Is Ed Julien Ready To Rule Again?

[Parker Hageman]

Every player lies to themselves to some degree—it’s a necessary deception to survive in a sport where failure is the norm.

Image courtesy of Matt Marton-Imagn Images

A year ago, Edouard Julien stood in the Hammond Stadium clubhouse, trying to convince me he was ready for anything opposing teams might throw at him following a strong rookie season. But for those who live in the numbers, there were signs that he may have overperformed, and teams would soon have a blueprint to counter him. Yet, the French-Canadian infielder, by way of Auburn, confidently assured me he’d worked to shore up any weaknesses.

Besides, he argued, sophomore slumps don’t exist anymore—the game moves too fast, with too much data. Whatever strategies opponents might deploy, they had likely already tested at some point in 2023. Furthermore, the Twins’ hitting coaches had just as much information as anyone in the league, and any potential vulnerabilities had been identified and addressed.

Fair enough.

Behind the scenes, however, Julien was focused on improving against left-handed pitchers. As a left-handed hitter on a team that prioritizes platoon advantages, he knew better performance against lefties would earn him more playing time.

“After my first year in the big leagues, I was really focused on getting better against lefties,” Julien told Twins Daily. “But obviously here, lefties don’t get a chance to face lefties, so I kind of messed my swing up. 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.”

Julien adjusted his setup, rotating his shoulders to stay on left-handed pitching, but that change also impacted his approach against righties. As a result, his ability to drive right-handed pitching suffered. In 2023, he posted a .392 wOBA against right-handers. By 2024, that number plummeted to .274.

Baseball is a delicate balancing act—fix one flaw, create another. Despite his best efforts to convince himself he was ready, the 2024 season spiraled. Opposing pitchers attacked him with breaking balls in the zone, and he struggled, batting just .120 against them—the second-worst mark among hitters who saw 400 or more breaking pitches.

“I was uphill, and everything that was thrown—sliders, curveballs, anything going down in the zone—I wasn’t able to connect with,” Julien explained. “I was always over it, and I knew that was a problem. But during the season, it’s hard, because you don’t really want to make big changes.”

Julien had an attack angle problem. His steep swing plane created an easy target for pitchers to exploit. When the offseason arrived, he and new hitting coach Matt Borgschulte set to work correcting it.

 

 Julien identified another issue—he was too heavy on his back leg, which made it difficult to react to in-zone pitches. That led to one of the highest strikeout-looking rates in baseball—38 times in two-strike counts in 2024. And that doesn’t even account for the hittable strikes he let go by in earlier counts.

“I was so stuck last year on my backside, I couldn’t react or anything. So I was taking a lot because it was too quick.”

Baseball Savant’s new stance data backs up his adjustments. Julien has widened his stance, increasing the distance between his feet from 33 inches to 36 inches, which allows him to be more balanced instead of overly relying on his back leg.

“I’m able to hit more towards the front of the plate instead of always catching it deep and going oppo,” Julien said. Early returns from 2025 suggest the adjustments are working—his tracking data shows he’s making contact slightly farther out in front than last season, and he’s using the middle of the field more rather than pulling the ball.

As seen in the video, Julien has also squared his shoulders more toward the plate. In theory, this should allow him to stay on righties better than he did last season.

“This year I just focused on the righty angle—lefty 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.”

It remains to be seen if he’ll fully rebound, but the early results are promising. He’s already collected two hits off breaking balls—he had just five all of last season. We saw two of those knocks against the White Sox. The improvement could be due to his mechanical adjustments, the Twins’ renewed emphasis on going the other way in batting practice, or a combination of both.

The one red flag? His bat speed is down. After averaging over 71 MPH in the past two seasons, it’s dipped to 69 MPH this year. That could be part of the transition to his new stance, or it might be the result of seeing a high percentage of non-fastballs (57% in 2025), limiting his ability to take his best swings.

Regardless, Julien is keeping his approach simple.

