Twins starter Kenta Maeda hopes for healthy season in recovering from arm surgery

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Twins starter Kenta Maeda threw his first bullpen of spring training on Thursday at Lee County Sports Complex, reaching about 40 pitches and throwing his fastball at about 89 mph.

Maeda has had three distinct seasons as a Twin. He finished second in the American League Cy Young voting in 2020, posted a career-worst ERA in 2021 before injuring his elbow, and missed the entire 2022 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

He said he split his time this winter between Japan and Los Angeles, and threw every other day in December and every day in January to prepare for spring training.

"It's the first bullpen of the spring, so you can't really go off the numbers here,'' he said in Japanese, according to an interpreter. "But in comparison with what I was throwing in September last year, it feels much better.

"The body feels good, the body movement is good, the ball has some carry to it, so everything's good.''

Maeda is expected to be in the rotation along with Sonny Gray, Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan and Tyler Mahle.

"The goal this year is to stay healthy throughout the year, to be a part of the starting rotation for the entire season and stack up as many wins as possible with the lowest amount of ERA,'' Maeda said with a smile.

The Twins held their fourth organized workout of the spring, but the first one that pitchers and catchers were required to attend. Position players' first official workout is Monday, though roughly two-thirds of those players are already in camp.

Before Thursday's session, manager Rocco Baldelli gathered the Twins in the team's clubhouse to welcome the team, "introducing" pitching coach Pete Maki and his staff, though most have already had plenty of contact with him. And he outlined his priorities for the season, though they're not exactly a surprise either.

"Acknowledging and focusing and noting that the most important thing when our guys walk into the clubhouse is winning ballgames, and it comes above all else — that's an important thing to say," Baldelli said. "To hold a spot on our club, that also has to be the most important thing to each and every guy on our team."

Baldelli didn't stick around for the workout, though; MLB required the manager and chief baseball executive from each Florida-based team to attend the league's annual media day, this year at the Blue Jays' facility in Dunedin. "I'm only staying 15 minutes, and then we're driving back to Fort Myers," Baldelli said as he sat down in Dunedin.

Seventy-five minutes later, the Twins manager was the only team official still holding court.

Even though he's recovering from Tommy John surgery that muddles his future, the Twins signed Paddack to a three-year, $12.5 million contract last month.

"I'm very fortunate that the Twins are willing to take that risk — because that's exactly what they're doing. My goal is to not disappoint them," the 27-year-old righthander said. "I'm excited to be a part of this team, this organization, because they do everything right here. And I know eventually that's going to lead to big things, and that wins championships."

The best part of the contract, Paddack said, is that it removes money from consideration as he makes decisions about his return.

"There's a lot of pressure lifted off my shoulders, that's for sure. 2024 would have been my contract year, and it would have been like, 'gotta do this, gotta make sure of that,'" Paddack said. "Me being a young guy, never being in that situation, knowing myself, how my mind works, I would have put too much pressure on myself and try to be someone I'm not. Possibly go out there before I'm ready and tweak something else trying to push through."