FORT MYERS, Fla. — Rocco Baldelli wants the focus to be on today.

That was one of the messages the manager imparted to his team during his annual speech delivered before the team’s first full squad workout.

“There will be an unwavering focus on today and the work that you do today,” Baldelli said. “Frankly, who you are today comes from the past and all the things you’ve dealt with in the past. … Our focus in on today, which will turn us into who we’ll be tomorrow.”

That’s today as in not last September, when the Twins’ playoff hopes came to a crashing halt. With their focus on the season ahead of them, Baldelli plans to implement some changes in camp and how the Twins go about things.

“You’re going to see it in some of their work on the field. You’re going to see it in our schedule, what we’re going to ask them to do,” Baldelli said. “Behind the scenes, in meetings and the things we preach, but ultimately, the goal is to see it in the game.”

Among the planned changes, Baldelli intends to have their regulars ready to play earlier in camp and plans to get them on the field more frequently. That includes spring training road games.

With their home in Fort Myers, the southernmost spring training city on Florida’s Gulf Coast, the Twins often have their veterans stay back and workout at their facility rather than make long trips north on I-75. That will change, to some extent.

“It’s probably only a couple of extra games over the course of the spring, but a major league game against major league competition, I think, puts a little different stress on their body in a positive way than going to a backfield,” Baldelli said.

As for the rest of his speech, Baldelli said much of it was reminder, with some inspiration and motivation mixed in.

“They were in a good mindset before I even spoke,” he said.

Top prospect sidelined

Outfielder Emmanuel Rodriguez, one of the Twins’ top prospects, rolled his left ankle a week ago and will be one to two weeks behind as he ramps up for the season.

Rodriguez hurt his ankle fielding a ball in the outfield on Feb. 10. Imaging tests came back negative.

Rodriguez, 21, is the Twins’ second-ranked prospect and is ranked No. 37 overall by MLB Pipeline. He made it all the way to Triple-A St. Paul last season before an early end to his year because of a thumb injury that required surgery.

When healthy, Rodriguez hit .280 with a .459 OPS, .567 slugging percentage and 1.026 OPS in 47 games across multiple levels last season.