The Twins Need To Stop Spending On (and Retaining) Left-Handed Corner Outfielders

[Cody Pirkl]

Image courtesy of © Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

The Twins have had no shortage of left-handed hitting corner outfielders for years, but as they’ve continued to amass this style of player, their depth has turned into a logjam. With much of the roster in need of significant upgrades, it’s time to either look to deal from this depth chart or (at the very least) stop targeting left-handed corner outfielders with their limited resources.

The Twins did not fully prioritize prospects during their historic trade-deadline selloff in 2025. Instead, they chose to focus on players who were at or near MLB-ready status. They seemed especially keen on starting pitching and left-handed-hitting outfielders. In terms of pitchers, there’s no such thing as too much depth. On the position player side, however, it made less sense. 

Despite having both current and future depth in the corner outfield, they acquired James Outman, Alan Roden, and Hendry Mendez, all left-handed-hitting outfielders who will likely spend most of their time in the corners. We will likely see all of them in 2026, as they filter into the majors and share playing time with fellow members of the brotherhood Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach, Kody Clemens, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and Walker Jenkins.

Despite the playing time being difficult to project, the Twins tendered a contract to Trevor Larnach this winter, though whether he remains on the roster heading into 2026 remains to be seen. A strange detail that has surfaced is that the Twins' hangup on trading Joe Ryan at the deadline to the Red Sox was reportedly Boston’s refusal to include an MLB-level outfielder in the deal. We can now assume this means either Jarren Duran or Wilyer Abreu—both of whom are left-handed-hitting corner outfielders whom Boston is currently open to dealing.

It seems as though the Twins cannot help themselves when it comes to this type of player. Despite significant questions across the roster, they appear hyper-focused on maintaining (and even adding to) the corner outfield endlessly.

Acquiring an established, borderline All-Star-level player would undoubtedly be an upgrade over the current group, but why spend limited resources on doing so? The current logjam includes plenty of players of all ages, with interesting skills that could translate into strong production. Wallner has shown everyday player upside in the past. They just targeted Roden, and clearly viewed him as a regular in left field. There will be no shortage of names who can at least rotate in and out, not to mention the top prospects set to debut at some point in 2026.

Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez are in Triple-A St. Paul, and despite injury concerns in their past, they're likely a couple of good months away from kicking down the door to the majors. Though it’s always a risk to go into a season leaning on the production of players who have yet to debut, you still want the at-bats available to them when they’re ready. If Jenkins and Rodriguez are ready midseason, the Twins can likely find creative ways to get them in the lineup. Continuing to add MLB-level players to that depth chart would make things increasingly difficult.

When it comes down to it, it’s a question of asset management. Of course, it’s difficult to say we don’t want to see the Twins add a good player at any position. Still, if they’re going to spend the kind of capital it would take for such a deal, why do it at arguably the deepest position in the organization? They could go into the season with the current group of left-handed corner outfielders with reasonably high expectations, even if two or three get injured throughout the year. Is that really the part of a 92-loss roster the front office should be hell bent on upgrading?

Nor is this just about proactively adding to that group. Minnesota was (wrongly, it now seems) steadfast in their expectations when shopping Max Kepler in trades over the final few years of his tenure with the team. They surprised everyone by tendering a contract to Larnach. They believe this player type has a certain baseline value—a high offensive floor, especially because they take up the larger side of a theoretical platoon; middling but non-zero athleticism; and a chance to find power—that has led them to cleave too tightly to some of them in recent years.

Regardless of the Twins' short and long-term plans, they should be content with their group of left-handed corner outfielders. They’ve drafted, signed, traded for, and developed a long list of names in this group. If they’re confident in their abilities, they should have more than enough options to cycle into this role for years to come. They have talent and upside across all ages, which is more than they can say for several other positions at the MLB level and in the organization as a whole. They should, indeed, be moving players like this out, rather than bringing any more in.

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It’s time for the Twins to stop throwing their limited assets at left-handed corner outfielders and take a look at the rest of the roster. Do you agree?

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[nicksaviking]

Well said Cody, but I'm afraid you put in an extraordinary amount of extra work. I'm sorry to say it, but you already had achieved unanimous fan agreement simply by typing the headline.

