FORT MYERS, FLA. – The Twins' major league staff left at 7:30 a.m. and headed across the middle of Florida for Sunday's game against the Miami Marlins in Jupiter.

As is the custom, veterans such as Joe Mauer, Torii Hunter and Kurt Suzuki are allowed to skip that 3-hour trek through the jungle and stay behind to work out at the Twins' complex.

Tom Kelly and Class AAA manager Mike Quade were among those monitoring the workout. Phil Roof had his 78-year-old arm loose as he threw the last round of batting practice.

Catcher Josmil Pinto was not able to participate. He suffered a mild concussion when struck by the backswing of Baltimore's Adam Jones in the second inning of Saturday's game at Hammond Stadium.

Manager Paul Molitor told reporters in Jupiter that Pinto would miss "four or five days'' at a minimum. That would seem to take care of his chance to be on the big-league roster to start the season.

That long swing from Jones struck Pinto directly on the helmet. Jones also had struck Pinto with the bat on two earlier swings.

"I didn't see it; I was on a back field,'' Kelly said. "If it had happened with other hitters, then I would say we'd have to look at the way our young man was moving behind the plate, maybe reaching forward. The fact it only happened with Jones …

"It's not my area, but if it was, I'd probably like to have the umpire say something to Jones after it happened a second time.''

Kelly was not suggesting a threat from the plate umpire but rather a Sgt. Phil Esterhaus-style caution to "be careful out there.''

Mauer was a career-long catcher until moving to first base for the 2014 season. That was based on a concussion issue, stemming from foul balls off the mask and collisions.

What was Molitor's reaction when tagged by a backswing?

"Move back,'' he said, and then added:

"I know Adam and he's not the kind of guy who wants to be involved with something like that. As a catcher, you know the hitters with the big backswing, and you might pay a little more attention.

"If you have to move inside and reach for a pitch, it can happen.''

Mauer said he never took the type of blow from a backswing that was taken by Pinto.

What makes Jones dangerous is that his top hand has a tendency to come off the bat and his left hand can't control the whiplash.

Roof caught in over 800 games in 15 big-league seasons. Much of those came before catchers started wearing helmets under the mask.

Like Mauer, Roof was 6-foot-5 and thus an inviting target for the whiplash of a wild swing. He had the same theory as Mauer when he felt in jeopardy:

"Move back. That's about all you can do."

Roof then added: "You can't do that routinely, though, because it's not fair to the pitcher. If you're back farther than normal, you're going to cost your pitcher strikes, because the umpire will misread the depth on pitches.

"In all my years, I only got really lit up by a backswing twice, and both times it was by Earl Wilson. He was a Detroit pitcher. He was a good hitter for a pitcher, but a wild-swinging son of a gun.''

*QUADE, THE TWINS' NEW manager at Class AAA, said that he and his coaches – Mike Mason (pitching) and Tim Doherty (hitting) – will move to the minor league side of the complex and take charge of the Rochester Red Wings on Tuesday.

It is standard procedure in baseball for the Class AAA staff to remain in big-league camp for a large hunk of the exhibition schedule. That's because the final 15-20 players sent out by the big-league club are likely to make up the bulk of the Class AAA roster.

"This is my first year with the Twins, and being over here, watching the players work and interact … I've learned a lot about the people I'm going to be managing,'' Quade said.