Twins Minor League Report (7/6): Saturday in the Minor-League Parks

[Seth Stohs]

Check out what happened throughout the Twins minor-league system for July 7th. 

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 49-39
St. Paul Saints: 42-40
Wichita Wind Surge: 35-43
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 45-31
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 39-37
FCL Twins: 20-22
DSL Twins: 11-10

TRANSACTIONS
We saw the transaction from the KBO several days ago. Jordan Balazovic was to sign with the Doosan Bears. It took until Friday for him to be released by the Twins. 

OF Emmanuel Rodriguez began his rehab assignment with a full game in center field in the FCL. He went 2-for-4 with a walk and two doubles. 

Following the Twins game, news began to leak that the Twins were going to call up Matt Wallner for Sunday’s game. He had been removed from the Saints lineup which started some speculation.  

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 1, Gwinnett 4
Box Score
Not long before game time, the Saints found out that they were losing their most productive hitter over the past six weeks and needed a lineup change. Such is life in the minor leagues. 

It took breaking a pattern to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning. Edouard Julien led off with a walk. Then there was a strikeout. DaShawn Keirsey walked, but then there was another strikeout. But Payton Eeles walked to load the bases. That brought Chris Williams to the plate, and breaking the patterns, he walked to score Julien with their first (and ultimately only) run. 

Aaron Rozek put together his best start with the Saints this season. He gave the Saints five solid innings. He gave up three runs (2 earned) on seven hits. He walked three and struck out one batter. 

Scott Blewett gave up one run on two hits over two innings. Ryan Jensen tossed two scoreless, hitless innings. He walked three and struck out two batters. 

The Saints had just two hits in the game. Diego Castillo notched his 13th doubles, and Keirsey hit his 15th double. They also had nine walks as a team. Payton Eeles was 0-for-1, but he walked three times as well. The Saints went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 4, Tulsa 7 
Box Score
‘Through six innings, this was quite the pitchers’ duel. The game was just 1-1. After that, a couple of big innings by Tulsa was more than enough to overcome a ninth-inning comeback attempt by the Surge. 

Cory Lewis was back on the mound, making his fourth start with the Wind Surge. This was easily his best start. He tossed four shutout, one-hit innings. He walked three and struck out four batters. Regi Grace was charged with an unearned run on one hit in two innings. He had three strikeouts. 

Cody Laweryson came on and gave up four runs on three hits in his inning. He had two walks and two strikeouts. Miguel Rodriguez gave up two runs on two hits in an inning. He walked two and struck out one. 

Carson McCusker got the Surge offense going in the second inning with his seventh homer of the season. He was 2-for-5 in the game. 

The Wind Surge didn’t score another run until the top of the ninth inning. Jorel Ortega hit his fifth homer. Jeferson Morales added a one-out, two-run homer. He was 2-for-5, and it was his fifth homer of the year. 

Jake Rucker went 2-for-5. Noah Cardenas went 2-for-4. Luke Keaschall went 1-for-3 with a walk and was hit by a pitch. Kyler Fedko went 0-for-1 with three walks.  

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 8, Quad Cities 2
Box Score
The Kernels scored in six of the first seven innings. The top eight batters in the Kernels lineup had at least one hit. 

Rayne Doncon led off and went 3-for-4 with a walk and his eighth double. Ricardo Olivar went 2-for-3 with two walks with his 14th double. Misael Urbina went 2-for-3 and was hit by a pitch. 

Kevin Maitan went 3-for-5 with his fourth home run. It was a three-run blast in the fourth inning. Tyler Dearden went 3-for-4. Juan Mendez 

Christian MacLeod had another strong start. The southpaw gave up one run on two hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked two batters and struck out four. Jacob Wosinski gave up one run on one hit in 1 2/3 innings. Juan Mendez threw a perfect eighth inning. Juan Mercedes threw a scoreless ninth inning. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 6, Bradenton 1 
Box Score
The Mussels scored in five different innings on Saturday, but the story of this game was the tremendous pitching by Fort Myers. 

