The Minnesota Twins offense couldn’t get anything going when Jorge Polanco was out of the lineup for three straight games due to ankle soreness last week. Since returning, the Twins’ offense has started to look better.

Polanco has been one of the Twins’ best offensive hitters this season. He may not have the best batting average like Luis Arraez, the most home runs like Byron Buxton or the most polished hitter like Carlos Correa, but Polanco is the driving force for the Twins offense.

This season he’s batting .227, with five home runs and 26 runs batted in. The key stat of his is his RBIs. With runners in scoring position, Polanco is hitting .319 with 19 runs batted in.

Polanco was out of the lineup for three games against the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals. In those games, the Twins failed to score with bases loaded numerous times, and their offense wasn’t producing runs.

In those three games, the Twins scored a combined six runs (two in each). As soon as Polanco returned to the lineup, Minnesota scored 10 runs, including a two-run shot from Polo himself.

Polanco leads the team in runs batted in, with Max Kepler trailing him by only one. For so many years Polo has been the Twins’ best/most consistent player. There’s a reason he’s the longest-tenured Twins player on the roster.

He’s also posted a wins above replacement of 1.3. That might not be the best on the team, but he’s such a valuable player for this Twins ballclub.

Minnesota’s offense suffered when Polanco was out of the lineup for those three games. He’s been clutch with runners in scoring position, and he’s the driving force that gets the Twins’ offense going.