3 Players the Twins Need to Take a Step Forward in 2020

Jose Berrios

The first player the Twins will need to take another step forward in 2020 is Jose Berrios. He is currently the “ace” of the staff and he is so close to becoming one of the games best starters, but he is just not there yet. Berrios has been extremely consistent over the last three seasons with his ERA and FIP seeing no real improvement and both hovering around 3.75 each year. 2019 was his best season according to fWAR (2.7 in 2017, 3.1 in 2018, 4.4 in 2019), but he never really became the true ace the Twins need. He showed flashes of becoming that player, but just couldn’t do it over the full season.

Berrios getting to that next elite tier could be the most important upgrade for the rotation. He has the potential to be much better or the equal of any of the free agent starting pitchers we have discussed this offseason. If he can take that next step then the entire rotation looks so much better.

Byron Buxton

Buxton is probably the most obvious player for this article. His presence on the team makes everyone better no matter where he is on the field. He was only able to play in 87 games and he still accounted for 2.7 fWAR. If he can just reach his career high of 140 games he will be around at least 4.4 fWAR which is top 30 for position players. Buxton was able to raise his walk rate to a career high (6.4%) and decrease his strikeout rate to a career low (23.1%) in 2019. This came with career bests in hard hit% (35.4%) and fly ball% (48.5%). He showed so much improvement, it was just a blow to the whole team when he suffered a season-ending injury.

Keeping him healthy is going to be extremely important for repeated success in 2020. He makes the entire outfield and pitching staff better with his elite defense. Now that his bat seems to have become above average, it is not hard to see him getting MVP votes if the Twins are good and he stays healthy enough to be a main contributor.

Max Kepler

Putting Kepler on this list may seem like a surprise because of the huge step he took last season, but I believe there is still another step he can take. Just like Berrios, Kepler took a big step in his fWAR (1.5 in 2018, 2.7 in 2018, 4.4 in 2019) and I expect him to improve on that in 2020. His walk and strikeout rates stayed essentially the same as his career averages this past season at 10.1% and 16.6% respectively, but his contact numbers were great. His wOBA stayed around .315 for three years and then jumped to .355 last year. He also started trying to just hit the ball for solid contact which resulted in a career high for hard hit% and 42.4% and fly ball% at 46.6%.

It might be a bit unfair to expect him to improve after being a top 30 position player, but I think we saw just the first step in his ascension to being an elite outfielder. After all, that is why the Twins were eager to lock him into the contract extension.

Who do you hope takes another big step in 2020? Do you agree with the three players I listed below? Sign up and leave a comment!

MORE FROM TWINS DAILY

— Latest Twins coverage from our writers

— Recent Twins discussion in our forums

— Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email