Tanner Hill made the start. He gave up only an unearned run on one hit through three innings. He had two walks and seven strikeouts. Jack Noble came in and tossed a scoreless fourth inning. Zack Weiss continued his rehab with two scoreless innings. He had one walk. Paulshawn Pasqualotto gave up just one hit over three scoreless innings. He had six strikeouts and no walks. 

Daniel Pena went 2-for-4 including his second home run. Ryan McCarthy went 2-for-4 with his fifth double. Carlos Aguiar also hit his 11th double. Walker Jenkins went 1-for-2 with two walks. . 

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
Game 1: FCL Twins 4, FCL Red Sox 3 (completion of game from July 5)
Box Score
After one inning on Friday, the teams got rained on and played the rest on Saturday. Miguel Cordero threw a perfect inning on Friday. When the game resumed, Ezequiel Ventura came on. He worked the next four innings and gave up three runs on eight hits and a walk. Matt Helwig came on and gave up just one hit over two scoreless innings. 

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the team was down 3-2. Cole Elvis singled to drive in Yilber Herrera and tie the game. 

Then in the bottom of the ninth, Bryan Acuna singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jayson Bass walked. With two outs, Acuna scored on a passed ball. 

Javier Roman went 2-for-4. Anderson Nova was 2-for-3. Bass and Roman each hit their fifth double. 

Game 2: FCL Twins 1, FCL Red Sox 6 (completion of game from July 5)
Box Score
Through five innings, the game was tied 5-5. The Twins scored two runs in the top of the sixth inning. Then they added four more runs in the top of the seventh. The Red Sox scored two in the bottom of the seventh but it wasn’t enough. 

The big organizational news in this game is that Emmanuel Rodriguez began a rehab assignment. He played seven innings and went 2-for-4 with a walk and two doubles. 

The star of the show in this game was Yasser Mercedes. He was also 2-for-4 with a walk, but his two hits were both home runs, and he drove in five runs. 

Omari Daniel went 1-for-2 with two walks and his second double. 

On the mound, the Twins went with a couple of their more veteran FCL arms.Liam Rocha signed a year ago as a non-drafted free agent from California Baptist.  In 4 1/3 innings, he gave up five runs (3 earned) on five hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings. He had four strikeouts. Next up was knuckleballer Devin Kirby. The 24-year-old gave up two runs on four hits over 2 2/3 innings. He had three strikeouts. He also signed as a non-drafted free agent last year out of the University of Connecticut. 

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Twins 6, DSL Diamondbacks-Black 3
Box Score
The Twins held a 3-1 lead going to the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Diamondbacks scored two to tie it up and send it to extra innings. In the top of the ninth, the Twins scored three runs and held on for the win.

The Twins got on the board in the top of the sixth inning when Ricardo Paez doubled to drive in Alver Medina and Eduardo Beltre. The Twins added a run in the top of the seventh inning on a Victor Leal solo homer, his first of the season.  

In the ninth, Paez was the runner at second base. Luis Fragoza led off with a walk. Victor Leal singled, but Paez was thrown out at home. An intentional walk to Luis Rodriguez loaded the bases. Ruben Velazquez singled in two runs to give the Twins the 5-3 lead. Alver Medina followed with a double to drive in the sixth run. 

Cristian Hernandez started and gave up one run on four hits over four innings. He walked two and struck out eight batters. Jose Vazquez came in and tossed two scoreless innings. Impressive since he gave up two hits and walked three batters. However, he also struck out five batters. 

Fabian Herrera gave up two runs on a hit and four walks (two intentional) in 1 1/3 innings. Before this outing, he had appeared in seven games and thrown 9 2/3 scoreless innings. Sebastian Pulido came in with the bases loaded and stranded all three runners. He faced five batters and got all five out, two on strikeouts.  

Alver Medina went 3-for-5 with his second double. Victor Leal went 2-for-4 his first homer. Ricardo Paez had two hits, including his second double. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Paulshawn Pasqualotto (Fort Myers) - 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K; 35 pitches, 24 strikes (68.6%)
Hitter of the Day – Yasser Mercedes (FCL Twins) - 2-for-4, BB, 2-HR(6), 2 R, 5 RBI, K. 

