A Thought on Each Player on the Twins' Opening Day Roster

The Twins announced their Opening Day roster and who will be traveling with the team to St. Louis to start the year against Sonny Gray and the Cardinals on Thursday. Here is one thought on each player who made the Opening Day roster.

With the injuries that have popped up in the last week, there may be a few players you don't expect.

Catchers

Ryan Jeffers

Jeffers will likely start the larger share of games at catcher this season, and also get a handful of games at DH. Jeffers is projected to be worth between 2.0 and 2.5 WAR, which is solid for a starting-caliber catcher.

Christian Vazquez

Vazquez
will split time relatively evenly with Jeffers behind the plate and serve as a veteran option known for handling a pitching staff well. Vazquez may not be what he once was offensively, but he can still provide some positive value this year.

Infielders

Willi Castro

Expect to see Castro at a variety of positions.

He played 25 games at five separate positions, and it was even hinted that he could see some time at first base, too. Castro is projected to be a slightly above average hitter, and play all over the diamond.

He'll likely see some time at second base and third base quite a bit with both Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee starting the year on the injured list, but Castro will also likely serve as the backup shortstop and get time in the outfield as well, depending on team needs.

Carlos Correa

The Twins' most valuable player last year, Correa, will be even more valuable if he can stay on the field for a more significant number of games. Reports are that his issues with plantar fasciitis are more under control, so hopefully, those issues are not a problem going forward. Along with Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis, the offense will go how Correa goes.

He is projected to be one of the Twins' most valuable players, where ZiPS projects him to be worth 4.1 WAR this year.

Ty France

France was signed for a non-guaranteed $1 million contract and has tore the cover off the ball during Spring Training. While Spring Training results must be taken with a grain of salt, France has been much better than he was in 2024, when he struggled with injuries and poor performance.

France will see most of his time as the Twins first baseman, and will likely get some time as the designated hitter as well. Expect to see him in the lineup most days, and especially against lefties.

Mickey Gasper

Acquired in a trade with the Red Sox for reseveralliever Jovani Moran, Gasper was expected to serve as depth at a few different positions. With injuries to other players and Gasper showing some promise at the plate, Gasper forced the Twins hand and has started to carve out a role on the roster.

Gasper got his first taste of the big leagues with the Red Sox last year, and is still looking for his first major league and will hopefully get that early in the year with the Twins.

Edouard Julien

Julien was first called up in 2023 and looked awesome, hitting .263/.381/.450, which was good for a 130 OPS+. Julien experienced a sophomore slump, so he will be looking to bounce back and hit more like he did in 2023.

Hopefully, he will be less passive at the plate and can start to do some damage, as he showed when he was first called up.

Jose Miranda

Miranda will likely start most of his games at third base with Lewis out, but he will likely get some time at first base and designated hitter as well. Miranda took a step forward in 2024, posting a 112 OPS+ and being worth 1.7 bWAR over 121 games played. Miranda will look to build on last year and cement himself as a key piece in the lineup, not just for 2025 but for future years as well.

Outfielders

Harrison Bader

Signed to be the fourth outfielder, Bader will likely see a chunk of his time against lefties. Bader has the ability to play center field along with both corner outfield spots. If he isn't in the starting lineup, don't be surprised if he comes in as a defensive replacement, pinch runner, or even as a pinch hitter in certain situations as well.

Byron Buxton

Like every other year in his career, the key is for Buxton to stay healthy. When healthy, Buxton has provided very good value and looked like a top-10 player in baseball. In 102 games, he was worth 3.7 fWAR, or 3.6 bWAR.

Buxton will play most days in center field, but also get some time at designated hitter to hopefully keep him healthy for even more games this coming season.

DaShawn Keirsey Jr

Keirsey got his first taste of the big leagues last year, and will serve as the Twin fifth outfielder to start the season. He may pinch run, come in as a defensive replacement, and get some at bats as a left-handed bat in the right matchups. Playing his age-28 season in 2025, time will tell if he can carve out a role on the major league squad.

Trevor Larnach

Larnach took a big step forward in 2024 and will look to build off that and truly cement himself as a middle-of-the-order bat for the Twins. Larnach will see most of his time in left field, but he did lead the team in starts at DH in 2024, so expect to see that a good amount as well.

Matt Wallner

Wallner joined a long list of guys who group up in Minnesota who ended up playing for the Twins. I was lucky enough to get to watch him in college at Southern Miss, and I could tell back then that he was a special player, when he broke all of Brian Dozier's hitting records with the Golden Eagles.

