One month until Opening Day: Projecting the Twins’ 26-man roster

FORT MYERS, FLA. – The Twins are one month away from breaking camp and heading to Baltimore for Opening Day, and there are still plenty of things to sort through with their roster.

Pablo López’s season-ending injury was a gut punch at the beginning of spring training. Camp will also have a different look for a few weeks while several players depart for the World Baseball Classic, to be held March 5-17.

Below is a projection at how the Twins’ roster is shaping up and what roster battles are emerging over the next month.

No team looks better when it loses the ace of its pitching staff, but the Twins felt strongly about their starting pitching group all winter. Ryan is temporarily sidelined because of low back inflammation, which may affect his status for pitching in the World Baseball Classic, but he’s expected to be fine for Opening Day.

Bradley, who will pitch for Mexico in the WBC, has looked the part as an improved starter. He’s hitting 98 mph with his fastball, throwing his splitter with more consistency and had good results with his cutter. Twins manager Derek Shelton has complimented his attention to detail on little things like slowing baserunners, too.

Outside of this configuration of the five-man rotation, David Festa and Mick Abel are the other primary starting options. Festa is gradually building up after a compressed nerve between his neck and right shoulder affected his 2025 season. Abel has looked great early in camp, sitting at 96-98 mph with his fastball, but he’s also the most inexperienced starter within the group.

The big name missing from the list is Liam Hendriks, who hasn’t had a healthy season since 2022. He had an encouraging session of live at-bats on Monday, Feb. 23, when he was sitting at 91-92 mph with his fastball and drew several whiffs with his slider, but this is a prove-it camp for him. He’s building up a little more slowly after he had surgery on his arm last September.

Kody Funderburk was fantastic in the final two months of last season (0.75 ERA in 24 innings), but he might be fourth on the depth chart for lefties after the Twins added Chafin, and it’s hard for any team to carry four lefthanders in an eight-man bullpen.

Altavilla, who will pitch for Italy in the WBC, is already topping out at 98 mph on his fastball, which is a little higher than where it was last year.

If Festa doesn’t make the Opening Day rotation, why not consider him for the bullpen? He’s been excellent the first time through the lineup in his big-league career (.498 OPS), and the Twins could steadily stretch him back out if they needed him to start games.

Julian Merryweather, a non-roster invitee, was trending in a good spot after he added a new splitter this offseason, but he left a Grapefruit League outing on Feb. 24 because of a left hamstring strain.

One young reliever to watch is Marco Raya. This will be his first season as a full-time reliever, so there will be a learning curve, but his sweeper is a weapon that could eventually land him in a late-inning role.

Alex Jackson, who is on the 40-man roster, is owed a $1.35 million salary and he’s out of minor league options, so the Twins will have to make a decision about him. They can carry three catchers or risk losing him on waivers when they don’t have much catching depth in the upper levels of the minor leagues.

The Twins’ offensive potential will be a lot higher if Keaschall can replicate his rookie season and Bell can sustain his second-half adjustments. Keaschall hit .302 and reached base in 43 of his 49 games despite missing a few months because of a broken forearm. Bell batted .272 with an .857 OPS after the All-Star break.

Kreidler, who has shown solid defensive range, and Orlando Arcia are the primary players vying for the backup shortstop job. Kreidler’s ability to play center field may give him an early edge, plus he is already on the 40-man roster and Arcia was a non-roster invitee to camp.

It was surprising the Twins kept Larnach throughout the winter because they have so many lefthanded-hitting corner outfielders, but he could provide 20 homers at the DH spot. James Outman, another lefty bat, is out of minor league options. Outman has a good defensive reputation, but he struck out in 43% of his plate appearances last season.

Roden and Martin could form a platoon in left field, assuming one of them can handle center field when Buxton isn’t in the lineup. Roden raked in the minors, and he runs well on the basepaths. Martin posted a .374 on-base percentage last year and became a smarter baserunner by the end of the season.