MINNEAPOLIS -- For seven months, Pablo López has been a constant presence in the Twins’ clubhouse. Home or away, López has been there for and with his teammates, even though he hasn’t thrown a single pitch in anger all year.
However, with two days left in the season, he’s planning to head out. On Saturday morning, López, his dog and his brother-in-law will pack up and begin the drive for his home in Miami. It’s not because he doesn’t want to be here. It’s because he doesn’t want to miss even one day in his throwing progression.
The right-hander, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery back in February, has his next throwing session scheduled for Monday. So he didn’t want to risk not being in position to take the ball as he works toward being ready for Spring Training 2027.
“With the rehab being so thorough, so specific, you have to be on track with everything,” he said. “So that’s why I’m leaving this weekend. So Monday morning, I’m going to be at my training facility and be able to do my Monday workout, my Monday throwing. Just because I didn’t want to take a risk and leave after the season ends on Sunday and maybe miss out on a throwing day. You don’t know.”
Seven months into his rehab, it’s all gone quite well for López, who had the surgery for the second time in his career. He’s hopeful to be hitting the end of his rehab progression right on time, around the end of February or beginning of March next year. That means that sometime around the end of November, he hopes to begin throwing off a mound.
From there, it’s another three months of building toward actually being able to pitch in competition.
“It’s going to be fun to continue to see the progress,” he said, “because every time I throw it’s a new milestone. It’s either a higher volume, it’s either a longer distance, or it’s higher, faster velocity with the throw. So seeing the process of every throwing session is going to be fun. Continuing to be in good shape is going to be fun. And I think it’s going to make the offseason fly by, which, selfishly, I want. I want the offseason to fly by, so next time I can touch the mound in front of you guys, I’m actually pitching.”
There is one potential complication for López, but he and the club are accounting for it. The possibility of a lockout looms during this winter, and in that scenario, he might be prevented from communicating with club personnel, such as the training staff. So he and the Twins are working to stay ahead of things so that if that’s the case, his recovery can continue uninterrupted.
“Richard [Jackson, López’s trainer] has been in contact with the Twins training staff already, and Richard has also worked with [Dr. Keith] Meister’s throwing progression already,” said López, who is also the Twins’ player representative for the MLB Players’ Association. “So worst-case scenario, the lockout does prevent me from having some communication with the Twins training staff, not only will everything be laid out from Meister, but it will also be laid out from the Twins training staff side of things. So if that does happen, we’re going to have a way for me to know exactly what boxes I need to be checking.”
As López prepares to leave the clubhouse and go into the offseason, he said he values the choice he made to be around the team all year. It’s helped him stay focused and helped him feel like a part of the team to which he’s ready to return.
“It just brought me so much inspiration,” he said. “Being a part of the team, getting lost in the routine of 162 games. One week here, one week on the road. I think it did so much for me mentally, where I lost myself in the year. Obviously, I wasn’t pitching, but I was doing my own thing with the rehab. I think it kept me in a good mental state where I kept seeing progress and I kept seeing something to shoot and strive for. I can say that I blinked and the season went by now.”