“I think this year, with the adjustment I’ve made, I just go out there and try to swing at strikes. I do a good job controlling the zone, and I just trust that I’m going to swing.”

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[JD-TWINS]

2-14 with one walk isn’t uplifting……so far.

I still think Eddie’s problems are things that need to be addressed with some help on what’s going on between his ears. He looks tentative (did in ‘24) and after reading comments here he seems to be conflicted, somewhat, on what will bring him success. I realize all hitters have philosophies and keys that we don’t get exposed to often as fans but he just seems to be “thinking” too much. I hope for the best for him but have serious doubts on his ability to be a contributor.

[mikelink45]

NOT YET

[LambchoP]

I'm not too high on Julien

 I think when Lee is activated Julien should go to St Paul and try to get his swing going. He's also an absolute butcher at second base so he's really going to need to hit well to justify a roster spot. Too early to give up on him, but I'm not optimistic.

[Doctor Gast]

Julien embraced the Twins' hitting approach & became the Twins' sweetheart. Jeffers made the adjustment away from this approach in '23, Larnach & Wallner (to some extent) has made that adjustment in '24. This approach aided in Julien's slugging success, but the league has taken this slugging advantage away.  IMO, Julien hasn't adjusted successfully yet. He has tried to become more aggressive but he has chased too much. In ST, he looked like he had gotten better in hitting but his slugging was missing. Now, early this season, his hitting hasn't looked that good. His fielding at 2B has been sub-par but has now gotten worse. He has always profiled better at 1B. Now he needs to be sent down to AAA to finally learn how to play 1B, improve his hitting & slugging to justify him on the team.

[jorgenswest]

18 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

He has always profiled better at 1B. Now he needs to be sent down to AAA to finally learn how to play 1B, improve his hitting & slugging to justify him on the team.

Do you think he has the hands to be an adequate first baseman? I wonder about his hands and his footwork. 

[Guest]

No one hopes Julien will revert more than me.  But he's not off to a positive start.  He's still not mentally there and 2024 is replaying between his ears.  Absent marked improvement I still think he's headed to St. Paul when Lee comes off the IL.

[Doctor Gast]

10 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

Do you think he has the hands to be an adequate first baseman? I wonder about his hands and his footwork. 

One can only hope that he can learn & make the necessary changes to pass as a 1Bman. If he can't handle 1B, how can we expect him to play 2B?

[jorgenswest]

10 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

One can only hope that he can learn & make the necessary changes to pass as a 1Bman. If he can't handle 1B, how can we expect him to play 2B?

The skills needed for first baseman isn’t a subset of the skills needed for second base.  You need good hands and feet to handle the bad throws or even the throws that get there on a bounce. Second basemen need them for the pivot on a double play but it doesn’t come up as often.

[tony&rodney]

Twins fans need to find some hope somewhere. The infield has Carlos Correa and a band of maybe can get betters. Line them up however you want: France, Gasper, Miranda, Julien, Castro, Lee, and Lewis. We can pick the 1B, 2B, and 3B out of a hat and be as correct as spending days searching for the right combination. Most people will automatically choose Lewis and even Lee because they were high draft choices and are identified as more valuable. Lewis does promise more but his availability and performance are no guarantee.

Eventually it just comes down to who can deliver average or above average results at the plate and in the field. Those who suggest one or two are better than than another are merely toying with small sets of numbers and their own bias. None of these players has proven themselves as full time MLB players who deserve their name in the lineup for 2025 yet. Perhaps the Twins need to force the issue by identifying who is the starter at each position and remove the others via trades. Of course the time for that decision was each of the last two winters.

The Twins are in a tough position because these players all take the field with less than full confidence from management. Lewis is likely an exception. Julien is the whipping boy of the group. Edouard must eliminate the demons of doubt if he is to have any success. Despite my concerns about Julien, the Twins will struggle more if he does not produce. I do think that Julien will lose his roster spot if he doesn't hit before Lee and Lewis return to the team, which won't be a positive move for the team. The front office designed this mess and I believe the team needs Julien to rule again in order to have a good year. While I hope it happens, I'm not putting much faith in it because I don't see Baldelli giving Julien the run he needs.

