“I was missing my family a bit and I was going through a little rough time,” he said. “Everything’s good now. I’m ready to participate and be on the field and be happy and just be myself and be with the team.”
Thorpe said he spent the time in Fort Myers clearing his head and “relaxing and trying to make sure that I get myself right again.”
Though the Twins did not give specifics out of respect to Thorpe, manager Rocco Baldelli said Thorpe’s absence began after the pitcher asked for the team’s help. While it wasn’t mandated by the club, Baldelli said he thought everyone was in a similar frame of mind in regards to the absence.
“I think he’s doing a lot better,” Baldelli said. “He was very appreciative of everything, the resources he was given. We were happy with the work he put into resolving the situation and getting himself in a much better place.”
Thorpe returned on Sunday, when Baldelli said it was deemed by “all the parties involved,” that he was “doing well and ready to resume not just his baseball activity but (resume) his normal life.”
While he was away, Thorpe said he played catch and threw off flat ground, but there will have to be some ramp up to get him back to where he was when he left camp.
“(Pitching coach) Wes (Johnson) will assess a little bit today, how he’s throwing, get his workouts in, make sure he’s feeling OK, see how he comes in tomorrow and then go from there, but he was throwing bullpens,” Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. “He was probably ready to progress to some live work (before taking time off), so he’s a little behind that, but he’ll get there soon.”
At the start of camp, Thorpe was competing for the fifth spot in the starting rotation with Jhoulys Chacin, Devin Smeltzer and Randy Dobnak. Thorpe threw 27 2/3 innings for the Twins last year as a rookie, as both starter and reliever, but he hasn’t pitched in a game this spring and is tracking behind his teammates now, which could impact his chance to make the team out of camp.
Baldelli, when asked if Thorpe was still on track for Opening Day or to compete for the fifth spot in the rotation, said the team would take some time to see where he was at and they would probably hold off on having a “strong feeling on that for some period of time.”
“This was something that had to be done before (Thorpe) was going to be able to take the mound and put himself in a spot where he can help our club,” Baldelli said. “And again, that was a great initial step for him, and now we go from there.”
It seems to be a relief to be back for Thorpe, who said he has been itching to get back on the mound. Though he had contact with the organization throughout his absence, he was happy to be back in the clubhouse Sunday with his teammates.
“It was tough because I wanted to be on the field, I wanted to be with the guys,” Thorpe said. “But, you know, I had to go, I had to make sure to get myself right to make sure I could perform on the field and make sure my body’s healthy and everything. So yeah, I’m feeling good now and ready to go.”
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March 02, 2020 at 05:00AM
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'In a much better place,' pitcher Lewis Thorpe returns to Twins camp - INFORUM
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