gave Larnach a day or two extra to recover last week.

"Whenever a guy, especially a very competitive guy like him, says 'I'm ready to go,' you're going to want to give him at least an extra day," Baldelli said. "Because guys have been known to give you unreliable information in that way. They try to fight their way into the lineup."

Now he'll have to fight his way onto the roster, too, either during the final three weeks of spring training, or from a temporary assignment to St. Paul.

"Every spring training, I've wanted to make this team, obviously. It's not a matter of if I want to, it's just doing what I need to do," Larnach said. "I understand the situation, every outfielder here understands the situation. But that's out of our control. Our control is to show up, stay healthy, put up numbers."