ST. LOUIS — For Ryan Jeffers, it’s what he didn’t hear from Joe Ryan that has him feeling good about the pitcher’s return to the mound.
When he takes the ball at Busch Stadium on Saturday afternoon, Ryan will pitch in his first big-league game since departing an Aug. 7 start at Wrigley Field with a season-ending grade 2 teres major strain.
The injury, which he described as a continuous cramping feeling in his throwing shoulder, never required surgery. Ryan also healed quickly, telling teammates he felt good as the regular season ended. A month later, he received confirmation after the third of three MRIs showed total resolution, meaning there was no sign of injury.
Though there were several days earlier this spring when his body and mechanics didn’t feel right, forcing him to pause because he didn’t want to overcompensate and sustain an injury, Ryan has otherwise been right on track. The Twins hope it means he can return to the form of last season, which looked to be a career year before the injury shut him down.
“I couldn’t tell he was thinking about it one bit,” Jeffers said. “Anytime a pitcher deals with an injury of any sort to the arm, you worry about them guarding and worrying about it a little bit. I didn’t see any of that. I never (heard) him talk about it at all. It’s business as usual.”
Joe Ryan was 7-7 with a 3.60 ERA and 147 strikeouts in 135 innings when his season ended Aug. 7. (David Banks / Imagn Images)
Ryan’s regaining his 2024 form would be meaningful to the Twins. Making his 23rd start of the season, Ryan was 7-7 with a 3.60 ERA and 147 strikeouts in 135 innings. His hits and walks per nine innings were the lowest marks of his career, and he cut his homer rate, too.
“He was having a dominant season,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.
Then, it came to an immediate halt.
Making his 33rd pitch of the start, Ryan was ahead 0-2 in the count to Pete Crow-Armstrong when he threw a split-fingered fastball out of the zone for a ball and signaled to the dugout.
Instantly, Ryan was removed from the game with right triceps tightness and wouldn’t return for the rest of the season.
There was hope that Ryan could be ready to pitch if the short-handed Twins were to reach the playoffs. A 12-27 collapse ensured the scenario would never arise.
Though Ryan never returned to throwing, his rotation mates got the sense he was already on the right track. Bailey Ober isn’t surprised about how good Ryan looked this spring when he struck out 17 batters in 13 innings.
“At the end of the season when we were still playing, he said, ‘I’m fine. I feel good. Everything feels normal,’” Ober said. “Obviously, he wasn’t throwing at that time, but he said he felt great later in the year. I had a good feeling he’d be ready to go whenever he showed up.”
Ryan did, too.
Every checkmark Ryan and the team’s athletic training staff made was reached. Ryan hit 90 mph on the radar gun before he left for camp. He touched 92 mph during his first live batting practice.
Ryan also reached five ups and downs in a start before departing camp, even after pausing for several days early in when his body didn’t feel right. The right-hander said his shoulder felt good but something with his delivery was out of whack and he didn’t want to pitch through it, which led to the brief pause.
Speaking before the team’s season opener Thursday, Ryan referenced another good sign occurring Wednesday during his bullpen session between starts. Ryan noted an increased intensity he felt during the session, attributing it to taking the mound in a major-league stadium versus a spring training complex.
“I felt strong,” Ryan said. “I felt good. We were working on some things, just cleaning some stuff up with, like, delivery. … I threw a really good bullpen, felt good. Just something about getting the games back changes the mindset a little bit and just turns everything up a little bit more. You remember why you’re here and what you’re doing.”
In his final spring outing Sunday, Ryan struck out four in 4 2/3 innings. His velocity was back compared with his March 17 outing at the Pittsburgh Pirates, when his stuff was down.
It was another sign of the good, healthy spring Ryan and the Twins worked toward, one that began with two sharp innings against the New York Yankees on March 6 and that they hope carries over into the regular season.
“I came in thinking that Joe was going to be good to go, Joe was going to be fine,” Baldelli said. “Now, getting back out there as he ramps up in intensity is always something that you watch to make sure he reaches all those points that you want him to reach. His stuff keeps getting better. He’s throwing strikes. The delivery looks the way it should. It all checked out. He had that little blip a few days early in camp when he was down. But overall, before that and even after that, everything has gone really smoothly.”
(Top photo: Dave Nelson / Imagn Images)
