Ryan Jeffers makes his return to Minnesota's active roster after missing the last 46 games with a hamate bone fracture.
Injury luck has not been kind to the Minnesota Twins the last couple days with Byron Buxton returning to the injured list and Anthony Banda undergoing season-ending surgery to address a left lateral strain.
However, the return of Jeffers provides a spark of hope for the Twins, who are 46-48 overall and just two games behind the AL Central rival Cleveland Guardians and first-place Chicago White Sox.
The 29-year-old catcher got off to an impressive start at the plate prior to going down with the fracture on May 18, batting .295 while knocking in 36 hits, 26 RBI and seven home runs. Whenever he was not driving in runs, Jeffers also helped set up key opportunities for Buxton and the rest of the lineup, drawing 23 walks thus far.
Even in the Twins' 7-5 loss to the Washington Nationals on May 7, Jeffers went 3-for-4 at the dish and launched a solo homer to left field in the sixth inning that brought Minnesota within one run of tying the matchup.
He had a similar performance one week later during a 9-1 blowout victory over the Miami Marlins, batting .294 while recording a .409 on-base percentage.
His second-inning walk was crucial in Minnesota taking an early 4-0 lead as a subsequent RBI double by Josh Bell drove in James Outman and Austin Martin. Jeffers went on to score that same inning on a groundout by Victor Caratini, further spoiling the Marlins' night.
Recently, Jeffers excelled during his rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul, batting .375 while tallying two home runs, two walks, two RBIs and one double.
Besides offense though, Jeffers has been a difference maker during opposing at-bats with an exceptional ABS challenge track record, winning 12 out of the 17 he's initiated.
"And within those 12 out of the 17, anybody who was at the Tigers series knows they're almost all ending inning strikeouts that he's turning from a ball to getting out of the jam completely to the point that he's gotten to a level where everyone in the ball park and people in the dugout are like, well, Jeffers challenged it, we're probably good here," said independent Twins reporter Aaron Gleeman.
Jeffers will be primed to contribute once again in Minnesota's lineup against a struggling Grayson Rodriguez in tonight's opener against the Los Angeles Angels. In just six starts, Rodriguez holds an 8.06 ERA on the season, having surrendered 32 hits, 23 earned runs and 15 walks.
