Is this the Minnesota Twins offense, or will they eventually come around?
The Minnesota Twins’ offense is in the midst of a rough patch, as they’ve scored zero, one, four, five and two runs over their last five games.
Minnesota’s offense has been volatile all season long. They either scored nine, ten and eleven runs in a game, or they struggle to get one run across the plate. When the offense struggles, it trickles down to the rest of the roster.
There are no games where one player is three for four and threatening to score every time. The offense is either really good or just flat-out awful.
Minnesota’s daily lineup is good too, which is why these struggles are dumbfounding.
That is a consistent lineup Rocco Baldelli throws out there. Now, you can make the case that they should make some changes if they can’t get any consistency, but that is arguably the best lineup available.
Byron Buxton started the year hot but is 0-for-23 in his last seven games. That needs to change, and there’s no place for the Twins’ best hitter to be in this big of a slump.
You can add Nick Gordon more, as he’s caught fire as of late and was the spark plug last season.
Kyle Farmer rejoining the lineup is nice to see after he left for an extended time with that scary face injury. However, it comes at the cost of sending Jose Miranda back to St. Paul. It was the correct move, and Farmer has rewarded Minnesota with some offense. Hopefully, this gets Miranda back on track.
When Miranda is rolling offensively, he’s a difference-maker on a nightly basis.
Sure, the Twins can make moves at the MLB Trade Deadline to improve the offense, but I think they have to ride this out. We’ve seen this so many times in Minnesota; they start cold and eventually heat up as the weather does.
They have a lot of good players, and someone like Carlos Correa will not hit a buck 93 all year long. Eventually, he will come around, and he has recently.
Twins offensive stats:
- Batting average: .218 – 30th
- On-base percentage: .298 – 29th
- Slugging: .381 – 22nd
- OPS: .679 – 23rd
- RBIs: 157 – 21st
- Runs: 164 – 21st
- Grounded into double plays: 45 – 20th
Let’s say the offense hypothetically doesn’t come around; then what? The alternative and most feasible options are for Brooks Lee and or Royce Lewis to join the team. I fully expect Lewis to join the Twins at some point in June when he’s healthy and ready to go. He’s a difference maker, and we saw he can carry the team on his shoulders like he did last year.
The Twins fell apart when he went down with his second ACL injury, and he was massive in Correa’s absence.
Lee is healthy but was a first-round draft pick last season and has yet to play a full year of professional baseball. He’s playing well in Double-A, hitting .267 with 11 RBIs and an OPS of .750.
He’s an option too, but you don’t want to rush him. Though, I would be shocked if he doesn’t get an opportunity at some point this season.
Someone to keep an eye on is Edouard Julien. He showed some potential when he was up with the team in New York, and he’s looked good in Triple-A.
The Twins’ offense has not looked good, but they have the talent to turn things around. If things don’t, they should look to Lee or Lewis – as the trade deadline is months away.
