Twins pitcher to undergo season-ending surgery

Twins right-hander Daniel Duarte will undergo an elbow surgery on May 8 and won’t pitch again in the 2024 season, the team announced, via The Athletic's Aaron Gleeman.  The type of the surgery wasn’t specified, which impacts a possible recovery timeline — an internal brace surgery could have Duarte ready for Opening Day 2025, while a Tommy John surgery would sideline him until July or August 2025.

This marks the second and most serious elbow-related injury of Duarte’s young career, as he previously missed most of the 2022 season due to inflammation in his throwing elbow.  While he returned to pitch 66 2/3 total innings for the Reds at the MLB and Triple-A levels in 2023, a bout of shoulder tightness then sent him to the IL at the end of last season.  Duarte’s 2024 campaign now will end after just two games and four innings for Minnesota, as he has been on the injured list since a retroactive April 4 placement.

Signed out of Mexico as an international free agent by the Rangers in 2023, Duarte took a long path to the majors before making his MLB debut with Cincinnati in 2022.  He has a 3.99 ERA over 38 1/3 innings in the Show, despite a 17% strikeout rate and a high 14.5% walk rate.  Some control problems occasionally cropped up in the minors for Duarte, but his overall minor league performance was pretty solid, including a 4.05 ERA across 46 2/3 innings of Triple-A ball.  He has also posted some strong grounder rates, topping the 50% mark across both his big league and Triple-A work in 2023.

Duarte actually came to the Twins via the Rangers, who claimed Duarte off waivers from the Reds in January before designating him a couple of weeks later and losing him on another claim from Minnesota.  The Twins then DFA’d and outrighted Duarte off their own roster in February before selecting his contract just prior to Opening Day.

Duarte will be moved to the 60-day IL when the Twins next need a 40-man roster space.  If there is any small consolation to what has to be a rough setback for Duarte, he’ll at least bank a year of MLB service time because the injury occurred while he was on the active roster.