Sorting Through 20 Potential 2026 Twins Outfielders Already in the Organization

[tony&rodney]

5 minutes ago, Otaknam said:

Given the abundance of left handed hitting outfielders and lack of first base depth, I’m surprised they haven’t tried Wallner at first base. Maybe they will experiment with him there in the spring. If so, he should be taking ground balls all off season, but I have not read anything about that. I doubt that Martin is penciled in as the starting left fielder, as someone posted. He is the classic utility player, and provides speed off the bench. He can play both outfield and infield in a pinch, but his lack of power holds him back. Still, if he keeps hitting line drives, hits .270-.290, gets on base with gap power, draws some walks, and steals some bases he will be an asset. It’s an indictment of Rocco that he never utilized the speed they had, until the carpet bombing of the roster at the trade deadline. Then, all of a sudden, after four months, Rocco discovered that maybe their anemic offense could use a jolt by stealing some bases. So they spent the rest of the season stealing multiple bases every night. Good riddance to Rocco for being so obtuse to base running and utilizing the speed they had.

Wallner has never played first base, any where. There is zero doubt in my estimation that he was worked out at various points in high school, legion ball, college, summer ball and in the minor leagues at first base. Wallner is a very good athlete but not  good with a glove on his hand. Wallner is a DH.

You can't believe that the decision to not run was with Rocco, but I'm sure people do. The style of play, the players, pitcher usage, and so forth seem clearly dictated from above. The style of play changed once Rocco was informed of his fate.

[Doctor Gast]

The system was full of LHH lackluster cOFers, so when Falvey dismantled the BP. He traded for more lackluster LHH cOFers, whom he loves to hoard. Twins needed to quit doing that & trade most of them away. Move Martin to 2B & Wallner to 1B/ DH. Gonzalez is hyped up & won't amount to much at the MLB level. IMO he needs to be traded to fill our needs. Keaschall, Fedco & McCusker could fill in the RHH cOF positions. We can clean house in the OF, & (unlike the BP sell off) not be negatively impacted.

[Greglw3]

9 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

One of the most bizarrely depressing stats in recent years. But is the blame for that on Wallner, or the fact that the Twins had very few men on base every time he came to bat?

I think the answer lies in looking at Brooks Lee’s 64 RBIs to Wallner's 40. The worst part is Wallner only amassed 10 RBIs the whole year when not hitting a HR.

I think if Wallner would stop chasing bad, mostly high pitches and use the whole field, he could hit .270 with maybe 20 HR 60 walks, then that would play but he’s shown no ability to make that adjustment. It’s partly on the manager and hitting coach to not accept his approach. I’d still rather see one of Gonzalez, Rodriguez or Jenkins take his spot.