Twins’ Christian Vázquez pushing to return this season after shoulder infection

Christian Vázquez took batting practice before Friday’s game at Target Field, and the Twins catcher plans to begin a Class AAA rehab assignment next week.

That’d be normal news for most players returning from an injury.

Vázquez is coming back after he had a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC line) in his right arm for a month, which distributed antibiotics every eight hours.

“It was scary, man,” said Vázquez, who was on the injured list because of a left shoulder infection. “I never had this before, an infection in my body. I cut myself on my elbow and that got infected, and that went up to my shoulder.”

Vázquez was hospitalized for five days after a magnetic resonance imaging exam showed fluid in his shoulder. Dr. Jeffrey Payne from the Mayo Clinic was able to aspirate it, and Twins head trainer Nick Paparesta said was “kind of thick, yellow and infected.”

Vázquez underwent a procedure with Dr. Corey Wulf, an orthopedic surgeon at Twin Cities Orthopedics, to clean out his shoulder before he returned to his home in Miami to recover.

“We got it before it went to the joint, to the bone,” Vázquez said. “It was like if it got to the bone, I could lose mobility in my shoulder, so yeah, it was serious.”

He laughed describing himself as his kids’ Uber driver to their sporting events before he traveled back to Minnesota.

In a lost season for the Twins, with a little more than two weeks remaining, why push to return?

“They pay me for this: To play,” said Vázquez, who is in the final month of his three-year, $30 million contract. “I don’t want to finish the season on the IL. It’s boring.”

David Festa saw the headlines mention thoracic outlet syndrome, and he received worried text messages from friends, so he wanted to clear the air Friday.

Festa visited Dr. Keith Meister in North Texas on Tuesday, and the Twins righthander received what he called “pretty good” news. The initial diagnosis was a compressed nerve in his right shoulder.

“Immediately when that term was mentioned, you get a little nervous because you think of the worst cases of that,” Festa said. “In my case, it’s not like that at all. I think there was a bit of a misunderstanding. ... In my circumstance, I don’t have any of those symptoms of any severe TOS. I’m actually very optimistic.”

Festa is scheduled to meet Dr. Gregory Pearl, a vascular surgeon in Dallas, later this month when the Twins travel to play the Texas Rangers in the final week of the regular season.

At this point, he expects to be ready for spring training next year.

“Based on what I feel, and having no symptoms of the worst-case scenario, I’ll most likely be getting a Botox injection that will immediately decompress the nerve, and I should feel this right away,” Festa said. “I think the news was a lot better than it was portrayed.”

Twins reliever Justin Topa strained his left oblique playing catch this week, and the injury is expected to end his 2025 season.

The Twins promoted Cody Laweryson to fill the spot in the bullpen, a 27-year-old righthander who had a 2.86 ERA in 34 relief appearances between Class AA and AAA this year. Laweryson, who grew up in Bingham, Maine, was a 14th-round pick in the 2019 MLB amateur draft.

Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards and second-year point guard Rob Dillingham took batting practice on the field at Target Field on Wednesday.

“He started to get going, and he had a friend that hit one out, so everyone was funny about that,” said Festa, who watched from behind the batting cage. “Dillingham, I would say, was not as good as Ant. [Edwards] probably has got a little bit of work to do, but he was in slippers, so you have to cut him some slack.”

Patrick Winkel drove in two runs, including the go-ahead run on a sixth-inning groundout, and the Saints ended their 12-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over Columbus at CHS Field.