Edouard Julien’s Development Dilemma: Chasing Improvement Or a Mirage?

[Cody Christie]

Edouard Julien entered last season with high expectations but was one of the team’s biggest disappointments. Did one focus area mess up his entire approach?

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

For Edouard Julien, the path to becoming a more complete hitter has taken some unexpected turns. After an impressive rookie campaign in 2023, the Twins' infielder recognized a prominent area for improvement: his struggles against left-handed pitching. But when a player invests time and energy into an area that the organization may not even allow him to utilize, is that effort truly productive, or is it ultimately a misallocation of resources?

Julien’s situation presents an interesting philosophical dilemma that many young hitters face. He wants to be an everyday player, and that means proving he can hit lefties. Players who are platoon-proof make more money and have longer careers. But the Twins' plans for him don't necessarily align with his personal aspirations. Minnesota’s front office is committed to maximizing team production. They could see him as a strict platoon bat, limiting his chances against southpaws despite any offseason progress. If the team isn’t going to let him prove himself in those situations, does his focus on left-handed pitching go to waste?

Last offseason, Julien dedicated himself to improving against lefties, but the results weren’t what he’d hoped for. His bread and butter had been his numbers against right-handed pitching, but they took a hit. In 268 plate appearances, he posted a .620 OPS with a 32.8 K%. That was a 278-point drop in his OPS compared to his rookie season. His adjustments disrupted his natural approach, leading to a regression in areas where he was already elite. Instead of becoming a more well-rounded hitter, he became an unbalanced one.

“Two offseasons ago, after my first year in the big leagues, I was really focused on getting better against lefties, but obviously here, lefties don't get a chance to face lefties, so I kind of messed my swing up,” Julien said. “I was more rotated just to be able to hit lefties, and I didn't get a chance to hit them. So I was better against lefties last year. I was worse against righties, where I only faced righties, so it wasn't a good combo.”

Recognizing this, Julien and the Twins took a different approach heading into 2024. Rather than forcing a direct fix against lefties, he zeroed in on handling right-handed breaking balls more effectively. Sharpening his skills against breaking stuff should improve his ability to adjust against lefties, who often attack him with similar pitches. Suppose he can improve his plate coverage and maintain his elite ability to control the zone. In that case, he’ll naturally give himself a better chance to be more than just a platoon piece without actively derailing what already makes him unique.

Reflecting on the offseason, Julien said, “I just focused on the righty angle, left or righty curveball, righty slider, so I feel good, and I'm sure it's going to help me against lefties too. So I'm positive about it.”

Communication between the player and the organization is critical in areas like this. Teams have to be honest with players about their projected role, but they also need to guide development in a way that benefits both the individual and the club. Over the last two seasons, he has averaged around 40 plate appearances per year against lefties. If the Twins never planned on giving Julien significant at-bats against lefties, was it fair to let him believe that improving in that area would change his playing time? Instead, the focus should be on refining the aspects of his game that will earn him more plate appearances and maximize his value within the team’s framework.

Julien’s offseason adjustments reflect a more efficient development path. By prioritizing his ability to handle breaking pitches (especially against righties), he’s working on something that the Twins will ask him to do on a nightly basis. At the same time, the residual benefits may still allow him to perform better when he does get those limited opportunities against lefties.

For young players like Julien, the dream is to be a star, a lineup fixture against all types of pitching. But baseball is a game of roles, and part of reaching your full potential is understanding what the team needs from you, not just what you want for yourself. If the two can align, that’s when a player truly flourishes.

Did Julien have the wrong approach last season? How can he improve in 2025? Leave a comment and start the discussion. 

 

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[Mark G]

I say give him an 8 year extension and trade everybody else who plays 2nd base.😉

Okay, seriously, maybe it is just me, but I am thinking Julien has a good chance to be a good major league player, but maybe not in this organization.  We have enough infielders to be able to give him a chance where he will be more comfortable; give it to him while he still has value.  Not to say I want to give up on him, but we just don't seem to be the right place at the right time for him. 

If we do keep him, give him a chance to earn the job; he just might prove me wrong.  

[Doctor Gast]

I think at this point, you are asking the wrong question. The questions should be, can he adapt to the league adapting to him? & if he can, can hit with enough power to profile at his position at 1B? Those questions need to be resolved at AAA. When he answer those questions then he needs to show that if he can hit LHPs, so to not be platooned.

