Make or Break Players on the 2025 Twins: Edouard Julien

[tony&rodney]

9 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Julien's problem has always been his inability to hit non-fastballs at anywhere close to an acceptable level because his swing was way too steep. His approach got a little off last year, but it wasn't much different than the year before. The difference was that the league figured out that he couldn't hit anything that moved so they stopped throwing him fastballs and started throwing him breaking stuff that he doesn't swing at much because he knows he can't hit them. In the couple clips I've seen of him this spring his swing does look flatter. That's going to be the key to him bouncing back. I'd expect him to get under 50% fastballs to start while he's in the bigs. They're going to make him prove he can hit the breaking stuff.

This hypothesis is what needs to be examined by one of the Twins Daily writers who love to dissect numbers and graphs to be looked into in a complete fashion.

I too felt his swing looked different when i watched him play for St. Paul when he was first sent down in early June. I'm not not really buying he can't hit this or that type of pitch. Were the Blue Jays and Astros just throwing cookies to Julien or did MLB teams not have any information on Julien before mid May of last year? Watching him in minor league play before he was promoted to MLB, Julien had little problems with too many offerings that I noted. 

There really isn't any disagreement that Julien was a hot mess last season and I don't know why. My guess is it was a combination of increasingly poor swing mechanics, a loss of confidence, and perhaps depression from how rapidly he dropped in his play. I can't remember the game exactly, but Julien was hesitant on going first to third on a single down the right field line where he wound up reversing ground to second base. I remember thinking his head was in a bad place. Who knows. I doubt any answers are out there but perhaps there is evidence of drastic pitch offerings to Julien that suddenly began in May of last season.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Back in the day of 25 man rosters and 10-11 man pitching staffs, there was a place for a guy like Julien to DH and PH full time, think Randy Bush. 

On paper, I think it’s still worth trying him in that role even with fewer rosters spots to go around. If they commit to it. It will require a change in philosophy away from the mid game substitutions, but I think it could work for him if he knows he’s the guy on any given night a righty starts, regardless of other stuff.

[stringer bell]

I agree with portions of just about every post on this thread. Julien's swing and swing speed were different (worse) in 2024 compared to 2023. He improved his defense early in '24, but seemed to regress as he continued to struggle at the plate. 

I don't think that now or later this year is the time to trade him. In the OP, it was mentioned that he might be non-tendered if he doesn't recover from his struggles. That won't happen next year, since he won't be eligible for arb after the 2025 season even if he stays with the major league team all year.

 

[KnoblauchWasFramed]

I loved Luis Arraez.  I loved Alex Kirilloff.  I love Edouard Julien.  I love Royce Lewis.  I love Brooks Lee.

Hi, it me.  I'm the problem.  It's me.