# Thome back and feels great



## zogman (Mar 20, 2002)

Thome back with Twins, and he feels 'great'
Although it seems that every other Twins player is coming to camp with some sort of injury concern -- Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Francisco Liriano -- there are plenty feeling better than ever, among them, Jim Thome. 
By: John Shipley, St. Paul Pioneer Press / MCT 
TWINS: Bullpen will look quite different, even with Nathan's return
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Although it seems that every other Twins player is coming to camp with some sort of injury concern -- Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Francisco Liriano -- there are plenty feeling better than ever, among them, Jim Thome.

Thome reported to spring training on Sunday, three days before the first full-team workout. He immediately hit the batting cage and jacked a few well beyond the right-field fence.

"I feel great," he said. "I was telling somebody, I think this winter for me was a little different, just in a sense that I got to move around more than normal. My foot finally healed."

Thome suffered from plantar fasciitis in his left foot for nearly two years.

"I could do a lot more things this winter than I normally have," he said. "It felt great. I got to work out and stay active. It was a great winter."

Thome signed a one-year contract worth $3 million, plus incentives, in January to return to Minnesota, where he hit a team-high 25 homers as a DH and pinch-hitter last season, bringing his career total to 589. He added 59 RBIs in 108 games.

"It's always good to see him in here," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He always comes in with a smile and excited to be here, and it's a pleasure to have him in camp."

Thome, 40, appears destined for the Hall of Fame as one of the game's great sluggers. With just 11 more home runs, he'll become the eighth player ever to reach 600, an event that will be followed incrementally and

with great detail.

In short, the run-up will be a circus.

"I know from getting close to 500 ... it does intensify it, and gets to the point where the media asks you questions about it," he said. "My thing with that is, you can't let it dominate every day."

Thome hit his 11th homer last season on July 19 in the Twins' 93rd game, a 10-4 win over one of his old clubs, the Cleveland Indians. If he keeps a similar pace, he'll have many chances to breach 600 at Target Field, where the Twins play 17 games in July.

"You do your job, you try to win games, you try to do what you can that day to help each other win, and not try to hit homers," he said. "You can't try to hit them, because that's when you'll go the other way.

"So you just stay true to your work, make sure you do the things to stay healthy and let all that other stuff play itself out."

Thome has hit at least 20 home runs in 17 of his past 18 seasons, the streak broken in 2005, when a bad back limited him to 59 games with the Philadelphia Phillies. Since then he has kept his back in check with a demanding regimen of exercises -- though it still will occasionally act up, as it did late last season.

Overall, though, Thome was remarkably productive, needing just 276 at-bats to produce 25 home runs, one every 11 at-bats. That ranked second to only Jose Bautista (10.5), who hit an MLB-high 54 homers for the Toronto Blue Jays last season.

Thome said he will continue with the same workout plan that got him through last season.

"But I'll say this," he added. "Each and every year is different. Just because you do something one year doesn't mean it's going to fall the same way the next year. That's a unique thing in baseball.

"You have a baseball card, and every year on that baseball card reads different. As an older player, you kind of understand that."

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.


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## Csquared (Sep 5, 2006)

I shoot 3-D with Jim's older brother, and I didn't even know this was in the works.


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