Despite trading away a number of players at the deadline last year, the Minnesota Twins still have a 30.9% chance at making the postseason in 2026, which is better than five American League teams (including the A’s) as spring training begins.

On Monday morning, the Twins added a small boost to the club’s projections, bringing back Gio Urshela on a minor-league deal according to Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. He is also reporting that the pact comes with an invitation to spring training.

Urshela was with the Twins back in 2022 after being traded with Gary Sanchez from the New York Yankees in exchange for former A’s fan favorite Josh Donaldson, along with Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ben Rortvedt. Urshela ended up being traded to the Los Angeles Angels after the ’22 campaign.

During his lone season with the Twins, Urshela posted his last good season, batting .285 with a .338 OBP and 13 home runs. He also held a 118 wRC+ (100 is league average) and was worth 2.6 fWAR. If he’s anything close to that this season, the Twins will have some terrific insurance at third just in case Royce Lewis goes down.

Last season with the A’s

Last winter Urshela signed with the A’s to play third, and his time with the club was hampered by injuries. He hit just .238 with a .287 on-base, putting up a 68 wRC+ and racking up -0.4 fWAR.

One of the key highlights to the season for Urshela had to be the day he received his gold card for service time in MLB, which allows him to attend any regular season MLB game.

He spent some time on the IL with a left hamstring strain which kept him out nearly a month from May and into June. When he returned, Max Muncy was over at third base, and Urshela’s playing time essentially evaporated. When he was initially activated he started just four of the first 19 team games, and one game was at DH while the another was at first base. The other two were at the hot corner.

Urshela would play more frequently once Muncy hit the IL himself, but not long after the trade deadline, the A’s designated him for assignment and then released him.

Offseason and WBC

While Urshela has the non-roster invite for Twins camp, he is also on the roster for Columbia for the World Baseball Classic, along with former A’s prospect Jordan Díaz.

After a year of not playing in a Winter League, Urshela signed on to play this past winter with Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Winter League. There, he hit a solid .317 with a .353 OBP.

The biggest difference between this past season with the A’s and his 2022 year with the Twins was that he wasn’t hitting the ball nearly as hard, going from a roughly league average exit velocity of 88.9 miles per hour to 86.9 mph. He also wasn’t barreling balls up nearly as much, going from 7% to 2.1%.

This is an interesting low-cost pickup for the Twins with the hope that he’ll be able to find some of the spark he had a few yeas ago.