Twins Video
As I considered how to go about writing this series of articles looking at the AL Central rosters to see how the Twins stack up against the other teams, I realized that it has the potential to be really long. And I don’t want to do that to you, especially knowing that rosters will likely change at least a little bit over the next six to eight weeks. So I plan on splitting it into three or four parts; Infielders/Catchers, Outfielders/DH/Bench, Starting Pitchers, Relief Pitchers.
Below, I’ll go position-by-position and post who I think will be the starter. With the name, I’ll include their fWAR from 2024. At that point, I will add a couple of sentences with thoughts on the position, but I also want to leave it to your opinion and how you choose to rank the five teams at each spot, and ultimately how to rank the five teams as a whole. Hopefully, this series can generate some good discussions.
Catchers
Twins: Ryan Jeffers (1.7)
Guardians: Bo Naylor (1.6)
Royals: Salvador Perez (3.2), Freddy Fermin (1.9)
Tigers: Jake Rogers (2.2)
White Sox: Kyle Teel (played in minors)
There are a couple of extremes in this grouping. I don’t know if Kyle Teel will make his MLB debut right away on Opening Day, but the Top 25 overall prospect who came to Chicago in the Sox-on-Sox trade involving Garrett Crochet reached Triple A a year ago and is very close. If he starts in the minors, Omar Narváez will likely get some more service time. On the other side is Salvador Perez, who I believe is going into his 37th season with the Royals. But he just continues to put up numbers. He will likely DH more and maybe even get some more time at first base, but it is noteworthy to see how well Freddy Fermin did in his opportunity. Jake Rogers had a down season. Bo Naylor will have to play without his brother, but having defensive whiz Austin Hedges to work with will certainly be helpful. And I’m biased, but when Ryan Jeffers is on, I’d put him with anyone in this group.
First Base
Twins: José Miranda (1.1)
Guardians: Carlos Santana (3.0)
Royals: Vinnie Pasquantino (1.5)
Tigers: Colt Keith (1.8)
White Sox: Andrew Vaughn (-0.2)
This offseason, the Twins lost Carlos Santana to his original team and Alex Kirilloff to injury-induced early retirement. For this exercise, I have José Miranda at first base, and you could put names like Edouard Julien, Mickey Gasper and others in for the Twins. We’ve seen the upside for both Miranda and Julien, and if they can perform near that level, the Twins will be happy. Santana had a remarkable season in 2024 for the Twins. He won his first Gold Glove Award and was a solid offensive contributor. Pasquantino has all the talent, but he has missed some time with injuries. He takes his walks and has the power you look for at this position. The Tigers recently noted that Colt Keith will move over to first base to accommodate Gleyber Torres's arrival. What does that mean for former top pick Spencer Torkelson, his present and his future with the Tigers? Andrew Vaughn took over at first base when José Abreu left the South Side. I think it’s fair to say that, at least, Vaughn has been better than Abreu, but he’s really struggled. He should be traded, and could perform better with a better team around him.
Second Base
Twins: Brooks Lee (-0.3)
Guardians: Angel Martinez (0.0)
Royals: Jonathan India (2.8)
Tigers: Gleyber Torres (1.7)
White Sox: Lenyn Sosa (0.1)
I placed Brooks Lee at second base. It’s possible that he and Royce Lewis could change places, but I went this direction. He was underwhelming in his injury-plagued partial rookie season, but I doubt any evaluators worry much about his ability to hit in the long term. Martinez (or someone) will need to replace Andrés Giménez, who was traded to Toronto. The Platinum Glove defender has struggled offensively. I still think that Cleveland will sign Jorge Polanco to play second base for a year. Speaking of trades, the Royals traded Brady Singer to Cincinnati and brought back Jonathan India, the 2021 NL Rookie of the Year. He should provide the Royals with an on-base guy at the top of the order, a missing ingredient for them in 2024. The Tigers added Torres on a one-year deal. It was clear the Yankees had no interest in bringing him back, but it could be a very nice signing for Detroit.
