3 Twins players taking advantage of 2024 spring training

Spring Training is officially in full swing, and it's giving the Minnesota Twins an opportunity to take a real good look at some fringe pieces of the roster and how they might fit into the big picture.

Opening Day is less than a month away, and while the Twins roster appears to be mostly set there's still room for some movement. Specifically, a handful of guys are taking full advantage of their time down in Fort Myers to either keep taking things to another level or get back to who they were before injuries and poor play derailed things.

It's likely that only one or two roster spots remain up for grabs, but it's a long season and seeds of development planted now could end up sprouting later on.

3 Twins players taking advantage of 2024 spring training

Jose Miranda, 1B/3B

It was a rough season for Jose Miranda last year. He slumped offensively and then got injured, a combination that didn't so much push him back as it did push him away from key roles in Minnesota's lineup. He looked to be on the right track back in 2022, slashing .268/.325/.426 with a .751 OPS.

Let's not undersell just how insane his stretch from early-May to late-July was that year. Miranda slashed .335/.374/.571 in 50 games, driving in 37 RBI and adding 20 extra-base hits to boot. He did this all as a rookie, which is why there was such insane amounts of hype around him heading into last season.

Things ground to an uncomfortable halt after that, as Miranda suffered a shoulder injury last spring, was optioned to St. Paul in May, and was a shell of the rookie we saw when he got called back up in July. Miranda had a -0.6 fWAR in 40 games and an anemic 56 OPS+ in 152 plate appearances. He was also a defensive liability and ended up going on the 10-day IL in July and then going on the 60-day IL in September.

In the meantime, Royce Lewis ascended to the everyday third base role and became an absolutely essential piece of the roster. Alex Kirilloff, struggles aside, seems to have locked down a role over at first base which boxes Miranda out of both paths he had to being a piece of the core.

It's impossible overstate just how hard his fall from grace was, but it appears he's starting to bounce back in Spring Training. It's a small sample size, but Miranda is hitting .455 with a 1.045 OPS in 11 plate appearances. That's absolutely insane, and while it's not concrete enough to say that he's back to where he was as a rookie, it's the most encouraging signs we've seen out of him since then.

Miranda a fringe candidate to make the Opening Day roster but it's likely that he ends up starting the year at St. Paul to keep shaking off the rust. He has a minor league option left, which gives the Twins some wiggle room on how to approach what could be his last chance to prove himself, but all signs seem to be as positive as we've seen in a while.