Edouard Julien’s Triple-A Improvement Checklist

[Cody Christie]

Edouard Julien got his first taste of the big leagues, and now the Twins have sent him back to Triple-A to continue his development. Here’s what should be on Julien’s Triple-A improvement checklist.

Image courtesy of Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Edouard Julien was the talk of spring training after a tremendous 2022 season at Double-A and in the Arizona Fall League. He continued his hot hitting during the spring and posted tremendous numbers for Canada in the World Baseball Classic. Twins fans were excited to see what he could bring to the big-league roster, but he’d also never played a game at Triple-A. Julien started the year in St. Paul, even with Jorge Polanco and Alex Kirilloff on the injured list. 

Things went well for him at Triple-A as he went 9-for-31 (.290 BA) with two doubles and two home runs in nine games. He continued to show a strong eye at the plate with seven walks which helped him post an OBP of over 42%. With the Twins, he had two games with multiple hits, but there were struggles in the other five contests. It is a small sample size, and there are things he can improve before being called up again later this year. 

Gain Experience at Other Defensive Positions
During his professional debut, Julien played over 100 innings at four different defensive positions, including first base, second base, third base, and left field. From 2021 through 2022, all his defensive innings have come at second base. On the big-league roster, the Twins are hoping Jorge Polanco is healthy enough to play second base for the remainder of the season, and the team has utilized Bryon Buxton as the primary DH. This doesn’t leave Julien with a clear path to earning another call-up. 

Julien can’t only be an understudy at second base behind Polanco on the depth chart. He needs to start playing other defensive positions like corner outfield and first base. His defense will not be strong at any position, but getting him experience at Triple-A can help make him a more logical option later in the season. The Twins might only trust him at second base and DH, but that likely means he is waiting for an injury to a key Twins player. 

Find More Success Against Offspeed Pitches
For any player, the jump from Double-A to Triple-A can be challenging with increased competition. Julien had fewer than 40 plate appearances above Double-A before getting his first call-up, so it’s easy to see why he might have struggled with the pitchers he was facing at the big-league level for the first time. He faced offspeed pitches 16.7% of the time and failed to collect a hit. There were also many swings and misses while facing offspeed pitches as he posted an 81.8 Whiff%. 

Young hitters typically get a steady diet of offspeed offerings when they reach the big leagues. Some hitters like Trevor Larnach are still trying to find regular success versus those pitch types. Julien has the opportunity to go back to Triple-A and see pitchers that might not be throwing the best-offspeed pitches on the planet. Hopefully, he can continue to find success at that level and eventually transition that success to the Twins.  

Monitor Strikeout to Walk Ratio
Last season, Julien posted a 125-to-98 strikeout-to-walk ratio while just missing 100 walks for the second consecutive season. He’s been known for his ability to draw walks and was the first Twins prospect with 100 walks in a season since Bobby Kielty two decades before him. Pitchers weren’t afraid to attack him during his first stint with the Twins, so he only drew one walk in 30 plate appearances. His Triple-A totals are better, with 12 walks through his first 12 games to go with 15 strikeouts. 

Julien has averaged over 134 walks in his first two professional seasons, so he has some swing-and-miss to his game. The Twins are hoping that his strikeout totals don’t take a big jump with the increased level of competition in the upper minors. Julien needs to get back to controlling the strike zone and showing an ability to draw walks with St. Paul. 

Should anything else be added to his Triple-A improvement checklist? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.  

View full article

[Doctor Gast]

IMO you did a very good job Cody in evaluating Julien's needs in AAA. Julien has played 1B & IMO it's his best position & where they need to focus on because 2B isn't his best position. With Polanco back & other worthy prospects (Lewis, Lee, Martin & Helman) are better than him there.

IMO Julien has at best an average arm so I'd rule out 3B & OF & again we have also better players & prospects there. Julien is our best candidate at lead off, so we need to get him in eventually into our line up. So 1B is our best option, he's quick & has some experience there. I was disappointed that they didn't give him any playing time at 1B while he was up, so we could have a look at him.

