Minnesota Twins: Nunez’ Selection a No Brainer
In news that may come as a surprise to anyone but fans of the Minnesota Twins, Major League Baseball officially announced the All-Star rosters on Tuesday and Eduardo Nunez was among the selections.
Nunez, who is putting up career numbers thus far, was the lone representative for the Minnesota Twins.
Entering the season as a super utility player, Nunez quickly made the most of his playing time before Paul Molitor made the decision to go with Nunez as an everyday player.
And Molitor’s faith has been rewarded as Nunez has hit a team-best .316 with 11 home runs and 34 runs batted while settling in nicely as the leadoff hitter for the Minnesota Twins.
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In a lot of ways, this may be one of the best story lines of this year’s All-Star Game that will no doubt go unnoticed.
Nunez first began his career with the New York Yankees and was long given the unfair expectation of being the replacement for Yankees legend Derek Jeter.
And while he performed well, it wasn’t enough for the Yankees to believe he could become a viable future option as shortstop.
Yes, Minnesota is the not the media circus that New York is but since coming to the Twin Cities, Nunez has experienced a career renaissance.
And this season being the culmination of his hard work and dedication to doing whatever the Twins ask of him.
Since joining the Twins, Nunez has seen his batting average increase every year and finally saw his role increase this season.
After seeing time in 72 games in each of the past two seasons, Nunez has already appeared in 73 games this season and has more than doubled his career high in home runs.
He has also surpassed his career best in RBI’s and is just three stolen bases away from his career high of 22.
Yes, it appears Nunez has arrived for the Minnesota Twins, which is why they should hold onto him for the foreseeable future.
A thought I will continue to beat into the ground because think about it, who else do the Twins have as an immediate shortstop answer?
It remains to be seen whether Jorge Polanco will be an option at shortstop and I really don’t see any need to rush Nick Gordon to the big leagues at this point.
So why not hold onto Nunez? At this point, I don’t see a reason to completely sell every asset as I do believe the Minnesota Twins are closer to contention than this season has shown.
And at the very worst once Polanco or Gordon really is ready to take over, Nunez could be a solid mentor or fall back into his super utility role once either of them are ready.
But we may be getting too far ahead of ourselves here because really the only question that should be asked is if we are going to see his helmet fall off in San Diego or not.