FORT MYERS, Fla. – At 7 p.m. ET last Thursday, the Twins player development staff was champing at the bit to really get to do one of its most important jobs: communicate with all of the players in the system.

Yes, Minor League Spring Training had been going on, and that was great and all, but when the new CBA was ratified, they could not wait to talk to all of the prospects on the 40-man roster. Guys like Royce Lewis, Jose Miranda, Jordan Balazovic will be in big league camp, but this was the first opportunity since November for instructors to touch base to see how offseason work had gone.

“As soon as the lockout lifted, our coordinators texted me asking, ‘Hey, can we reach out to the 40-man guys?’ -- in an exciting way -- they wanted to connect with these guys see where they're at, and get rolling, and try to help those guys come in and be in the best position they possibly can to hit the ground running,” Twins farm director Alex Hassan said. “I think we're all we're all really excited to have the lockout lifted, have an agreement in place and get rolling with hopefully what will be a normal season from here on out.”

Hassan tries to be a glass half full kind of guy, a good trait for someone charged with developing as many big leaguers as possible. So as unfortunate as it may have been to not to talk to any 40-man roster prospects over the offseason, or not see them until now, there has been a bit of a silver lining. It’s given coaches and coordinators more time with the rest of the players in the system, both during the winter and since they’ve been in camp from the get-go.

“Last year, we had Major League camp happen and then we couldn't start Minor League camp until Major League camp had broke for their season,” Hassan said about the pandemic-related protocols in place in 2021. “So this year was a return to normalcy in that we could bring our Minor League players down a little bit early, like we like to do. We run some camps in January for some of our pitchers and have more of a traditional lead up into Minor League Spring Training. So we got a ton of development work that we had missed the year prior, even though we were able to run a season. So I think for us, we were we were very pleased with the way that we were able to handle the guys who were able to come to camp.”

Camp standouts: The return in the Jose Berríos trade

Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson were both highly regarded prospects with the Blue Jays entering the 2021 season; Martin the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 Draft and Woods Richardson coming off a breakout year with the Mets and Blue Jays (he was in the Marcus Stroman trade) as a teenager in 2019. But both were having years that many felt did not live up to expectations.

Martin was perhaps the best pure hitter in the 2020 Draft class, coming off of three outstanding years at Vanderbilt. He still showed his usual patience at the plate last year, but without much impact, and he had a .779 OPS with the Twins after the trade. In camp and working with Twins hitting instructors, he’s been able to make some tweaks to his setup at the plate that should unlock the ability to drive the ball, noticing that last year, he often got tied up on balls in on him.

“He’s a tick more upright,” Hassan said. “He was ending up when he was striding, he would crowd himself towards the plate, he would have a little bit of a counter stride and really be fighting to get the balls in. So he has a little more upright posture, we’re trying to get him to have a little more rotation once his foot gets down instead of sliding or diving towards home plate. The returns have been good so far. He has the bat speed, he can do it. Now it’s just, ‘Can we get him to do it consistently?’ If he didn’t have it in there, if it didn’t jump when it’s right, then maybe that would be a little scary. But when it’s right, he has plenty of power.”

Woods Richardson had a whirlwind of a summer, going to the Olympics, but not pitching there, then coming to a new organization. He’d been dealing with a bit of a regression in his stuff, most notably losing some velocity from his fastball. The Twins didn’t really get to ramp him back up and knew they didn’t get the real Woods Richardson in his final four appearances post-Olympics. What they’ve seen this spring, after a normal offseason of workouts and building up for camp, has them very excited.

“He's thrown the ball as well as anybody we have, the velocity’s ticked back up, he's been in the strike zone,” Hassan said. “We’ve seen him 92-95 pretty much every time he’s been out. We think if he’s pitching in that range and can throw strikes, which he’s done his entire career prior to last year, that’s an excellent pitcher, and he’s shown that to this point.”

Prospect we’ll be talking about in 2023: Cade Povich

Povich, the Twins’ third-round pick out of Nebraska in last year’s Draft, already opened some eyes with a strong, but brief, pro debut last summer and by showing even more in the tank during instructional league play in the fall. This spring has been a continuation of that, with Povich looking like a college arm with upside, a pitcher who could perhaps be like a left-handed version of Josh Winder, who really broke out in 2021.

“He's throwing a tick harder than we thought: He's been low-90s, touching mid-90s,” Hassan said. “He has four pitches, he throws strikes and he's got room to develop physically still. If he gets a little stronger and the velocity continues to tick up, I think that's one of the guys that could really pop.”

Something to prove: Royce Lewis

There may not be any prospect in baseball who fits this category better, nor is there a prospect more excited to go out and prove what he can do. The last time anyone really saw Lewis play was in the Arizona Fall League in 2019, when he took home MVP honors. He played well at the alternate site, away from public eyes, then tore his ACL early in spring in 2021. He arrived in camp on Friday ready and raring to go. The Twins are equally ecstatic to have the former No. 1 pick get back to work.

“With COVID, the injury and then the lockout, he has a lot of development left ahead of him,” Hassan said. “He shows flashes where he’s the best player on the field, he has that potential. Now it’s a matter of recouping some of that work and try to iron out some things. We’ve all seen the ceiling, so I’m excited to see him work.”