[chpettit19]

Fixing his inability to hit breaking balls is absolutely the right step for him to take at this point. But it makes my skin crawl to read an article suggesting a left handed hitter in the Twins organization is simply wasting his time by even trying to learn to hit lefties better. The Twins have a couple lefties on the national radar headed to Minneapolis in a hurry. Is it also a waste for them to try to show the team they can hit lefties? They have a lefty with back to back seasons of an OPS over .875. Is it also a waste for him to try to show the team he can hit lefties?

The statements and ideas in this article are the big worry for a number of us. You have 3 potential stars on cheap deals either here or soon to be here. Are you just automatically going to turn them all into platoon players? If so, trade them. Just get an all right handed lineup and get it over with. And give them a chance to go to a team that will let them reach their full potential.

"But baseball is a game of roles, and part of reaching your full potential is understanding what the team needs from you, not just what you want for yourself." I couldn't disagree more with this statement. If my full potential is being an everyday player who just so happens to hit from the left side but can still mash lefties if given the chance then the team platooning me is them actively holding me back from my full potential. And I'd want out. Immediately.

[gman]

Must be smash on Julian day

[arby58]

I think some of this is a testament to what can happen when a player largely skips over one of the minor league steps - and also a cautionary tale for those who believe you should just 'play the young guys' and stop hiring based at least somewhat on experience.

Julien was 1.3 years younger than the average player at AA, and the Twins game him a full season there, with 508 plate attempts. However, he had an excellent spring the following year, and while the Twins started him at AAA, where he was 2.3 years younger than the average player, he only had 170 plate appearances before being called up to the majors. He had an excellent year, and I guess that proves he didn't need that AAA stop, right? 

Maybe not. For all the issues of changing his swing, that is stuff that might have occurred at AAA - for sure, he would have had the chance to bat against more left-handed pitching. And, sure enough, he did end up getting pretty much a full year (over two years) at AAA last year. 

Maybe sometimes patience is a good thing and not just 'the Twins being the Twins' with young players.

[TheLeviathan]

Sounds great!

I hope he put in a ton of glovework also.  Even if he masters hitting breaking stuff from righties, he can't play himself off the field with his glove and have it matter.

[Nashvilletwin]

49 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Fixing his inability to hit breaking balls is absolutely the right step for him to take at this point. But it makes my skin crawl to read an article suggesting a left handed hitter in the Twins organization is simply wasting his time by even trying to learn to hit lefties better. The Twins have a couple lefties on the national radar headed to Minneapolis in a hurry. Is it also a waste for them to try to show the team they can hit lefties? They have a lefty with back to back seasons of an OPS over .875. Is it also a waste for him to try to show the team he can hit lefties?

The statements and ideas in this article are the big worry for a number of us. You have 3 potential stars on cheap deals either here or soon to be here. Are you just automatically going to turn them all into platoon players? If so, trade them. Just get an all right handed lineup and get it over with. And give them a chance to go to a team that will let them reach their full potential.

"But baseball is a game of roles, and part of reaching your full potential is understanding what the team needs from you, not just what you want for yourself." I couldn't disagree more with this statement. If my full potential is being an everyday player who just so happens to hit from the left side but can still mash lefties if given the chance then the team platooning me is them actively holding me back from my full potential. And I'd want out. Immediately.

100% agree. Perfectly stated.

The battle among the agents for our theoretical here already/rapidly approaching “young core” position players (and not just the lefties) to have their client moved in a trade must be epic. 

[mnfireman]

14 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Fixing his inability to hit breaking balls is absolutely the right step for him to take at this point. But it makes my skin crawl to read an article suggesting a left handed hitter in the Twins organization is simply wasting his time by even trying to learn to hit lefties better. The Twins have a couple lefties on the national radar headed to Minneapolis in a hurry. Is it also a waste for them to try to show the team they can hit lefties? They have a lefty with back to back seasons of an OPS over .875. Is it also a waste for him to try to show the team he can hit lefties?

The statements and ideas in this article are the big worry for a number of us. You have 3 potential stars on cheap deals either here or soon to be here. Are you just automatically going to turn them all into platoon players? If so, trade them. Just get an all right handed lineup and get it over with. And give them a chance to go to a team that will let them reach their full potential.

