LaMonte Wade Jr. is Too Interesting To Ignore

Actually he is quite easy to ignore.

I appreciated the article and think most of the comments are fair. Not much room for him on the roster it seems but I was very impressed by his at-bats this year. He just never seemed to have a throw away plate appearance and with men on base I’d find myself wishing he was up

I’m not as infatuated with Wade as some. I’ll take upside over a high floor any day.

The walks are nice, but there’s some missing context there. How valuable is walking vs. more XBHs if he’s hitting in the 7 hole front of a guy Adrianza?

Plate discipline is his key to success.  Awareness of the strike zone and his ability to work his way into getting on base anyway he can.  Something to say about that.  Power, not so much but what would be interesting to see (don't have the analytics for it) would be getting on base with a walk vs a single in his AB's.  Were there runners on base at the time that a single would have moved guys around the bases or no runners and he trots to 1st base?  He knows his limitations on HR power, so taking massive swings to join the Bomba club isn't his game.  Until the Twins figure out that the Bomba mentality is a cute thing and not the only way to score, Wade will be on the outside looking in.

I can see the point of the previous commenters. Why would anyone want a guy who can get on base when you have a dugout filled with guys that hit .220 and strike out 50% of the time.

I see your sarcasm and very much agree with your point.

All anyone cares about right now is HR and slugging. The Twins built a very nice machine that seems to be built to win during the regular season with that philosophy. Works great against 4-5 pitchers on the good teams and the 1-2-3-4-5 pitchers on the bad teams.

Problem is, in the playoffs you only see the 1-2-3 pitchers on the GOOD teams. That's when you need guys who can get on base. Wade fits in as a nice option for this team in that regard. We coulda used him doing that in the Astros series this year or the Yankees series last year.

I'm intrigued about what Wade can bring to this team next year.

I think Wade is just the wrong time in baseball.  I think in a different time he would have made majors as a lead off guy.  He is not CF defender most likely it would seem, but his OBP would have got him to majors a decade ago.  MLB is moving to power power power and that is not him.  Could he get with a team that values his skill more, maybe, but for Twins he is not the fit for this current team plans.  I say let the kid get a chance else where if you are not willing to give it to him.  

If we were not so deep in corner OF guys I would feel like he should take over for Eddie next year, but we have too many guys that bring more to plate than he does.

Wade is in baseball's version of the "friend zone". You can't say anything really bad about him, he's a great teammate, he's got some great qualities, he's the perfect fallback option, and he'll find the right person team someday, but it's just not the Twins.

Strike zone awareness and pitch recognition seem to be his best assets on the offensive side of the ball, with limited power to this point in his career.  These are the guys that seem like the best candidates to consider mechanical adjustments to try get more out of their contact.  Easier said than done, but at this stage of his career it might be worth a try.  

I'd take Wade Jr. over Cave

Given the Twins' current needs I'd take neither over a similar right-handed batter.

Hadn't been a big fan of Wade. But the more I saw last year, he grew on me. Think I would agree with those who prefer him to Cave as the 4th outfielder.

I remember when Wade first joined the Twins organization and the report on him was high floor, low ceiling. Does all the little things right but does not have the all star potential. He seems to be fitting that description well and players like that are useful.

On this Twins team moving forward, I see Wade as insurance. Cave is coming to the end of his time in Minnesota and will be priced out of the 4th outfielder role soon though maybe he is still affordable next year for his role. After 2021, Cave is not going to be around (might not be here next year) Wade is controllable and provides that depth insurance.

Meanwhile Rosario has gotten expensive and Larnach, Rooker, and Kirriloff are clamoring for their turns.  There is a good chance Rosario's time is coming to an end but these young guns are going to have learning curves and will likely be up and down a few times.Wade is a better defender  than all 3 of them and could be a pinch runner/defensive substitution type as well.  If they do not pan out, we need a back up plan on the train back and forth from Rochester (or St. Paul) and a good person for that is Wade. (And there is no rush to start burning Celestino's clock while waiting for him to be truly ready)

What if Buxton goes down and we don't have Cave anymore? Kepler moves to Center (we have seen plenty of that already) and Kepler's corner is easily replaced by one of the 3 prospects or Wade. I expect we will see Wade as quite useful over the next 3-4 seasons and then he will likely fade into Twins History as his Arb years run out.