Luis Arraez moves out of Twins' left field equation ... or does he?

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said Tuesday he wasn't planning on playing utility man Luis Arraez in the outfield, instead directing that focus to infield positions this season.

That was apparently news to Arraez when he heard about it in the clubhouse Wednesday morning.

"I like left field," Arraez said. "I think I did a really good job last year."

Arraez played 27 games in left last season but was more typically at second base (48 games) and third base (55). The 24-year-old led the Twins with a .294 average and had a .357 on-base percentage in 121 games.

With third baseman Josh Donaldson gone and shortstop still a question, Arraez's services do seem more suited for the infield, and he said he'd embrace that role.

He thinks he played one game at first base back in the Dominican Summer League, but he did practice it a couple of times with Twins third base coach Tony Diaz. He added he feels strongly about playing at third or shortstop, though second base is probably his favorite.

But he wouldn't call himself a better infielder than outfielder, despite Baldelli's belief.

"It's hard to take something completely away from someone mentally," Baldelli said of refocusing Arraez on the infield. "But he's not going to prepare to play the outfield. … Can things always change? Of course. But that's where he's going to play. That's our plan for him early on."

Before he ever heard Sonny Gray was coming to the Twins, Joe Ryan knew the fellow pitcher's reputation.

For one, he was 17 years old growing up in the Bay Area when Gray debuted for the Oakland Athletics in 2013 and played five seasons there.

"Having Sonny here is pretty, pretty special," Ryan said. "My buddies were all texting me like, 'I can't believe Sonny's on your team!'"

Ryan made his major league debut late last season for the Twins after winning a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics. His roommate during that tournament, three-time All-Star Scott Kazmir, had raved about how Gray was the best teammate he ever had during their two shared years in Oakland.

"I'm excited to experience that, get to know him a little better and learn from him as well," Ryan said.

Gray mentioned Tuesday how Ryan, who started five games last season and was 2-1 with a minuscule .788 WHIP, had "a great arm" and said he looked forward to working with the young pitchers.

"I, for one, really love watching guys throw bullpens. I really enjoy being around guys when they're in their competitive mode. I feel like there's a lot to be learned from that," Gray said, adding how he hopes he can convey some tips and tricks he's picked up through his different career stops. "... But I am excited to get to know this guy a lot more."

During the MLB lockout, the first week of the season was wiped out, costing the Twins two road series, against the White Sox and Guardians.

Those games will now be made up, causing several changes to the Twins' regular-season schedule.

The three games at Chicago will be played at the end of the season (Oct. 3-5). To make up for the lost games at Cleveland, the Twins will play a split doubleheaders at Cleveland on June 28 and Sept. 17 and add a single game in Cleveland on Sept. 19.

They'll also adjust other games on their schedule, including playing a doubleheader in Detroit on May 31 and playing a single game against the Tigers on July 23 instead of a twinbill.

The lockout created yet another interesting dynamic to spring training by misalignment of the major league and minor league schedules. With minor league players allowed to start camp as normal, they've been training for several weeks now and started games Wednesday.

Those games will end April 1, in time for the Triple-A season opener April 5. The Twins still have five spring games remaining in that span, which will make coming up with a lineup pretty interesting.

"How that is going to work exactly, we're going to figure it out, but it's going to take a little time and effort in how we play our games," Baldelli said. "By then, we hope our major league players are playing the vast majority of the games and playing almost the whole game. But when that's not the case, what we're going to do, we don't know yet."

The Twins usually have a handful of non-roster invites playing in those final spring games, but that might not be possible this year. Baldelli said he plans on getting rostered position players at-bats every day because the shortened camp demands that expedience. For pitchers, he hopes they can each make four appearances this spring, but he's also not anticipating every starting pitcher being completely built up for the season opener April 7.

Baldelli plans to go to each spring away game, though he said bench coach Jayce Tingler could fill that role if needed. Thursday's exhibition opener against Boston at JetBlue has Cole Sands as the starting pitcher.