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Thursday’s afternoon’s 13-5 shellacking of the Pirates gave the Twins home crowd a chance to see a number of Opening Day hopefuls all in the same lineup. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli made it clear early in spring training that one of the themes of camp this year would be watching and evaluating some younger players who have shown promise but not consistency. When asked about one such player, Jose Miranda, he talked in general about what he wanted to see from them.
“You could probably turn to two or three or four other players who have done some good things at the major league level and ask a similar question, and it would make sense,” Baldelli replied. “The response will probably be the same. I keep saying this, but it’s a healthy thing for an organization to have motivated guys that are going out there and want to earn their spot and their opportunities and their at-bats."
In Thursday’s afternoon game, it seemed to be working. The team initially faced Pirates pitcher Jared Jones, a promising 23-year-old who will be in the majors this year. After battling him, they feasted on some of the relievers, scoring 14 runs in the fifth and sixth innings. “What an awesome sight to see a bunch of guys out there, working their butts off, competing, trying to show everybody here what they’re capable of,” Baldelli said after the game. “All doing it. You draw up that picture, that’s the picture you want to see.”
All six players who are competing to fill out three back-end roster spots were painting that pretty picture. It seems like a good time to check in on where they are with Opening Day just two weeks away.
Jose Miranda
Entering spring training, I would’ve thought Jose Miranda’ s spot was almost assured. That opinion hasn’t changed. The 26-year-old is far from a finished product but he showed in his at-bats today why he deserves to have at-bats invested in him.
In his first at-bat versus Jones, Miranda took a called strike on the outside edge that probably should have been challenged. But when Jones followed it up with a slider in the same area, Miranda drove it to right field for an easy single. In his third at-bat, after drawing out a long at-bat, he smacked a fastball into right-center field for a long single. He’s doing what the Twins want him to do at the plate.
Defensively, he’s also a decent fit. He isn’t an embarrassment at third base. It’s a little surprising we’ve only seen him have three starts at first base this spring, but that seems mostly about convenience; Baldelli needs to get Ty France, Edouard Julien, and Mickey Gasper at-bats, and that’s one of the few positions they play, so Miranda gets crowded out. He should make the roster and get 400+ plate appearances this year.
Brooks Lee
In my mind, Brooks Lee and Julien represent the pivot point for the roster. If either shows enough to earn the everyday second base job, he’s the 12th (of 13) position player, and it makes the 13th player a matter of what Baldelli values most from his bench. If not, things get quite a bit trickier.
Lee’s glove separate him from the other guys on this list, and I suspect that will be why we’ll see him on the roster on Opening Day. Baldelli’s spring training lineups have made it clear that Lee’s ability to cover at shortstop is, at the very least, a nice luxury. The only other backup option to Carlos Correa is Willi Castro.
But Lee has to show he’s not overmatched offensively, which isn’t clear. What was clear was how the Pirates were attacking him: lots of offspeed stuff, especially early in the count. Lee confirmed postgame that he’s been seeing that most of the spring, and how he reacts to that will be worth watching as these last two weeks of games play out.
Edouard Julien
Julien showed just how dangerous he can be in 2023 when he posted a 130 OPS+ over 408 plate appearances before unraveling last year. He spoke early in spring training about retooling his swing to better handle offspeed pitches, which he thought was his Achilles heal.
The Pirates disagreed and paid the price yesterday. Julien saw a total of five pitches in his first four at-bats and smacked fastballs all around the stadium, going 3-5 with two doubles. (And he was robbed of a third in his first at-bat.) He hasn’t been nearly as productive for the spring, but we’ll see if this is the start of something that could position him as either a platoon player at second base or the dangerous bat as the 13th man on the roster.
Mickey Gasper
The 29-year-old Gasper has gradually seen his starts with this younger group increase despite being the older outsider. (He joined the Twins when he was traded from the Red Sox this offseason.) He’s immediately demonstrated his offensive skill set: hitting for average and getting on base. He went 0-2 on Thursday but also had three walks. The Pirates liked to challenge him inside, which makes sense for a player who hasn’t hit more than 12 home runs in a season in the minors. His long-term outlook is undoubtedly tied to how he handles those.
Short term, the switch-hitter might be the best option if the Twins decide that either Julien or Lee isn’t ready. He’s been getting starts at both first and second base, similar to Julien, and been solid defensively, which he was again yesterday, including making a nice catch on a foul ball down the first base line. He is setting a default demarcation line for this roster: someone is going to need to beat out this spray hitter to make this roster.
Austin Martin
I might’ve said that exact sentence about Austin Martin when camp started, but I think that’s Gasper’s job now. Martin hasn’t hit particularly well, has only made one start in the infield, and Thursday was only his fourth start in center field this spring. Even when it comes to being a platoon or late-inning defender for the Twins’ left-handed hitting corner outfielders, Martin is limited to playing left field. He is be being squeezed by the development of some other players on the roster, but the 25-year-old also needs to show he has something in his toolbag that a major league team values. We haven’t seen that yet.
DaShawn Keirsey Jr.
DaShawn Keirsey Jr. has put himself on the radar by having a decent camp offensively and an outstanding one defensively, reinforcing his skillset in the team’s mind. Seemingly every game, he’s made an excellent defensive play, including in Thursday’s game where he started in right field. If everyone else stays healthy, there isn’t really any role for a left-handed hitting defensive outfielder on the Opening Day roster. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the first callup if there is an injury to any of the outfielders, even over Martin.
The Twins haven’t had many of their positional prospects launch into the stratosphere when they had their first taste of the majors. But that kind of success is the exception, not the rule, in the major leagues. Several Twins players have shown that they have a chance to carve out a career or even thrive at an All-Star level if they make some incremental advancements in their games. This spring, the Twins have been providing a little tough love to encourage those advancements, and Thursday’s game was a single data point suggesting they may be close to paying off.
Who are your favorite young players on the Twins roster? Comment below.
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