[jmlease1]

Yeah, they need to sort through this pile, which is why it's surprising to see what are likely to be really short assets spent on Larnach, who provides no defensively value and is a platoon player with seemingly minimal upside at this point. Of course, I'm of the camp that thinking Outman should not be on the 40-man, and if you stripped those 2 off the roster, then we're much less overloaded, though we still need to actually find out who can play and who can't.

Wallner (who could shift to more of a DH role), Roden, Rodriguez (who has injury issues), Jenkins (who is still a baby), and Mendez (who is likely getting time at 1B) as a collective seems to provide both opportunity and depth in reasonable measures. If Larnach and Outman are both on the 26-man, then we have a log-jam for playing time AND low ceiling players grabbing too much PT.

They need a RH bat who can play 1B, DH, or COF. they don't need more LF COF until at least 2 of Rodriguez, Jenkins, Roden, and Mendez have proven they can't play in MLB.

[Riverbrian]

They can acquire as many left handed hitters as they like. What they need to stop doing is compromising their development and wasting roster spots on right handed specialists to handcuff them to. 75% of pitching is Right Handed... More left handed hitters is how you correctly play that split.  

However... the Twins need to acquire talent period regardless of what batters box they stand in.  

In regards to the reporting of the failed Red Sox deal. 

It makes perfect sense that the Red Sox would not want to include Duran or Abreu in a deal for Ryan at the deadline. They were contending for a playoff spot or division title. Duran and Abreu were huge necessary parts of that quest. The Red Sox would have tried to get the Twins to take prospects in return so they can add to Duran and Abreu for the stretch run.  

Now that it's the off-season and teams are restructuring their roster. They may be more inclined to deal Duran or Abreu.  

[old nurse]

Matt Wallner has not played a full season of MLB ball, needing to be sent down

Clemens spent like 87% of his playing time in the infield.

Roden hasn’t shown he can hit mlb pitching

Rodriguez hasn’t shown he doesn’t need a backup plan

Jenkins has even proven he can hit AAA pitching

Mendez hasn’t even seen AAA

They had to keep Larnach at this point

[chpettit19]

There's no such thing as a logjam of talent. There's never been a team in the history of baseball that has said "well gosh darn, we just have too many good players." Never. Not once. And never will be. There is definitely no such thing as a logjam that includes Kody Clemens and James Outman.

Wilyer Abreu would be the 2nd best outfielder on this roster behind only Byron Buxton if they got him. That's why you spend resources on someone like him. It's never a waste of resources to improve your talent. 

Rodriguez has used 2 option years playing a combined 59 AAA games. Do we need to see what he can do? Absolutely. But odds are very long that he's anywhere near the player Abreu is. Neither Wallner nor Larnach are as good of overall players as Abreu. Roden very likely doesn't have that kind of ceiling. They're already starting to transition Mendez to 1B. Walker Jenkins is hopefully a star. That's 1 guy who should stop us from going after someone like Abreu.

People have gotten so accustomed to the mediocrity that is the Twins it's effecting our judgement. Kepler and Larnach types constantly hitting at the top of this lineup has lead people to believe that that's how it should be. It isn't. Those guys aren't top 4 hitters on actually good teams. Abreu isn't either, but he's a marked improvement from what they've been running out there.

A gold glove defender who's consistently 15-20% better than the average hitter is absolutely somebody they should be happy to add. Jenkins is the only guy in this supposed "logjam" that has a real chance to be better than that. The Twins just need to improve their talent. Anywhere and everywhere on the roster. Get the best players you can and adjust from there.

[old nurse]

30 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Well said Cody, but I'm afraid you put in an extraordinary amount of extra work. I'm sorry to say it, but you already had achieved unanimous fan agreement simply by typing the headline.

5 minutes is an extraordinary amount of work?

[Patzky]

Delta benefits from having a large number of identical assets on hand. The Twins do not.

[jorgenswest]

Left handed batters are most often left handed throwers. That really limits their positional flexibility. If they are athletic they could be a fit in centerfield. If they have good feet and hands they could play on the dirt at first base. The rest are destined to corner outfield and DH. There is good news for them on the other side of the coin. Catchers and infielders other than first base need to throw right handed. More often than not they also hit right handed. @Riverbrian highlighted the value of the left handed batters. The most abundant source for that left handed bat is going to come from the corner outfield positions.

