What Harrison Bader Means to Matt Wallner: Anti-Platooners, Rejoice!

It’s no secret the Twins have liked to employ platoons. At times over the past handful of seasons, the Twins have run out full lineups of right-handed hitters against southpaw starters. It’s a strategy that’s given playing time to righties like Kyle Farmer, Manuel Margot, Donovan Solano, Kyle Garlick, and Jordan Luplow, often at the expense of younger lefty hitters (who aren't all that young anymore) whom many Twins fans have wished to see have a chance at some left-on-left action, like Matt Wallner or Trevor Larnach.

Well, if that fan is you, then you’re in luck. You know, maybe. On Saturday, manager Rocco Baldelli commented on how he intends to use newly signed outfielder Harrison Bader.

“He's going to play. We're going to get him a lot of work in left field to reintegrate him out there to left where he hasn't played a ton since college," Baldelli said. "But he has experience out there, so I think we're going to get him out there. At our ballpark, when you're talking about the corners, [that's] a much bigger playing surface than right field.

"So I think putting one of the best outfielders in the game in left field as opposed to right makes some sense, and there will be times this year where he's going to play some center field, too. But Buck is going to remain our primary center fielder, and Harrison is going to fill that role.”

Now, this may be reading a bit too deeply into a single quote, but there seems to be something notable here. Bader is going to be working on adapting to playing left field. He has not played outside of center field since 2018, so it might take some time for him to adjust to the different angles, and the Twins intend to first work him out in left, in addition to his work in center—a necessary step as he assumes the role of the team’s fourth outfielder.

However, the team's choice of left field for him is peculiar. There is validity to preferring a rangy outfielder in left at Target Field, given its dimensions, but focusing on left field limits the Twins’ options a bit.
Bader will play in one of the corners against lefties, assuming Buxton is also in the lineup. He’s not a prototypical lefty masher, but he’s held his own enough (121 OPS+) to feel fine if he’s giving Wallner or Larnach the day off against a left-handed starter.

However, if Bader isn’t going to play much right field, the Twins don’t have many other options to start over the lefties.

There are some questions about which of Brooks Lee, Edouard Julien, Ty France, and Austin Martin will make the team out of camp, but that doesn’t change the calculus. Outside of Bader, Wallner, and Larnach, the only other player on the team who has played an MLB inning in right field is Willi Castro. Castro made 40 appearances in right field in 2022 for the Tigers, four in 2023 for the Twins, and none last season. He’s got twice that number of appearances in center and three times as many in left.

And let’s talk about Castro. Despite technically hitting right-handed as a switch-hitter, Castro has been a below-average hitter against lefties and has not had a season in which he’s been at least average from the right side of the plate since 2020. If the pitcher is left-handed, Bader is in left field, and Castro is in right, then the Twins are playing a below-average bat in a position where they’ve clearly been apprehensive about playing him. 

Beyond Castro, the only other right-handed outfielder on the 40-man roster is Martin, who has played left and center field in the majors and has only one appearance in right at any level (2022 at Double-A). His arm troubles have rendered his throwing somewhere around “poor,” and he’s not a leading candidate for a right-field platoon role, if he even gets a roster spot.

Every other outfielder on the 40-man roster (e.g., Emmanuel Rodriguez, DaShawn Keirsey Jr.) is left-handed. So what does this mean?

I suppose, if Baldelli’s comments are meaningful and informative (which is a big if), then we might see Wallner or Larnach get the nod against lefties. Maybe it’s an every-other-game thing, but someone has to patrol right field.

Neither has had much success at all against lefties in their careers. Wallner has a career OPS of .510 (19 OPS+) against lefties, and Larnach isn’t much higher, at .570 (58 OPS+). They both stepped it up a bit last season, with Wallner reaching a .611 OPS (74 OPS+), and Larnach sitting at .579 (63 OPS+). Neither is exciting, and it would be nice to have a real platoon partner for them, but they’re not catastrophically far below Castro’s performance last season (.674 OPS; 89 OPS+).

We saw Max Kepler get plenty of opportunities against lefties, and although he never mastered it, he eventually reached the point where he was average-ish (102 OPS+ in 2023 and 2024, across 179 plate appearances). He also had a valuable glove no matter whom he was facing, a luxury that Wallner and Larnach don’t have, but beggars can’t be choosers if you’re pining for them to get more opportunities.

Playing one of the two of them in right field also reduces a little roster bloat. Margot and Farmer were primarily rostered to hit lefties last season. Farmer was a bit above average (112 OPS+) and Margot sat right at league average (101 OPS+). Of course, Twins fans would be ecstatic to see those numbers from Wallner or Larnach against lefties, but those numbers aren’t so high that they justify a platoon role, especially when neither Margot nor Farmer were plus defenders.

If the Twins do indeed play Bader in left against southpaws and let Wallner and Larnach split time in right, that leaves a little more flexibility on the bench. It also allows the two lefties to acclimate to big-league left-handed pitchers more consistently. Everyone’s happy.

This is all yarn being spun from a single quote, though. Don’t get your hopes too high. I’m just Greggory.

John Bonnes contributed to this report.