Happ, Twins encouraged by spring debut

When J.A. Happ took the mound for his first outing of the spring on Monday, he faced off against Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman in the opening frame -- always a challenging matchup, to be sure, but also a reminder that things could have been worse following his COVID-19 diagnosis at the start of camp.

“To be honest, I think I got fortunate with that part of it,” Happ said. “I hear those stories, and they’re scary, man. There’s a chance that my smell and taste isn’t completely back, but other than that, I feel pretty good physically. I can’t really sense limitations at this point.”

Instead of having to worry for his life as Freeman did in his own battle with COVID-19 last summer, Happ is fortunate that his most pressing question is how far he’ll be able to ramp up before the regular season, and what that will mean for the remainder of the Twins’ starting rotation -- which remains one of the club’s more meaningful roster questions in camp.

Happ’s two-scoreless-inning debut in the Twins' 5-1 loss was a step in the right direction, and it offered him a chance both to acclimate to game action and work through some traffic on the basepaths that hadn’t necessarily been a factor in his prior live batting practice sessions.

“We don't really have a lot of days to play with,” Happ said. “We're trying to be as specific as we can with getting the schedule ready.”

The 38-year-old left-hander, signed to pitch at the back end of the Twins’ rotation, said he struggled with command of his four-seam fastball at times Monday, which was evident in a leadoff four-pitch walk to Ronald Acuña Jr. and another free pass to Abraham Almonte in the second inning. He scattered those walks and a hit with one strikeout in his two frames, throwing 16 of his 29 pitches for strikes.

Those baserunners weren’t a bad thing at all, as manager Rocco Baldelli had entered the game thinking he would need to find Happ some more work to help the veteran stretch out. But ultimately, his pitch count tracked well with the 30-35 pitches Happ said he’d been throwing in his recent live BP sessions.

“It certainly doesn’t hurt to kind of go through all those things, pitching with guys on base, from the windup, from the stretch, different spots,” Happ said. “Certainly not putting guys on base intentionally, but after having a couple lives and being able to jump back out and feel strong, it was nice to kind of try to go through some things, for sure.”

There’s no question that Happ is still behind, seeing as newly minted Opening Day starter Kenta Maeda threw 53 pitches over four innings in his most recent start on Sunday, his third of the spring. If Happ stays on a normal five-day schedule, he’ll have three more outings before the regular season begins, which would only carry him one appearance beyond where Maeda is at this point.

Still, the Twins expressed confidence when Happ showed up in camp on March 2 that he would be able to contribute to the Opening Day rotation in a meaningful capacity, and Baldelli said that thinking hasn’t changed.

“[His appearances have] kind of affirmed that thought,” Baldelli said. “He’s looked good. He said he’s felt good. He’s throwing the ball well. I think he’s probably a full outing or turn behind where some of our guys are, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that by the first week in April, that he’s not going to be well caught up and in a good spot to make a start.”

The skipper did acknowledge, though, that the Twins have had discussions about potential creativity with their starting staff early in the regular season, including the possible use of a sixth starter at various points -- but not necessarily as a full member of the rotation.

It helps in that contingency planning that both Randy Dobnak (5 1/3 scoreless innings, no walks, eight strikeouts this spring) and Lewis Thorpe (5 scoreless innings, one hit allowed, seven strikeouts) have looked effective in Grapefruit League action and appear ready to fill those gaps when needed. The Twins have made no secret of the fact that they consider Dobnak to be flexible in his usage, and Thorpe’s fastball has played up after a rigorous offseason of work.

Even if Happ is behind come Opening Day, the Twins seem confident that it won’t be by much -- and that they have a strong safety net behind him.

“We’ll continue to monitor J.A., watch him throw, see where he’s at around Opening Day and the week before Opening Day and see if there’s any adjustments we have to make,” Baldelli said. “I don’t anticipate a ton of adjustments for J.A.”