Before Demoting Matt Wallner, Minnesota Twins Were Rostering MLB's Worst Position Player and Starting Pitcher

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Forty-four games into the 2026 MLB regular season, multiple Minnesota Twins position players are overperforming preseason expectations. Byron Buxton is tied for the third-most home runs in baseball with 15, alongside Chicago White Sox rookie Munetaka Murakami. Ryan Jeffers is on track to earn his first All-Star nod. Austin Martin is reaching base in roughly 45% of his plate appearances, and Brooks Lee appears to have finally developed into an average regular.

There have been numerous success stories on the mound, too. Mick Abel and Taj Bradley look like stalwarts atop future Twins rotations. Connor Prielipp has impressed in his first cup of coffee in the majors, and Joe Ryan continues to pitch like a top-20 starting pitcher in the sport. Despite the aforementioned positive early-season surprises, though, Minnesota has a 20-24 record, leaving the club with an uninspiring 21.8% chance of making the playoffs, according to FanGraphs. A significant portion of the club’s early-season struggles can be attributed to them fielding the fifth-worst bullpen in baseball, according to Wins Above Replacement at FanGraphs (fWAR).

Despite the Twins having one of the worst bullpen collectives in the sport, specific position players and starting pitchers have also played key roles in dragging the club down over the first two months of the season. No two players have made a greater negative impact than outfielder Matt Wallner and starting pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson.

Wallner, 28, entered the 2026 regular season expected to be the club’s full-time right fielder, netting most starts against right- and left-handed starters. Through 135 plate appearances, however, the left-handed hitting corner outfielder hit .167/.259/.292 with a 58 wRC+. Wallner also struck out 39.3% of the time while producing minimal damage upon contact, evidenced by the should-be slugger netting only four home runs and a below-average .125 Isolated Power (ISO). As a result, Wallner possesses the 10th-lowest wRC+ of all qualified hitters. At the same time, he generated the second-lowest fWAR (-0.8) among qualified position players in the sport, with only Tampa Bay Rays centerfielder Cedric Mullins residing below him.

The Southern Miss product was also one of the worst fielders in baseball, netting -8 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) over 284 innings played in right field. According to FanGraphs, only Junior Caminero, Jake Bauers, and Bryce Harper have delivered more negative value based on their fielding and positional assignments. He’s tied for the lowest DRS in the sport, alongside Oneil Cruz. Given that Wallner is inarguably a bottom-ten hitter and bottom-five fielder in the sport, it is not hyperbolic to opine that he regressed into the worst position player in baseball. In response, the Twins optioned him to Triple-A St. Paul early Thursday morning.

As mentioned earlier, Woods Richardson hasn’t been much better on the mound. Among starting pitchers with at least 40 innings pitched, Woods Richardson has the highest ERA in the sport, coming in at 7.71. He also sports the fourth-highest FIP (6.51) and second-lowest Skill Interactive ERA (SIERA), coming in at 5.91. The 25-year-old is tied with Washington Nationals starting pitcher Zack Littell for the lowest strikeout rate (10.1%) among starting pitchers with at least 40 innings pitched and the 10th-worst hard-hit rate (40.4%). Woods Richardson has served the ball on a silver platter to hitters, and they are unsurprisingly excelling.

Unsurprisingly, Woods Richardson’s arsenal grades out very, very poorly. According to Run Value at Baseball Savant, Woods Richardson has the worst splitter in baseball, with the pitch netting a -13 run value over 206 pitches thrown. He also possesses the worst slider among starting pitchers, with the pitch netting a -6 run value over 178 pitches thrown. On a positive note, his fastball has been serviceable, generating 0 run value over 323 pitches. Still, the former top prospect’s pitches have been abysmal this season, making his poor start to the season unsurprising. (Author’s note: I’m not having fun writing this article. I’ve been frowning like Florence Pugh in Midsommar for 20 minutes now.)

Given his inability to suppress runs and poor pitch grade, it would not be hyperbolic to opine that Woods Richardson is the worst starting pitcher in baseball. Again, many factors have played into Minnesota’s slow start to the season. Still, no two players have been more consequential than Wallner and Woods Richardson.

With Martin and Trevor Larnach performing well as the new primary corner outfielders and Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Gabriel Gonzalez, Hendry Mendez, and Alan Roden waiting in the wings at Triple-A St. Paul, Wallner may never play for the Twins again. Woods Richardson’s days in the rotation are numbered if he is unable to quickly change course, given Bradley, Abel, Ryan, and Prielipp’s aforementioned early-season success and Kendry Rojas, Zebby Matthews, Ryan Gallagher, and others awaiting extended opportunities in the rotation. Minnesota is transitioning to a new era. Unfortunately, it appears as though Wallner and Woods Richardson won’t be part of it.

Follow Cody Schoenmann on Twitter: codyschoenmann