ZiPS projects Wallner to be worth 3.1 WAR this year, and hit 23 home runs.

I'll take the over on the amount of home runs he will hit this year.

Starting Rotation

Pablo Lopez

Lopez will serve as the Twins ace this year. He will likely throw near 200 innings and give the Twins a chance to win when he has the ball. His ERA went up slightly from 2023 to 2024, but he looked great in the second half, pitching to a 2.77 ERA after the all star break.

If he can build off that, expect him to provide quite a bit of value at the top of the rotation.

Bailey Ober

Ober had solid last two seasons, being worth a combined 6.0 bWAR. He's solidfied himself as a member of the rotation and the Twins will look to see him take another step forward this year.

Joe Ryan

Ryan was having a great season before missing the last six weeks with a shoulder injury. With the injury behind him, Ryan will look to have a fully healthy season and build off the successes he had last season, where he pitched to a 3.60 ERA and recorded 147 strikeouts over 135 innings pitched.

Chris Paddack

Paddack has been an average starter in his first few years with the Twins. He's dealth with various injuries, going back to his time with the San Diego Padres. He's projected for roughly 100 innings pitched and hopes to be pretty effective, even if he isn't fully healthy for the entire season.

Simeon Woods Richardson

It might feel like a long time ago, but Woods Richardson started last season with Triple-A Saint Paul. He was given an opportunity about a month into the season and took advantage of that opportunity. He pitched to a 4.17 ERA over 133.2 innings.

Fatigue may have been a factor toward the end of the season, so he will look to learn from his first full year in the big leagues and continue to grow as a pitcher and become a starting pitcher that Rocco Baldelli and Pete Maki can count on for the entire season.

Bullpen

Jorge Alcala

Alcala rode the shuttle between Target Field and Triple-A Saint Paul in 2024. He will slot into a middle relief role to start the year, with the upside of having the opportunity to take on higher leverage roles if things go as planned.

If Alcala can stay healthy, the projection of the Twins having the best bullpen in baseball may, in fact, come true.

Danny Coulombe

Signed in the offseason, Coulombe will be the lone lefty out of the bullpen to start the year. Expect to see him used not just against left-handed hitters, but against righties as well. Coulombe will likely fill the role that Caleb Thielbar has filled over the past couple of years out of the bullpen.

Randy Dobnak

Maybe the biggest surprise to make the Opening Day roster, Dobnak will serve as a multi-inning relief option out of the bullpen. He will look to put his past experiences with injuries behind him, and look to tap into the success he had when first called up prior to signing an extension.

Dobnak will likely be one of the first arms sent back to Triple-A if the Twins need a fresh arm, but expect to see him back at Target Field a few times throughout the season.

Jhoan Duran

Duran had a down year (for him) in 2024, but he was still an above average relief pitcher. He may no longer be throwing 104 mph fastballs, he can still be a top-15 reliever in baseball. If he's as productive as he has been in the past, you can expect to see Duran in some of the highest leverage spots out of the bullpen throughout the season.

Griffin Jax

Jax was the best reliever for the Twins in 2024 and put himself firmly in the discussion as one of the best relief pitchers in baseball. Jax will be a big reason the Twins' bullpen is successful, as he is projected for 73 innings pitched with 87 strikeouts, per ZiPS.

Cole Sands

Sands took a hold of a higher leverage relief role in 2024 and all signs point to him not letting that go. Sands has been a solid piece and is projected to be just as, or more, effective as he was last season. He's projected for more than one strikeout per inning and will be one of the first few guys Rocco turns to in high-leverage situations to start the year.

Justin Topa

Topa was acquired in the Jorge Polanco trade last year, and missed the majority of 2024 with a knee injury. Now healthy, Topa will slot into a middle relief role and the Twins hope he can get back to his 2023 form, where he was worth 1.6 bWAR out of the Mariners bullpen.

Louis Varland

Another Minnesota kid, Varland is going to pitch as a reliever to start the year.

He still has the ability to throw more than one inning at a time, but one can expect him to be a more typical reliever in that he will throw max effort for shorter stints, as opposed to trying to throw five to six innings as a starting pitcher.

He's shown flashes in the past of being a potentially lethal weapon out of the bullpen, so it will be fun to see him be unleashed as a full -time relief pitcher in 2025.