4 Twins players fighting for their futures ahead of 2024 season

Jose Miranda

Not everyone is fighting for their future in a negative sense. Just a handful of months ago Jose Miranda was on the wrong side of this debate, but he's since started to get back to the player he was looking to be when he made his debut back in 2022.

So much has happened with Miranda and his situation in the last year. He began the year as a guy the Twins thought could become the team's everyday third baseman, but a string of bad injury luck combined with even worse timing threw that plan out of whack. Miranda spent s ton of time on the IL and rehabbing at St. Paul, while also slumping hard when he was on the MLB roster.

Not only was he bad at the plate -- Miranda had a -0.6 fWAR and an anemic 56 OPS+ in 40 games -- was also a defensive liability and ended up going on the 10-day IL in July before ending his season on the 60-day IL in September. While this was all happening, Royce Lewis was storming back onto the scene as a key piece of the core and doing it in Miranda's shoes.

He was a potential trade candidate this offseason and looked to be boxed out of a role at both corners of the infield, but the tide has started to change in his favor. Miranda is hitting .455 with a 1.045 OPS in 11 plate appearances so far this spring, which is a small sample size but a big step in the right direction.

While he's not going to be the everyday man at third, there's a potential path for him back to the majors over at first. He spent the bulk of his spectacular rookie season at first and with questions about how healthy Alex Kirilloff can stay he could end up back there as part of a platoon alongside Carlos Santana.

It's hard to overstate just how hard Miranda fell, but he's starting to make his way back and his future is already looking brighter than it did earlier this winter.