Baseball rosters are big. They are also constantly shuffling, and sometimes players can find themselves lost in this shuffle. At times this can be chalked up to their role as a journeyman, placeholder kind of player. They’re a warm body for two weeks until the guy they replaced comes back, then they slip into the void. Still sad, but unavoidable in this business. Other times though, players who were once thought to be building blocks with bright futures ahead of them can lose their footing and slip into the roster shuffle malaise.

In 2023, three promising young Twins players experienced that slip. Jorge Alcala, once firmly in the late-inning mix of the bullpen, continued his multi-year battle with injuries. Nick Gordon tried to follow up an encouraging season, only to fracture his right shin in May and miss the rest of the year. Finally, perhaps most surprising was Jose Miranda, who turned from a shooting star in 2023 into a falling meteorite in 2024.

With the Twins being a contending team on the upswing, competition for roster spots is bound to be fierce this season. Which of these three players will make the strongest argument for playing time and muster a role to impact the team in 2024? To find out, let’s delve a bit further into each of their cases.

Jorge Alcala

The potential is clear to see when watching Jorge Alcala. The 28-year-old righty mixes a mid-to-high 90s fastball with a power slider to produce a fiery pitcher’s cocktail. Unfortunately, Twins fans haven’t had much opportunity to see him in recent years. Injuries to his right elbow and forearm have conspired to limit him to 19 ⅔ innings the past two seasons.

When healthy, Alcala has been effective, though perhaps a step away from a dominant force on the mound. Combining the shortened 2020 season with 2021, his only healthy full season in the majors, Alcala produced a 3.55 ERA in 83 ⅔ innings. His FIP, which tries to eliminate the influence of defensive quality from ERA, sits closer to 4.00 in that stretch. This is largely thanks to a penchant for strikeouts that is respectable, but a step below the standard that today’s late-inning relievers have set (88 Ks in that time). Additionally, Alcala’s pitch mix leaves him few answers for left-handed batters, who have managed an .803 OPS against him in his career.

Entering 2024, the first question Alcala will have to answer is health. Should he finally be able to hold down a firm spot in the Twins bullpen again, the next question will be where that spot lies, especially with the recent major league additions of Josh Staumont and Jay Jackson. If he returns to his career norms, he will likely find himself behind the late-inning trio of Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, and Brock Stewart. Alcala would be an asset in middle relief, however, and could keep the Twins in close games through the middle innings when starters are unable to pitch deep. All of this feels especially speculative until Alcala shakes his arm free of ailments.

Nick Gordon

Nick Gordon will have been racing to forget his 2023 season. The utilityman carried a putrid .185 OBP and .503 OPS into mid-May, before fracturing his shin and being shut down for the year. While last season was painful from beginning to end, he doesn’t need to look too far in the past for his bright spot. As the Twins floundered through 2022, Gordon found a spark of power in his bat that many in the game never saw coming. Through mechanical tweaks, he maximized the strength in his 6’0”, 160-pound frame and used it to produce a .427 slugging percentage and a .743 OPS, 11 percent better than the league average hitter.

The makeover of his bat combined with his ability to play 2nd base and all over the outfield made Gordon a revelation in 2022. His willingness to take on those different positions revealed another of his strengths, one that has been consistent throughout Gordon’s career: his attitude. The former 5th overall pick did not follow a prodigy’s path to the major leagues. Through up-and-down seasons in the minors, Gordon battled gastrointestinal issues for years that made it hard to put on weight or even eat a sustainable diet. He also contracted Covid-19 during the 2020 season. Through it all he carried a smile and an infectiousness that his teammates adored, just as he did through last year’s trials. Just look back at the Twins highlights from 2023 and count the times you spot Gordon on the top step of the dugout, beaming his signature smile and waving his limbs around in unbridled joy. 

It seems the energy he brings to the clubhouse will never be absent, and will always keep Twins players, staff, and fans firmly on his side. This year, it will be up to Gordon to rediscover his 2022 form that took him from clubhouse MVP to on-field contributor. If he can, he should find a utility role on the Twins bench at minimum, with some sustained starting time likely in the event of injuries. After he spent 2023 being his teammates’ biggest fan, Twins Territory is hoping they can once again celebrate Nick Gordon in 2024.

Jose Miranda

The tales of Nick Gordon and Jose Miranda share many similarities. Miranda grinded his way through the minors to earn his shot with the big league club, and when he got his first full-season look at the majors he exceeded expectations, finishing 2022 with a .268/.325/.426 line. He entered 2023 primed to build on his encouraging debut, but battled a shoulder injury as his numbers plummeted to the tune of a .566 OPS. A crucial difference: Miranda regained health in time to play in 39 games with the AAA St. Paul Saints, though this stretch did little to assuage concerns. Miranda was only able to muster a .686 OPS with just 3 HRs, a worrying reminder of his pre-2021 breakout profile, a slap hitter with little over-the-fence impact.

Still, injuries can wreak all kinds of havoc, especially on young players. Optimism persists among Twins officials and fans that Miranda can be a middle-of-the-order bat for the Twins, even as their lineup becomes crowded with young talent. Even this year, a role seemed to exist for Miranda as the right-sided half of a 1B platoon with Alex Kiriloff, who carries injury concerns of his own.

Then, it was announced that the Twins had signed veteran 1B Carlos Santana to a 1-year, $5.25 million dollar contract. Santana is a switch-hitter, but as he’s aged he has become a much better hitter from the right side. He is also a clear step-up from Miranda defensively, as last time Miranda was playing 1B in the majors he looked the part of someone still learning the intricacies (and some of the basics) of the position. Santana’s addition leaves Miranda firmly in St. Paul at the start of this year, and he will have to prove himself there while he waits for injuries or ineffectiveness to pave a path for his MLB redemption.

Though the struggles of these three players may seem a bad omen, it actually stands as a good sign that all three must fight for their spots on the Twins roster. These are the kinds of battles that tend to take place at the edges of contending rosters, and they provide the level of accountability that pushes players to strive for continued improvement. It may not be entirely coincidence that all three of these players stumbled during the Twins’ transition from underachievers to contenders. Sometimes, losing seasons and lackluster rosters can breed complacency, even if the players don’t feel it setting in.

As far as their likelihood of etching a role for themselves in the 2024 Twins roster, Nick Gordon feels like a smart bet due to his positional flexibility and clubhouse presence. Injuries to any one of Max Kepler, Matt Wallner, Byron Buxton, Edouard Julien, Willi Castro or Kyle Farmer could hand Gordon a significant role. A healthy Jorge Alcala also has a good chance of finding a role considering the team’s approach to bullpen construction that prioritizes depth and rotation. Finally, while it wouldn’t be crazy to see Jose Miranda in a Twins uniform this year, the presence of young stars (Royce Lewis, Kiriloff) and a supremely durable veteran (Santana) in front of him leaves him most likely to get comfortable at CHS Field this season.