Minnesota Twins: Who’s the odd man out in the outfield?
Arcia’s hot start may force Minnesota Twins’ hand with other outfielders
After a sluggish start, the Minnesota Twins’ offense seems to be coming back to life after scoring 14 combined runs against the Los Angeles Angels over this past weekend’s three-game series.
Players like Joe Mauer, Trevor Plouffe, Eduardo Nunez, Eduardo Escobar and Oswaldo Arcia all seem to be finding their groove. However, one glaring statistic – or in this case a few – is the overall production of the outfield.
Arcia did not enter the season as the Twins’ starting outfielder but rather an on-the-bubble fourth option to stick out there.
With the likes of Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano, the Twins figured to have one of the brightest young outfields in the division.
Through 12 games, those three are a combined 17-for-106 with four RBI’s and no home runs.
Sano did finally break through and hit his first homer of the year on Monday and Eddie Rosario on Tuesday but overall it has been nothing short of a disappointing start for the outfield.
With Arcia now hitting the way he is and putting together some solid at-bats, manager Paul Molitor finds himself with the dilemma of having to keep Arcia in the lineup.
And if Arcia is going to keep producing, there’s no problem with that.
It’s unlikely the Twins will remove Sano from the lineup and move him from right field, even though Plouffe is now hurt. With Nunez swinging such a hot bat, the Twins can afford to have him start at third until Plouffe returns.
So that leaves the Twins with one outfield spot left between Buxton and Rosario. Who is the odd man out?
Neither have done enough to prove they are capable of being the everyday starter at this point in the season and really there is no need to panic as it is still early.
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But with Max Kepler on the big league roster, is it possible the Twins may look to demote one of them?
The possibility is there and both have had their struggles
So who should go? Personally, I choose Buxton. As bad as Rosario has looked this season, Buxton still looks just lost and his confidence is taking a major hit. I’m not saying Rosario’s confidence is not as important but Buxton is highly regarded as the future of the outfield.
Especially with Sano and Arcia currently locked in at two of the outfield spots, someone is going to lose at-bats. I’d prefer to see Buxton go back down to Triple-A, find his swing, gain some confidence and start to put things back together.
It would not only be more beneficial for him to continue to get at-bats but having him sit and just watch the games instead of playing is not how one should develop a player. Not everything works like Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.
Keep in mind, this is still a very young outfield, even with Arcia. Sano turns 23 this year, Rosario will be 25, Buxton will turn 23 in December and Arcia will turn 25.
There is plenty of time for all these players to become potential stars, the Twins just need to figure out how to approach each one’s development vs. the greater good for the team.