In a Twins season filled with setbacks, nobody endured more disappointing results in 2024 than Edouard Julien. His sophomore slump contributed to the offense's inconsistency, which significantly eroded the Twins' chances of making the postseason.
Which they did not make.
Julien as a rookie second baseman in 2023 played a key role in the Twins' AL Central championship. Batting first or second 82 times in 109 appearances, Julien hit .263 with a .381 on-base percentage to go with 16 home runs and 16 doubles. His production was 30-35 percent better than the league-average hitter. Having one of the most patient approaches in the league, Julien balanced it by swinging enough at strikes.
A season ago, Julien's patience deteriorated into full-on passivity.
Letting way too many good pitches go by, Julien cratered at the plate, producing a slashed-up slash of .199/.292/.323 with a 33.9 percent K% in 301 plate appearances. A demotion that included two stints at Triple-A totaling 49 games produced some bounce-back results with St. Paul, but his final 92 plate appearances with the Twins in August-September were even more depressed: .188/.250/.259 with one homer, six walks and only a slightly improved 30.4% K%.
And if it wasn't a fastball, he really had no chance.
Edouard Julien did not rule again.
Complicating hopes of a comeback, Julien regressed against left-handed pitching and on defense. He had given some hope in Spring Training a year ago that his approach against lefties had improved, and he was better at second base in the early part of the regular season.
By the end of '24, it was clear any gains against lefties and with the glove had eroded.
Julien just has so many things to work on. Not to mention: Going into Spring Training, manager Rocco Baldelli planned for Julien to work at first base in addition to second. The recent addition of Ty France would seem to make Julien at first base less of a significant possibility, though he started there Wednesday.
The other recent addition of outfielder Harrison Bader, as it relates to Trevor Larnach and potential at-bats available for Julien at DH, reduces Julien's possibilities to start there. Brooks Lee seems to have the inside track to start at second base, but even if he shows poorly in the Grapefruit League, the Twins have options there in addition to Julien: Willi Castro, Luke Keaschall (once he is cleared to play the field in about three weeks), Payton Eeles.
Heck, what is Steve Lombardozzi up to?
Plus, the likelihood of an eight-pitcher bullpen leaves room for a four-hitter bench, which gives Julien a narrow path to making the team out of Fort Myers in any capacity. A restored Julien still makes for the Twins best option as a leadoff hitter, but holding a reserve spot for him makes less sense because he ought to play somewhere consistently. Certainly to start the season.
Julien needs to start looking soon like the '23 version on both sides of the ball. Spring Training is tricky place to evaluate whether he's got his mojo back. (Mojeaux?) It's very likely that Julien needs to have more success at St. Paul before the Twins can comfortably say he'll rule again in the majors.