Twins Video
A year ago, Edouard Julien stood in the Hammond Stadium clubhouse, trying to convince me he was ready for anything opposing teams might throw at him following a strong rookie season. But for those who live in the numbers, there were signs that he may have overperformed, and teams would soon have a blueprint to counter him. Yet, the French-Canadian infielder, by way of Auburn, confidently assured me he’d worked to shore up any weaknesses.
Besides, he argued, sophomore slumps don’t exist anymore—the game moves too fast, with too much data. Whatever strategies opponents might deploy, they had likely already tested at some point in 2023. Furthermore, the Twins’ hitting coaches had just as much information as anyone in the league, and any potential vulnerabilities had been identified and addressed.
Fair enough.
Behind the scenes, however, Julien was focused on improving against left-handed pitchers. As a left-handed hitter on a team that prioritizes platoon advantages, he knew better performance against lefties would earn him more playing time.
“After my first year in the big leagues, I was really focused on getting better against lefties,” Julien told Twins Daily. “But obviously here, lefties don’t get a chance to face lefties, so I kind of messed my swing up. I was more rotated just to be able to hit lefties, and I didn’t get a chance to hit them. So I was better against lefties last year. I was worse against righties, where I only faced righties, so it wasn’t a good combo.”
Julien adjusted his setup, rotating his shoulders to stay on left-handed pitching, but that change also impacted his approach against righties. As a result, his ability to drive right-handed pitching suffered. In 2023, he posted a .392 wOBA against right-handers. By 2024, that number plummeted to .274.
Baseball is a delicate balancing act—fix one flaw, create another. Despite his best efforts to convince himself he was ready, the 2024 season spiraled. Opposing pitchers attacked him with breaking balls in the zone, and he struggled, batting just .120 against them—the second-worst mark among hitters who saw 400 or more breaking pitches.
“I was uphill, and everything that was thrown—sliders, curveballs, anything going down in the zone—I wasn’t able to connect with,” Julien explained. “I was always over it, and I knew that was a problem. But during the season, it’s hard, because you don’t really want to make big changes.”
Julien had an attack angle problem. His steep swing plane created an easy target for pitchers to exploit. When the offseason arrived, he and new hitting coach Matt Borgschulte set to work correcting it.
Julien identified another issue—he was too heavy on his back leg, which made it difficult to react to in-zone pitches. That led to one of the highest strikeout-looking rates in baseball—38 times in two-strike counts in 2024. And that doesn’t even account for the hittable strikes he let go by in earlier counts.
“I was so stuck last year on my backside, I couldn’t react or anything. So I was taking a lot because it was too quick.”
Baseball Savant’s new stance data backs up his adjustments. Julien has widened his stance, increasing the distance between his feet from 33 inches to 36 inches, which allows him to be more balanced instead of overly relying on his back leg.
“I’m able to hit more towards the front of the plate instead of always catching it deep and going oppo,” Julien said. Early returns from 2025 suggest the adjustments are working—his tracking data shows he’s making contact slightly farther out in front than last season, and he’s using the middle of the field more rather than pulling the ball.
As seen in the video, Julien has also squared his shoulders more toward the plate. In theory, this should allow him to stay on righties better than he did last season.
“This year I just focused on the righty angle—lefty or righty curveball, righty slider—so I feel good, and I’m sure it’s going to help me against lefties too. So I’m positive about it.”
It remains to be seen if he’ll fully rebound, but the early results are promising. He’s already collected two hits off breaking balls—he had just five all of last season. We saw two of those knocks against the White Sox. The improvement could be due to his mechanical adjustments, the Twins’ renewed emphasis on going the other way in batting practice, or a combination of both.
The one red flag? His bat speed is down. After averaging over 71 MPH in the past two seasons, it’s dipped to 69 MPH this year. That could be part of the transition to his new stance, or it might be the result of seeing a high percentage of non-fastballs (57% in 2025), limiting his ability to take his best swings.
Regardless, Julien is keeping his approach simple.
“I think this year, with the adjustment I’ve made, I just go out there and try to swing at strikes. I do a good job controlling the zone, and I just trust that I’m going to swing.”
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now