Twins right-hander David Festa will undergo surgeries on his shoulder and pectoral muscle tomorrow, reports Dan Hayes of The Athletic. The first will address a shoulder impingement, while the latter is to alleviate symptoms of neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome.
Minnesota general manager Jeremy Zoll said last week that Festa was likely to miss the entire season. The pair of operations officially confirms as much. Festa has battled shoulder injuries dating back to last year and met with a thoracic outlet specialist as early as September 2025. Doctors at that time found the issue to be a compressed nerve and he avoided surgery. Festa battled shoulder issues during his Spring Training build-up this year and hasn’t thrown a regular season pitch since last July.
Festa was one of the organization’s better pitching prospects before his 2024 debut. The Seton Hall product has made 25 big league appearances, turning in a 5.12 ERA over 117 2/3 innings. He has fanned more than a quarter of opponents against a decent 8.3% walk rate. It’s an above-average strikeout and walk profile that has been undercut by Festa’s susceptibility to the home run ball.
The Twins have kept Festa on the 60-day injured list all year. He’ll need to be reinstated onto the 40-man roster or placed on waivers at the beginning of the offseason. Given his prospect pedigree, it’s likely that Minnesota will keep him on the roster all winter and hope for better health in 2027.
