FORT MYERS, Fla. — Twins pitcher David Festa’s offseason work was focused around two things: developing a curveball — a slower pitch which will provide some contrast to his harder offerings — and finding a lifting routine that would help him recover better.

Both were important for the 24-year-old, who is firmly on the radar after being selected in the 13th round of the 2021 draft. Festa, who is now the Twins’ top pitching prospect and will serve as important rotation depth this year, made his spring debut on Sunday, throwing a scoreless inning in the Twins’ 7-3 loss to the Washington Nationals at Hammond Stadium.

“To get him in a major-league game was important to us and important to him,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “ … Getting that outing, getting through that outing was good. He showed a nice pickoff move, gets a groundball. Little bit of everything today. It’s a nice day to see one of your good young players out there.”

The lanky right-hander looks ticketed to start the year at Triple-A after finishing last year there. He made three starts for the Saints, compiling a 2.92 earned-run average in 12 1/3 innings near the end of the season.

Then, he went to work developing the new breaking ball, which he thinks will help him, particularly against lefties.

“I really don’t have anything that’s slow and depthy to change the hitters’ timing so I’ve been kind of working on that,” he said. “I’ve thrown it in some bullpen (sessions), and it’s just a slow work in progress, but I think it’s something that will help me long term.”

He also started working with a trainer at home in New Jersey that Twins assistant general manager Jeremy Zoll knew, who helped him develop a lifting routine that worked better for his long, lean body type.

Festa said he didn’t necessary recover as well as he would like so lifting with more volume has helped avoid some of the soreness in his legs and arm that he would typically feel.

“I think that’s something that will help me throughout the season because I want to be a guy that can throw 150-200 innings,” he said. “I think lifting with volume will help me out in the future.”

Festa has had an interesting path to this point, pitching sparingly in high school and then diving headfirst into the craft in college. The Twins saw enough while he was there to select him in the back half of the draft out of Seton Hall University.

At that point, he had a fastball in the low 90s. Now, he’s consistently in the mid-90s, a testament, he said, to the coaches in the Twins organization, who now have him knocking on the door of the major leagues.

“My mom wanted me to go play shortstop (at college) but I was like honestly, my bat dwindled away. I think just for giving myself the best chance, I think pitching would be the right idea,” Festa said. “I didn’t imagine it but once you start having some success in college, it starts to become a little bit more of a reality.  … I was lucky enough to get drafted by the Twins.”

Briefly

Pablo López started Sunday’s game and gave up four runs (three earned) in four innings. He allowed five hits and struck out three. … Max Kepler hit his first home run of the spring in the fourth inning. … Chris Paddack will take the mound on Monday when the Twins head north to play the Atlanta Braves. … Baldelli said reliever Caleb Thielbar, dealing with a hamstring strain, is doing “very well.”  “He’s moving into a place where we’re going to see him, and he’s hopefully going to look normal and he can take the mound and do everything he needs to do,” Baldelli said.

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