Every year, the All-Star Futures game gives baseball fans a great opportunity to see some of the league’s future stars on the big stage during All-Star weekend, and this year the Minnesota Twins will have two representatives in the 2022 version of the event: Matt Wallner and Spencer Steer.
Matt Wallner was the Twins’ competitive balance pick (No. 39 overall) in 2019. Since then, the Forest Lake, Minnesota native has shown his tremendous power but struggled with injuries that made it hard for him to put it all together. That’s changed this year for our preseason No. 16 prospect.
In 73 games at Double-A this season, Wallner has slashed .282/.422/.585, good for a stellar 1.007 OPS. He’s had 33 extra base hits, including 20 homers and he’s leaned a bit more on his cannon of an arm to improve his defense. He’s still striking out quite a bit (102 times!!!), but he deserves this slot.
For Spencer Steer, I wrote that the preseason No. 23 prospect had to prove that his breakout 2021 season was no joke. He’s done that and more this season and will be shooting up my prospect board post-draft.
After slashing .307/.385/.591 with 8 homers in 35 games, he was called up to Triple-A, where he proved he was more than capable of handling the challenge. He slashed .243/.330/.533 with 11 homers in 36 games at the higher level too.
Both players have stepped it up in a big way in 2022 and it it will be exciting to see them perform with some of the best young players in the minors. With that being said, both are two of the Twins’ strongest trade chips at the upcoming deadline.
Steer, who plays mostly third base, and Wallner, who’s a corner outfielder are both blocked from a lot of playing time in the majors. They’re two of the most attractive players the Twins have available, and the Oakland Athletics have checked in on Steer specifically.
This isn’t the first time the Minnesota Twins have been represented by some of their young talent in recent years. Josh Winder (2021), Jordan Balazovic and Royce Lewis (2019), Alex Kirilloff and Lewis Thorpe (2018), Nick Gordon (2017), all represented the Twins over the past five years. It’ll be a fun game to watch once again!