Minnesota Twins have revealed their 28-man roster for the AL Wild Card series against Houston Astros on Tuesday, and there is one eye-catching omission on the list. The Twins didn’t include 2015’s AL MVP Josh Donaldson, who is reportedly dealing with a calf injury.
Donaldson didn’t play in the Twins’ last two games of the regular season but seemed ready to go for the playoffs after taking part in practice on Monday. However, hours before they needed to announce their roster, Minnesota decided to leave out the 34-year-old player.
“Didn’t want him to push if he was feeling something that he could potentially do some long-term damage to,” said Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey.
According to Falvey, he expects Donaldson to be part of the roster if the Twins advance to the second round.
“He wasn’t ready to go this series, and we felt the best thing to do was to continue to get him treatment and see where hopefully it is after this series if we’re lucky enough to move on,” he added.
Josh Donaldson joined Minnesota this offseason as a free agent, inking a four-year, $92 million contract with the franchise. Twins, however, didn’t get their money’s worth so far as Donaldson struggled with injuries for the better part of the season, missing 32 games. He batted .222 in 2020, adding six home runs and 11 RBIs.