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday.
#1– Walker Jenkins (Fort Myers) – 1-for-2, 2 BB, R, RBI, K.
#2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 1-for-4, HR(1), R, 2 RBI, K
#3 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) – IL (Rehab FCL: 2-for-4, BB, 2-2B, R, 2 RBI.
#5 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-5, RBI.
#9 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) – 1-for-3, BB, HBP, R
#13 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-for-4  
#15 – Cory Lewis (Wichita) – 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 61 pitches, 30 strikes (48.9%)#18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) – 0-for-4, BB, 3 K
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 2-for-3, 2 BB, 2B(14), 2 R, RBI

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Iowa (2:07 PM CST) – RHP Randy Dobnak (6-5, 4.05 ERA)

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Saturday’s games!

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[Doctor Wu]

Paulshawn Pasqualotto gave up just one hit over three scoreless innings. He had six strikeouts and no walks.

Seems like yet another pitcher in the Zebby mold, limiting those walks. I love it!

[Dman]

Yasser Mercedes numbers in the FCL looking pretty similar to what he put up in the DSL in 2022.  Good walk rate decent K rate and the slugging looks really nice.  I have to believe a promotion to A ball where they could use good hitters is coming after the draft if not before.

Doncon with his 3 for 4 day brought his OPS up to ..818 which is just ahead of Gonzalez for the moment.  If he keeps getting those extra base hits to improve his slugging he could find himself in AA next year.

Jefferson Morales is one of the very few players having a really good year at the plate in AA.  He is 4th in the Texas league for OPS with McCusker  in the top 10.  They really miss Rodriguez so I hope he gets back there soon.

Nice to see Lewis coming around and pitching well.  The Surge have great starting pitching but the relievers have lost ton's of games for them this year.

Lot's of guys looking really good and nice to see most of the 20 and under players coming on strong right now.

[LambchoP]

Nice to see E Rodriguez back in action. If he keeps hitting like he did before the injury I could see a late season promotion to St Paul.

[FlyingFinn]

Doncon and Olivar in the 1 and 2 spots in the lineup last night - 5 for 7 with 3 walks. Gonzalez had an off night, going 1 for 5 with only 1 RBI batting 3rd behind them.

[Danchat]

I was at the Saints game, unfortunately it was a clunker as the hitters stunk it up. I was wondering why Wallner wasn't in the lineup, and it wasn't until I saw the Transactions thread when I realized he was called up. 

Outside of the hitters unable to hit (Julien especially looked lost at the plate), there were two brutal errors - Chris Williams dropped a foul ball in LF to give Gwinnett a run, and Severino had one of the most embarrassing errors I've seen in a while at 1B, where he watched a slow roller bounce off the bag and get past him when he easily just could have gotten in front of it.

Got to see Eddie Rosario play for Gwinnett. And I'm also surprised the teams only get 2 challenges using the automatic strike zone. Gwinnett used up both of their challenges by the third inning and didn't get to use any more.

[D.C Twins]

Jenkins getting comfortable.... get ready for him to go on a big heater!

[bean5302]

It's great to see Lee, Jenkins, Rodriguez and Gonzalez all back in the lineup at the same time. I don't think that's happened this year before now.

He doesn't really have any time to get back on his roll before the All Star Break, but I expect Rodriguez will be in St. Paul after the trade deadline if he keeps hitting. Gonzalez will likely be in AA when Rodriguez gets his promotion which paves the easy way for Jenkins to move into Cedar Rapids.

Payton Eeles, a24, starting off hot at AAA is fun to watch. He's now basically caught up to his peers who were drafted out of college ball. Eddie Julien must be stressed out about his situation as Eeles has already gotten a start at 2B with the Saints.

I feel a Julien trade is likely in the cards.

[Fatbat]

Great to see some top prospects tearing it up!!!  Would be nice to see Jenkins get an August promotion to Iowa! Keaschall looks like he is getting bored in wichita….

[Major League Ready]

5 hours ago, Dman said:

Yasser Mercedes numbers in the FCL looking pretty similar to what he put up in the DSL in 2022.  Good walk rate decent K rate and the slugging looks really nice.  I have to believe a promotion to A ball where they could use good hitters is coming after the draft if not before.