"But baseball is a game of roles, and part of reaching your full potential is understanding what the team needs from you, not just what you want for yourself." I couldn't disagree more with this statement. If my full potential is being an everyday player who just so happens to hit from the left side but can still mash lefties if given the chance then the team platooning me is them actively holding me back from my full potential. And I'd want out. Immediately.

This!! The Twins faced a LHP starter in 46 games last year and at least one LHP in 128 games - LH batters had 194 PAs against those LHP (TB, Rocco's bar-setting former team, was next lowest at 222 PAs by LHB against LHP). 

6 Twins LHB had PAs against LHP:

Kepler - 82 PA; .273/.305/.416 (.721 OPS) 2 HR, 10 RBI, 19/2 K/BB, 2 HBP

Wallner - 44 PA; .184/.295/.316 (.611 OPS) 1 HR, 3 RBI, 21/5 K/BB, 1 HBP

Julien - 33 PA; .172/.273/.310 (.583) 1 HR, 1 RBI, 14/3 K/BB, 1 HBP

Larnach - 23 PA; .227/.261/.318 (.579 OPS) 0 HR, 1 RBI, 7/0 K/BB, 1 HBP

Kirilloff - 8 PA; .167/.250/.167 (.417 OPS) 0 HR, 1 RBI, 0/0 K/BB, 1 HBP

Keirsey - 4 PA; .000/.000/.000 (.000 OPS) 0 HR, 0 RBI 0/0 K/BB, 0 HBP

 

 

[Linus]

I hope Julien succeeds.  I think we need a reset on expectations.  In 2023 his babip was 373.  Thats a huge dose of batted ball luck - there was bound to be regression.  Plus the league had never seen him and his unusual approach; adjustments were made.  I don’t think he is as bad as last year so we will find out where he lands.  His defense will be a factor as the bar for hitting is going to be a little higher when you are mediocre at best with the glove.  This is a story that has played out thousands of times - some guys make it, probably more do not.  
I hope Julien succeeds.

[chpettit19]

19 minutes ago, arby58 said:

I think some of this is a testament to what can happen when a player largely skips over one of the minor league steps - and also a cautionary tale for those who believe you should just 'play the young guys' and stop hiring based at least somewhat on experience.

Julien was 1.3 years younger than the average player at AA, and the Twins game him a full season there, with 508 plate attempts. However, he had an excellent spring the following year, and while the Twins started him at AAA, where he was 2.3 years younger than the average player, he only had 170 plate appearances before being called up to the majors. He had an excellent year, and I guess that proves he didn't need that AAA stop, right? 

Maybe not. For all the issues of changing his swing, that is stuff that might have occurred at AAA - for sure, he would have had the chance to bat against more left-handed pitching. And, sure enough, he did end up getting pretty much a full year (over two years) at AAA last year. 

Maybe sometimes patience is a good thing and not just 'the Twins being the Twins' with young players.

Most, if not all, of us who advocate for playing the young guys 100% acknowledge that the young guys will have their bumps in the road. It's actually part of why we want them to get plenty of playing time. So you can make a determination between bump in the road and not good enough. What we disagree with is that playing more in AAA or AA or wherever in the minors is going to take those bumps in the road away. There are very, very few hitters who come up, are great, and stay great with no bumps. Like a really, really small number of hitters.

The Twins give all their minor league lefties the chance to face lefties in the minors. They still don't let them do it in the majors. Matt Wallner had an OPS over .900 against lefties in AA and AAA. Over .900. Still gets platooned. Doesn't get a chance to show he can hit lefties in the majors because it isn't about time in AAA it's about their strict philosophy of trying to "win" every platoon matchup.

Julien feeling he needed to dedicate his entire offseason to trying to prove he can hit lefties just to get a shot at hitting them in the majors is a failure on the Twins' part at the major league level, not in the amount of time spent in the minors. You can't adjust to major league pitching in AAA. There will always be an adjustment needed. Always. And it can't be made until you get to the majors and see what that adjustment is. Could've given Julien 5 more years in AAA and he'd still need to make the adjustment to the adjustment in the majors.

[Eris]

What does it say about a player when trying to improve against left handed pitching, his swing is messed up for an entire year. Roster spots are at a premium, how many players can a team carry that need to platooned. 
 

Maybe the learning here is that high K% hitters are inherently limited. (Or are more prone to longer periods of under performance. Even Aaron Judge was effectively neutralized for much of the 2024 playoffs). 

