ST. LOUIS -- As Joe Ryan built himself up for the 2025 season, he never viewed himself as a rehabbing pitcher, rather as someone with health questions. Plenty of other people may have wondered, but as far as Ryan was concerned, this was like any other spring.

That’s despite the fact that he was shut down for the final seven weeks of last season due to a right shoulder strain. By October, he was feeling fine, and by the time he started throwing in anticipation of the 2025 season, the injury was a memory.

He took inspiration from Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who dealt with a similar shoulder injury during the 2024 season but came back to turn in several quality performances in the postseason.

“I think something I guess to build my confidence on that was watching Yamamoto get to throw and throwing in the postseason, obviously in the World Series,” Ryan said. “He had dealt with a similar injury. His was a bit worse than mine. So just seeing him do his thing out there, obviously a great pitcher, being able to come back from that and having good success in the spring, that’s a guy that I was looking at.”

Ryan progressed effectively through spring, putting up solid numbers even if his velocity was down a bit. He amassed 17 strikeouts against five walks in 13 innings. Aside from the fact that he started pitching in games a few days later than his rotation mates, you would not have known that anything was different from the Twins’ other four starters.

That’s because as far as the coaching staff was concerned, nothing was different.

“I came in thinking that Joe was going to be good to go, Joe was going to be fine,” said manager Rocco Baldelli. “Now, getting back out there as he ramps up in intensity is always something that you watch to make sure he reaches all those points that you want him to reach. His stuff keeps getting better. He’s throwing strikes. The delivery looks the way it should. It all checked out. … I was prepared for him to pitch this year and be ready for his first start.”

He gets the ball Saturday in the Twins’ second game of the season, which is right about where you might have expected, if the last time you saw him or the Twins was in early August. As for whether things will feel any different for Ryan himself after not pitching in a Major League game for almost eight months, that’s to be determined.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I was feeling really mellow all spring, and I was kind of waiting, I’m like, ‘All right, when am I going to get a little bit of some juice?’ And then getting to go throw against the Yankees up there [in Tampa] in my first outing, it was great. Just turns it on right when you get into a game. I think it’s just second nature at this point. I’m just excited to go compete.”

Twins tidbits: Simeon Woods Richardson, who will not start until next week in Chicago, pitched four innings in a Minor League game in Florida on Wednesday before flying up to join the team for Opening Day. Twins No. 2 prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez (No. 37 overall), who dealt with an ankle injury during Spring Training, has been placed on the active roster of Triple-A St. Paul. Infielder Luke Keaschall, No. 3 in the organization and No. 60 overall, will also start at St. Paul. The Saints open their season on Friday. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. recorded the first steal of his Major League career on Thursday after coming in as a pinch-runner vs. the Cardinals. Keirsey amassed 135 steals in 159 attempts over his Minor League career.