The Minnesota Twins had a solid bench last season as they made the playoffs. With personal improvements and roster additions, it looks even better now.
The Minnesota Twins have spring training underway and even a few games with real box scores under their belt as well. As they start to get ready for the season it seems only appropriate to start giving our best guesses at who will be making the team for Opening Day and in what roles. Earlier we went through the starting lineup, today we continue with the bench.
In 2017, the Twins had a bench that played well in just the right moments. There could have possibly been a little more talent on the bench as none of those guys were truly going to ever push any of the starters for playing time outside of when starters needed a rest day. The fact that when called upon this group performed is what made it a good bench for the Twins during the 2017 season.
Chris Gimenez was the veteran of the group serving primarily as the backup catcher but was a jack of all trades with the ability to play first, third, and even come in as a relief pitcher. In a season in which he logged the most plate appearances of his career, Gimenez hit .220/.350/.382 and added 7 home runs and 9 doubles.
Ehire Adrianza was one of the Twins utility players who had the ability to play across the infield and even logged some innings as an outfielder. On the season Adrianza slashed .265/.324/.383 and legged out 9 doubles and 2 triples. That included a seven-game hitting streak that he put together from June 21st to July 21st when he appeared in games.
Kennys Vargas spent about half of 2017 on the twins bench hitting .253/.314/.444 and showed off his power with 11 home runs. Zack Granite also was able to get a solid amount of playing time becoming the 4th outfielder from a defensive standpoint. At the plate, he started to get used to the big leagues by hitting .237/.321/.290.
Now for the slightly embarrassing part, I have left a player off of the break down from last year that was included in the initial starting lineup prediction. Something big changed between that post and this post, the Twins signed Logan Morrison. Morrison looks to be the Twins starting designated hitter and back up first baseman at this point.
The signing also sends confusing messages about Miguel Sano and where he will be to begin the season. Trying to read between the lines of the Twins moves it appears that Miguel Sano will make that starting lineup, if he isn’t suspended, as the Twins third baseman. Morrison will DH, which means the first member of our bench is…