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Minnesota Twins: 5 players that must step up after Byron Buxton’s injury

By Chris Schad

Jake Cave of the Minnesota Twins rounds the bases after hitting a triple. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Jake Cave of the Minnesota Twins rounds the bases after hitting a triple. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – SEPTEMBER 08: Luis Arraez #2 of the Minnesota Twins hits a single in the seventh inning against the Cleveland Indians during the game at Target Field on September 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Indians defeated the Twins 5-2. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – SEPTEMBER 08: Luis Arraez #2 of the Minnesota Twins hits a single in the seventh inning against the Cleveland Indians during the game at Target Field on September 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Indians defeated the Twins 5-2. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images) /

Luis Arraez

It may be odd to see Luis Arraez‘s name here for a couple of reasons. First, he’s been one of the biggest impact players on the team despite not even being on the Opening Day roster hitting .342 with three home runs and 42 RBI. Second, he’s not even an outfielder, but the Twins have been forced to put him in left field thanks to the slew of injuries in the outfield.

As the Twins roster will shrink back down to 25 players if they make the postseason, the band-aids that they’ve used in LaMonte Wade Jr. and Ryan LaMarre will likely be left off, meaning the Twins could need to have Arraez continue to learn the position on the fly.

So far, the experiment of Arraez in left field has had decent, but not spectacular results. FanGraphs has charged 18 balls that have been playable and Arraez has made 15 of those plays, giving him a revised zone rating of .833. His UZR, which calculates runs allowed or saves compared to the average fielder, is a little lower as his -0.8 rating would extrapolate to a -8.8 rating over 150 games.

In a perfect world, the Twins would love to throw out a trio of Rosario, Max Kepler and Jake Cave in the outfield. With both Kepler and Cave dealing with injuries, however, it’s a real possibility that Arraez could be the one that has to make the plays in front of him to have a chance.

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