5 Twins that need to have a big season in 2023

In 2022, the Twins were in a position to win the AL Central and return to the postseason. However, a lack of depth in pitching and fielding, plus injuries and struggling offense, caused a September that ripped Minnesota out of contention with a pitiful 78-84 record.

So far this offseason the Twins have addressed many of those needs and made the massive move to re-sign Carlos Correa. What Minnesota has done is bought itself at least six or seven tries to contend with a healthy Byron Buxton and Correa in the same lineup, but other things need to click into place for success to happen.

Even Buxton and Correa have question marks around them as the Twins enter this new era, and the pressure is officially on.

While there is a mix of players that the Twins have that are returning from injuries last year, and ones that they resigned, there are five players on this current roster that will play a big role in the Twins 2023 season and need to step up for this new era to be properly ushered in.

This one is a bit obvious. After a crazy offseason, the Twins were able to resign Carlos Correa for a six-year, $280 million deal -- the largest in franchise history. Correa didn't have the greatest season last year but the reason why the Twins re-signed him is because of the effect he has on this team.

While Carlos Correa struggled on offense, his defense was always there. The star shortstop had a .983 fielding percentage and he helped tally 51 double plays.

Correa wasn't offensively efficient last season, at least not compared to his normal standards. That was mainly due to the slow start he had. When he was able to break out of an early slump and ended up hitting .291 with a .366 OBP. Most of the damage that Correa made was in September. In the first 13 games of that month, Correa had a .373 batting average.

Correa is the key to this season, with his defense, bat, and leadership that he brings. The Twins paid him the big bucks because of those characteristics and now they need to get more of what they saw from Correa in September.

This one is also obvious, as Byron Buxton has shown the ability to be an all-time player for the Twins but nearly every year an injury has sidelined him for a long period of time. It has not only caused his stats to plummet but the Twins have always struggled when Buxton is hurt. Buxton did play in 92 games last season (which was his most since 2017) and he was named to his first All-Star Game but was still overall limited due to a knee injury that occurred early in the season.

Now with the addition of Michael A. Taylor, Buxton will finally have a quality backup to be a substitute in center when Buxton needs rest -- or if he gets hurt again. It's an immeasurable weight to have off of his shoulders. With that being said, the Twins are going to need him to stay healthy for a good portion of this year because there will be no Luis Arraez to ignite this team at the top of the lineup. It will be up to Buxton and his counterpart at shorstop, Carlos Correa, to lead this team.

In 2022, it didn't take long for Jose Miranda to remind us of why he was the Twins top minor league prospect at the beginning of the decade. He started out slow with his bat but once he got that figured out, Miranda became one of the top rookies in the league. The young third baseman slugged a .268 batting average and had a .325 OBP.

Miranda also flexed his clutch muscle with his two most notable moments being a walk-off hit against Baltimore and a walk-off home run in a game against Milwaukee when he hit it off of one of the best closers in the league: Josh Hader.

Miranda will start the season at third base but with the Twins trading away Luis Arraez they are asking him to take a step up this year. He showed he has superstar potential during his rookie season but now he's gonna have to be the man that gets the hits for the Twins.