Tonkin's quixotic journey back to the Twins

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DETROIT -- You think the Twins bringing Michael Tonkin back seven years after his last stint in the organization is a blast from the past?

Wait until you hear that he’s still brothers-in-law with Jason Kubel, and that one of Tonkin’s first phone calls after he was designated for assignment by the Mets last Friday went to Lew Ford. That phone call was reflective of the roundabout journey Tonkin has gone through -- spanning four countries -- since he last called Target Field home.

“It feels like I've aged,” Tonkin said.

Even so, Tonkin is only 34 as he rejoins the organization that originally drafted him in the 30th round in 2008. He arrived on a delayed flight at around 11 p.m. ET on Tuesday after the Twins acquired him from the Mets for cash considerations to help tide over a bullpen that has endured despite the absences of Jhoan Duran, Caleb Thielbar, Justin Topa and Daniel Duarte.

“He still has good stuff,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He’s definitely a guy that has made good adjustments over his career, and we think there is still plenty in there to be a really successful pitcher. I know he’s been pitching for a long time, but he can still generate the type of stuff that we want to see. When you have a chance to get him, like I said, you get him.”

That is decidedly not the approach most teams had taken to Tonkin after he left the Twins the first time -- and that’s why he took such a roundabout path back.

The Twins parted ways with Tonkin after he posted a 5.14 ERA for them in 2017, which led Tonkin to spend a year in Japan with the Nippon Ham Fighters in 2018. The following year, he spent Spring Training with the Rangers, then passed through the Brewers’ organization, played briefly with the independent Long Island Ducks, then went to the Arizona organization.

(It’s in Long Island, by the way, that Tonkin met Ford, who spent nearly a decade as a coach/player with the Ducks before becoming their manager this year.)

The roller coaster continued with one Spring Training outing for the D-backs in 2020 before the pandemic shut the world down. An Arizona coach had an in with the Aguilas in the Dominican Republic, so there Tonkin went next -- but budget cuts saw him removed from the roster, and Tonkin figured that’s where his baseball journey would meet its end.

“I was like, ‘I guess I'm done playing baseball. There's nothing else to do,’” Tonkin said.

Then, in late December, a call came from the Dominican Republic, asking him to pitch in the playoffs. Sure, why not? He had nothing to lose.

“It's either, I can show I can pitch, or I realize I'm done and I can be done peacefully,” Tonkin said. “I went out there and I was like 94-96 [mph] right away. I hadn't been 94-96 in three, four years. I'm like, ‘I guess I should keep playing.’”

So, he did -- but opportunities remained elusive. He had to scrounge up opportunities with Long Island again, then with the Toros de Tijuana in Mexico, then back to the Dominican Republic, since he still didn’t have any affiliated offers. And, well, Tonkin just kept pitching.

“No one wanted to sign me,” Tonkin said. “No one would sign me. At that point, I was like, ‘I've got to keep going, kind of see this through.’”

Persistence paid off when, during that second stint in the Dominican, the Braves came calling and finally brought Tonkin back to the United States on an affiliated deal. He spent 2022 in the Minors at Triple-A Gwinnett then finally made it back to the Majors in ‘23, when he spent the entire season in the Braves’ bullpen and pitched to a 4.28 ERA.

And now, he’s back where it all started.

Tonkin feels older, but perhaps not wiser, he says with a laugh. Since his last go-around in Minnesota, he’s lowered his arm angle a bit and shortened his arm action. He messed around with a sweeper last summer and hopes to integrate it more into his arsenal this year, in whatever opportunity comes as he enters the bevy of less defined arms behind Griffin Jax and Brock Stewart.

The only remaining Twins teammates from Tonkin's first stint are Caleb Thielbar, Byron Buxton and Max Kepler. He’s seeing guys that got drafted while he was a Twin who are now the backbone of this team.

Who knows how long this opportunity will last? But Tonkin will do what he’s always done -- just keep pitching.