What Does An Edouard Julien Bounceback Look Like?

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Cody Pirkl said:

Us as fans may be "wishing" but I can assure you Julien and the Twins have been doing a lot more than that. It's not an easy problem to overcome, but the fact that we just saw Larnach, who's actually a very similar style hitter overcome it has to mean at least something. Larnach had the issue for years as well.

My "wishing" referred to the Twins. No fan wants to see Julien solve his issues more than me.  It'd be nice if you turn out to be right.  But Julien's issues have been plain for over a year, and the Twins have worked just as hard with Eddie as Larnach.  Larnach, who I'd argue was a very different hitting prospect than Julien from the jump, altered mechanics and approach, and improved to the point Larnach led off for awhile last year.  Yet, no amount of instruction seems to have registered with Julien.  All evidence is that Julien doesn't seem to be able to translate instruction, in-game or outside-game, to results.  If Brooks Lee shows up injury-free this Spring and exhibits the hit tool he showed in 2023, Lee is the safer choice to start at 2B this year.  And the Twins will have to "wish" Julien figures it out at St. Paul because in his current state he's a liability.

[twinstalker]

I don't think "plate discipline" is what Julien had in 2023.  It's pretty clear that it was passivity that didn't cost him because pitchers were working around the strike zone, testing him out.  Julien was broken in the box, but we were so excited for a new toy that most of us didn't recognize it.  And he's still broken.  Can he be fixed?  There's no real reason to think he can in time before other shiny toys grab our attention.  There are two really fun ones, one at AA and one at AAA, and neither needs to spend much time where he's at before jumping to the next level.

I think the reason Eeles didn't get a spring training invite was to relieve that pressure on Lee and Julien.  Eeles could come to camp and blow up everything, and then what to do with those guys?

[Doctor Gast]

On 2/24/2025 at 7:18 PM, chpettit19 said:

Julien has flaws, but being a pull hitter isn't one of them. He went the other way at an above average rate both years. His super steep VBA forces him to. This is not the spray chart of a guy just trying to pull fastballs.

Thank you for that graph. I remember a few years ago in an article how the Twins wanted their hitters to focus on launch angle plus, exit velo, other stuff I can't remember & pulling the ball to increase the teams HRs totals. Just because he's not able to pull some of the pitches doesn't mean that when he comes to the plate he's not looking for a pitch to pull. That is my assumption, I could be wrong.

[chpettit19]

3 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Thank you for that graph. I remember a few years ago in an article how the Twins wanted their hitters to focus on launch angle plus, exit velo, other stuff I can't remember & pulling the ball to increase the teams HRs totals. Just because he's not able to pull some of the pitches doesn't mean that when he comes to the plate he's not looking for a pitch to pull. That is my assumption, I could be wrong.

Every team focuses on launch angle, exit velo, and pulling the ball. Every. Single. One. That doesn't mean that's all they want their players to do and doesn't mean that's all guys are trying to do. Julien is not a dead pull hitter by any means. That spray chart doesn't show him "not able to pull some pitches," it shows him not wanting to. The left center gap is his target most of the time. 

This is Isaac Paredes' spray chart. This is a guy just looking to pull the ball who is "not able to pull some pitches." They're very different approaches.