Royce Lewis will take his first at-bats of the 2025 season Friday. OK, it will be for the St. Paul Saints, as the Twins' third baseman makes sure his left hamstring has completely healed.

But that's not all that will be different.

Lewis will take a "torpedo bat" to the plate with him, at least for the time being, as he experiments with the redesigned shape that several hitters around the game have adopted this season, believing it makes them more dangerous. The bats shift the barrel several inches closer to the handle, giving them a torpedo shape.

Whether Lewis finds greater success or not, the prospect of him returning to the majors is welcome news for the Twins.

And for Lewis, too.

"The fan in me is having a lot of fun [watching his teammates]. Royce the player is bored," Lewis said. "I'm just anticipating a great return. I always have so much fun, man. … I expect to just come back and add some more fun to that group."

It will take several days for that fun to start, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli cautioned.

"He'll have to build up. He'll start by playing parts of games. He'll DH some. He'll play third," Baldelli said. "He's going to have to get to the point where he's played at least a couple of full nine-inning games over at third base before he's ready to go. But it starts tomorrow, so that's great news."

Festa returns to Saints

David Festa allowed only two earned runs and struck out 15 over 13 innings during his three-start stint with the Twins. But it's probably the five walks he issued that will stay with him, Baldelli figures.

"He's very to-the-point when he talks about his shortcomings, which is pretty awesome. You don't normally hear guys talk about themselves like that," Baldelli said. "That's what gives him the opportunity to improve. He's not running away from anything he needs to work on."

He'll do it across town for Class AAA St. Paul for now, the Twins decided, with Pablo López set to be activated from the injured list in time to start Friday's series opener against the Angels. But "we're going to see him again," Baldelli said. "I would assume he's going to make a fair number of starts for us this year."

It's a luxury the Twins don't often have, a promising young starting pitcher with 16 major league starts of experience stashed at Class AAA. And while the Twins don't yet trust Festa to face a lineup for a third time — he faced only two batters three times in his three starts this month — they hope he and fellow Saints righthander Zebby Matthews are an advantage as the season wears on.

"Having that depth will help. You're going to see that over time," Baldelli said. "It's one thing for me to talk about it in April, it's another thing to watch different guys come up and not just hold water but really contribute. And David is certainly going to be part of that."

López, who strained his right hamstring April 8, allowed three hits and one run over 4⅔ innings in a rehab start against Iowa on Saturday.

Game-time complications

The Timberwolves' playoff game with the Lakers at Target Center tips off at 8:30 p.m. Friday, so the Twins moved the start of their game with the Angels to 6:40 p.m.

They had actually proposed moving the starting time to 6:10 p.m., but the Angels, who under MLB rules have to consent to any change greater than 30 minutes, rejected the idea. That's because their players are already losing enough rest this weekend — and they don't like it.

"I don't think it's healthy for anybody," Angels closer Kenley Jansen told The Athletic of his team's schedule, which called for a Thursday night game starting at 6:29 p.m. Pacific time in Anaheim, then a flight to Minneapolis that is scheduled to land an hour or two before sunrise Friday. "A night game like that, [then] get in at 6 in the morning. … It's definitely not fair."

Outfielders Mike Trout and Taylor Ward also complained about the schedule, especially since Saturday's game begins at 1:10 p.m. and Sunday's game starts at 12:40 p.m., which means the ballplayers will be at Target Field by 10 a.m. or so. The Angels, however, have a long history of scheduling very few "getaway" day games to allow the team to travel earlier, citing the greater attendance for night games.

Still, Ward said, "It gives the other teams an advantage."

Etc.

  • Injury-plagued righthander Matt Canterino, designated for assignment late last week, has cleared waivers and become a free agent, the Twins announced Thursday. By coincidence, Friday marks exactly 1,000 days since Canterino, the Twins' second-round pick in the 2019 draft, last pitched in a regular-season game — July 30, 2022, while rehabbing in a Florida Complex League game.
  • After a week of hoping Willi Castro's strained oblique would heal quickly, the Twins finally put Castro on the injured list Thursday and recalled Mickey Gasper from Class AAA St. Paul. Castro, a switch-hitter, said he is healed except for when he swings from the left side and believes 10 days on the injured list will take care of that.
  • The Saints' game against Indianapolis on Friday at CHS Field was postponed because of rain. It will be made up in Indianapolis on a June date to be determined because the Indians don't return to St. Paul after the series concludes Sunday.