Jorge Polanco's Return Sparks Twins' Playoff Hopes

Coined "The Twins' Mr. Clutch" in an article by the Pioneer Press's Betsy Helfand in 2021, infielder Jorge Polanco has long been a fixture in modern Minnesota Twins lore. 

Whether it be hitting for the cycle at Citizens Bank Park in 2019, skipping a throw to then-Twins second-baseman Luis Arráez during the 2020 postseason, or simply existing as a reliable day-to-day player, Polanco has been a part of every recent Twins moment in perpetuity. 

The 2023 season began without Polanco on the diamond as he was forced to miss the Twins' first 19 games while recovering from right knee soreness. 

Luckily, Polanco returned on April 21 and played 23 games with the Twins, hitting .284/.327/.484 (.811) with 27 hits, seven doubles, four home runs, and a 122 wRC+ in 101 plate appearances. 

Unfortunately, Polanco was forced to return to the 10-day IL with a strained hamstring on May 18. Polanco returned from the IL on June 1, and played in seven games while hitting just .120/.154/.320 (.474) with a 20 wRC+ and was instantly put back on the 10-day IL on June 8 with the same injury. 

Polanco appeared to be suffering from a chronic hamstring injury, and many began to wonder if Polanco's tenure with the Twins was nearing a disparagingly anti-climactic injury-fueled conclusion. 

Polanco took over a month and a half off and returned to the Twins, this time with a new position after transitioning from second base to third base to open up more playing opportunities at second base for the thriving rookie Edouard Julien.

Here are Polanco's numbers since returning from the 10-day IL on July 28, split into two time duration brackets:

• July 28-August 10: .182/.321/.318 (.639), 53 plate appearances (PA), eight hits, three doubles, one home run, 28.3% K%, .136 Isolated Power (ISO), .250 BABIP, 85 wRC+
• August 11-September 3: .310/.420/.549 (.969), 88 PA, 22 hits, two doubles, five home runs, 23.9% K%, .239 ISO, .362 BABIP, 166 wRC+

Polanco started slow out the gate following his return from the 10-day IL on July 28 but quickly turned things around beginning August 11, hitting for a .969 OPS and 166 wRC+ over the next 22 days, including a massive three-run home run against the second-place Cleveland Guardians last Monday. 

Polanco followed up his massive three-run home run last Monday against the Guardians with a clutch lead-padding two-run home run against the Texas Rangers this past Friday.

Polanco appears to have gotten his groove back, and it is happening at the most opportune time, as the mood surrounding a first-place team with a five-game lead couldn't be much worse.

On Thursday, the second-place Cleveland Guardians claimed Matt Moore, Reynaldo López, and Lucas Giolito off of waivers from the Los Angeles Angels, leading to panic about whether the Twins will be able to maintain their lead over the Guardians and win the AL Central.

While much of what happens with the Guardians going forward will be out of the Twins' hands, as they face them only three more times this season, what the Twins can do is make sure they perform well the rest of the season against teams that currently own losing records such as the Mets, White Sox, Angels, Athletics, and the Rockies. 

If the Twins want to make the playoffs, they must win at least four out of five of the upcoming series against the previously mentioned teams, if not all. 

While more remarkable collapses have happened, the Twins still own a 94.5% chance of making the playoffs, according to FanGraphs, and reinforcements are coming. 

Adding a healthy Alex Kirilloff, 100.1 mph throwing relief pitcher Louie Varland, and a potentially healthy Brock Stewart, Chris Paddack, and Jorge Alcala to an offense that ranks fifth in fWAR since the All-Star break and includes steady veterans  inspiring young players should create a great sense of optimism. 

Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Those who follow the Twins are panicking, and reasonably so. Admittedly, so am I. As Minnesota sports fans, we are all too familiar with the phenomenon of having the rug pulled out from underneath us. 

It is sad, and the emotional recovery is tedious and painstaking, yet we stick around clutching to a fleeting glimmer of hope, wishing this time will be different.

I am not here to virtue signal or tell anyone their sense of doom is wrong, but what I will say is that while, according to FanGraphs, there is a 96.7% chance our hearts will get broken in the postseason, there is only a 5.5% chance that our hearts will get broken come to the end of the regular season.

I will take those odds. 

Polanco's resurgence is not only fantastic for the Twins and himself, but it is also symbolic of what appears to be happening to the Twins as a whole. 

It feels like the amalgamation of pieces that form the Twins are collectively coming together at the most opportune time to create a whole that finally breaks the dreaded 0-18 playoff curse, and just because the Guardians claimed two above-average relievers in Moore and López and a solid starter in Giolito shouldn't deter fans from thinking as such.

What do you make of Polanco's resurgence in August? Also, should fans still be optimistic about the Twins' playoff chances? Comment below.