Twins Get Austin Martin Back for the Stretch Run

[Cody Christie]

The Minnesota Twins are getting a useful piece of their roster back at an important time of the season. The Twins activated Austin Martin from the 10-day injured list Thursday afternoon, putting the versatile outfielder back in the lineup after he missed nearly a month with a left hamstring strain.

Martin's last appearance came on August 16, when he injured the hamstring trying to track down a fly ball near the left-field line. The Twins appear satisfied that he is ready to return after a brief rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul.

Martin appeared in two games for the Saints earlier this week, going 3-for-8 with a triple and three RBIs. Rehab statistics don't carry much weight when evaluating a player, but seeing Martin run the bases and play in games without an apparent setback was an important step following a hamstring injury.

Now, the Twins need to figure out how to use him. Martin isn't going to transform the Minnesota offense by himself. He is hitting .241 with three home runs, 21 RBIs and a .686 OPS, good for a 95 OPS+, across 110 games this season.

Finding Martin At-Bats

The Twins already have a crowded outfield, which means bringing Martin back creates another roster puzzle for Shelton.  One potential solution is splitting time between Martin and Trevor Larnach. Larnach has been mired in an extended slump that dates back roughly a month, making it difficult to justify running him out there every day regardless of the matchup.

Martin's return gives Shelton the ability to mix and match. That doesn't mean Martin needs to become an everyday player. His defensive versatility allows him to move around the outfield, and his ability to handle multiple spots gives the Twins flexibility from one game to the next.

At this point in the season, that flexibility matters. Martin may not be the answer to all of those problems, but getting him healthy gives Minnesota another competent option and lengthens the lineup. The hope is that Martin can find a rhythm quickly and provide a spark over the final weeks.

Gonzalez Heads Back to St. Paul

To make room for Martin, the Twins optioned outfielder Gabriel Gonzalez to Triple-A St. Paul. Gonzalez appeared in seven games with Minnesota this season but received only eight at-bats. He went 2-for-8, with his other plate appearance resulting in a hit by pitch.

That's hardly enough time to make a meaningful evaluation. Sending Gonzalez back to St. Paul makes sense if the Twins aren't going to give him regular playing time. Sitting on the bench at the major-league level doesn't do much for a young player who needs consistent at-bats.

Gonzalez remains an interesting piece for the Twins moving forward. He could potentially compete for a fourth-outfielder role next season, or find himself in the mix for a larger role if injuries or poor performance create an opening. But the Twins need to see more from him before making that decision. The final games of the season should give Gonzalez an opportunity to play regularly and show the organization what he can do. Strong performance could strengthen his case for a role in Minnesota. 

For now, though, the focus returns to Martin. The Twins have another versatile defender, another left-field option and another bat capable of moving around the lineup. Martin may not be a star, but players who can do a little bit of everything become especially valuable when a team is trying to navigate the final stretch of a long season.

Getting him healthy was the first step. Now Shelton needs to find a way to put him to work.

 

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[wesnewy]

Hopefully this means a little less Larnach, he has been ice cold recently

[MikeNC]

Fantastic!  Now we have 3 leadoff hitters!  I sure hope he regains peak form, this team can use the speed and small ball threat.

[Linus]

Be still my heart. He is one of several guys on this team that have no place on a good team. Move on. 

[MMBoys93]

“Stretch run”

happy to have him back against lefties for his OBP but that’s frankly all he’s useful for.

Maybe he goes on a little run and builds a little trade value cause he has no place on the team next year if he can only play OF 

[bean5302]

Why is this an important time of the season for the Twins? Martin is a solid option as a platoon pre-arb back up corner outfielder as exciting as that might be.

[thelanges5]

We already know what Martin is. They should be using this time to see what they have in Gonzalez. We haven’t learned as much about the 2027 Twins as I hoped we would. 

[JADBP]

4 hours ago, MMBoys93 said:

“Stretch run”

happy to have him back against lefties for his OBP but that’s frankly all he’s useful for.

Maybe he goes on a little run and builds a little trade value cause he has no place on the team next year if he can only play OF 

Twins we’re out of contention in August!!

[JADBP]

1 hour ago, thelanges5 said:

We already know what Martin is. They should be using this time to see what they have in Gonzalez. We haven’t learned as much about the 2027 Twins as I hoped we would. 

And we already know what Larnach is…and Wallner, Roden, and Kreidler, Keaschall, and Clemens….

of the bunch, I’d only keep Clemens (Util), Keaschall (needs fielding training badly! but can’t ignore the bat) and maybe Roden as backup in AAA.  
 

We are being delusional if we think we can pass up FOUR other teams to make the playoffs.  And so what if we did?  We’d likely not last the first round.  
 

At this point in the season, the only thing we should be doing is testing unknown players at the MLB level to better understand what we need to do over the off-season for planning the 2027 roster.  We don’t need to play Wallner or Martin or Larnach.  They know exactly their skillsets and limitations.  
 

Thank you Zoll ( and still Falvey) for this mess!

[Mike Sixel]

Hahaha. That's in response to the headline. I couldn't actually read this. 

