Three Players We Wish We'd Seen More Of In 2026

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, MapleGroveTwinsFan said:

He did what many 26 year olds have done, and that is hit really well against bad teams mid August and later (13 for 25), I am not giving up on him, but I don't want him to be more than depth to start next season. 

Roden's low point of the season was after 37 AB's on July 30 producing a .451 OPS.

I will continue to insist that he looked good struggling. Not chasing... making contact. From there... that looking good while struggling turned into looking good and not struggling. He produced a .858 OPS in August over 28 AB's and while he was starting to roll... he was sent down.

Called back up in late September where he got 4 more games in and had a solid 4 games. Turning that .451 OPS into a .769 over 79 AB's. 

It's too small of a sample to be declarative but he has earned the right to be considered for a 26 man roster spot but it would take some movement of outfielders and it would take a rethinking of our platooning to clear that space. He has an option left so he doesn't have to be forced in.  

As for bad teams in Mid August. He faced a variety of teams good and bad. Our entire team faced the same teams and he out hit the majority of them. 

All in all... Roden looked good.   

[MapleGroveTwinsFan]

26 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

Roden's low point of the season was after 37 AB's on July 30 producing a .451 OPS.

I will continue to insist that he looked good struggling. Not chasing... making contact. From there... that looking good while struggling turned into looking good and not struggling. He produced a .858 OPS in August over 28 AB's and while he was starting to roll... he was sent down.

Called back up in late September where he got 4 more games in and had a solid 4 games. Turning that .451 OPS into a .769 over 79 AB's. 

It's too small of a sample to be declarative but he has earned the right to be considered for a 26 man roster spot but it would take some movement of outfielders and it would take a rethinking of our platooning to clear that space. He has an option left so he doesn't have to be forced in.  

As for bad teams in Mid August. He faced a variety of teams good and bad. Our entire team faced the same teams and he out hit the majority of them. 

All in all... Roden looked good.   

He did it against BALT (3/7), ATL (1/6), SD (2/3), LAA (3/5), SF(2/5), Tex (1/2), with little to no power or speed. (I remember Wallner doing something similar and being told he is one of the best hitters in the game) 

Doesn't impress me, but he did enough to be considered depth next year. IMO I wouldn't play him over Erod, Jenkins, or Keashall. 

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, MapleGroveTwinsFan said:

He did it against BALT (3/7), ATL (1/6), SD (2/3), LAA (3/5), SF(2/5), Tex (1/2), with little to no power or speed. (I remember Wallner doing something similar and being told he is one of the best hitters in the game) 

Doesn't impress me, but he did enough to be considered depth next year. IMO I wouldn't play him over Erod, Jenkins, or Keashall. 

I would choose Emma, Jenkins and Keaschall as well. I'd also chose Buxton. 

I'm just not understanding the did it against bad teams point. 

Kirby, Wacha, Misorowski, B.Young, Baz, Perez, Mahle, Buehler and Ginn is who he faced in August and that is a nice variety of of starting pitching talent that doesn't suggest bad teams and even if it was a bad team that they pitched for... You still have a professional arm to face. 

And even if that was a poor sample of starters with 5 plus ERA's across the board... we had hitters who were well below what he was producing against those same starters... including a couple of players that you and I both would choose over him.  

Neither August nor September matter much to me because it's still a small sample just like his first 37 AB's of low production don't matter much to me either but... in that small sample... IMO... He earned the right to increase the sample.

From July 31 on... He had a batting average of .380... it's easy to small sample that batting average away but hard to bad team that number away.    

Numbers and platoon utilization will probably force him down to AAA to start 2027.