[shimrod]

"Despite significant questions across the roster, they appear hyper-focused on maintaining (and even adding to) the corner outfield endlessly."

Keep trying until you get it right. Not one of the current collection is an everyday player on a contender. Maybe one of the prospects is that guy but the success rate of our former prospects (current incumbents), is not inspiring. 

[Bodie]

A logjam...

Not quite what I'd call it.  Clear a logjam and you have basically all your logs back, ready to merrily float on down the river.

What we've got here is much more akin to a blocked up toilet.  It doesn't work as planned and fixing it will entail digging out a lot of s... well something. 

[jmlease1]

17 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

Left handed batters are most often left handed throwers. That really limits their positional flexibility. If they are athletic they could be a fit in centerfield. If they have good feet and hands they could play on the dirt at first base. The rest are destined to corner outfield and DH. There is good news for them on the other side of the coin. Catchers and infielders other than first base need to throw right handed. More often than not they also hit right handed. @Riverbrian highlighted the value of the left handed batters. The most abundant source for that left handed bat is going to come from the corner outfield positions.

Is that actually true? Because of all the LH hitters that played for the Twins in 2025 only Keirsey is listed as being left-handed as a thrower. Wallner, Larnach, Outman, Julien, Clemens, and Fitzgerald are all listed on B-Ref as throwing righty. If you throw LH you're probably going to hit LH, but I don't think the reverse is true

Edited December 4, 2025 by jmlease1
forgot the "T" on Twins...

[nicksaviking]

23 minutes ago, old nurse said:

5 minutes is an extraordinary amount of work?

According to my teenagers, yes.

[DJL44]

If they draft one more their next one is free. It’s a CBA loophole that not many know about.

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

There's no such thing as a logjam of talent.

There cannot be any such thing as too many of any position and a team that bats 9 RH or 9 LH batters or has an entire pitching staff of LH or RH pitchers is not an impediment to winning. Talent plays. 

Jarren Duran would be a great addition to the Twins team as would Max Clark, I'm hoping Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez flourish in the majors and hopefully this year.

Maybe the author screwed up and meant to add that the Twins don't need any more mediocre LH corner outfielders. I can agree with that. In reality, the Twins don't need any more mediocre players at any position.

[hitterscount]

They may have more than enough LH hitting OF’s, but it’s far from a logjam of talent. We have watched or there is enough of a sample size of data to confirm that none of them are even average outfielders, minus Jenkins and Rodriquez who are still young and haven’t played at the MLB level… at least enough to make a accurate assessment. I said this last winter with Larnach and Wallner, there is no reasonable explanation to having them both as the corner outfielders. Now there is more than enough of a sample size to evaluate that their hitting doesn’t offset their poor defensive abilities. There is so much work to do on this roster it may not be reasonable to expect more than 70-75 wins in 26.

[farmerguychris]

Why can't we invest the time in making one of these guys a competent 1st baseman?

Instead of putting guys over there like Donovan Salano or Arraez, or La Torguga - Lets put someone over there who can catch high throws?  Would also be nice to not have to 'find' a new first base player every year.  Fill that spot, lighten the depth chart in the OF.

[DJL44]

13 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

In reality, the Twins don't need any more mediocre players at any position.

The Twins could desperately use a mediocre SS and a mediocre 1B as well as a few mediocre relievers.

[Blyleven2011]

9 minutes ago, hitterscount said:

They may have more than enough LH hitting OF’s, but it’s far from a logjam of talent. We have watched or there is enough of a sample size of data to confirm that none of them are even average outfielders, minus Jenkins and Rodriquez who are still young and haven’t played at the MLB level… at least enough to make a accurate assessment. I said this last winter with Larnach and Wallner, there is no reasonable explanation to having them both as the corner outfielders. Now there is more than enough of a sample size to evaluate that their hitting doesn’t offset their poor defensive abilities. There is so much work to do on this roster it may not be reasonable to expect more than 70-75 wins in 26.

That's kind of the point is we have the lefthanded outfielders but we keep adding more lefthanded outfielders that are no better , better maybe at defense , but not better at improving the line up ...

