Minnesota Twins DVOA, Stats, & MLB Rankings

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Zebby Matthews showed off his swing-and-miss stuff during a start against the Columbus Clippers on Sunday. Matthews went four innings, allowing two runs on seven hits while striking out five batters in a no-decision. The right-hander has struggled during his last two starts, but the five punchouts is nice to see. Despite his recent struggles, Matthews still holds a 2.30 ERA with 34 strikeouts with Triple-A St. Paul this season. There is still a good chance that we see Matthews on the big league mound at some point this season. However, he'll likely need to clean it up a bit before the Twins decide to bring him into their rotation.

The Minnesota Twins announced on Monday that they optioned infielder Edouard Julien to Triple-A St. Paul. Julien is the odd-man out with the Twins activating both Royce Lewis (hamstring) and Willi Castro (oblique) from the 10-day injured list on Monday. The 26-year-old Canadian will surely be back up with the Twins at some point this season for infield depth, but he might not get another shot at a starting role after going just 18-for-91 (.198) with two home runs, eight RBI and eight runs scored in 29 games played. In 232 games played since debuting in the big leagues in 2023, Julien has hit a mediocre .230/.336/.388 with a .725 OPS, 26 home runs, 66 RBI and nine stolen bases. He has been unable to repeat his rookie-year performance, when he clubbed 16 long balls in just 109 games. Expect Castro to see most of the playing time at the keystone going forward in Minnesota.

The Minnesota Twins announced on Monday that they have reinstated utility man Willi Castro (oblique) from the 10-day injured list and optioned infielder Edouard Julien to Triple-A St. Paul in a corresponding move. Castro didn't require a minor-league rehab assignment and should be back in the team's starting lineup for Tuesday's series opener against the Baltimore Orioles. The 28-year-old Puerto Rican switch-hitter suffered a mild oblique strain in the middle of April. With Julien headed down to the farm, fantasy managers should expect Castro to play mostly every day at the keystone will also bouncing around wherever needed on the diamond. He'll return to a .227/.292/.364 slash line with a .655 OPS, one home runs, five RBI, seven runs scored and a stolen base. Castro doesn't stand out for power or speed and will be a modest counting-stats contributor, but he's incredibly useful for his positional versatility.

The Minnesota Twins announced on Monday that they reinstated infielder Royce Lewis (hamstring) from the 10-day injured list and optioned utility man Mickey Gasper to Triple-A St. Paul in a corresponding move. Lewis strained his left hamstring in spring training and opened the 2025 campaign on the injured list. But the 25-year-old right-handed power hit is back now and will make his season debut in Tuesday's series opener against the Baltimore Orioles. Even though he went just 4-for-23 with six strikeouts on his minor-league rehab assignment, fantasy managers that have kept Lewis stashed this whole time will want to get him back into their lineups this week. The former first overall pick in 2017 has never played in over 82 games in a season since debuting in the big leagues in 2022, but he has high-end power when he's healthy and is a lineup regular for Minnesota.

Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Jhoan Duran was called upon to hold a one-run lead against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday. The right-hander gave up a two-out single, but ended up striking out Jarren Duran to earn his fourth save of the season. Duran has recorded saves in back-to-back games, but he has been pretty quiet before that. To be fair, it's not really his fault as the Twins aren't winning too many games to give Duran save chances. The right-hander is one of the better relief pitchers in the league as seen by his 1.17 ERA on the season. Despite the lack of chances, Duran needs to be rostered in most fantasy formats.