Twins make another roster move and call up Matt Wallner from Triple-A

It’s been a busy week for the Minnesota Twins as far as roster moves go.

Two top prospects were moved around, with David Festa heading back to St. Paul after getting roughed up in the first two starts of his career, while Brooks Lee has been living up to the immense hype he carried with him into his MLB debut. Josh Winder was tossed into the transaction mix, getting the roster spot that Festa forfeited, and now Matt Wallner is reportedly joining the fun.

According to The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman, the Twins are expected to call Wallner up from St. Paul and add him to the roster ahead of Sunday’s game against the Astros. It’s a move that comes after Wallner was sent down earlier in the season amid a horrid offensive slump but after he seemingly corrected things and has been mashing pitchers in Triple-A.

Update (7/7) - The corresponding move was rumored to be Trevor Larnach hitting the IL, but instead it was announced that Austin Martin will be the one opening up his roster spot for Wallner. Martin is heading to the 10-day IL with an oblique strain.

Matt Wallner is getting another chance to prove himself with the Twins

It’s hard to overstate just how bad Wallner was at the start of the season, nor how surprising his offensive nosedive was to watch. He was part of the youth movement that helped power Minnesota to the ALDS last season, but he started out the year hitting .080 in 25 at-bats and posted a -0.1 WAR.

He was trending hard in the wrong direction, but did exactly what he needed to do once he went back down to St. Paul. Over his last 33 games, Wallner is hitting .331 and has a .888 OPS over the entire course of his time with the Saints.

Wallner seems to have tapped back into the hitter he was last season, and he’s re-joining the Twins at exactly the right time.

Wallner’s turnaround isn’t the first one the Twins have witnessed this season. Jose Miranda was down bad last season, with an offensive slump and bad injury luck piling up to the point where his future with the team was in question.

Miranda has answered back with a historic season. He recorded 12 consecutive base hits, tying an MLB record and setting a new franchise record, and has transformed into one of the hottest hitters in the league.

That’s a lofty bar to set for Wallner but the vibes are the same. Miranda has tapped back into who he was in his rookie season and then some, and the hope is that Wallner can also re-ignite his offense and help continue what has been an incredible season for the Twins at the plate.

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