St. Paul – Few things have been able to keep Minnesota Twins infield prospect Tanner Schobel off the diamond. But in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis on June 14, Schobel took a pitch from Sean Sullivan a bit too far inside and suffered a fractured right forearm.
It was the first injury of Schobel’s pro career and kept him off the field for nearly two months. It was a new challenge that Schobel had yet to face, but he didn’t have to face it alone.
“In Florida, you focus so much on strength and getting your arm back to where it was originally,” Schobel said on his rehab process. “There’s a lot of baseball on top of it, but it’s just like the main focus is getting healthy again. And so, just playing down in Florida for a little bit, obviously, the competition isn’t Triple-A players, but being back here is so nice to be in the swing of things again.”
While Schobel was recovering at the Twins complex in Fort Myers, he was spending time around other players battling back from injuries of their own. It was a group that included pitchers Matt Canterino and Kyle Jones, as well as Austin Martin at the start and later Emmanuel Rodriguez.
Each of the other players had dealt with various injuries of their own throughout their careers. They have more experience with the mental hurdles that come with being away from the field during the season, and they were all people Schobel could lean on as he rebuilt his own recovery process.
“I talked to a lot of people who were down in rehab who have been there for a while, pitchers and position players, and just kind of picked their brains,” Schobel said. “The biggest thing is, obviously, your rehab comes first, getting back to normal, but also just finding ways to get out and distract yourself and speed up the process was really big for me.”
“Just being down there together, we just sat and watched each other take BP,” Rodriguez said through teammate Marco Raya, who translated for him. “Just had conversations about how we’re feeling and what other things we were feeling as we were hitting, things like that. And just being there for each other and helping each other out as we both came back.”
The guidance and distractions Rodriguez and other teammates helped provide Schobel were also a bouncing board for him to do the same for them. Players can build their bonds in unexpected ways throughout the year, and while they’d prefer to do it while healthy, the one created between Schobel and Rodriguez in Fort Myers this year is one they hope will bolster their friendship beyond this season.
“I was talking to A-Mar (Martin) a little bit, just what to expect and the whole recovery process,” said Schobel. ”And then being down there obviously, being around Emma and stuff. Being around Emmanuel down there and talking to him, he’s been on rehab a couple of times. But yeah, just staying distracted was the biggest thing.”
Schobel returned from the IL on August 25 and hasn’t had the results he’s hoped for so far in just 11 games. He’s only gone 6-for-32 (.188 batting average) with a couple of RBI and a walk in that time. Most of the struggles stem from playing catch-up with his timing against pitchers. However, with 10 games left on the calendar, Schobel plans to make the most of what time he has on the field.
“I mean, the results are going to be the results, but my biggest thing is just going out there and giving it my all every day,” said Schobel.
“In September, even though I missed a couple of months, I know it’s easy because everyone is ready for the off-season, and it sucks because we’re not making the playoffs. But for me, it’s just giving max effort every day, showing up positive, and just doing my part to play under control and have success out here.”
“There’s a lot of aspects that are always enjoyable in just having both of those guys back,” said Saints hitting coach Shawn Schlechter. “It brings a little bit of a spark in the lineup, and it’s just too more cases that we’re really excited to navigate to help the future of our big league organization.”
Despite the time Schobel has missed, he’s going to be looking back on the 2025 season fondly with the progress he made moving up from Double-A to Triple-A. Schobel had been swinging a hot bat in 44 games with the Wind Surge, putting up a .292/.372/.465 slash line, seven home runs, and 29 RBI.
The same version of Schobel that helped him earn the call-up to Triple-A is there, and even if he can provide a glimpse of that in these last two weeks. He’ll be all the more confident with how he can start his 2026 season in St. Paul and potentially make his MLB debut as well.
“Obviously, the goal is not to stay in Triple-A,” he said.
“Do the things in Double-A that helped me get to Triple-A, like focus on my routine and that kind of thing. And going into the off-season, I kind of built off a really good off-season this past year. And so just doing some of those things in the weight room and in the cages that helped me show up to spring read to roll. So those are the biggest things that I look forward to doing.”