Twins left-hander Anthony Banda is done for the year. The southpaw tells Dan Hayes of The Athletic that he had surgery on his injured lat and is done for the season. He expects to be ready for next year’s spring training.
Banda landed on the 15-day injured list with a lat strain a couple of weeks ago. At the time, manager Derek Shelton said the injury was pretty significant and that Banda would probably miss months rather than weeks. That timeline left a small window open for Banda to return late in the year but today’s update closes that. Banda will be transferred to the 60-day IL when the Twins need his roster spot.
It’s an unfortunate development for Banda and the team. The lefty wasn’t having an amazing season but was trending in a good direction before getting hurt. He posted a 4.46 earned run average in 34 1/3 innings overall but most of the damage was done early on. From May 5th onward, he had a 1.33 ERA in 20 1/3 innings. There was some luck in there as he had a .259 batting average on balls in play and 90.6% strand rate but it was a nice stretch regardless.
For the Twins, it’s less than ideal to be losing arms from their bullpen. Their relievers have a collective 5.24 ERA on the year, tied with the Royals for worst in the majors. Even if Banda’s hot stretch was fluky, Minnesota is worse off without him.
Despite the rough results from the bullpen, the Twins are hanging in the race, currently just half a game outside a playoff spot. For now, they will proceed with Taylor Rogers and Kody Funderburk as their relief lefties. Kendry Rojas was also recalled today to give them a long relief option. Perhaps they will look to add to this group if they hang around the playoff picture for a few more weeks.
For Banda personally, it’s also not a great development. He’s been a decent reliever in his career but has been pushed to fringe roster status. He was with the Dodgers in 2025 but struggled in the playoffs. Since he is out of options, he was designated for assignment in February, though the Twins sent international bonus pool space to Los Angeles in order to grab him from DFA limbo.
Banda is making $1.625MM this year. He can be retained via arbitration for 2027. The Twins will have to decide whether or not to tender him a contract by November. Perhaps the status of his surgery rehab at that point will factor into the decision. Dating back to the start of 2024, Banda has thrown 149 innings with a 3.44 ERA. His 22.7% strikeout rate, 10.6% walk rate and 41% ground ball rate are all fairly average numbers.
Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Becker, Imagn Images
