Matt Wallner crushing a home run in St. Paul was a sight for sore eyes
It appears the Matt Wallner that Twins fans know is starting to finally wake up.
Just about every bat is ice cold right now for the Minnesota Twins, but the first one to get sent off to try and thaw out in the minors was Matt Wallner.
He was stunningly bad, slashing a miserable .080/.273/.240 before being sent down to Triple-A to try and shake off whatever was holding him back. There's still work to be done but Wallner showed the first signs of life we've seen out of him at the plate in the Saints' game on Thursday night.
In the top of the ninth inning, Wallner launched a 438-foot home run over the centerfield wall to bring the Saints within a run. While they didn't end up winning, that blast from Wallner was a victory in of itself
Matt Wallner looked like his old self with the Saints on Thursday night
It's hard to watch Wallner absolutely destroy a baseball and not have a smile creep onto your face. Not only is it great from an overall baseball perspective, but knowing how badly Wallner wants to get back makes it feel even better.
Such a pretty site. @Matt_Wallner with a 438-foot shot to straightaway center to make things interesting in the ninth. A three-run blast, his first in his first game on what we hope is just a brief reset with us. pic.twitter.com/TYw2v7IUg4
— St. Paul Saints (@StPaulSaints) April 19, 2024
Not only did he show some power at the plate, Wallner displayed some serious speed as well on the basepaths as well. He wheeled out an infield single in the seventh inning, beating a double play and scoring a run as a result.
It cut the deficit to 4-1 at the time, but once again seeing that sort of play out of Wallner was the real takeaway.
Want to know what world class speed looks like. @Matt_Wallner gets down the first base line in 2.14 seconds as a run scores and cuts the deficit to 4-1 pic.twitter.com/lnAIudBKNX
— St. Paul Saints (@StPaulSaints) April 19, 2024
Those two plays are much closer to the guy the Twins need Wallner to be than who he was at the start of the season. He was uncharacteristically bad, something that was obvious with even the small sample size we've been given.
He played 76 games in the majors last year, slashing 249/.370/.507 while hitting 14 home runs. He was instrumental in being part of the youth movement that got Minnesota's season back on track and helped end a 19-year postseason losing streak and it's why there was so much excitement about what he'd do this year.
Much like how we're trying to rationalize the objectively awful start by the Twins, the season is still young. Wallner has plenty of time to get himself right and channel the player who looked so great last season.
If his performance on Thursday for the Saints is any indication, it appears whatever rust he had is being dusted off.
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