Minnesota Twins Opening Day Projection: The Twins Bench

Catcher Mitch Garver

Mitch Garver has worked hard to get to where he is currently at as a 9th round draft pick out of the 2013 draft. In his climb through the organizational ladder, he has had to pass catchers like Stuart Turner and John Ryan Murphy. Now he has earned his place as backup catcher to Jason Castro.

At Triple-A Rochester in 2017, Garver hit .291/.387/.541 along with 17 home runs and 29 doubles. It took some time for Garver to get his chance in the majors, but a mid-August Robbie Grossman injury created an opening for Garver to get his chance.

Garver received limited looks but saw time in 23 games for the Twins and slashed .196/.288/.348. Even though he wasn’t able to fully showcase his hitting ability in 2018, Garver should be given the opportunity to platoon Castro in 2018 when the Twins face left-handed starters. There is even the outside chance that the Twins could try to work Garver into some other roles if his bat really starts to take off.

That is the most exciting prospect of Garver on the bench and was at his call-up in August, his bat. What has helped Garver grab the chance at a major league spot has been his hard work to become a solid defensive catcher, something that was in questions earlier in his career. Could Garver turn into the right-handed power bat the Twins have been lacking? The Twins did sign some catchers to push Garver during spring training, but this spot on the bench is all but his to lose.