[tony&rodney]

47 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Fixing his inability to hit breaking balls is absolutely the right step for him to take at this point. But it makes my skin crawl to read an article suggesting a left handed hitter in the Twins organization is simply wasting his time by even trying to learn to hit lefties better. The Twins have a couple lefties on the national radar headed to Minneapolis in a hurry. Is it also a waste for them to try to show the team they can hit lefties? They have a lefty with back to back seasons of an OPS over .875. Is it also a waste for him to try to show the team he can hit lefties?

The statements and ideas in this article are the big worry for a number of us. You have 3 potential stars on cheap deals either here or soon to be here. Are you just automatically going to turn them all into platoon players? If so, trade them. Just get an all right handed lineup and get it over with. And give them a chance to go to a team that will let them reach their full potential.

"But baseball is a game of roles, and part of reaching your full potential is understanding what the team needs from you, not just what you want for yourself." I couldn't disagree more with this statement. If my full potential is being an everyday player who just so happens to hit from the left side but can still mash lefties if given the chance then the team platooning me is them actively holding me back from my full potential. And I'd want out. Immediately.

This is mol what I wonder about the plan from the Twins. Consider that there is likely to be quite a haul available if the Twins just decide right now to trade Jenkins, Rodriguez, and Julien. The Twins could fill some needs and free up their left-handed bats from a philosophy engineered to thwart their development. Or is it possible the Twins will shift on a dime suddenly? 

I do believe Julien can adapt if he manages the bat path consistently and is stronger on decisions regarding pitches to put in play. If Julien can get his own confidence back and really hone in on defeating the prior weaknesses, he becomes a key player for the Twins. 

[chpettit19]

5 minutes ago, Eris said:

What does it say about a player when trying to improve against left handed pitching, his swing is messed up for an entire year. Roster spots are at a premium, how many players can a team carry that need to platooned. 
 

Maybe the learning here is that high K% hitters are inherently limited. (Or are more prone to longer periods of under performance. Even Aaron Judge was effectively neutralized for much of the 2024 playoffs). 

3. A team can carry 3 players that need to be platooned. You need 6 roster spots to cover those 3 lineup spots. 2 catchers for another lineup spot. And 5 other guys to cover the other 5 lineup spots. That's 13 position players.

[chpettit19]

8 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

This is mol what I wonder about the plan from the Twins. Consider that there is likely to be quite a haul available if the Twins just decide right now to trade Jenkins, Rodriguez, and Julien. The Twins could fill some needs and free up their left-handed bats from a philosophy engineered to thwart their development. Or is it possible the Twins will shift on a dime suddenly? 

I do believe Julien can adapt if he manages the bat path consistently and is stronger on decisions regarding pitches to put in play. If Julien can get his own confidence back and really hone in on defeating the prior weaknesses, he becomes a key player for the Twins. 

It's the driving factor in me wanting to see new leadership by next season. It's entirely possible they shift on a dime and Emma comes up as an everyday player or Wallner is suddenly an everyday player even with only 2 or 3 lefties on the roster. But I certainly don't see any reason to believe that'll be the case. The platoon thing seems to be a core value with this regime. 

I'm no scout, but his swing looks better to me this spring so far, so I'm far more hopeful now than I was during the offseason that he can bounce back. I don't know that I see his 2023 season as a realistic mark (as @Linus pointed out a .373 babip is awful high), but I have more belief now that he can be much better than last year. Still see some bumps coming, but fewer than I did coming off last season.

[tony&rodney]

The next person who states that Julien is strong defensively will be the first to do so. Julien has an awkward approach in the field. His fielding, transitions, and throws are too often an adventure. That said, he usually gets the job done. What needs to be fairly stated is that the other options are not any better. I'm going to suggest Julien has better (or equal) range than the others taking ground balls at second. . People are stretching the truth when they put any of the other guys above Julien by more than an unimportant notch. At that point it does come down to who hits. Hopefully the Twins can soon find someone who plays a strong second base and hits as well. I was hopeful that Payton Eeles could at least get a brief trial look but the Twins must have judged his AA/AAA work a mirage. Maybe someone will emerge in a couple of years. Maybe Julien returns to hitting like it is 2023 and April of 2024.

