Edouard Julien and José Miranda Are Floundering in Triple-A

[Nick Nelson]

Image courtesy of David Richard and William Purnell-Imagn Images

This season is only two months old, but already we've seen plenty of examples that illustrate the massive chasm in competition level between the major leagues and the highest rung of the minors. It has been routine for players to look completely overmatched against MLB pitching before heading down to Triple-A and feasting (or vice versa). 

Case in point: Mickey Gasper. During his time with the Twins, he's looked like a total non-threat, tallying six hits (one double) in 39 plate appearances. In his overall MLB sample, Gasper has slashed .115/.258/.135 in 62 trips. But when he returns to the comforts of Triple-A he instantly looks like Babe Ruth; in 109 plate appearances with the Saints, Gasper is slashing .348/.450/.717 with nine home runs and 18 RBIs. This after leading all of Triple-A in OPS last year, while in Boston's system. 

Another prime example: Carson McCusker. He's been destroying minor-league pitching this year, with a 1.032 OPS that leads the International League. Yet despite this dominance, the Twins were extremely reluctant to call him up, and when they did — for a handful of days — they showed no inclination to play him. 

And then you see what happens when actually really good hitters get a chance against Triple-A pitching. Matt Wallner was utterly unstoppable during his rehab stint with the Saint this past week, crushing five home runs and driving in 13 men in just 27 plate appearances. The reaction from the opposing pitcher on his latest bomb — a three-run shot in the eighth that turned a loss into a win — was very much giving the vibe of, "Why am I facing this guy in the minor leagues, this is stupid."

I mention all this to set up a review of José Miranda and Edouard Julien's and performances in Triple-A since they were optioned there on April 13th and May 5th, respectively. It's been ugly. Really ugly.

Miranda immediately landed on the minor-league injured list after being sent down, due to a hand injury suffered while handling a case of water at Target. Since being activated, Miranda has exhibited the same fatal flaws that plagued him in the second half last year and out of the gates with the Twins this season. He's putting the ball in play but his quality of contact is atrocious. Miranda has struck out only seven times in 65 plate appearances with St. Paul but he is batting .224 with a .310 slugging percentage. He has five doubles and no home runs. 

In fact, between the minors and majors, Miranda has hit just one homer in his past 78 games and 272 plate appearances, dating back to before the All-Star break in 2024. That one long ball came on this breaking ball hung by Houston's Spencer Arrighetti. 

Now, before you write Miranda off, bear in mind that he's still only 26 years old and around this time last year he started locking into an unbelievable hot streak that saw him clobber everything thrown his way. At the All-Star break, the third baseman was slashing .325/.366/.522 with nine homers and 21 doubles in 276 plate appearances. Then, his back flared up, and he's never been the same again since.

It's unnerving, in light of what we just saw back injuries do to the career of Alex Kirilloff. But let's not allow that one example to guide our expectations. In plenty of cases, injuries clear up, and their lingering after-effects wear off. Miranda has shown how quickly fortunes can change for the worse. Why can't the opposite be true? We know what kind of hitting ability resides within him at his best.

Julien is a trickier one to find optimism with. There is no apparent health-related factor contributing to his downfall. It seems like pitchers and scouts just figured him out, or his skills regressed, or likely some combination of both. The version of Julien that we saw two years would've dominated in this offensive environment, and did. In 2023, before being called up for good, Julien had a .932 OPS with the Saints. Even last year, during his performance-driven demotions, he put up an .803 OPS and popped some extra-base hits.

This year, there's been nothing positive to cling onto. He's drawn some walks from time to time, leading to a .388 OBP, but when pitchers come into the zone he can't do much, batting .231 with a .308 slugging percentage in 85 plate appearances while striking out at an exorbitant 27% clip. He hasn't had an extra-base hit in two weeks.

Julien, like Miranda, is only 26 years old. It's too soon to give up on him, although both players' defensive shortcomings only magnify the implications of their offensive freefalls. The clock is ticking on these former standouts to turn it around and become viable options for a Twins hitting mix that could sorely use an infusion of explosiveness. Right now they're both a long way from forcing that conversation, and trending the wrong way, but their time hasn't run out yet. 

There is no doubt: Even as they return to nearly full-strength this weekend in Seattle, the Minnesota Twins are going to need more reinforcements over the course of the summer. Heck, they could use one or two right now, even with their full complement of planned starters. Julien and Miranda are down but not out. Can one or both find the lost spark before writing their way out of the organization's plans?

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[jmlease1]

Miranda has looked better recently, but is still not showing any power, so you have to wonder if the back injury has taken that part of his game away. If so, he's in trouble, because even if he's hitting .275+ if it's all a bunch of singles he's not really doing much, because he's also not a guy that walks enough to go that way.

