Do the Minnesota Twins Actually Have More Left-Handed Hitting Corner Outfielders Than Other Organizations?

[nclahammer]

Extremely thorough report.   I guess that's all that's "left" to say about that subject.

[dxpavelka]

6 hours ago, ashbury said:

To paraphrase a very old baseball adage, "I don't want left-handed batters.  I want batters that can hit right-handed pitching."

So the "problem" might not actually be a problem.  Seems like that happens a lot around these parts.

[wmsrandy]

Good point and discussion.
The average is 5.8. So the Twins have one more than average.

[arby58]

19 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Why is “guy so bad he doesn’t deserve playing time” a role with a 13 player roster?

His role is understood to be a defensive replacement or pinch runner and the occasional start in CF when Buxton gets a day off or is DHing. My guess is if Buxton were to go on the IL, there would be a callup, probably  Emma, as he is a better CF than Roden.

[AceWrigley]

14 minutes ago, arby58 said:

His role is understood to be a defensive replacement or pinch runner and the occasional start in CF when Buxton gets a day off or is DHing. My guess is if Buxton were to go on the IL, there would be a callup, probably  Emma, as he is a better CF than Roden.

Agreed, leaving Outman to still be the out man, both on offense and defense.

[nova_twins]

Good article . . . I think the complaints about Twins roster construction are about more than the player count though. Realistically a lot of it is frustration with offensive inconsistency, esp. of course Larnach and Wallner over the years. 

Strongly disagree about Outman however, Roden is 26 and may as well play part time in the Majors. 

[Trov]

There is a flaw in this whole study.  First, you are more likely to have a left handed hitting corner OF than any other position.  One is because some right handed people will learn to hit left handed, but rarely does a left handed person learn to hit just right handed.  Also, the only defensive positions for left handed throwers are 1st base and OF.  Left handed hitting people from other positions are always going to be the right handed guy hitting left. 

That being said, the issue with most fans is not that we have so many left handed hitting outfielders, it is that we have too many that are redundant and out of options, that go along with 2 of our top hitting prospects fitting the same roll in AAA.  

We have Wallner, who is clearly the top of the pecking order for team as he is not getting platooned, mainly because we do not have a platoon option for both him and Larnach.  Then we have Larnach as the next option, this is shown by getting all starts against righties.  Now this may be due to production, which is high right now, or could be due to fact we are paying what we are.  Then it is hard to say who falls next on the pecking order because we have Outman, who fills a different roll than Larnach.  He made team over Roden, who I would say most likely ranks ahead of Outman, but below Larnach.  Clemons is on the list only because he has played a little OF, but mainly on team to play 1st against right handed guys. 

Jenkins and E-Rod fall below, not because of talent but because they do not need to be called up yet.  E-Rod is on the 40 man and using options so he could get called up over Roden, Outman, or Larnach at any time, but he has yet to push the team to make that move. 

The issue I have is we have too many guy either near end of options, or blocking possible better guys because of what they are getting paid or lack of options. I do expect that if there is an injury to Wallner or Larnach, Roden gets the call and the starts over Outman, and he keeps doing his same roll of fill in, legit 4th/5th OF guy. E-Rod would be next in line. 

[mickster]

On 4/14/2026 at 2:43 PM, Jim H said:

I am not sure replacing Outman with Roden solves anything, directly. Using Larnach or Wallner as mostly fulltime DH,  and using Roden as a fulltime corner outfielder would perhaps be a better look than current useage. Also trading either Larnach or Wallner would also open a slot for Roden.  Replacing Outman with Roden without making other adjustments isn't the only choice here.

I would attempt to trade Wallner over Larnach

[Riverbrian]

Just food for potential thought. With no additional research done to support the food. 

Yes... the righty throwing-lefty swinging human beings do exist. 

However... the lefty throwing-lefty swinging human beings also exist.

Lefty throwing human beings do not play 2B, 3B, SS or Catcher. 

So if you throw left handed. You are usually an OF or 1B. 

Again I've done no research on how many lefty hitters are right handed throwers. So... depending on how many are lefty throwers... it will lead to an OF pileup. 

[LA Vikes Fan]

On 4/14/2026 at 2:53 PM, Wedman13 said:

It just won't stop.  "Wallner being a primary contributor to the teams early success at the plate".  What?  Really well thought out  article but again do we always need to prop up Matt to pull it off.....because he's from (but left) here?  Even he knows it's not working.  I hope for every kids' success but it shouldn't be gifted.

This is really the issue. It's not so much that we have too  many LH hitting corner OFs, it's that the ones we have are so limited in what they can do that it creates roster problems. Wallner hit .202 last year with a .775 OPS and is hitting .191 this year with a .629 OPS. The promise he showed limited ABs in 2023 and 2024 hasn't translated to a full time role. Larnach hit .250 last year with a .727 OPS, and wile he is dong better this year in a small sample size it is limited to a platoon role. Neither is a good fielder and neither runs the bases well so their contribution is almost entirely based on what they do at the plate. Both should primarily DH with only 2 or so days a week in the OF.   

In other words, its not that the Twins have "too many" LH corner OFs, it's that that the ones they have aren't all that good at the MLB level. It is rapidly becoming time to try out the next wave to see if they can do better.  It's hard to do that when we already roster two guys that are pretty redundant. At some point, we are either going to need to go with what we have and use the AAA OFs as a way to shore up the rest of the roster (RP?) or cut bait with one of these two (or both) and give the AAA guys the room to run. I think that point will come later this year, probably through an injury creating opportunity.