[Eephus]

Seems like people aren't really acknowledging how abysmal Julien was last year. Julien's numbers last year (.616 OPS) -- how did he get 300 plate appearances?  - make Joey Gallo's 2023 (.741) look acceptable....and Gallo could play defense. I couldn't stand Gallo. Julien's could snap out of it or totally crash and burn. It's like he has the yips.

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, Eris said:

What does it say about a player when trying to improve against left handed pitching, his swing is messed up for an entire year.

To me this says... Why is he working on his swing against left handed pitching if the organization has no intention of letting him hit left handed pitching? 

Did Julien do this on his own? Behind the bushes when nobody was watching in a desperate attempt to show them all what he can do?  Did the organization recommend this under the watchful eye of professional coaches and if so... how did they throw that large amount of baby out such little bathwater? 

I just don't buy the excuse. But... if true... get back on the horse Mr. Julien while hopefully the Twins get off their high horse.  

[bespenson]

Am I missing something? This guy struck out one-third of his visits to the plate, most of them just standing there watching the  ball fly by. I haven't read every word here, but don't see any concern about that. Easy to fix. Can't hit lefties or righties if you don't swing. Swing. Anyway, maybe I'm thinking about the wrong guy.

[Riverbrian]

16 minutes ago, bespenson said:

Am I missing something? This guy struck out one-third of his visits to the plate, most of them just standing there watching the  ball fly by. I haven't read every word here, but don't see any concern about that. Easy to fix. Can't hit lefties or righties if you don't swing. Swing. Anyway, maybe I'm thinking about the wrong guy.

You got the right guy. 

Yep... He needs to change his 2 strike approach. 

[arby58]

3 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

The Twins give all their minor league lefties the chance to face lefties in the minors. They still don't let them do it in the majors. Matt Wallner had an OPS over .900 against lefties in AA and AAA. Over .900. Still gets platooned. Doesn't get a chance to show he can hit lefties in the majors because it isn't about time in AAA it's about their strict philosophy of trying to "win" every platoon matchup.

This is an exaggeration. The left handed hitters don't face as many left handed pitchers partially because there aren't as many of them. We'll use Wallner as an example, because you cite his minor league prowess against lefties.

In 2023, the Twins faced right-handed pitchers in 4,780 at bats, and lefties in 1,439, which is 23% of the time. Wallner had 208 plate appearances against righthanded pitchers and 46 against left handed pitchers - 18% of his at bats. It was similar in 2024, where the Twins faced right handed pitchers in 4,426 place appearances and 1,697 against lefties, which is 28%. Wallner had 217 plate appearances against right handed pitchers and 44 against lefties - 17%. 

Sure, it's not exactly the same percentage as Twins plate appearances against left handers, but would that really be a great argument? It's pretty well accepted that most players perform better at the plate against opposite handed pitchers. That said, it's not nothing, and those who complain it is only 40-some appearances are overlooking or choosing not to look at the possible plate appearances he could have had, which isn't that many more.

My bet is that if any of the left handed hitters start tearing it up against LHP, they'll see more plate appearances against them. Let's use Max Kepler as an example. In 2022, he actually had a higher OPS against LHP - .677 to .662 versus RHP. Perhaps not suprisingly, he faced lefties in 27% of his plate appearances (quite a bit higher than Wallner has). In 2022, the Twins faced LHP in 28% of their plate appearances. Coincidence? Maybe - or maybe the analytics suggested starting him/keeping him in the lineup against LHP. 

[mnfireman]

Need more than just Julien's development as I just watched the "same ol' Twins"....2 on, nobody out against Chapman.....K, double steal of 3B & 2B, K, 2-out sac fly to CF. This is the time of year to work on getting those runners in...

[chpettit19]

10 minutes ago, arby58 said:

This is an exaggeration. The left handed hitters don't face as many left handed pitchers partially because there aren't as many of them. We'll use Wallner as an example, because you cite his minor league prowess against lefties.

In 2023, the Twins faced right-handed pitchers in 4,780 at bats, and lefties in 1,439, which is 23% of the time. Wallner had 208 plate appearances against righthanded pitchers and 46 against left handed pitchers - 18% of his at bats. It was similar in 2024, where the Twins faced right handed pitchers in 4,426 place appearances and 1,697 against lefties, which is 28%. Wallner had 217 plate appearances against right handed pitchers and 44 against lefties - 17%. 