.

Like the enthusiasm  ...

Still way to early to predict how many wins we will have in 2026 , no idea of the direction we are going , hopefully by the end of the winter meetings we might have something more substantial  ....

Could be good or it could be bad ...

[#3Killer]

Move Wallner to 1B. Clemons back to utility, If Martin and Roden don’t get it done- here comes our next generation of stars!!!!

[Road trip]

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

Left handed batters are most often left handed throwers. That really limits their positional flexibility. If they are athletic they could be a fit in centerfield. If they have good feet and hands they could play on the dirt at first base. The rest are destined to corner outfield and DH. There is good news for them on the other side of the coin. Catchers and infielders other than first base need to throw right handed. More often than not they also hit right handed. @Riverbrian highlighted the value of the left handed batters. The most abundant source for that left handed bat is going to come from the corner outfield positions.

I read this and I thought...Hm, is that first sentence correct?  I had to look.  The most recent data I could easily and quickly find was from 2020, from https://www.mlb.com/news/baseball-endangered-species-lefty-hitter-lefty-thrower.  In that season:

40% of MLB plate appearances were from lefty hitters
Only 11.6% of non-pitchers in MLB threw left-handed.

Thus, actually, most left handed hitters at the MLB level throw right handed.  The split in 2020 was approximately 33% L-L to 67% L-R.   The article goes on to explain that right handed throwers have become increasingly prevalent because short benches have led to an increase in the desirability of positional flexibility, and utility players have to throw right handed if they are going to play anything other than OF-1b.

So... teach your kids to throw righty and hit lefty, which has always been pretty solid advice anyway.

[jorgenswest]

2 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Is that actually true? Because of all the LH hitters that played for the Twins in 2025 only Keirsey is listed as being left-handed as a thrower. Wallner, Larnach, Outman, Julien, Clemens, and Fitzgerald are all listed on B-Ref as throwing righty. If you throw LH you're probably going to hit LH, but I don't think the reverse is true

@Road trip and @jmlease1

I appreciate the correction.

I looked at the league splits and made an incorrect assumption.

The positions where plate appearances from left handed batters outnumbered plate appearances from right handed batters are outfield and first base. At catcher and the other infield positions it isn’t close. There were far more plate appearances from right handed batters than left handed batters.

I don’t know why players like Wallner and Larnach happen to bat left handed, throw right handed yet don’t play on the dirt. I was wrong in my assumption for the cause. The observation that the abundant source of left handed at bats is going to come from the outfield and first base is still supported by the league splits of left vs right by position. If the Twins want to find left handed at bats look to corner outfield and first base.

note: Clearly switch hitters are ideal but I hope they were excluded from the data. Since it is a split option I think they were excluded. Looking at the totals I believe they were excluded. It would have given the data a skew towards my observation about corner outfielders that I did not want because it would shown an even greater disparity between left handed and right handed at bats for a corner outfielder. I also have a winder that I have not pursued. Is the centerfield position a landing spot for athletic left and left ballplayers?

 

 

 

 

[Danchat]

2 hours ago, old nurse said:

Roden hasn’t shown he can hit mlb pitching

In 150 PAs, only 12 games as a Twin. He'll be 26 and has already crushed AAA pitching, he should be given every chance to prove himself. Otherwise why did they trade for him? I'm not high on him as a player, but we're not going to figure out any more about him as a hitter until he gets more chances to hit in the majors.

2 hours ago, old nurse said:

Mendez hasn’t even seen AAA

I agree that Mendez likely won't be a factor, perhaps late in the season.

[shimrod]

2 hours ago, farmerguychris said:

Why can't we invest the time in making one of these guys a competent 1st baseman?

Instead of putting guys over there like Donovan Salano or Arraez, or La Torguga

Yes, Twins have a hole at first because they've made no effort to develop a solution. Twins philosophy is put your worst defender at first base regardless of fit. Butchers like Julien, midgets like Solano and Arraez. Based on TD reports that philosophy extends to the minors, where DH candidates and OF sloths man the position. Size doesn't matter much in baseball except at first, where a couple extra inches of reach makes the entire infield better.

