A Tale of Two Infielders: Making the Most of Your Opportunities

[joefish]

43 minutes ago, LambchoP said:

What is scary to me is that Miranda's offensive numbers are basically the same as Correa's:(. Really need to get him going and soon. At least Julien looks like he's found his swing. As long as Rocco doesn't put him out at second base to collect errors, he could be a boon to this lineup. Just keep him at DH or first base.

Correa doesn't heat up until the temperatures do. Check on him in June. 

Pretty much his words.

[Fatbat]

The fact that that we have to get so invested in later round daft picks is sad. Most high draft picks seem to wash out or are so fragile, they rarely play.  One would hope that every decade, we could draft a Cal Ripken type of talent 🤷🏼‍♂️

[Rod Carews Birthday]

2 hours ago, mluebker said:

I'm trying to think of a Twins team that won the pennant without having an infield made up of solid regulars at each position. You maybe could say 1965, because Killebrew was out for nearly seven weeks giving Don Mincher more time at first. 

That’s probably 1987 with Lombardozzi at 2B and Laudner as catcher. Plus add in Gladden who was no great shakes out in LF and those aren’t what I would call “solid regulars” — more like functional.  That worked because some others — Hrbek, Puckett, Gaetti, etc. — did a lot on both sides of the ball that season.  

[mluebker]

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

What counts as a regular? In 1991 Pagliarulo only made 112 starts at 3B. Also, Gladden played a lot, but wasn't very solid...

By today's standards, I think anything over 100 starts would count. If you can say "the Twins' third baseman in 1991" and people know who you mean, he was a "regular."

And gotta say, I loved Gladden. I remember seeing him go up against the plexiglass in left field to grab a fly ball that actually bounced off it, then turning around and jogging toward the dugout as if it had been a clean catch. Smart play, batter out!

[Rod Carews Birthday]

I think it is still too early to declare either Julien fixed or Miranda permanently broken.  That being said, I don’t understand why some are so quick to dismiss anything Julien does.  He has obviously done some serious work with his bat and it appears to be paying off.  Will it continue?  It’s at least a maybe and he’s currently outhitting most of the team.  He has certainly earned more chances with what he has done so far.  I don’t love his defense, but he’s not the butcher out there that some suggest.  He only needs to be “adequate and functional” if he continues to hit.  

[mluebker]

4 minutes ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

...those aren’t what I would call “solid regulars” — more like functional

I probably just should have said "regulars" so we don't end up quibbling about whether we liked how they played those positions. If you could say "the Twins' second baseman," and people knew who you meant, that would be a regular to me.

[Rod Carews Birthday]

3 minutes ago, mluebker said:

I probably just should have said "regulars" so we don't end up quibbling about whether we liked how they played those positions. If you could say "the Twins' second baseman," and people knew who you meant, that would be a regular to me.

Fair enough.  My point was that lots of at bats doesn’t necessarily make a player into a big contributor.  Right now the Twins need to find some guys who can actually contribute regularly, which is evidently pretty difficult at the moment.  

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

This is a question - not an accusation...

Would be curious to know how diligent Miranda is during the off-season both in terms of refining his game and taking care of his body. Wonder if he's lacking much needed attention to detail...

[bean5302]

Personally, I think Gasper goes down if Miranda didn't make that absolutely brutal, and inexcusable, double base running mistake. Miranda will be fine long term, maybe on a different team. He's not going to be an elite bat, but his contact skills and mediocre pop will add cheap value someplace in a lineup.This is the first time in his 1100 PA career his K rate has been north of 18.8% so the 36.1% K rate is totally an abberation killing Miranda's value. I think it's clear Miranda has some mental stuff going on, and I'm sure some of that has to do with the message he got this spring. It's worth noting Miranda has all of 8 full games worth of performance with only 36 PA. Stretching things back into Spring Training, Miranda really hasn't shown any pop so far this year. The 23.8 ft/sec sprint speed is way, way down, but it suggests he might be exactly be putting in full effort.

In regard to Julien, everything he's doing suggests his approach at the plate is good enough. It's not terribly surprising since Julien was very good last year into May. This year, he's making good contact with breaking balls.

I guess it's a situation of making the most of opportunities. I think it's really about having their heads in the game and playing solid baseball, even if the results aren't there. 

[jmlease1]

2 hours ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

I think it is still too early to declare either Julien fixed or Miranda permanently broken.  That being said, I don’t understand why some are so quick to dismiss anything Julien does.  He has obviously done some serious work with his bat and it appears to be paying off.  Will it continue?  It’s at least a maybe and he’s currently outhitting most of the team.  He has certainly earned more chances with what he has done so far.  I don’t love his defense, but he’s not the butcher out there that some suggest.  He only needs to be “adequate and functional” if he continues to hit.  

I've never really understood it either. Julien had a bad season in 2024, but was excellent in 2023. he also put up some big hitting numbers in the minors and shown some skill on the basepaths. Maybe it's just a style thing? 

I expect him to have some struggles this season, at some point, because he looks more like a good player than an all-star and very few guys get through the long grind of a baseball season without some struggle. But I think he can be a quality hitter and this team needs as many of those as they can squeeze into the lineup.