Where is Edouard Julien's head at?

[VivaBomboRivera!]

After Keaschall's walk-off HR in the rubber game with KC Sunday, he skipped down the aisle of the dugout for the usual high-five lineup with the bench before coming back on the field.  As the camera followed him, it showed Julien with his back to the aisle, apparently picking his equipment up off the bench instead of congratulating his teammate and celebrating the win.

It's impossible to know exactly what was happening just then, but it struck me at the time as another example of how Julien is may not be very focused and tuned-in to what is happening around him.  It's nigh impossible to get to the bigs without full powers of concentration, but one wonders if this has anything to do with how frequently he gets called out looking, not to mention his other offensive and defensive miscues. He doesn't have a vacant stare, but his face does often look as if something besides baseball in the present moment is on his mind.

This much is certain - Time is running out for him as a Twin if he can't return to what he was doing offensively in 2023.  

[ashbury]

I think it was in Moneyball that old-timey scouts were said to look for what they called "the good face," and I don't know exactly what they mean by it but sometimes I wonder if Julien is the opposite.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

7 minutes ago, ashbury said:

I think it was in Moneyball that old-timey scouts were said to look for what they called "the good face," and I don't know exactly what they mean by it but sometimes I wonder if Julien is the opposite.

Taylor Rogers was another player who might fit that description...?

[tony&rodney]

46 minutes ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

After Keaschall's walk-off HR in the rubber game with KC Sunday, he skipped down the aisle of the dugout for the usual high-five lineup with the bench before coming back on the field.  As the camera followed him, it showed Julien with his back to the aisle, apparently picking his equipment up off the bench instead of congratulating his teammate and celebrating the win.

It's impossible to know exactly what was happening just then, but it struck me at the time as another example of how Julien is may not be very focused and tuned-in to what is happening around him.  It's nigh impossible to get to the bigs without full powers of concentration, but one wonders if this has anything to do with how frequently he gets called out looking, not to mention his other offensive and defensive miscues. He doesn't have a vacant stare, but his face does often look as if something besides baseball in the present moment is on his mind.

This much is certain - Time is running out for him as a Twin if he can't return to what he was doing offensively in 2023.  

I saw that sequence in the dugout too and began to write a similar comment as yours immediately after the game. I stopped and went back to the video. Julien was in the front of the line at home plate when Keaschall was running in to celebrate with his teammates. He was all smiles. I am sure I saw Martin in the pile of people as well and then later we also see Martin sitting in the dugout collecting his thoughts. From my re-watching the video a few times I concluded that both (Julien and Martin) had been smiling participants at home plate but with the game over were just moving on to gathering their stuff before going into the clubhouse. It is really almost impossible to know the dynamics on a team and how a player is feeling based on our looks.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

28 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

It is really almost impossible to know the dynamics on a team and how a player is feeling based on our looks.

I have to disagree with this.

Do you think an MLB scout sitting in the stands and looking into the Twins dugout, will say something like this to himself or herself: “well, I see what I see, and I’ve seen this before elsewhere, I have been in locker rooms myself, and I have my own personal experiences to draw on, but on the other hand, it is almost impossible for me to know the dynamics of this team I am observing and how this player is feeling based on what I am looking at. Therefore, there is nothing to report.”

[shortround81]

5 hours ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

Taylor Rogers was another player who might fit that description...?

I think it probably feels that way 'cuz he's an actual twin, which means one of them has to be evil. It's a scientific fact

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

I have to disagree with this.

Do you think an MLB scout sitting in the stands and looking into the Twins dugout, will say something like this to himself or herself: “well, I see what I see, and I’ve seen this before elsewhere, I have been in locker rooms myself, and I have my own personal experiences to draw on, but on the other hand, it is almost impossible for me to know the dynamics of this team I am observing and how this player is feeling based on what I am looking at. Therefore, there is nothing to report.”

The MLB scout in the stands is getting more than 5 second long clips of player interactions that they can't control because they're being fed them by TV producer choices. That scout was there before the game watching that player interact with their teammates on the field during warmups. He can watch them during the game. Could've watched them during the whole celebration instead of just two short segments fed by TV cameras. And teams have other sources that have likely interacted with that player along the way, or know people who have, that they can rely on for more information.

Comparing what fans get in 5 second clips and what scouts get is a pretty big leap.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

8 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

saw that sequence in the dugout too and began to write a similar comment as yours immediately after the game. I stopped and went back to the video. Julien was in the front of the line at home plate when Keaschall was running in to celebrate with his teammates. He was all smiles.

