Pablo López threw a ball 30 feet. It was the Twins' best injury news in months.

Pablo López, the Minnesota Twins' injured ace, played catch for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery in February — a genuinely early step in a recovery that isn't expected to bring him back to game action until 2027 [s1]. On the same day, a different Twins pitcher, Kendry Rojas, left a Triple-A start early with a right oblique strain [s1]. Read together, the two pieces of news say something about where Minnesota's pitching depth actually stands during a playoff push: a light-toss session counts as good news, because there hasn't been much else.

What the López session actually was

On 22 August, at Petco Park in San Diego, López threw from roughly 30 to 45 feet while Twins manager Derek Shelton observed [s1]. That's a short-distance throwing session — the kind of light, controlled toss used early in a return-to-throwing progression after elbow reconstruction, not a bullpen session or anything resembling game readiness. López described the feel of it plainly: "It felt good... I was able to just feel the arm path. From such a short distance, there's not going to be a lot of air under the ball" [s1]. No further throwing distance or timeline has been set — the next step is simply building volume and distance in subsequent sessions [s1].

The gap between "encouraging" and "close to returning" matters here. Tommy John recovery timelines typically run twelve to eighteen months, and López isn't expected to pitch in a game until 2027 [s1] — meaning this session, six months after surgery in February, is roughly on the early end of a normal recovery arc, not evidence of an accelerated one.

What happened to Rojas, separately

Rojas exited his Triple-A St. Paul start in the second inning after apparently reacting to pain following a pitch, then left following a mound visit [s1]. He was placed on the seven-day injured list with a right oblique strain [s1] — a muscle strain along the side of the torso common in throwing athletes, distinct from and unrelated to the elbow ligament injury that sidelined López. The reporting specifically notes this is not an elbow-related issue [s1], which matters given how much of Minnesota's current rotation trouble already traces back to elbow injuries.

Why this compounds an existing problem

Rojas had been serving as a bullpen depth option for the Twins' major-league roster and was seen as a potential rotation reinforcement for the stretch run or playoffs if needed [s1]. Losing him to even a short-term IL stint, on the same day López's timeline was reconfirmed as a 2027 story rather than a 2026 one, narrows Minnesota's realistic pitching depth options during a season in which the team is fighting for a Wild Card spot with an already-thin staff.

What to watch next

Whether Rojas's oblique strain resolves within the initial seven-day IL window or extends further, and whether López's throwing program progresses through subsequent sessions without setback — the next real test of that progression will be whether he moves beyond short-distance light tosses to something resembling a bullpen session.