3 Up, 3 Down: Emmanuel Rodriguez

[Riverbrian]

Have patience with him, We don't always have patience.

I remember the end of July and we had a bunch of posters giving up on Roden with his .451 OPS. They were saying it's time to move on after 37 AB's. 

40 AB's later from August 1 onward he produces a 1,031 OPS and nobody cares.

We actually send him down while he was on a 7 for 15 stretch. 

Emma does not have options. We need to be patient. He will need more patience than the patience Roden got from us and we had no patience for Roden. 

Do not strip mine him for parts. If he is paired with Martin on a platoon split...  his future won't matter much. 

 

[Wedman13]

Fun article.  Jenkins is kinda like brooks -who I love having - he will be good.  Emma? He fills seats and wins you championships.  A big difference between good and great.  Just my opinion 

[Wedman13]

18 hours ago, DarrenPS said:

It's not crazy to say Emma (I prefer ERod but he likes "Emma") has the highest possible ceiling and the lowest possible floor of all of our close to the league prospects right now, but I am all for him being an starting OF next season to find out

I'm actually curious.... why do you believe a low floor?  And no I'm not hoping for some advanced stats.  Genuinely curious 

[mickster]

16 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Since he is "out of options" and a left handed hitter, he most likely will get the chance to play regularly next year whenever the season starts. 

I would like to see the Twins package him with Lewis for a legit middle of the lineup 1B

[JADBP]

On 10/4/2026 at 7:06 AM, DJL44 said:

He's unlikely to be a finished product his first full season in the majors and not a starter on the depth chart. He's still better than what they've had sitting on the bench the last few seasons.

especially what they put out there THIS season!

[JADBP]

14 hours ago, mickster said:

I would like to see the Twins package him with Lewis for a legit middle of the lineup 1B

Ouch...in many ways!

First, why would someone trade a legit middle-lineup 1Bman for a lousy 1Bman + anyone?

Second, I agree with the black hole we have had at 1B for ...forever....no, since Kirby.,..no, since Big Papi!  Yeah, we have done very poorly with 1Bman for the last 20 years...Kirilloff had some many injuries he just up and retired! That was weird.

Third, I agree....it might be time for a change of scenery with Lewis.  I hate to say this, but at some point you have to cut your losses and move on.  He's not a contender.  He might have more value in a trade than sitting on the bench.  I would be sad to see him go.  Especially after I got that expensive Lewis Jersey for my birthday a couple of years ago!  

Fourth, we have other just as intriguing change of scenery candidates to trade...Larnach, Wallner, Sabato, Ross and either Clemmons or Martin.  This roster is soooo f'ed up (thank you Falvey/Zoll).  And, while there is a monster hole at 1B, there is an even bigger one in RP and maybe even SP.  

[JADBP]

On 10/4/2026 at 9:46 AM, tony&rodney said:

If Emmanuel is to become a solid regular in the Twins lineup, the club and their fans might need to be very patient as he goes through his struggles. Rodriguez has always put up some useful and often gaudy numbers. One has to wonder if the Twins fans can suffer through those swings and misses.

The defense must be noted. There were a minimum of six outs made by Rodriguez in his short MLB debut that no other Twin player completes in 2026. Stats for defense are always growing but well behind all other metrics. It would be interesting to put together video of different players going for fly balls and base hits to see the differences between outfielders. First step quickness, speed, route, and closing out a play are all big, especially for pitchers.

in regards to his hitting....I agree....he needs to take a lot of MLB hacks before the Twins give up on him like they gave up on Big Papi!  Keep the faith!

And regarding Defense, yes, you are right....there are many balls that no other player would have got to...except Buxton!  He is aging, but still the best  CFer in a long string of great CFers that we have enjoyed watching....only Puckett was better.  

Now that's an interesting topic for an article.  We have had a lot of great CFers over the years, going all the way back to Cesar Tovar and Jimmy Hall, to Puckett, Gomez, Hunter, Span,  Puckett was easily the #1, and Torii Hunter would have been very close at #2 if he stuck around.  But #2 will be Buxton.  Not sure if he will get to Puckett's numbers, but he should finish ahead of Torii's lifetime numbers.  

[DJL44]

On 10/5/2026 at 6:10 AM, Riverbrian said:

Have patience with him, We don't always have patience.

Emma does not have options. We need to be patient. He will need more patience than the patience Roden got from us.  

Do not strip mine him for parts. If he is paired with Martin on a platoon split...  his future won't matter much. 

I would also say people should be patient if Rodriguez is only getting 10ABs a week. That’s better than seeing him struggle every day for a month and then get benched every day for a month. It is okay to break players in against pitchers they are likely to succeed against. If they succeed in that role, you can expand it later. If they can’t succeed in the most favorable matchup that makes it hard to justify more playing time.

