Minnesota Twins: Assessing the future of Wander Javier

The Minnesota Twins have already had to navigate through their share of injuries to begin this young season. Unfortunately for Twins fans, we have more bad news to report on the injury front.

Minnesota Twins prospect Wander Javier will be missing the remainder of the 2018 season. Javier will undergo shoulder surgery and faces a six-nine month rehab. This is surely disappointing news for the 19-year-old shortstop, however, this will be a minor bump in the road for Javier.

MLBpipeline currently ranks Javier number five in the Twins Minor League system. However, Minnesota has arguably the most shortstop depth in baseball so this represents an opportunity for another young player to step up.

One player to keep an eye on is Yunior Severino, currently ranked number 30 in the Twins system. Severino is one of the many quality prospects that the Atlanta Braves were forced to forfeit during the offseason. Severino is a raw 18-year-old middle-infield prospect with a bright future with the Twins.

Wait, what does that mean for Javier?

Javier has advanced rapidly through the low minors and this injury will slow things down for him. Unfortunately, he will miss valuable opportunities to develop his game more. However, Javier has a bright future with the Minnesota Twins and this injury will not change anything.

He has played 50 games in the Minors and has a .301/.386/.497 slash line with six home runs and 28 runs batted in. Javier is still learning the nuances of playing shortstop defensively and still has room to improve. However, he has a cannon for an arm and can easily handle the position as he matures.

That is of course only if Nick Gordon and Royce Lewis can’t handle the position beforehand. Gordon and Lewis are both capable of playing that position in MLB and that will always complicate things for Javier as he progresses through the system.

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However, Gordon has struggled at times defensively at short and is probably better suited for the keystone in MLB. Lewis, on the other hand, has the potential to be special at that position for a long time in MLB.

So, where does that leave Javier?

The Minnesota Twins have a lot of question marks in the infield as we look past the 2018 season. Brian Dozier, Eduardo Escobar, and Joe Mauer could all potentially be playing elsewhere for the 2019 season. It’s unlikely all three of those players will be gone, however, there will be a lot of available jobs in the near future.

One player who the Twins still have multiple years of control over is Miguel Sano. However, this writer believes Minnesota should use those years of control as the centerpiece to a megadeal to acquire the pieces needed for this team to contend long-term. This is where Javier will come in, eventually.

Either way, Sano won’t be the everyday third baseman for the Twins as this team moves forward and should shift over to first base. He definitely has a cannon for an arm but his body has already shown it can’t hold up at the hot corner. Logan Morrison has done nothing to convince Minnesota to exercise his option next season, although even if they did, it’s only a one-year option and has no bearing in Javier.

Javier has the arm to make any throw on the diamond so he will be able to handle third base. He projects to hit for enough power to justify playing him there and has the potential to be a real offensive asset as he matures.

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However, for any of this to happen, Javier has to come back healthy for the 2019 season. His future is still bright enough that “you gotta wear shades”. The only difference is, we’ll just have to wait a little bit longer to witness it in the Twin Cities.

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