[Fire Dan Gladden]

I think where Julien sees the bulk of his time could be telling.  If they play him at 2B, it tells me that they may be ready to move on from Polanco (after the season?).  If they play him at 1B, they are tabling the Polanco discussion and really trying to find him a position that will get him reps this season.  There really isn't another "position of need" at the moment.

[GKuehl]

Continuing to play Julien at 2B seems odd with the way the Twins' system currently looks. We can have Polanco return at a reasonable $10.5 million salary next year, a no-brainer if he plays like the borderline all-star he's been before when healthy. Royce Lewis' long-term home also seems to be 2B, though he can also play 3B, all 3 OF spots, and serve as our backup SS. Brooks Lee looks like he'll either play 2B or 3B. Austin Martin could contribute at 2B as well.

All 4 of those players seem likelier to stick at 2B than Julien because of their defensive chops. There's also a bit of a logjam at 1B, with Kirilloff and Miranda likely platooning at 1B when Lewis or Lee take over at 3B for Miranda. That leaves the corner OF spots, where hopefully Larnach, Wallner, and Martin develop into long-term starters. 

It seems like Julien's path to playing time lies in his versatility, mixing and matching at 1B, 2B, LF, and DH. This post might be wishful thinking in believing that our young players will be long-term contributors. But 2B seems like the MOST clogged position in the Twins system, and I would love to see Julien show some versatility. 

[tony&rodney]

This article correctly points out what Julien needs to accomplish in order to compete at the highest level: defense, hitting off speed pitches, and the K/W rate. Watching Julien play for St. Paul, via milb.com (it would be obviously better to evaluate his play in person), we can see his value.

Julien is still a work in progress but his positives are noteworthy. First off, while it is correct that his arm is not very strong, it is close enough to adequate or similar to what we see from Miranda. Julien is not slick in the field but he gets to balls better than often given credit for, which we saw when he flagged down several grounders while playing for the Twins. He is improving but we should not ever expect him to be Roberto Alomar. I trust Julien's glove ahead of either Solano or Gordon.

A guy who can carry an on base percentage above .400 with power, stolen base ability, and a high average  is a valuable player in any lineup. Julien just needs to keep hitting and improving in small increments. I believe he would be a real valuable leadoff hitter versus right handers and DH for the Twins. Whether Buxton is now a full time DH beyond May is another story.

Lastly (I noted this previously in other threads), I cannot recall a player having more strikes called on them when the pitch is so far out of the strike zone. I saw this last season when following Julien and we saw this a number of times this year when he was with the Twins. It happens to all players just as they benefit from some calls but Julien is seemingly a magnet for the 3-2 pitch (4 inches off the plate) being called a strike. This may be a standard for players who test an umpires patience with how often they are deep in counts such as a guy like Carlos Santana, first with Cleveland and now with Pittsburgh. 

The path for Julien to have consistent playing time with the Twins will be tough given the barriers at 2B, 1B, or DH but wouldn't it be nice to have a guy lead off who gets on base at such a high rate or crushes a home run to begin games?

[chpettit19]

I think the Twins using him basically exclusively at 2B the last year plus should tell us a lot. They try to get all kinds of guys work all over the field. But they're not doing it with him. He played 15 games in LF in 2021, and they haven't sent him back. He's not a good infielder, but they haven't wanted to put him back in the OF. To me, that says he can't read a fly ball. I've never seen him play OF, so that could be completely wrong, but if you want to get a guy up a level, and they're a bad infielder, you'd put him in the OF if they're at all ok there. Them not seeming to even be considering it says a lot. Only other thing I can think of is they don't think he can beat out the Larnach/Wallner/Kirilloff group of lefty corner bats. Which would also be a bad sign.

He'll be fun to see work through the struggles of adjusting to major league pitchers. They are going to challenge him, and he's going to have to make them pay. If he can't, he becomes Sano/Gallo 2.0. And we all know how those types of hitters go over around these parts. He appears to have a really nice approach at the plate so it'll just come down to being able to make pitchers pay for challenging him early. Will be fun to watch him get his chance to show he can do it.

