3 Twins Bats That Will Decide the Fate of Their 2026 Season

[Linus]

I think this theme should be flipped around. Everyone not named Buxton and Jeffers needs to step up. They are all going to have to contribute a lot more if this is going to turn around in 26.  Regarding Royce we are fast approaching the time where the word potential is a dirty word. Many people post here about his high ceiling and potential - are we really sure that’s true?  Sometimes I feel like it is a baseless assumption based on draft pedigree. Obviously I want him to be a great player but for me, he is very much in the suspect category. 

[nicksaviking]

2 hours ago, RpR said:

When  a player does not have the talent to adapt and succeed in the Majors, blame the coaches.   Brilliant, but really is just calumny or at least projection.

Right, except you stopped following baseball trends around 1985. He obviously has the talent, and he's showed that before. The adaption is the problem. 23-year-olds can't do their own laundry, yet they're supposed to understand how to adjust their swing planes, identify pitch patterns and improve their exit velocity? 

Hey, maybe the last coaches were great, and all the players were lost causes. OR since we still have those players, we can at least see if the new coaches can help these young people better understand how and why they need to adapt. I get that young people are the bane of your existence, but historically speaking, they do make for the best professional athletes if they have the help to understand the physics.

[RpR]

44 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

 I get that young people are the bane of your existence, but historically speaking, they do make for the best professional athletes if they have the help to understand the physics.

They are the best professonal ball players if they have talent that goes beyond AAA.or even AA.

If they are in the Bigs for three plus years, the blame lays on lack of talent or lack of psychology to adapt to Major League baseball.

Part of the problem here is SO many here annoint them the saviours of the team on little league stats.

[IndianaTwin]

4 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

Not all developing players have to turn into Manny Machado. Some can turn out to be Jake Cronenworth and still be a win for the organization. Just not as big a win.... 

 

Yikes. There have been so many Manny Margot sightings on TD that my mind subliminally went there on my initial very quick read. Needless to say, that changed my interpretation of your comments...  

🤣

[mluebker]

23 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Lewis may very well still bust, but if the idea is that that the new manager can get better results from young players, then the most physically gifted player on the team is the most likely to improve.

Like I said, I’d love to be wrong. And Shelton did the right thing by reaching out to Lewis first thing. So here’s hoping his managerial style and new coaching staff have a different enough approach to young players to start turning things around. Because we’re going to be seeing plenty of young players wearing Twins uniforms this year.

[Peter]

I’m burnt out on football-bring on the twins!!!

[lake_guy]

On 1/6/2026 at 2:11 PM, arby58 said:

It's a little selective in your recollection. First, I don't remember most people suggesting Kepler was going to be a superstar - he was sub .800 OPS his first three years and didn't get above that until 2019, which was about when Buxton emerged. Sano was long lost by then - his three year peak was 2015-2017. So what did the Twins do after 2019? They signed Donaldson for a collective $92 million in 2020, then Cruz ($13.5 million) and Simmons ($10.5 million) in 2021, and Correa for a collective $105 million in 2022. It wasn't all standing in the soup line for the Twins during that period.

• Baseball America: Ranked him the #30 overall prospect in baseball entering 2016.

• MLB Pipeline: Ranked him #44 overall in 2016.

• Southern League MVP (2015): He didn't just "exist" in the minors; he destroyed Double-A with a .322/.416/.531 slash line and won the MVP.

• They literally marketed him as 'Europe's best ever talent.' He was absolutely part of the 'Future Superstar' sales pitch.

[arby58]

58 minutes ago, lake_guy said:

• Baseball America: Ranked him the #30 overall prospect in baseball entering 2016.

• MLB Pipeline: Ranked him #44 overall in 2016.

• Southern League MVP (2015): He didn't just "exist" in the minors; he destroyed Double-A with a .322/.416/.531 slash line and won the MVP.

• They literally marketed him as 'Europe's best ever talent.' He was absolutely part of the 'Future Superstar' sales pitch.

MVP in AA, .822 OPS in AAA, peak prospect ranking between 30-44 - doesn't sing superstar to me. If you bought into that, fine - I didn't. Being Europe's greatest baseball talent is sort of like being Africa's - not a lot of competition. 

Compare with Jenkins, a top 10-15 prospect, who but for injuries was/would be top 5. Kepler, at age 22, playing a full year at AA, put up a .947 OPS. Jenkins, at 20, playing about a half year at AA, put up a .912 and then got promoted to AAA - Kepler did not. My guess is if Jenkins had played a full year at AA, at 20 years old, his OPS would have at least matched Kepler's. 

[lake_guy]

23 hours ago, arby58 said:

MVP in AA, .822 OPS in AAA, peak prospect ranking between 30-44 - doesn't sing superstar to me. If you bought into that, fine - I didn't. Being Europe's greatest baseball talent is sort of like being Africa's - not a lot of competition. 

Compare with Jenkins, a top 10-15 prospect, who but for injuries was/would be top 5. Kepler, at age 22, playing a full year at AA, put up a .947 OPS. Jenkins, at 20, playing about a half year at AA, put up a .912 and then got promoted to AAA - Kepler did not. My guess is if Jenkins had played a full year at AA, at 20 years old, his OPS would have at least matched Kepler's. 

You are arguing against a point I never made. I never said I thought Kepler was a superstar. I said the Twins organization sold us that narrative to justify the rebuild at the time.

My point isn't about comparing scouting reports from 2015 vs. 2026. My point is about the front office strategy. They use the promise of prospects (whether it's Kepler then or Jenkins now) as an excuse to slash payroll and avoid signing proven talent. It’s the same playbook: 'Don't worry about the lack of spending, the kids are coming.'

[Linus]

47 minutes ago, lake_guy said:

You are arguing against a point I never made. I never said I thought Kepler was a superstar. I said the Twins organization sold us that narrative to justify the rebuild at the time.

My point isn't about comparing scouting reports from 2015 vs. 2026. My point is about the front office strategy. They use the promise of prospects (whether it's Kepler then or Jenkins now) as an excuse to slash payroll and avoid signing proven talent. It’s the same playbook: 'Don't worry about the lack of spending, the kids are coming.'

Respectfully disagree. People refer to the Twins “overhyping their prospects”. I don’t see it. Fans and ranking services, prospect publications, etc hype prospects. Other than naming Minor League Player of the Week or Year and answering questions from media I don’t see some concerted effort to pump up their prospects. I mean if somebody asks about Gabby Gonzales what do you want them to say “he’s out of shape and a mediocre fielder”. Of course they are going to say “we are pleased with the progress he has made particularly with the bat and look forward to see what he can do”. Fans overhype prospects the most and it ain’t even close.  Even on this site there is a consistent stream of articles about the farm, usually on the unrealistically positive side but I get that too. Who wants to go to a post about a prospect and read about all the reasons they likely won’t make it, which is the reality so you emphasize the good stuff.