MINNEAPOLIS -- A frustrating year for Cole Sands is officially coming to an end. Sands, who has battled right elbow trouble since the end of April, will undergo arthroscopic surgery on the joint on Tuesday and will not pitch again in 2026.
Sands will also receive a PRP injection. The expectation is that the combination will allow him to have something similar to a regular offseason and be ready for Spring Training in 2027.
“It’s been obviously kind of a long battle this year with it,” Sands said, “So yeah, kind of get some answers and hopefully just clean it all up and can come into next year ready to go and not have to worry about any of it.”
Sands was first placed on the injured list at the beginning of May. He went on a rehab assignment in June but was pulled back when he experienced recurring symptoms. He made it through a rehab stint earlier this month and made one Major League appearance before the injury flared up again and he was shut down.
The veteran reliever was initially diagnosed with a muscle strain in his forearm. But as that improved and he still did not feel full relief, it became clear that something else was at play as well. He’ll have surgery to clean up his elbow with the belief that it will bring a close to the issues. Among other treatments, he’s received two MRIs and a CT scan.
“The first one was where we initially saw the strain in the flexor,” Sands said. “The next one was actually the flexor cleaned up a little bit better so we felt pretty good about being aggressive on it, but the wild part was obviously some symptoms were still coming up. I think that’s where we kind of came to the conclusion it’s probably something somewhere else.”
Sands finishes the year with an 8.25 ERA in 13 appearances.
Lackey to debut
Catcher Vahn Lackey, the No. 3 overall pick in this month’s Draft, has joined the Twins’ Single-A Fort Myers affiliate and is scheduled to make his debut Thursday night for the Mighty Mussels. Lackey will catch, while the team’s second pick, catcher Carson Tinney, will start at designated hitter.
The two are among six 2026 draftees added to the Fort Myers roster, five of whom will be in the lineup on Day 1.
Rojas’ usage
Rookie lefty Kendry Rojas was impressive again on Wednesday night, pitching three scoreless innings of relief in the Twins’ 4-0 loss to the Royals. He’s in an unusual spot, having pitched well in some spot starts, but he also has tantalizing potential as a power arm out of the bullpen.
Manager Derek Shelton explained Wednesday that because of Rojas’ ability to contribute as a starter, the Twins are looking for at least some opportunities to keep him stretched out with multi-inning appearances.
“[It’s] very easy to shorten him up,” Shelton said. “It’s harder to lengthen him out. So any time we get the chance, whether it’s a plus game or a deficit game, to be able to lengthen him out is advantageous for us.”
Twins tidbits
• After Byron Buxton had an injection to help ease the recurring discomfort in his right hip, it meant that he would be out for at least seven days. That made the decision to place him on the injured list an easy one for the club.
• David Festa underwent successful surgery on his right shoulder Thursday with the hopes of fixing both the impingement in that joint as well as his recurring thoracic outlet syndrome symptoms.
• The Twins will start Zebby Matthews, Connor Prielipp and Taj Bradley in this weekend’s series in Seattle.