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, JADBP said:

And we already know what Larnach is…and Wallner, Roden, and Kreidler, Keaschall, and Clemens….

of the bunch, I’d only keep Clemens (Util), Keaschall (needs fielding training badly! but can’t ignore the bat) and maybe Roden as backup in AAA.  
 

We are being delusional if we think we can pass up FOUR other teams to make the playoffs.  And so what if we did?  We’d likely not last the first round.  
 

At this point in the season, the only thing we should be doing is testing unknown players at the MLB level to better understand what we need to do over the off-season for planning the 2027 roster.  We don’t need to play Wallner or Martin or Larnach.  They know exactly their skillsets and limitations.  
 

Thank you Zoll ( and still Falvey) for this mess!

I don't think we know what Roden is. 

[TheLeviathan]

3 hours ago, JADBP said:

Twins we’re out of contention in August!!

It will never cease to amaze me the people we have downvoting reality these days.

"Earth makes one complete spin since yesterday"  Twinsdaily: Three people downvote

[DJL44]

6 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

We already know what Martin is. They should be using this time to see what they have in Gonzalez. We haven’t learned as much about the 2027 Twins as I hoped we would. 

400 mediocre AAA plate appearances told them plenty about what they have in Gonzalez.

[jaimedude]

Annoyed Shelton pinch hit Larnach for Maetin  in 9th inning  tonight.. Larnach has been pure ass hitting wise at the plate lately. Larnach platyng out the string because he know he is gone next year, non-tender candidate. Should have let Martin try and get on. Down 3 runs. 

[Whitey333]

I get a kick out of all the Larnach haters.  Yes i wish he was better too.  But you conveniently ignore his good first half but mention how cold he has been this past month.  Well a lot of other players on this team should therefore be benched as well for being cold.  Include Royce Lewis in that.  Hes below average first baseman and is hitting .172 in his last 22 games.  A month ok so ago Clemens was going throughout a terrible slump but thankfully they stuck with him.  Martin?  Just another in a long list of interchangeable outfield parts.  So many strange roster moves this year.

[HarmonK03]

11 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

I don't think we know what Roden is. 

That is true, we have an idea, but not the complete picture.  But are you to going prioritize Roden who is going to be 27 over Jenkins, ERod, Gonzalez, or Mendez.  Not to mention the potential guys in AA.

[ashbury]

12 hours ago, jaimedude said:

Larnach platyng out the string because he know he is gone next year, non-tender candidate. 

I rarely enjoy attempts to mind-read other humans, and this one in particular makes no sense, unless you want to go further and posit that Larnach intends self-harm toward his next contract.

[Andy MacPhail]

13 hours ago, DJL44 said:

400 mediocre AAA plate appearances told them plenty about what they have in Gonzalez.

More time that Gonzalez plays in the MLB, will only prove how over-hyped he is & cut into his trade value. He's terrible defensively & no amount of effort will make a difference. IMO, MLB will figure out his hitting very quickly & his power is over-hyped. The sooner we trade him the better.

[Danchat]

1 hour ago, ashbury said:

I rarely enjoy attempts to mind-read other humans, and this one in particular makes no sense, unless you want to go further and posit that Larnach intends self-harm toward his next contract.

People like to come up with reasons for why slumps happen, when it's just simply a matter of baseball that hitters will slump at times. Some claimed that the rumors about him getting traded to the Astros affected his play... or it might just be that some regression kicked in.

[Andy MacPhail]

Offensively, we need players to #1 is get on base (OBP), "Moneyball" states as much as that; #2 players to hit them in (RBIs) especially in close games. Martin is a #1 player, he gets on base, slugging isn't as important as it is for the #2 player. Too many put too much importance on slugging as to evaluate all players, that should not be so. Martin is one of our better OFers even though he's a 2Bman.

[Parfigliano]

14 hours ago, DJL44 said:

400 mediocre AAA plate appearances told them plenty about what they have in Gonzalez.

At this point to me it makes more sense to actually play guys like Gonzalez and Rodriguez against MLB competition over known commodities like Larnach and Martin.

[Mike Sixel]

3 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

At this point to me it makes more sense to actually play guys like Gonzalez and Rodriguez against MLB competition over known commodities like Larnach and Martin.

10000000%

[HarmonK03]

33 minutes ago, Andy MacPhail said:

Offensively, we need players to #1 is get on base (OBP), "Moneyball" states as much as that; #2 players to hit them in (RBIs) especially in close games. Martin is a #1 player, he gets on base, slugging isn't as important as it is for the #2 player. Too many put too much importance on slugging as to evaluate all players, that should not be so. Martin is one of our better OFers even though he's a 2Bman.

The Twins as an organization are the ones putting the importance on slugging.  Martin is just one of many examples where they changed his swing for more power.  When he went back to his previous swing is when he started having more success.

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

At this point to me it makes more sense to actually play guys like Gonzalez and Rodriguez against MLB competition over known commodities like Larnach and Martin.

I don’t see the point of watching batters who are barely keeping up with AAA fail against MLB pitching.

[tomb77]

1 hour ago, HarmonK03 said:

The Twins as an organization are the ones putting the importance on slugging.  Martin is just one of many examples where they changed his swing for more power.  When he went back to his previous swing is when he started having more success.

.687 OPS = more success.

[Hubie29]

What are we stretching?