The Twins Were Right to Gamble on Julien

41 minutes ago, saviking said:

I'm not saying Julien is a plus defender but I think when he came up he was worried about making mistakes and thinking too much which is understandable. Now that he has garnered confidence he's free to just react to the ball. All he has to be is an average defender and Julien is good as gold. 

I would concur on that assumption  ...

50 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

 

2 hours ago, RpR said:

It does not matter if he makes the play, eventually , the extra time it takes him to throw to first, is all some batters need to beat the throw.

His throws to first need a large First Baseman to stop them from being a wild throw.

Julien is not an excellent defender and may never be one. However, he has made the plays. He does look stiff and obviously, from the comments from many on TD, he makes some fan nervous when the ball is hit to him. Still, the outs are made and nobody has been safe at first base yet because Julien took too long to throw the ball. His feeds to second base and turns on double plays are shaky as well but, again, the outs are made. Worrying is just wishing for bad luck. I'm hoping that Julien, and several other Twins, improve defensively. In the meantime, I'm watching to see if the outs are made. As rough as Julien has looked, the plays have been made thus far.

Julien is no longer a prospect. The fans have turned on him

3 hours ago, MGM4706 said:

Ah, please stop saying his fielding has improved. 

Ahh.... No.

37 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

I really like Julien, but this FO wanted him in AAA this year. He's only playing because polanco got hurt twice. 

 

His presence in the starting lineup suggests otherwise.

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

He was demoted after polanco came back the first time, right? 

So what? He's in MLB right now.

4 hours ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

I think it's time to stop with the "Julien is a butcher at 2B and will never improve" vibe. He certainly started out as a butcher as do many young players first up to the bigs, and the stats and objective analysis says he's improved. Is he great? Not a chance. Is he better? Absolutely. To those who don't want to acknowledge what the objective data says about his fielding improvement, I can only say look again with an open mind. You're were right that he stunk on D when he came up. Players can and often time's do improve. Julien has and chances are, he will continue to improve in the field if he puts in the work.  Oh, and climate change is real too. 

Conversely, his hitting hasn't been good for the last the last month. The league has adjusted to him, now let's see if he adjusts. By the way, Wallner hasn't looked so great lately either although he is adjusting. We can't expect all young players to come up and immediately excel like Lewis. Lewis is a rare breed. 

We have a quality young player in Julien with a lot of potential and years of low cost control. It would be foolish to trade him now IMHO unless we can get a Ober level or better young starting pitcher in return. That seems unlikely to me so I  think the Twins should keep him, have him field 1000 grounders and throws a day in the offseason at 1B and 2B, and play for the upside.  

To what extent? Can he be an everyday 2B? That's the real question. Is moving from unplayably awful to just bad enough of an improvement to hand him 2B over the course of a full season? Obviously the amount of pain you're willing to tolerate defensively is tied to his hitting when we're talking about playing time, but the data you're referencing (Idk how much stock you're willing to put into defensive metrics) isn't good, or even ok. Younger players don't look as bad defensively breaking into the majors unless they're actually that bad. The learning curve defensively isn't close to what they face on the hitting side of things. You don't see IF prospects come up and not be able to handle routine plays the same way you might see guys struggle at the plate. 

7 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

I heard on the radio yesterday that Julien failed to cover a base. I'm not sure a television watcher would have caught that,

Yes, it was obvious, but had absolutely no effect on the play. It was a mistake that had no consequence, which is the kind to make because every player/person makes mistakes and learns from the event.

23 minutes ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

The numbers cited are actually quite positive and moving in the right direction -- and smill SSS.  Does he look smooth and slick?  Nope, and he doesn't need to.  Actually, lots of IF prospects come up and struggle defensively -- Trevor Plouffe, Corey Koskie, even Rod Carew -- and then they develop, just like they do at the plate.  I like Polanco a lot, but he's a lot less than awesome with the glove too.  Give Julien some time.  At this point he's been playing professional baseball for about 3 years.  I'm willing to forgive a lot for the right offensive profile, and he certainly has that. 

Overall they aren't though. It's an incredibly SSS. Julien has been a part time 2B since Polanco came back, so yeah, "since July...." sounds a lot better than "3 weeks," which is roughly the number of starter innings he has been in the field over that period of time. Do they? You just listed 3 guys (also Plouffe was not a developmental success on the defensive side) that span nearly 60 years. At some point the exceptions prove the rule right? I would trade some defense for offense in this lineup too.

11 hours ago, Ghost of Kirby Puckett said:

I don't understand this, at all. The hype? He has hit everywhere, literally his entire existence on earth. I don't know what guys like you and Twinstalker need to see, or if you're really seeing it at all. The guy rakes everywhere. He has significantly improved in the field from what I saw several years ago,  to today. It's obvious even to an untrained eye,  you do not need advanced metrics to spell it out for you. 

The only thing I agree with you on is if the Lee train is coming and the Twins are unwilling to move Royce to center, they'll have a log jam at 2b, 3b, 1b and DH. If Julien could net another Lopez type arm, I'd move him. But it'd have to be a really good arm. 

I only care what he hits in the big leagues. He’s been fine but the jury is always out on young players until the league sees them and they see the league for a while. As far as his defense goes he is not good. If you know anything about baseball that is pretty clear. He can get better but passable is his top end result. 

On 9/6/2023 at 3:05 PM, gman said:

I'm constantly amazed by how many people on this site are so ready to knock players who haven't made the Hall of Fame by their 20th game in the majors. So for those of you too lazy to do any research the following:

2019 - Julian was drafted  but didn't play because of an arm injury. Part of the reason he was available n the 18th round.

2020 -No minor league season

2021 - Julian's first season in professional ball

2022 - second season in professional ball

2023 -- That's this year for some of you, his third season.

He played 167 games at second base, prior to his time with the Twins. So it just might take him a little time to be come a gold glove level player.  But he does lead the Twins in OBP and of the top six Twins in OBP the list includes Julian, Jeffers, Lewis, Wallner and Kirilloff., the sixth being Solano.

FYI - Wallner was also drafted in 2019. So for those who are both knocking the front office for bringing up guys too early and too late, at least look to see when a guy got his first minor league playing time.

 

I was a fan hoping Wallner got more playing time, but his hitting has really gotten worse lately. It appears pitchers know how to pitch to him. He is getting fewer hits and is striking out more. I am not sure he is the answer to solving the Twins need for a good hitting outfielder.