Third Base
Twins: Royce Lewis (1.2)
Guardians: José Ramírez (6.5)
Royals: Maikel García (1.1)
Tigers: Jace Jung (0.1)
White Sox: Brooks Baldwin (0.1)
José Ramírez is on a Hall of Fame trajectory. He has been an All-Star in six of the past seven seasons. He’s finished in the Top 6 in MVP voting six times in the past eight seasons, including three top-3 finishes. The 32-year-old is signed through the 2028 season. A typical Ramírez season, I think, remains what we Twins fans believe Royce Lewis can do if he is able to play a full season and realize his upside. Consider: in Lewis's MLB career, he has played in 152 games and has been worth 4.0 fWAR, with 27 doubles, 33 homers and 104 RBIs. That's even with his late-season struggles in 2024. The sky remains the limit. Jace Jung was a top-50ish prospect, but it will be interesting to see if the Tigers are able to add Alex Bregman. Maikel García is a nice player for Kansas City, although pushing him down the lineup with the addition of India will help him. And someone has to play third base for the White Sox.
Shortstop
Twins: Carlos Correa (4.3)
Guardians: Brayan Rocchio (1.1)
Royals: Bobby Witt, Jr (10.4)
Tigers: Trey Sweeney (0.4)
White Sox: Colson Montgomery
In 2024, Carlos Correa was well on his way to his best season since 2021, or 2017, or 2016. Unfortunately, plantar fasciitis cost him about 10 weeks of game action in the second half of the season. He was on his way to a 7-8 WAR season. And that would have been about 2.0 WAR less than what Royals shortstop Bobby Witt accrued in 2024. If not for Aaron Judge’s crazy numbers, Bobby Witt would have been the easy MVP choice. The 24-year-old fills up a stat sheet like few others. He played 161 games, led the league with a .332 average, and had a .977 OPS. He also led the league with 211 hits, including 45 doubles, 11 triples and 32 homers. He stole 31 bases and won both the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove. Equally important, I believe he has taken over the top spot in my personal favorite non-Twins player to watch, taking the mantle from Rangers shortstop Corey Seager, who stole it three or four years ago from Francisco Lindor.
Last season, the Royals paid him just $2 million in the first year of an 11-year, $288,777,777 contract that could keep him in Kansas City through the 2034 season (though he can opt out after 2030). SHould he stick around that long, the club has an option that could keep him there through the 2037 season. Bryan Rocchio is a fantastic defensive shortstop for Cleveland. Sweeney came to the Tigers in a mid-season trade, and he ended up taking over at shortstop for Javier Baez. It will be very interesting to see what AJ Hinch does at shortstop over the next couple of seasons. Colson Montgomery has been a Top 100 prospect at times and could debut in 2025.
Summary
At the beginning, I made the note that you should think through how you would want to rank each of these positions. Maybe you even want to consider degrees in 'better than'. Just for fun, I tried two exercises.
The first chart simply ranks the teams, with "1" being the best player at each position, "2" being second best, and "5" being the worst of the group. In this case, you can see how the teams rank (at these positions) with the lowest total being the best.
The second chart simply is a chart in which you get to divvy up 10.0 points for each position. Depending on how detailed you want to get, you can use whole numbers, as I did in the first two rows, or use fractions like in the last three rows. In my example, I have given Bobby Witt (Royals SS) five of the 10 available points.
The intent for these is to see where each team's strengths and weaknesses may be relative to the rest of the division. As you know, it's all a matter of opinion. Even projections are calculated opinions and guesses. So, have some fun with this and make it your own. If you think Bobby Witt should get all 10 points, that's totally up to you. Or make up your own system of rank and comparison. Think you have a good system? Share it in the comments for us to all try. Even if you don't formalize your rankings in a chart, please leave a comment below with how you would rank the positions. Who would make your All-AL Central Preseason First Team?
Check back in coming days for the outfielders/DH/Bench and then the pitchers.
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