Sure, it's not exactly the same percentage as Twins plate appearances against left handers, but would that really be a great argument? It's pretty well accepted that most players perform better at the plate against opposite handed pitchers. That said, it's not nothing, and those who complain it is only 40-some appearances are overlooking or choosing not to look at the possible plate appearances he could have had, which isn't that many more.

My bet is that if any of the left handed hitters start tearing it up against LHP, they'll see more plate appearances against them. Let's use Max Kepler as an example. In 2022, he actually had a higher OPS against LHP - .677 to .662 versus RHP. Perhaps not suprisingly, he faced lefties in 27% of his plate appearances (quite a bit higher than Wallner has). In 2022, the Twins faced LHP in 28% of their plate appearances. Coincidence? Maybe - or maybe the analytics suggested starting him/keeping him in the lineup against LHP. 

The 2022 MN Twins opening day roster had Luis Arraez, Max Kepler, Nick Gordon, and Alex Kirilloff on it. That's 4 lefties. You can only platoon 3. Your assumption that Kepler was getting ABs against lefties because he was succeeding is wrong. It's actually a stronger case that once they just let a lefty hit against lefties he got comfortable and succeeded. I wouldn't make that argument necessarily, but 2022 is a stronger argument that way than it is for them giving him PAs because he was succeeding. You have your order of events wrong.

Trevor Larnach was added to the roster on April 13th for their 6th game of the season. Replacing Kirilloff and keeping them at 4 lefties. Then Kirilloff replaced Arraez on May 6th. Still 4. Mark Contreras replaced Larnach May 10th. Still 4. On the 12th they brought Arraez back for Jose Godoy making it 5 lefties on the roster. I'm not going to go through the whole season as I think you get the point here. 2022 wasn't about them giving Kepler a chance because he'd earned it, they had no other choice because you can only platoon 3 spots on an MLB roster and they had at least 4 lefties on the roster nearly the entire season. This year they're going to start with very likely no more than 3 depending on injuries and Julien's spring.

The Twins aren't shy about their belief in platooning and pinch hitting to win platoon matchups. I don't know why you'd argue against that. Rocco is very open about it being a big part of their philosophy. Including in at least 1 interview last month where he says they're not planning to change it as they believe it was a key part to their success in 2023. It's why they have continually employed Margot, Farmer, Garlick, Luplow types. They're never going to have their lefties get 0% of the PAs, but they are very clear with their plan to not have lefties face lefties if they can help it.

[Althebum82]

Recognizing this, Julien and the Twins took a different approach heading into 2024. 

Please consider me confused.  I thought the previous discussion was already a detailed analysis of 2024 and its preceding offseason.   Did you mean for this to say "heading into 2025"?

[arby58]

7 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

The 2022 MN Twins opening day roster had Luis Arraez, Max Kepler, Nick Gordon, and Alex Kirilloff on it. That's 4 lefties. You can only platoon 3. Your assumption that Kepler was getting ABs against lefties because he was succeeding is wrong. It's actually a stronger case that once they just let a lefty hit against lefties he got comfortable and succeeded. I wouldn't make that argument necessarily, but 2022 is a stronger argument that way than it is for them giving him PAs because he was succeeding. You have your order of events wrong.

Trevor Larnach was added to the roster on April 13th for their 6th game of the season. Replacing Kirilloff and keeping them at 4 lefties. Then Kirilloff replaced Arraez on May 6th. Still 4. Mark Contreras replaced Larnach May 10th. Still 4. On the 12th they brought Arraez back for Jose Godoy making it 5 lefties on the roster. I'm not going to go through the whole season as I think you get the point here. 2022 wasn't about them giving Kepler a chance because he'd earned it, they had no other choice because you can only platoon 3 spots on an MLB roster and they had at least 4 lefties on the roster nearly the entire season. This year they're going to start with very likely no more than 3 depending on injuries and Julien's spring.

The Twins aren't shy about their belief in platooning and pinch hitting to win platoon matchups. I don't know why you'd argue against that. Rocco is very open about it being a big part of their philosophy. Including in at least 1 interview last month where he says they're not planning to change it as they believe it was a key part to their success in 2023. It's why they have continually employed Margot, Farmer, Garlick, Luplow types. They're never going to have their lefties get 0% of the PAs, but they are very clear with their plan to not have lefties face lefties if they can help it.