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

Do you think he has the hands to be an adequate first baseman? I wonder about his hands and his footwork. 

I think his hands and footwork are ok. His arm and throwing are the biggest concern with him, and you can see some of his worst problems fielding happen when he's thinking about the throw and starts rushing. I think he could do fine at 1B with enough reps and a good tutor, but he's got to hit. And he has to learn to not take his struggles at the plate into the field as well, which I think we saw last season. Julien showed notable improvement at 2B in the second half of 2023 but that evaporated in 2024, especially when he was flailing at the plate.

I still like Julien and he hit well enough in 2023 for me to think it wasn't a fluke. But it's really on him at this point. He has to do damage on hittable pitches and show better pitch recognition. He knows the strike zone, which is critical, but has to be able to consistently hit pitches in the zone.

He's got a way to go, and hasn't done much with his early season opportunity yet. Of course, neither have a lot of hitters for the Twins...

[Fatbat]

He needs to start ripping the breaking balls for XBH’s to het pitchers to again adjust to his success.  Constant adjustments while creating consistent value at the plate or he will be in AAAA. 

[RpR]

2 hours ago, Fatbat said:

He needs to start ripping the breaking balls for XBH’s to het pitchers to again adjust to his success.  Constant adjustments while creating consistent value at the plate or he will be in AAAA. 

If he cannot adapt to what they now give him, pitchers do not have to adjust to any thing.

With his glove , little chance he becomes the so called AAAA.

Most harped on Margo to go, time to let Julien go.

[MGM4706]

Doesn't look ready for the Bigs. Needs to go to St Paul and dominate there before getting another shot. Hitting woes and his range in the field is very limited!!

[Danchat]

He had one atrocious PA in the game today that looked straight out of 2024... he's consistently taking strikes that he should be swinging at. I wonder if he's having a harder time identifying pitches than how he was in 2023.

[twinstalker]

I'm dubious.  Paraphrased: "I changed to do better vs lefties, but I'm not allowed to face lefties, and I can't change back."

Nope.  Julien was not nearly as good the last two months of 2023 as he was the first four months, losing about 200 points of ops, most of it slug.  Pitchers figured out his passivity by 2024 and just started chucking the ball down the middle.  It was almost impressive that he could watch so many two-strike pitches cross the heart of the plate.

He sounds like he's looking for excuses or for reasons life's not as good as it was pre-2024.  I'd suggest he was walking a different route to the park each day.

[chpettit19]

Making the swing adjustments was the biggest hurdle. He's giving himself a much better chance at success with that swing than his old one. I don't think he was ever going to repeat the success he had in 2023, but he looks much better than last year already. I don't think a trip to AAA is the end of the world, but not sure it's really needed, either. I don't know what Eddie is going to end up being, but I'm far more encouraged by the new swing than I was by his old one.

[thelanges5]

Lee started and played 7 innings at Ft Myers yesterday. When he comes up Julien goes down. 

[Linus]

Remember Danny Santanas “breakout” year?  I believe he hit over 300 and had an incredible season. His babip was 400 or something like that - it was a total fluke. The next year and the rest of his career were “normal” years for him meaning not very good. 
Juliens babip for 2023 was 373. Pitchers had never seen him or his unusual approach at the plate. I hope Eddy succeeds. I have no idea where he ends up. But when forming an opinion on Juliens potential forget about 2023 - Thats is not him. 

[Parker Hageman]

Quote

Remember Danny Santanas “breakout” year?  I believe he hit over 300 and had an incredible season. His babip was 400 or something like that - it was a total fluke. The next year and the rest of his career were “normal” years for him meaning not very good. 

boy, do i remember danny santana's 2014 season alright...