Every year I hear about a minor league SS prospect who may "grow out of" the position. Please put a couple of those guys at first base starting in A ball and develop an honest to god plus defensive first baseman. It won't help us in 26 or 27 but eventually it should pay off. 

[Doc Lenz]

Need some more Left handed hitters because they have a shorter distance to first base.

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

@Road trip and @jmlease1

I appreciate the correction.

I looked at the league splits and made an incorrect assumption.

The positions where plate appearances from left handed batters outnumbered plate appearances from right handed batters are outfield and first base. At catcher and the other infield positions it isn’t close. There were far more plate appearances from right handed batters than left handed batters.

I don’t know why players like Wallner and Larnach happen to bat left handed, throw right handed yet don’t play on the dirt. I was wrong in my assumption for the cause. The observation that the abundant source of left handed at bats is going to come from the outfield and first base is still supported by the league splits of left vs right by position. If the Twins want to find left handed at bats look to corner outfield and first base.

note: Clearly switch hitters are ideal but I hope they were excluded from the data. Since it is a split option I think they were excluded. Looking at the totals I believe they were excluded. It would have given the data a skew towards my observation about corner outfielders that I did not want because it would shown an even greater disparity between left handed and right handed at bats for a corner outfielder. I also have a winder that I have not pursued. Is the centerfield position a landing spot for athletic left and left ballplayers?

 

 

 

 

64% of Hockey players shoot left handed. 

They are a bunch of weirdos. 

[howeda7]

The only thing Derek Falvey finds more intriguing that an left-handed OF'er is a pitcher with a partially torn ligament. 

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

I also have a winder that I have not pursued. Is the centerfield position a landing spot for athletic left and left ballplayers?

Yes, that is definitely true. If you're fast but throw lefthanded you're an OF. If you're not fast but can field grounders well you're a 1B. Keith Hernandez would have been a SS except he threw lefthanded.

[old nurse]

2 hours ago, Danchat said:

In 150 PAs, only 12 games as a Twin. He'll be 26 and has already crushed AAA pitching, he should be given every chance to prove himself. Otherwise why did they trade for him? I'm not high on him as a player, but we're not going to figure out any more about him as a hitter until he gets more chances to hit in the majors.

I agree that Mendez likely won't be a factor, perhaps late in the season.

The point was why one would keep Larnach. Yup Roden hasn’t had much of a chance to prove himself.  4 outfielders and a DH. Larnach is the number 5 of those 5 positions By June or July. The situation could be changed, for the better or worse.  

[Nashvilletwin]

6 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

There's no such thing as a logjam of talent. There's never been a team in the history of baseball that has said "well gosh darn, we just have too many good players." Never. Not once. And never will be. There is definitely no such thing as a logjam that includes Kody Clemens and James Outman.

Wilyer Abreu would be the 2nd best outfielder on this roster behind only Byron Buxton if they got him. That's why you spend resources on someone like him. It's never a waste of resources to improve your talent. 

Rodriguez has used 2 option years playing a combined 59 AAA games. Do we need to see what he can do? Absolutely. But odds are very long that he's anywhere near the player Abreu is. Neither Wallner nor Larnach are as good of overall players as Abreu. Roden very likely doesn't have that kind of ceiling. They're already starting to transition Mendez to 1B. Walker Jenkins is hopefully a star. That's 1 guy who should stop us from going after someone like Abreu.

People have gotten so accustomed to the mediocrity that is the Twins it's effecting our judgement. Kepler and Larnach types constantly hitting at the top of this lineup has lead people to believe that that's how it should be. It isn't. Those guys aren't top 4 hitters on actually good teams. Abreu isn't either, but he's a marked improvement from what they've been running out there.

A gold glove defender who's consistently 15-20% better than the average hitter is absolutely somebody they should be happy to add. Jenkins is the only guy in this supposed "logjam" that has a real chance to be better than that. The Twins just need to improve their talent. Anywhere and everywhere on the roster. Get the best players you can and adjust from there.

Well said.  It’s not that we have too many left handed corner OFs, it’s that we don’t have any good ones.

ERod needs to get his chance.  But I’ve (sadly) had the under on him ever being a dependable, above average major leaguer. Hope  I’m wrong.  Other than Jenkins, none of the others will likely ever fit that description as well.