Doncon with his 3 for 4 day brought his OPS up to ..818 which is just ahead of Gonzalez for the moment.  If he keeps getting those extra base hits to improve his slugging he could find himself in AA next year.

Jefferson Morales is one of the very few players having a really good year at the plate in AA.  He is 4th in the Texas league for OPS with McCusker  in the top 10.  They really miss Rodriguez so I hope he gets back there soon.

Nice to see Lewis coming around and pitching well.  The Surge have great starting pitching but the relievers have lost ton's of games for them this year.

Lot's of guys looking really good and nice to see most of the 20 and under players coming on strong right now.

Doncon has been the hotter of the two of late.  Doncon has an OPS of .994 since 6/9.  Gonzalez is .835.  Gonzalez was out so he only has 60 ABs vs 108 for Doncon over that period.  I am liking the exchange for Miller at the moment.

[Blyleven2011]

Balazovic , once a top prospect  , what went wrong  between the ears is sad ...

Play in the KBO and might get another opportunity  in the bigs ...

 

 

[Fatbat]

38 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

I feel a Julien trade is likely in the cards.

I’d bet Julien will spend time in AAA learning 1B and make a huge impact on the ‘25 Twins. 

[FlyingFinn]

43 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

Would be nice to see Jenkins get an August promotion to Iowa!

He's playing almost all DH right now. To me, that says he isn't 100% and won't be promoted unless he gets there. The negative in low A is that the pitchers are scared of him. He has a ton of walks.

[Fatbat]

5 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

He's playing almost all DH right now. To me, that says he isn't 100% and won't be promoted unless he gets there. The negative in low A is that the pitchers are scared of him. He has a ton of walks.

Its not like he needs to relearn how to play CF.  He does need to be challenged at the plate tho.  I see no reason to leave him where young pitchers just work around him. 

[DocBauer]

Quick shout out to LHP Christian MacLeod from CR. The Twins drafted him in the 5th round in 2021. Unless you want to count the 1.2 IP he had right after being drafted as something worth considering, he didn't debut until last year, 2023, following a year off from surgery that I believe was TJ related. 

He put up solid, but certainly not great numbers last year, but is off to a much better overall season this year for the Kernals. Despite the missed season...putting him a little behind some other arms...he's still only a little over 24yo. His BB are a 5.6 per 9 so far, which is not acceptable. But fewer hits than IP and 9.7 K's per 9 are solid. If he can lower his BB I could potentially see him finishing the season at AA post draft. 

Boy, what might Wichita's record be if they had any kind of bullpen depth?

Yasser Mercedes  is absolute raking and needs to bump up to A+. Post draft maybe?

Very happy to see Em Rodriguez back on the field. If he can stay healthy the rest of the year, I still expect a little AAA time this season, if for no reason than to get him adjusted and challenged as early as possible to get ready for 2025. Probably not immediately, but at some point, he's going to be up next year with the Twins.

I have faith in Julien as a hitter. He's been up and down on daily performance since his demotion. It's just MY opinion, but I think he's struggling in his head between being aggressive, while working the count, and making a mental adjustment as to the ML strike zone, the MILB strike zone he's seeing from lesser umps, as well as the robo ump. His game is so predicated on working the count for a pitch to drive or take a BB. I believe he's searching for the right balance of aggressiveness vs patience and will still be an important part of the lineup once he gets right again. But I see him more at 1B, covering 2B, and making some appearances at DH as well. While I think he's developed in to a solid 2B, I think that's going to end up being Lee's spot when Lewis is back. 

One step at a time, but that group, plus Miranda, and Castro for at LEAST one more year...I'd be looking at a fair extension...the INF looks GREAT for the next few years!

[Seth Stohs]

7 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

Paulshawn Pasqualotto gave up just one hit over three scoreless innings. He had six strikeouts and no walks.

Seems like yet another pitcher in the Zebby mold, limiting those walks. I love it!

Fair point... That's definitely something that they are looking for with the draft. Upside early and then guys that throw strikes and have something. Maybe it's 1 really good pitch, or it's really good command or spin or something... and then just let the pitching development department take over. See if they can get them to add 4-6 mph to the velocity, tighten up the breaking pitches... But all the while throwing strikes. 

