FORT MYERS, Fla. — Pablo López walked off the Hammond Stadium mound after delivering a pitch, cutting short his live batting practice session. López was in his third “up” or simulated inning when elbow soreness forced him to shut things down.

The news of López’s right elbow discomfort marred an otherwise positive day of camp for the Twins, who held their first full-squad workout of the spring on Monday at their complex in Southwest Florida.

The Twins plan to send López for imaging and will have more information after they do so.

“After he and (pitching coach) Pete (Maki) talked, we decided like ‘Hey, out of an abundance of caution, let’s get him off. Let’s get him off the field and make sure he’s okay,’” manager Derek Shelton said.

The starting pitcher is further ahead in his preparation for the season than some of his teammates because he was planning on participating in the World Baseball Classic for Venezuela for the second time in his career. This news puts that in jeopardy for López.

For now, the Twins plan to move cautiously with López, one of their top arms. López was highly effective last year when he pitched, but he made just 14 starts as he dealt with a myriad of injuries — a hamstring strain, a shoulder injury and a forearm strain suffered while fielding his position all landed him on the injured list.

“I don’t live in a speculative world. It’s a terrible place to be in this game,” Shelton said. “Right now, I’m taking we had a really good day. He felt some soreness. We’ll get it looked at and kind of move on from there.”

The day started with a team meeting during which Shelton, who took over for Rocco Baldelli this offseason, gave a speech hitting on a number of topics including intent, accountability and the group sticking together.

New team executive chair Tom Pohlad also spoke, and Shelton said called his message “passionate,” and “from the heart.”

“When we walked out of that meeting this morning, there was a really good feeling about the messaging I think we wanted to get across,” Shelton said.

While pitchers and catchers have been in camp for days and all of the position players had already reported by Sunday, Monday’s workout saw an extra flurry of activity.

Like every year, hope springs eternal in the early days of a new season. Even if the expectations of the team aren’t high outside of the clubhouse — projections and betting lines have them as a sub-.500 team — there’s optimism within the clubhouse.

“It feels like everyone’s excited for the year. You can genuinely feel that,” third baseman Royce Lewis said. “I think we’re ready to shock people. We don’t even have to say anything about it. People just keep writing us off. Whatever. That’s fine. I’m ready for that.”

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