Minnesota Twins: Could A.J. Pollock be a good fit in Minnesota?

The MLB Free Agent Market has stalled a little bit after a busy and frantic Winter Meetings, but the Minnesota Twins have continued to stay out of things. At this rate, the team will be out on almost all of the major free agents. This means they’ll have to look elsewhere to fill their big needs.

It’s clear that they need a shortstop and a catcher, but one other potential need is a right-handed outfielder. With the exception of Kyle Garlick, none of the other Twins corner outfielders (Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach, Nick Gordon, Max Kepler, Matt Wallner, Mark Contreras) on the roster are righties. The team needs help, and one potential fit for the roster could be A.J. Pollock.

Could A.J. Pollock be a good fit for the Minnesota Twins in 2023?

The one-time All Star and Gold Glove award winner struggled in 2022, slashing .245/.292/.389 over 138 games, but he could still be a solid addition to the team for several reasons. We’ll start with his defense.

Pollock hasn’t been an elite defender in a while, and even though he played primarily left field last year, he can also play center field and right field when needed. The Twins need a player with that kind of versatility for when Byron Buxton and potentially Kirilloff are eventually added to the injured list.

On the offensive side, Pollock may not have played well last year, but he was an excellent hitter between 2020 and 2021. Just take a look at his numbers over that time frame:

• 172 G, .290/.342/.547, 37 HR, 103 RBI, 11 SB, 42-125 BB-K ratio

There’s a very real chance that Pollock’s numbers are going to be somewhere in the middle of 2021 and 2022, and if the Twins continue to miss out on every single free agent, the team will have to look elsewhere for value. Pollock could be just the person for the job.