You focus entirely on the Kepler example and ignore Wallner getting about as many percentage at bats against left handed pitchers as the Twins as a team the last two years. Regardless of his performance against LHP in the minor leagues, he hasn't delivered against them in MLB. 2023 the split was .970 OPS versus RHP and .481 LHP. 2024 .953 versus .611. The Twins are trying to win baseball games every day, and having a starting corner outfielder with a .481 OPS isn't going to cut it. 

These guys have opportunities beyond just games - there are pitching machines and batting practice to work on this stuff where your OPS isn't going to hurt the team.

[ashbury]

3 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

You got the right guy. 

Yep... He needs to change his 2 strike approach. 

Nobody* has a "good" two-strike approach.  At least, across the majors, the overall OPS was .509 for plate appearances where a two strike count was reached.  However, Julien went "below and beyond" by OPSing .398 in those situations.  So, yeah, a change seems called for.

Getting into those situation in the first place is also something that could be avoided better.  Across the majors, 53% of PA reached two strikes, and for Julien it was 58%; in 2023 his ratio was only 47%.  Every little bit helps, since not-reaching-two-strikes has an OPS somewhere in the 800s or 900s (I don't see that particular breakdown at b-r.com and am not going to invest effort to compute exactly).  Julien faced 5 or 10 percent more unfavorable situations (depending on how you compute it) than the typical batter in 2024.

 

* Shohei had .683 OPS once two strikes were reached in 2024.   Aaron Judge did achieve .811, but that's also a huge dropoff from his other situations.  I'm not going to search further.

[Rod Carews Birthday]

33 minutes ago, arby58 said:

You focus entirely on the Kepler example and ignore Wallner getting about as many percentage at bats against left handed pitchers as the Twins as a team the last two years. Regardless of his performance against LHP in the minor leagues, he hasn't delivered against them in MLB. 2023 the split was .970 OPS versus RHP and .481 LHP. 2024 .953 versus .611. The Twins are trying to win baseball games every day, and having a starting corner outfielder with a .481 OPS isn't going to cut it. 

.

If indeed his OPS versus LHP improved from .481 to .611 year over year, that would suggest he’s on a good path and could potentially be more than acceptable against lefties in 2025.  

[Rod Carews Birthday]

I find it interesting that people have tremendous amounts of faith in Lewis and Lee fixing their bats going into 2025 as though it’s just a simple fix, while they act like Julien fixing his bad is advanced calculus.  He was very good at the plate for his entire career until last season.  It seems obvious he knows something about hitting, plus he has hitting coaches to help.  I’m taking the over. 

[ashbury]

1 minute ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

If indeed his OPS versus LHP improved from .481 to .611 year over year, that would suggest he’s on a good path and could potentially be more than acceptable against lefties in 2025.  

Concur.  Kepler's gone, and IMO Wallner will get every opportunity to fill his role now.

[LA Vikes Fan]

1 hour ago, mnfireman said:

This!! The Twins faced a LHP starter in 46 games last year and at least one LHP in 128 games - LH batters had 194 PAs against those LHP (TB, Rocco's bar-setting former team, was next lowest at 222 PAs by LHB against LHP). 

6 Twins LHB had PAs against LHP:

Kepler - 82 PA; .273/.305/.416 (.721 OPS) 2 HR, 10 RBI, 19/2 K/BB, 2 HBP

Wallner - 44 PA; .184/.295/.316 (.611 OPS) 1 HR, 3 RBI, 21/5 K/BB, 1 HBP

Julien - 33 PA; .172/.273/.310 (.583) 1 HR, 1 RBI, 14/3 K/BB, 1 HBP

Larnach - 23 PA; .227/.261/.318 (.579 OPS) 0 HR, 1 RBI, 7/0 K/BB, 1 HBP

Kirilloff - 8 PA; .167/.250/.167 (.417 OPS) 0 HR, 1 RBI, 0/0 K/BB, 1 HBP

Keirsey - 4 PA; .000/.000/.000 (.000 OPS) 0 HR, 0 RBI 0/0 K/BB, 0 HBP

 

 

Don’t these stats prove that the Twins were right to platoon these hitters except for Kepler? The goal is to win games. Guys being put in situations where they consistently fail doesn’t help you win games. I think Wallner and Larnach will get a chance in ST to show they can hit LHs since we appear to be going with 4 OFs plus Castro, who also doesn’t hit LH pitching.