Julien has a similar problem: no pop in his bat. He takes his walks and still knows the strike zone, but he's not showing he can do any damage to a pitch in the zone, and still isn't making enough contact.

They don't profile the same at the plate at all, but they have the same problem: they need to show they can do more damage with their bat. Both of them look like they're a long ways away from getting called back up. Not giving up on either of them, but they have some real work to do. Not sure which is more concerning: injury makes Miranda's struggles more comprehensible, but it also might mean that he never gets it back. Julien's turn into a guy who can't rip a line drive any longer is more baffling, but also might be more likely to get fixed?

Bummer to see them both flailing, had a lot of hope for both of them. But baseball is a cruel game.

[DJL44]

Neither one is going to provide much defensive value. If they don't hit, they're unplayable.

[mikelink45]

It is frustrating to see good players do well for a while in MLB and then spiral downward.  We hope Lewis is not on that path.  But we have seen it before and I think the biggest issue is the need to adjust as the major league pitchers adjust to them and they always will.  It is a constant game of changes over time.  But for these players the adjustment was not made and then discouragement sets in.  When you don't have confidence it is hard to produce. 

[jorgenswest]

Patience. The same article could have been written about Matt Wallner a year ago at this time. After 146 PAs he has a triple slash of 183/274/349 and then things turned around. Julien is at 85 PAs and Miranda is at 65 PAs. Wallner returned after 297 PAs.

Let’s reserve judgment and see what Gardenhire’s staff can do given a long stretch with Miranda and Julien. 

[stringer bell]

22 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Neither one is going to provide much defensive value. If they don't hit, they're unplayable.

Exactly. In order to be playable, they have to be above average hitters and right now neither guy is above average at Triple A. To be a major league regular, both guys have to be far above average hitters. 

[Fire Dan Gladden]

Said it before, will say it again:

They are both change-of-scenery candidates.

[Sjoski]

Said it before. If Clemens continues to roll, we may never see Miranda or Julien in a Twins uniform again.

[stringer bell]

11 minutes ago, Sjoski said:

Said it before. If Clemens continues to roll, we may never see Miranda or Julien in a Twins uniform again.

If they haven't been recalled by the time Luke Keaschall is ready to return, I agree with you. It is hard to imagine that Clemens will stay hot indefinitely, but if neither Miranda or Julien hit their way back to the majors, all Clemens has to do is be serviceable. 

[Guest]

Dog bites man....

[Richie the Rally Goat]

If either of them were remotely decent, they’d have been recalled weeks ago. The Twins have been fielding a triple-A lineup for weeks

[East Coast Twin]

Quote

. . . now they're both a long way from forcing that conversation, and trending the wrong way, but their time hasn't run out yet.

 

I believe they are both out of options after this season, so perhaps their time is in fact running out.

[FlyingFinn]

Miranda - will always be slow and play bad defense. Therefore, he has to hit well and hit for power. I thought his lack of consistent power would be his potential downfall but not an inability to hit.

Julien - He came up in 2023 as an OBP machine with occasional power. He couldn't hit lefties, took a few too many called 3rd strikes and was bad on defense. Seemed to really try improve on those deficiencies in the off season. Started out okay in 2024 but I remember Morneau (I think it was him?) saying, "his swing now has too much of an uppercut." Sure enough, he tanked. Don't know if things got mental (not being able to swing at so many 3rd strikes down the middle) for him or if every time he tried to fix a flaw, he actually made one of his good attributes worse. Now, he's only good at OBP, isn't hitting for power, and seems to have lost all confidence. Go back to what got you to the big leagues.

[JD-TWINS]

3 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Miranda has looked better recently, but is still not showing any power, so you have to wonder if the back injury has taken that part of his game away. If so, he's in trouble, because even if he's hitting .275+ if it's all a bunch of singles he's not really doing much, because he's also not a guy that walks enough to go that way.

Julien has a similar problem: no pop in his bat. He takes his walks and still knows the strike zone, but he's not showing he can do any damage to a pitch in the zone, and still isn't making enough contact.

They don't profile the same at the plate at all, but they have the same problem: they need to show they can do more damage with their bat. Both of them look like they're a long ways away from getting called back up. Not giving up on either of them, but they have some real work to do. Not sure which is more concerning: injury makes Miranda's struggles more comprehensible, but it also might mean that he never gets it back. Julien's turn into a guy who can't rip a line drive any longer is more baffling, but also might be more likely to get fixed?

Bummer to see them both flailing, had a lot of hope for both of them. But baseball is a cruel game.

16 HR with 338 AB’s in ‘23 ……….. How does a guy hit 7 HR in 25 games in March/April of ‘24 and then hit 2-3 more over the next year……was Eddie using something to help his bat pop……not saying that’s the case but completely losing any hard contact, abruptly, is pretty odd with good health. As writer points out, no pop in St Paul either!