[Chris Spencer]

Could you take a look at the pitchers Julian faced while he was with the Twins? If I recall, he faced some pretty tough competition that the rest of the lineup also had trouble with. 

[Jocko87]

35 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

I think the Twins using him basically exclusively at 2B the last year plus should tell us a lot. They try to get all kinds of guys work all over the field. But they're not doing it with him.

This is a very good point and I don't think the reasons for doing it can be positive for Julien.  Locking him in at the deepest position in the org when they are trending towards a maximum position flexibility roster raises questions.  If and when Lewis and Lee push Castro and Gordon out they will both be ahead of Julien for hacks at 2nd along with the next Kyle Farmer type.  And that's assuming Polanco is gone. 

There is going to have to be another unpopular trade out of this group of SS/2nd base types.  This discussion further enforces the need to move Arreaz when they did IMO.  Then, don't be surprised if they draft several college SS types again this year so they can reload the trade chips.  These ain't your old draft and hoard/develop Twins anymore.

[Rosterman]

I'm also watching Michael Helman, who could very well morph into the Twins utility guy for a couple of years, showing both power and speed. Maybe not quite cut for regular play, but he has been evrsatile in the field.

[DocBauer]

I think Cody hit all 4 points perfectly. I just love the potential of Julien, but the thing is, no matter how great he's looked with the bat so far...with questions about his defense...he only played TWO years in college, missed 2020 after signing too late to make an appearance in 2019 after being drafted, and has only TWO milb seasons coming in to 2023.

All that to say that no matter how great he's looked, he's still a young player and a work in progress.

He appears to have an average arm. But he's a solid athlete, if not a great one. No question he has the ability to play 1B and 2B, taking turns at DH as well, of course.

I really have no idea how he is at tracking balls as an OF. Is it telling he hasn't played any OF since 2021? Or has the concentration at 2B been more about just getting more comfortable there and letting him relax? 

He doesn't have to be great in LF, just decent/solid to increase his roster/lineup flexibility. And at some point, it would only be prudent to play him there again and work with him there. Yeah, 1B and 2B are crowded now and in the future. So might be DH. And that doesn't mean there isn't room for him. But if he CAN be decent/solid in LF it really makes things more flexible in the future.

[tony&rodney]

The ABS system will be used in AAA starting Friday, apparently. Batters with a really good eye should benefit.

If Julien can take his game and numbers that he put up at AA forward I don't see either Lewis or Lee matching that offensive production. However, folks are correct to point out that Jorge Polanco is a stalwart for the Twins and looking good right now. I do think that a bat like Julien would really look good DHing versus right handed pitchers.

[twinsfansd]

I see him swing through way too many fastballs.  That really needs to be corrected.

 

[JD-TWINS]

21 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

This is a very good point and I don't think the reasons for doing it can be positive for Julien.  Locking him in at the deepest position in the org when they are trending towards a maximum position flexibility roster raises questions.  If and when Lewis and Lee push Castro and Gordon out they will both be ahead of Julien for hacks at 2nd along with the next Kyle Farmer type.  And that's assuming Polanco is gone. 

There is going to have to be another unpopular trade out of this group of SS/2nd base types.  This discussion further enforces the need to move Arreaz when they did IMO.  Then, don't be surprised if they draft several college SS types again this year so they can reload the trade chips.  These ain't your old draft and hoard/develop Twins anymore.

I agree - in July somebody is going to get traded and I can’t imagine it would be Lewis or Lee. That said, Julien - Martin are prime options along with vets we can’t fit on 26 man, guys like Kepler - Gordon - Solano…..,1 or 2 of them.

If Julien only plays 2B in minors, his potential of sticking with Twins diminishes a bunch. It’s possible, maybe not likely, that Polanco is still at 2B in ‘24. If not, a switch hitting replacement in Lee has a great shot. Lewis will be playing some back-up SS and a fair amount at 3B, as well as possibly being the starting 2B if Miranda settles in at 3B & with the bat.

Farmer’s a solid experienced guy who is under contract for ‘24.

A lack of position flexibility will really limit Julien v. his young, up & coming, competition!