You see it up and down the system (Festa, Zebby, Morris, Ohl, Lewis, Jones, Langenberg, Hall... I could go on). 

People used to always hate the "Pitch to Contact" phrase... but there is nothing wrong with the phrase in itself. All it is saying is to throw strikes. Of course, having pitchers with better stuff, better pitches makes throwing strikes good because you can still get swings and misses. Johan Santana pitched to contact too. He hardly walked anyone. He just had such great stuff that it still couldn't be hit. 

[Seth Stohs]

7 hours ago, Dman said:

Yasser Mercedes numbers in the FCL looking pretty similar to what he put up in the DSL in 2022.  Good walk rate decent K rate and the slugging looks really nice.  I have to believe a promotion to A ball where they could use good hitters is coming after the draft if not before.

Doncon with his 3 for 4 day brought his OPS up to ..818 which is just ahead of Gonzalez for the moment.  If he keeps getting those extra base hits to improve his slugging he could find himself in AA next year.

Jefferson Morales is one of the very few players having a really good year at the plate in AA.  He is 4th in the Texas league for OPS with McCusker  in the top 10.  They really miss Rodriguez so I hope he gets back there soon.

Nice to see Lewis coming around and pitching well.  The Surge have great starting pitching but the relievers have lost ton's of games for them this year.

Lot's of guys looking really good and nice to see most of the 20 and under players coming on strong right now.

Just shows again the value of being healthy for a hitter. Mercedes struggled last year and was hurt in his jump to the States. This is the player that we got all excited about, a guy who can fill up a stat line really well. I could see him potentially bumping up to Fort Myers after the draft. 

Doncon is similar. Tremendous tools, but had a disappointing season last year. That's how the Twins got him and Margot for Noah Miller. He sure is impressive physically and very young for the level. 

Morales is a guy who re-signed with the Twins as a free agent. He's been around for a long time. He's been OK, at times. but never this great. He's not really catching anymore. 

[Seth Stohs]

2 hours ago, D.C Twins said:

Jenkins getting comfortable.... get ready for him to go on a big heater!

Yeah, I really think that the fact that he is walking so much if very encouraging. Even after missing nearly too months, he's remaining patient. And, he's got a very good idea of the strike zone. The talent will take over in terms of average and power and all that, but starting with a foundation of taking quality plate appearances is exciting. 

[Seth Stohs]

1 hour ago, Fatbat said:

I’d bet Julien will spend time in AAA learning 1B and make a huge impact on the ‘25 Twins. 

That wouldn't surprise me, though I don't know that he'll play a ton of 1B at St. Paul... Much easier to move to 1B than somewhere else. 

[bean5302]

13 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Balazovic , once a top prospect  , what went wrong  between the ears is sad ...

Play in the KBO and might get another opportunity  in the bigs ...

 

 

Balazovic's pitches had little spin or movement. Just didn't have the stuff to be successful at AAA/MLB.

[Doctor Wu]

17 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Balazovic , once a top prospect  , what went wrong  between the ears is sad ...

Play in the KBO and might get another opportunity  in the bigs ...

 

 

Hard to really say what happened with him, but it's definitely a shame. Such a promising prospect. But as you noted, maybe a good season in Korea will put him back on the MLB radar. 

[HrbieFan]

21 hours ago, bean5302 said:

It's great to see Lee, Jenkins, Rodriguez and Gonzalez all back in the lineup at the same time. I don't think that's happened this year before now.

He doesn't really have any time to get back on his roll before the All Star Break, but I expect Rodriguez will be in St. Paul after the trade deadline if he keeps hitting. Gonzalez will likely be in AA when Rodriguez gets his promotion which paves the easy way for Jenkins to move into Cedar Rapids.

Payton Eeles, a24, starting off hot at AAA is fun to watch. He's now basically caught up to his peers who were drafted out of college ball. Eddie Julien must be stressed out about his situation as Eeles has already gotten a start at 2B with the Saints.

I feel a Julien trade is likely in the cards.

Julien's future is at 1B if he stays in the organization.  Just wonder if we would be selling low at thus point 

[OptimisticTwinsFan]

On 7/8/2024 at 9:02 AM, HrbieFan said:

Julien's future is at 1B if he stays in the organization.  Just wonder if we would be selling low at thus point 

I don't really understand how Julien is the odd man out. There isn't another hitter on the MLB team or in the minors that has a similar skillset to him. 

