Twins get glimpse of Carlos Santana at leadoff spot

FORT MYERS, FLA. – Carlos Santana batted leadoff Wednesday when the Twins faced a lefthanded pitcher. That could be a preview of the regular season.

Santana, a switch hitter, hasn’t batted first in the order since 2018, but Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said he’s one of the primary candidates to do so this year when Edouard Julien is out of the lineup.

“It’s something that I’m definitely thinking about and considering,” Baldelli said. “I think he will hit leadoff. I don’t know if it’s going to be the whole year. Our lineups rarely hold for that long. But he’s a good candidate to do it.”

Santana, the favorite to be the primary Twins first baseman, posted a .266 batting average and .354 on-base percentage in 161 plate appearances against lefties last year, with almost as many walks (20) as strikeouts (21).

Anthony DeSclafani threw to live hitters again on Thursday, and Baldelli said the Twins’ projected fifth starter is ready to pitch in a game.

“He’s going to throw in a minor-league game,” likely this weekend or early next week, the manager said. “He’s throwing the ball good, and we’ll get him out there against some actual competition very soon. So that’s positive.”

DeSclafani has lagged behind the other members of the Twins rotation ever since experiencing soreness in his pitching elbow a day after throwing early in camp, but he has reported no complications since then.

Bailey Ober had thrown 23 pitches in the second inning of Thursday’s 5-1 loss to Toronto, 43 for the game, and still needed another out to end the frame. Baldelli and pitching coach Pete Maki watched Ober sweat in the 82-degree heat, and decided the righthander needed a break. But they still wanted Ober to reach his target of 60 pitches for the day.

In years past, that might have meant removing Ober from the game and asking him to throw several more pitches in the bullpen — physical exertion, but hardly the challenge of facing batters.

But for the second time this spring, Baldelli utilized MLB’s “re-entry rule,” instituted three years ago, to insert a relief pitcher — in this case, Class AA left-hander Denny Bentley — to finish the inning, then bring Ober back for a third.

“It’s a good rule. It’s good for the game and all the players that are trying to get ready for a season,” Baldelli said, and it reduces the chances of injury. “We could wedge him in there, keep him going, or stick him in the bullpen by himself to get his work in. But this is a good [example] of the league adapting and giving players a real opportunity to get ready.”

For the pitcher, though?

“It’s weird,” Ober said. “It’s weird to walk off like you’re done. But you’re not.”

Kyle Farmer and Royce Lewis each won $1,000 during the Twins’ annual egg-throwing competition earlier this month. Farmer instantly knew how to use his winnings.

“When I was with the Dodgers, Adrían González would bring taco trucks in [to] kind of break up camp and have some fun,” the veteran infielder said. “I thought it would be a good idea.”

So on Thursday, a food truck from La Bamba Mexican Grill set up in the players’ parking lot, with free food for the players and staff. It was so popular, players lined up for as much as 20 minutes to get their free food.

“You put free tacos in a parking lot in front of all these Major League Baseball players, and they will wait in line until they pass out,” Baldelli joked. “I thanked Royce, too, and he said ‘You’re welcome.’ I said, ‘Did you have anything to do with it?’ He said, ‘No, not really.’ It was a Farmer production.”

And that producer seemed satisfied with his donation, even though all those tacos cost him considerably more than $1,000.

“They were really good. I got two steak and two chicken, street style. Really good,” Farmer said. “Everybody enjoyed it.”

Top Twins prospect Walker Jenkins, the fifth pick in last year’s amateur draft, will not play in Saturday’s Spring Breakout game, a prospect showcase against Tampa Bay’s top prospects, because of a strained left quad.

Jenkins, 19, is expected to begin the minor-league season on time, Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey said, but the Twins want to limit Jenkins’ running for now. He’s still hitting daily, including in an intra-squad scrimmage earlier this week, but he didn’t run the bases if he got a hit.

“We just don’t want him to push the running at full tilt,” Falvey said, “which he would naturally do if he was playing in a game.”