Eddie is the poster boy for OBP being misleading when it comes to offensive value.

[h2oface]

Julien can take his stoic 'watch called third stikes' to Korea or Japan. 

Miranda? Too bad about the injuries. But he sure could hit when he was young. 26 is not young. It's prime time.

[h2oface]

What a waste have rehabbed Wallner with St. Paul. Even more of a waste to not recognize it by last week and have him up to play in Tampa's minor league home field. Is he even in Seattle? I am sure we could use him there. Process my ..........

And Crash Gasper? Just can't get it to translate. A shame, really.

[bean5302]

Miranda at least has the injury excuse to fall back on as he was playing hurt to end last year and the hand sprain and rust could have slowed him out of the gate in AAA, but at least he's shown some signs of life as of late.

Julien... there's not much excuse for him at this point. Time to move him, I guess, though I don't think he has any real trade value. I just don't see any upside for him in the Twins' system. He's broken at this point. I think the Twins should send him down further to try and regain his swing. It's a brutal move, but he's not going to succeed at AAA. All the K's and absolutely no power.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

The Twins will probably want to call up Julien again at some point, maybe even playoff time. When they do, they should tell him not to bring his glove, because he’s never playing in the field again. And that’s not a knock on Julien, because I think the person who would be happiest to hear that would be Julien himself. The players know these things. Make a joke of it and hold a fake bonfire in the clubhouse when he’s called up again.

In the late innings of a one run game, when you need a leadoff hitter to reach first base, there aren’t many other players you would rather have up, than Eddie Julien (when he’s the good Julien, that is)

Miranda.. is probably a change of scene candidate, yup.

[Althebum82]

Just sad overall.  Very, very sad.

[darin617]

Denny Green said it right, "they are who we thought they were"

Just as well let them rot in St Paul if they can't figure it out and if they are still lost causes after the season they may as well remove them from the 40 man roster and see if anyone wants them.

[Peter]

Sad to see! Hope both can get back on track 

[Fezig]

If Maranda starts to get hot - trade him. There are enough prospects that will fill his role. As for Julien,...Korean or Japan leagues will be about his only options.

[Original_JB]

"only 26"? Twins treat every 'iffy' player like they're losing the next Big Papi and seem to play out the string wayyyy to long. Now that the trade values have cratered just keep throwing them out there and hope for the best? SMH

[Bodie]

14 hours ago, Sjoski said:

Said it before. If Clemens continues to roll, we may never see Miranda or Julien in a Twins uniform again.

Based on what we've seen, that isn't even a consideration.   Thankfully!

[Bodie]

12 hours ago, h2oface said:

Julien can take his stoic 'watch called third stikes' to Korea or Japan. 

Miranda? Too bad about the injuries. But he sure could hit when he was young. 26 is not young. It's prime time.

Whe your "prime" is more or less a 2 week hitting streak (preceded and succeeded.by awful all-around play) maybe it is time to move on... which is more than can be said about EJ.

[jmlease1]

13 minutes ago, Bodie said:

Whe your "prime" is more or less a 2 week hitting streak (preceded and succeeded.by awful all-around play) maybe it is time to move on... which is more than can be said about EJ.

Julien was excellent in 2023. He's fallen off badly since then as his power has dropped off and MLB pitchers seemed to figure him out. But he was excellent in 2023 and really hit, not just for a month or so, but for the entire season. He's flailing right now, but let's not pretend that he was never good, that he never did anything. Key part of the team that broke the playoff drought.

[mikelink45]

15 hours ago, Sjoski said:

Said it before. If Clemens continues to roll, we may never see Miranda or Julien in a Twins uniform again.

And when Keaschall comes back

[Patzky]

17 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

Patience. The same article could have been written about Matt Wallner a year ago at this time. After 146 PAs he has a triple slash of 183/274/349 and then things turned around. Julien is at 85 PAs and Miranda is at 65 PAs. Wallner returned after 297 PAs.

Let’s reserve judgment and see what Gardenhire’s staff can do given a long stretch with Miranda and Julien. 

It's not just the poor ABs. Julien flubbed another ball in the field last night which opened the gates. :(

[jorgenswest]

7 minutes ago, Patzky said:

It's not just the poor ABs. Julien flubbed another ball in the field last night which opened the gates. :(

Good point. Wallner also struggled with errors in trying to get right in AAA last year. His fielding percentage in that stint last year is the same as Julien’s in AAA though playing a position that usually has fewer errors.

[Ricky Vaughn]

Even if they do figure it out I'm not sure either of them has a place to play anymore. Maybe if they come around they can part of a trade for a reliever at the deadline.