It's a relief to read this

[lecroy24fan]

His head hasn't been in baseball for well over a year now.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

On 8/11/2025 at 2:07 PM, chpettit19 said:

The MLB scout in the stands is getting more than 5 second long clips of player interactions that they can't control because they're being fed them by TV producer choices. That scout was there before the game watching that player interact with their teammates on the field during warmups. He can watch them during the game. Could've watched them during the whole celebration instead of just two short segments fed by TV cameras. And teams have other sources that have likely interacted with that player along the way, or know people who have, that they can rely on for more information.

Comparing what fans get in 5 second clips and what scouts get is a pretty big leap.

The poster I was replying to has described Julien as having demons of doubt.

You have described Julien as having angst that is very real, because he is not allowed to face lefties. 

This is also conjecture, no? 

Another poster linked to a story that describes knowledgeable people who are skilled at making accurate snap assessments about these things (think Paul Molitor), which is kind of what I was getting at.

The original poster noticed Julien looks tuned out. 

I think all of these things are true. 

 

[chpettit19]

21 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

The poster I was replying to has described Julien as having demons of doubt.

You have described Julien as having angst that is very real, because he is not allowed to face lefties. 

This is also conjecture, no? 

Another poster linked to a story that describes knowledgeable people who are skilled at making accurate snap assessments about these things (think Paul Molitor), which is kind of what I was getting at.

The original poster noticed Julien looks tuned out. 

I think all of these things are true. 

 

I don't think I've ever described any of the Twins lefties as having angst from not being allowed to face lefties. I've absolutely described them as having been denied the opportunity to work on that skill and having it erode away as a result and have likely said they're probably annoyed by it, but those are not conclusions I reached by attempting to read body language or teammate interactions from 5 second clips during games.

And there are actual quotes from Edouard Julien about not being allowed to face lefties after his rookie season. There's many articles, reports, and quotes about him spending the entire offseason working on specifically hitting lefties and feeling he actually messed up his approach against righties because of it. So, we don't have to guess on his feelings about not being allowed to face lefties from quick video clips.

I understand the original poster "noticed Julien looks tuned out." The poster you replied to pointed out that the original poster missed an entirely different interaction Julien had with his teammates after the walk off homerun. Which was actually my first thought when reading the original post. "Why are we talking about a dugout interaction after a walk-off homerun? The celebration happened at the plate." Julien celebrated with his teammates but a fan caught a different clip after that celebration was done where Julien was heading to the clubhouse, and likely wasn't the only player and decided Julien is "tuned out." That's what I'm disagreeing with. 

I agree that a scout in the stands looks at that stuff and would draw conclusions. That isn't my disagreement. My disagreement is that we can or should draw conclusions from 5 second clips from the TV that have no context. This is a great example because this particular situation is a fan drawing conclusions from a clip that happened after the real celebration was over. Julien was at the front of the group welcoming Keaschall to the plate. Was he "tuned out" then? Or is he only "tuned out" because he wasn't at the after party?

[VivaBomboRivera!]

And then there are days like today, where the guy goes 2-for-3 with a dinger and cleanly fields everything hit/thrown to him. You know there is talent in this guy and you _want_ him to succeed, which is what makes the taken third strikes and the miscues so frustrating. Will the real Edouard Julien please stand up?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

On 8/12/2025 at 4:31 PM, chpettit19 said:

draw conclusions from 5 second clips from the TV that have no context

Fans who see 5 second clips, several of these clips over the course of a night, night after night, over the course of a season, season after season now.

Fans who attend games in person, read profiles, hear stray comments on the radio, compare notes with other fans, and might occasionally catch a piece of inside information now and then not to mention the possibility of having some industry experience themselves. Which even if they were insiders, ironically wouldn’t necessarily make them correct. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

21 hours ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

And then there are days like today, where the guy goes 2-for-3 with a dinger and cleanly fields everything hit/thrown to him. You know there is talent in this guy and you _want_ him to succeed, which is what makes the taken third strikes and the miscues so frustrating. Will the real Edouard Julien please stand up?

And then following it up with nights like tonight. 🙁

I doubt the Twins are still trying to see “what they have” in Julien, but are just letting him take at bats at this point. 

It’s not lost on me that he is the first left handed batter to take Skubal deep this season! 

[jaimedude]

Edweird seems like a better spelling than Eduard because Juliene is plainy a weird player. 

[LambchoP]

To me he just constantly looks bored, like playing the game is somehow an inconvenience to him. I dunno, he just has that look...

[lecroy24fan]

On 8/16/2025 at 8:33 AM, LambchoP said:

To me he just constantly looks bored, like playing the game is somehow an inconvenience to him. I dunno, he just has that look...

I like your thinking here. Doesn't look like he is having fun or cares about effort.