ANAHEIM, Calif. – Jorge Polanco's left hamstring strain is "very mild," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said, but given his story with knee and ankle problems, that's enough to keep him on the bench for a few more days. And with that being the case, it made sense to simply give him a week off, especially with a prospect like Edouard Julien available to fill in.
Twins place Jorge Polanco on 10-day injured list with left hamstring strain
The move was made retroactive to Thursday, so Polanco will be eligible to return for the final game of next week's homestand.
May 21, 2023 at 1:46AM
Polanco, who felt the ligament tighten up as he ran to first base during Wednesday's loss in Dodger Stadium, was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday morning, retroactive to Thursday, and the second baseman will be eligible to return for the final game of next week's homestand.
"If we felt confident he would be back and could play without any risk of [aggravating the injury], we would have just left him" on the roster, Baldelli said. "You don't want to lose a guy like him for another five days if you don't have to. We would have waited that out."
Instead, Julien caught an early morning flight from Columbus, where the Class AAA Saints are playing, in order to be in uniform for Saturday night's game. Julien was not in the starting lineup because a lefthander, Patrick Sandoval, was starting for the Angels, but "when we face righthanded pitching, he's going to be out there," Baldelli said.
The pain in Jorge Alcala's pitching elbow was the result of a stress fracture in the radius, one of the larger bones in his forearm, a magnetic resonance imagine test shows, and the righthanded reliever, who missed all but the first week of the 2022 season, is out indefinitely again.
"It's a fairly rare type of injury for a pitcher. He doesn't have any muscle or tendon damage," said Nick Paparesta, the Twins' head athletic trainer. "We'll be shutting him down until he doesn't have any more symptoms, and we'll re-evaluate it in 10-14 days."
The injury had been bothering Alcala for a few weeks, he said, and is unrelated to the elbow surgery Alcala underwent last year.
But the Twins did get some good news about a pitcher Saturday. Kenta Maeda, on the 15-day injured list because of a triceps strain, threw 25 fastballs and changeups in the bullpen "and it went really well," Paparesta said. He'll throw a longer session at Target Field on Tuesday, about 35 pitches "using all of his pitches," the trainer said, and then the Twins will determine whether he is ready to throw to hitters.
In other medical news:
- Max Kepler ran in the Target Field outfield Saturday, and Paparesta estimated that "he's at 70 percent. He said he felt good, no discomfort." Kepler, out with a hamstring strain, is eligible to return on Monday, but the team has already ruled that out.
- Caleb Thielbar has played catch every day this week and experienced no pain. He'll throw off a mound when the Twins return home.
- Tyler Mahle will undergo Tommy John surgery on Monday in Dallas, and will begin his rehab near his Southern California home. Mahle will become a free agent at the end of the season.
Correction: An earlier version misstated which hamstring of Jorge Polanco is strained. It is the left.
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