Twins encouraged after Joe Ryan’s first bullpen session since going on the IL

MINNEAPOLIS — Though he still seems unsure, Joe Ryan made notable progress Tuesday afternoon when he threw his first bullpen since being placed on the injured list. On the 15-day IL with a mild left glute strain, the Minnesota Twins All-Star pitcher threw all fastballs and sinkers in a 25-pitch session that pleased his coaches.

“It’s a step in the right direction for sure,” Ryan said.

The Twins made it clear this is only the first step in the process for Ryan, who went on the IL retroactive to Aug. 6. After he threw well off flat ground over the past week, climbing back on the mound was a necessary next step.

As they try to hang on for dear life in a six-team race for the final American League wild-card spot, the Twins starting rotation needs a boost. Who better to provide it than their two-time All-Star?

“Very encouraging,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “He looked free and easy. He’s a very important part of our team. To see him out there and be healthy — (it’s the) first step in the progression to getting him back.”

Twins starting pitchers entered Tuesday carrying a 5.81 ERA in 29 games since the All-Star break, the second-worst earned-run average among all 30 teams. The 24 homers allowed since July 17 were tied for seventh-worst in the majors, and the 59 walks issued are fourth-most.

Ryan’s performance is a major factor in those numbers as he struggled in three starts after appearing in the All-Star Game. Ryan yielded seven home runs and 16 earned runs in 15 1/3 innings before he was landed on the injured list.

Even after the team pushed back several of his starts to give him additional days between outings, Ryan failed to deliver quality starts. During a postgame interview after his Aug. 4 turn, Ryan was asked if he was physically capable of doing everything he wanted to with his delivery, to which he answered: “No, definitely not.”

“He looked a little limited on how he was posting up on his front leg,” Twins pitching coach Pete Maki said. “That was what the root of the issue was. But he’s working his butt off to get it. He looked good (Tuesday). I was happy with how he looked.”

Ryan left the Twins the day after his Aug. 4 start to undergo an MRI, which provided the glute strain diagnosis. But preferring to keep his arm moving, Ryan said he didn’t take much time off from throwing after he was placed on the IL.

Maki said the Twins worked with Ryan to address some issues in his delivery they had observed. Ryan implemented some delivery fixes while throwing on flat ground, sessions that left Maki encouraged.

“It’s challenging,” Maki said. “He’s been looking great on flat ground and in tune with some of these adjustments. But getting it when a slope is involved is another step in this progression. … He looked good. Velo is pretty good. There’s a couple things that maybe were a little bit looser than maybe he wanted them to be. That’s to be expected when you haven’t thrown a bullpen in (a while).”

While he’s happy to have resumed throwing off a mound, Ryan’s answers still seemed a bit cautious Tuesday. The main goal of the session, he said, was to gauge how everything felt throwing off the mound. Ryan liked how he felt, but also wanted to see how his body responds to the bullpen session.

“It’s just getting back and trying to get into kinesiology and learn a little bit more about it to make sure we’re doing the right thing and try to get a resolution there,” Ryan said. “See what I can learn to get my body in a good spot to throw a baseball properly and the best that I can.”