The Intersecting Futures Of Aaron Hicks and Trevor Plouffe

Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

I have made many observations about the Minnesota Twins so far in 2014. I’ve probably made a couple observations for every player, but I’ll keep the observations I share in this piece to two specific players: Aaron Hicks and Trevor Plouffe.

The simple way to put the observation about Aaron Hicks is that he hasn’t played very well. The Trevor Plouffe observation is that he has looked pretty good so far. Those aren’t exactly deep observations, but sometimes the advanced statistics cloud the super obvious.

We’re only a couple weeks into the season, I know, but if you aren’t always looking towards the future, you’re falling behind. So let’s look into the future of say 2015 and what might be a good idea if Hicks and Plouffe stay on these same trajectories.

It has been assumed for a while that the Twins would soon have an outfield that has Byron Buxton in center and Aaron Hicks and probably Oswaldo Arcia in the corners. Hicks has done nothing to really cement his place in what should be a winning outfield, so who could fill that spot?

Trevor Plouffe.

Plouffe has outfield experience and will soon be replaced at third base by the slugging Miguel Sano. It seems like a guy who was once seen as a lame duck could possibly stick around for a couple more seasons with this simple move.

These moves don’t happen if situations change which is obviously a possibility with 140-plus games left of the current season. Plouffe has been known to be very streaky and he could very well be on the good end of those streaks right now. Maybe something will finally click for Hicks at the major league level this year. Only time will tell.

I might be putting the buggy in front of the horse, but we have cars now so who uses a horse and buggy anyway.