Trio of Twins, including Brock Stewart and Brooks Lee, will not be on roster to begin year

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A trio of Twins — two who were projected to make the roster and one who was fighting for a spot — have been told they will not be with the team on Opening Day.

Injuries will keep both high-leverage reliever Brock Stewart and infielder Brooks Lee off the roster to begin the season, and Rule 5 selection Eiberson Castellano, who was in the mix for a bullpen spot, has been informed that he did not make the team out of camp.

Stewart suffered a left hamstring strain last week, though he said he no longer feels pain or discomfort. Much of the decision with Stewart, he thinks, doesn’t even have to do with his hamstring. Rather, he had arthroscopic shoulder surgery last year and is still building back from that.

Stewart threw about 20 pitches on Saturday in a minor league game and said he felt no issues coming out of that. His command “still needs to come around a little bit,” and he said he needs to do a better job of getting and staying ahead. His velocity is also a little lower than he would like it to be. His four-seam fastball sat at 97 miles per hour last year and he said it was around 95 on Saturday.

“It I could get back to average, my average last year, that would be great,” Stewart said. “If not, I mean I think I have other pitches and I still think the fastball plays, even if it’s a tick or two down.”

Stewart, who will join Michael Tonkin (shoulder strain) on the injured list, will remain in Florida to begin the season. Though he said he felt as if he could be ready to go now, he said he understood the Twins’ reasoning for the decision as he has a lengthy injury history. He is targeting the second weekend of April for his return.

“That’s the plan and things can obviously change,” he said. “That’s where my head’s at and locked in and getting ready to go and I’ll hopefully be with the team real soon.”

Similarly, Lee is hopeful that his stint on the injured list won’t be for long.

Lee suffered a back spasm, which flared up on Thursday. Though they’re both back issues, this is not similar to the herniated disc that caused him to miss months last season, Lee said.

The infielder, no stranger to back issues, said that usually when he has pain in his back, it’s very low. This time, it’s a lot higher up. He said he hopes that in five or six days, he can start testing for rotation and doing a swing build up.

“Hopefully it’s a couple weeks instead of a couple months,” Lee said. “It’ll be a little bit, but hopefully I’ll be alright.”

Lee’s injury comes at a time when the Twins are already down starting third baseman Royce Lewis. Jose Miranda and Willi Castro are options at third base in the absence of Lewis and Lee.

As for Castellano, the 23-year-old Rule 5 selection had a chance to claim a spot in the bullpen but struggled to throw strikes this spring. He is currently on waivers and should he clear, must be offered back to the Philadelphia Phillies, from whom they claimed him.

It’s not clear who the Twins will turn to as the eighth option out of their bullpen, though they could bring someone back who had been optioned or reassigned or they could claim a reliever off of waivers.

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Trio of Twins, including Brock Stewart and Brooks Lee, will not be on roster to begin year

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