Ervin Santana’s slow-moving recovery from Feb. 6 finger surgery caused Twins manager Paul Molitor to reflect for a moment Saturday morning in his office.

“Man, it’s been a rough journey,” Molitor said before revealing his 35-year-old all-star right-hander had failed to touch 90 mph in a 45-pitch live batting practice session on Friday in Fort Myers, Fla.

Santana had at least touched 90 mph, Molitor recalled, in a two-start rehab stint last month (5.06 earned run average in 5 1/3 innings) before being shut down in order to rebuild arm strength and chase away the last vestiges of pain in his right middle finger.

Another live BP is scheduled for Monday, but Santana will have to first reclaim more of his fastball velocity before being sent out to begin another rehab assignment.

“Whether it’s arm strength or trust, we’ll just have to see what we can observe when he throws on Monday,” Molitor said. “I can’t say I’m surprised. I think he’s been so worried about feel of the ball and the grip here for a long time. Hopefully we’re just about over that hurdle. That might free him up mentally to go ahead and not have any inhibition about letting it go.”

Santana averaged 92.9 mph on his fastball last season, according to Fangraphs.com, his highest average since 2008 (94.4 mph).

His lowest fastball average since then came in 2012, when he registered 91.7 mph.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.