Twins right-hander Brock Stewart is headed for season-ending arthroscopic surgical procedure to wash up his proper shoulder, he tells Bally’s Audra Martin (X hyperlink). There’s no important structural harm, and Stewart says he’s anticipating he’ll be prepared for spring coaching after a projected rehab interval of 5 to 6 months.
It’s a irritating growth for Stewart, who was away from main league baseball from 2020-22 because of the canceled minor league season in 2020 and a pair of elbow surgical procedures (Tommy John surgical procedure and a process to take away a bone spur). Stewart signed a minor league cope with the Twins and never solely made it again to the majors on the heels of that pair of surgical procedures however emerged as a lights-out possibility in supervisor Rocco Baldelli’s bullpen.
Whereas this 12 months’s 5.17 earned run common is an eyesore, that’s skewed solely by his current struggles getting back from a monthslong stint on the injured listing as a result of ache in his balky shoulder. Stewart allowed one run with a 17-to-6 Okay/BB ratio in 13 1/3 innings to start the season, hit the injured listing for practically three months, and clearly wasn’t at full power when he returned. He was rocked for eight runs in 2 1/3 innings whereas working with a fastball and cutter that have been each down practically three miles per hour.
From the time Stewart’s contract was initially chosen by the Twins in April 2023 to the time he first hit the injured listing this previous Could, he was a legitimately overpowering power. An elbow situation despatched him to the shelf for a part of final summer time, however Stewart pitched 41 innings for the Twins in that stretch and logged an unbelievable 0.66 ERA with a 34.8% strikeout charge and 10.6% stroll charge. A lot of the command troubles he encountered got here early, too. For the higher a part of a 12 months, he was a shutdown possibility because of a heater averaging practically 98 mph and a cutter and slider that each missed bats in droves.
Whereas the newest harm setback is unquestionably a troublesome tablet for Stewart to swallow, given his earlier elbow issues, this time round he’ll go underneath the knife realizing that he’s cemented himself in an enormous league staff’s plans. The Twins management Stewart, 32, for one more three seasons by way of arbitration. He’ll get a wage bump north of $1MM in his first season of arb eligibility this winter, however given the dominance he confirmed previous to this 12 months’s shoulder downside and the remaining long-term management, it’ll be a simple name for the Twins to tender him a contract.