I would trade, move, or reduce the role of Kepler, Santana, Larnach, Kirilloff, Wallner, and potentially even Miranda over Julien. There are lots of 3 true outcome profiles and the Twins have a lot of mediocre OBP, decent power, and good hit tool prospects. 

I can't think of many profiles as a hitter that pair better with Lee, Lewis, and Correa at the top of the order. He will be less valuable as a 1B but I think this is where you step away from the spreadsheet and look at the team, the current skillsets, his hit tool, and from the standpoint of lets do anything we can do to get this guys bat and on base skills in the lineup

[RpR]

4 hours ago, OptimisticTwinsFan said:

I don't really understand how Julien is the odd man out. There isn't another hitter on the MLB team or in the minors that has a similar skillset to him. 

 

Julien is fielding at .923 clip with 9 errors since he has been sent down.

Batting .223 with a 31 percent K rate.

[OptimisticTwinsFan]

10 hours ago, RpR said:

Julien is fielding at .923 clip with 9 errors since he has been sent down.

Batting .223 with a 31 percent K rate.

I think something that's important to do in sports, but baseball especially is to be able to zoom out. I think in sports discourse also in baseball we tend to project forward what has happened recently. In a sport where the difference between the best players in the MLB and non-MLB caliber players is 1 hit per 10 ABs or getting on base 1 more time per 10 ABs I think players go through good and bad stretches. 

I think Julien has been an extremely strong hitter for the majority of his entire career, at every level, including being arguably the Twins best hitter for an 110 game stretch as a rookie last year. If your bet is that Julien having a down year over this last half of the season is likely to be the player that he is for the rest of his career instead of the player he has been for 95% of his career than that is a fine position to take. I think that's where we disagree.

[RpR]

5 hours ago, OptimisticTwinsFan said:

I think something that's important to do in sports, but baseball especially is to be able to zoom out. I think in sports discourse also in baseball we tend to project forward what has happened recently. In a sport where the difference between the best players in the MLB and non-MLB caliber players is 1 hit per 10 ABs or getting on base 1 more time per 10 ABs I think players go through good and bad stretches. 

I think Julien has been an extremely strong hitter for the majority of his entire career, at every level, including being arguably the Twins best hitter for an 110 game stretch as a rookie last year. If your bet is that Julien having a down year over this last half of the season is likely to be the player that he is for the rest of his career instead of the player he has been for 95% of his career than that is a fine position to take. I think that's where we disagree.

He is failing in AAA.

A huge number, the vast majority, of players come to the Bigs, have great start, and then show they are a shadow of the player they were in the Minors against Major ptiching.

That, plus his below average fielding, is where he is at.

[DJL44]

17 hours ago, RpR said:

Julien is fielding at .923 clip with 9 errors since he has been sent down.

Batting .223 with a 31 percent K rate.

And an OBP of .387

[Danchat]

17 hours ago, RpR said:

Julien is fielding at .923 clip with 9 errors since he has been sent down.

Batting .223 with a 31 percent K rate.

As one who was attending the game in question, I can confirm Julien looked lost at the plate. Several swings and misses. I believe it was against Ken Giles he had an AB where he got mowed down in 3 pitches and did not look like a professional AB.

Gotta hope this is like a Jose Miranda 2023 off year, but I don't know if he is hurt like Miranda was. The OBP is always going to be high, but he has to get the strikeout rate down.

[OptimisticTwinsFan]

16 hours ago, RpR said:

He is failing in AAA.

A huge number, the vast majority, of players come to the Bigs, have great start, and then show they are a shadow of the player they were in the Minors against Major ptiching.

That, plus his below average fielding, is where he is at.

He has over a .400 OBP and an .807 OPS at AAA...

[RpR]

3 hours ago, OptimisticTwinsFan said:

He has over a .400 OBP and an .807 OPS at AAA...

Joey Gallo had a good OPS last season for the Twins.

Three games ago he was 3 for 4, 3 Ks and a walk, he is failing.