[Riverbrian]

40 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I would also say people should be patient if Rodriguez is only getting 10ABs a week. That’s better than seeing him struggle every day for a month and then get benched every day for a month. It is okay to break players in against pitchers they are likely to succeed against. If they succeed in that role, you can expand it later. If they can’t succeed in the most favorable matchup that makes it hard to justify more playing time.

I'd hope for more AB's than 10 a week but if he is going through a rough patch it's OK to slow him down. You don't have to bench him entirely... just slow him down some

So I agree. Actually I agree with one big caveat. 

"Break players in against pitchers they are like to succeed against". In Twins vernacular... this typically means platoon. I'd rather they face their challenges. 

With the Twins... If they start shielding they won't stop. The expand it later part doesn't happen with the Twins. You platoon him in April... they will platoon him in August. If they platoon him in April and August... they will platoon him in 2028. If they platoon him in 2027 and 2028 they will platoon him in 2029. They will strip mine him for parts, dip him in cement and if he is successful in this role... his trade value will never bring back anything significant because we made the decision to cap his potential future value day one for marginal gains today. 

Another thing... If they start shielding Emma... Martin will be rostered.

If Martin is rostered... He needs a host to attach to because Martin needs to be shielded from right handers. He needs to shield someone to justify his roster spot so he will move him to Jenkins just like a virus if Emma gets hurt.

Martin is a rostered lesser player who will search for a left handed hitter to infect.

If Martin gets hurt... they will find a right handed hitter to replace him because they are not going to start letting Emma or Jenkins just start hitting left handed pitchers all of a sudden in August. 

 

[DJL44]

22 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

I'd hope for more AB's than 10 a week but if he is going through a rough patch it's OK to slow him down. You don't have to bench him entirely... just slow him down some

So I agree. Actually I agree with one big caveat. 

"Break players in against pitchers they are like to succeed against". In Twins vernacular... this typically means platoon. I'd rather they face their challenges. 

With the Twins... If they start shielding they won't stop. The expand it later part doesn't happen with the Twins. You platoon him in April... they will platoon him in August. If they platoon him in April and August... they will platoon him in 2028. If they platoon him in 2027 and 2028 they will platoon him in 2029. They will strip mine him for parts, dip him in cement and if he is successful in this role... his trade value will never bring back anything significant because we made the decision to cap his potential future value day one for marginal gains today. 

Another thing... If they start shielding Emma... Martin will be rostered.

If Martin is rostered... He needs a host to attach to because Martin needs to be shielded from right handers. He needs to shield someone to justify his roster spot so he will move him to Jenkins just like a virus if Emma gets hurt.

Martin is a rostered lesser player who will search for a left handed hitter to infect.

If Martin gets hurt... they will find a right handed hitter to replace him because they are not going to start letting Emma or Jenkins just start hitting left handed pitchers all of a sudden in August. 

 

The point is to win games, not to fully develop individual players. The platoon advantage is a real thing that has been part of baseball for over 130 years. I suppose the Twins could pretend it doesn’t exist, play batters against same handed pitchers more often, score fewer runs and lose more games. The platoon advantage will still exist even if they pretend it doesn’t.

[Riverbrian]

The platoon advantage is absolutely real. It is proven year over year for decade after decade. 

However... will they lose more games is an honest question? We assume that they will but will they?  

The difference between .100 OPS is 1 run per 7 games. If 28% of pitching is left handed it will take some time to even reach that 1 run per 7 games.

Also consider that Alan Roden who they clearly want to turn into another Larnach picked up 8 hits in 17 AB's against left handers this year for a very small sample 1.147 OPS so he has to turn south quick to even discuss the .600 OPS or lower that he is supposed to deliver. Or... the .670 that was the MLB Average last year for left handed hitters vs left handed pitching. 

It takes time to produce the numbers that we all react to and it isn't linear.  

In the meantime... that time is development, exposure, the opportunity to get better and the need to eventually not need the Austin Martin's tagged to him. 

As long as you are OK with platooning prospects out of the gate. We will need two right handed outfielders to attach to Emma and Jenkins. Martin is one. Keaschall is the other? 

Play this out over time and there is no question why this club can't develop a superstar. We are too busy trying to survive today and taking little chunks out of players for what is ultimately a 1 run per multiple game platoon advantage.  

[MapleGroveTwinsFan]

On 10/5/2026 at 2:03 PM, mickster said:

I would like to see the Twins package him with Lewis for a legit middle of the lineup 1B

For one of the lower minor league teams? Those two aren't bringing back a legit middle order of the bat.