3 Twins players who can replace an injured Jorge Polanco
One of the biggest improvements the Minnesota Twins made this offseason was structuring the team’s depth in a way that should help prevent any steps back due to an injury. That’s being put to the test right away, as the Twins are going to need to account for the loss of Jorge Polanco for at least the first week of the season.
It was revealed this week that Polanco will begin the season on the Injured List, and it’s unclear how much time he will miss. Polanco hasn’t played at all in Spring Training, and there was some hope that he’d be able to sneak in some time in late-March to get ready for the season.
That didn’t happen, and now Minnesota needs to rely on its carefully constructed depth to make up the difference righ away.
Polanco might be ready before the end of April, but there doesn’t appear to be a timetable set for his return.
Alex Kirilloff is also goin to missing the beginning of the season, but that’s a whole different ball of yarn we’ll pick at later. For now, let’s go over some ways the Twins can replace Polanco in the lineup and tread water while everyone waits for him to make his season debut.
Donovan Solano
The Twins brought in Solano for a few different reasons, but one of them was to help create offense against left-handed pitching. Polanco has struggled in that area throughout his career, but Solano is someone who can start at second against lefties instead of hoping for the best with Polanco.
Since 2019 Solano has batted .321 versus lefties, where Polanco has hit just .265 against lefties throughout his entire career.
Putting Solano at second also allows Rocco Baldelli to get creative with pinch hitting situations and strategize against an opponents bullpen knowing he has Polanco on the bench to come in against right-handed relief.
All of that is to say Solano was already in the plans for second base this season, even if how he’ll begin the season there wasn’t how the plan was drawn up. The blueprint was there to use Solano with Polanco healthy, and not a ton changes in that regard without him in the lineup. The difference now is finding ways to make up the days Polanco would have started while platooning with Solano at second.
Nick Gordon
While there’s a case to be made for Solano to step up for most of Polanco’s absence, there’s a real argument to be made that he should platoon with Nick Gordon.
Gordon has fit all over the place in the lineup since he was called up back in 2021, and this is yet another opportunity for him to help in a time of injury need. While Solano provides a ton of help against left-handed pitching, Gordon can slide into the lineup against righties and be the flip side of the Polanco replacement coin.
Last season Gordon hit .289/.329/.465, which is better than how both Kyle Farmer and Donovan Solano fared against right-handed pitching last season. Farmer isn’t getting his own break out in this thought exercise, but he’s worth mentioning across the board as he is the sand that can fill the jar between the rocks of the guys mentioned.
Solano against lefties, Gordon against righties, and a little bit of Farmer sprinkled between feels like a super solid platoon that could turn Polanco’s injury into a blessing in disguise.
This probably won’t be a case like what the Minnesota Wild dealt with in the absence of Kirill Kaprizov, where the team filled the gap perfectly and somehow got better. It’s not a far off comparison in terms of expectations, though, as Gordon and Solano compliment each other really well offensively and might accidentally help the Twins realize the true depths of its bench talent and they type of lineups that Rocco can put together this season.
Edouard Julien
It’s only a matter of time before Julien makes his mark with the Twins at the Big League level. He has yet to make his debut, but he’s one of the next-in-line prospects who likely won’t have to wait until = later in the season to get called up (Brooks Lee feels like he’s in that category).
The Twins have already gotten some good looks at Julien, even before he made the trip down to Fort Myers for Spring Training. While he was at Double-A Wichita last season, Julien slashed .300/.441/.490 with 17 home runs. That was up from a .267 average, with 144 strikeouts and a 28 percent strikeout rate the year before.
So he was already trending in the right direction as a hitter for the Twins, even if his defense has left a bit to be desired. That’s a slight liability, but it’s not something that should prevent Julien from being inserted into the lineup for his offense — sort of a reverse Max Kepler situation.
Still, with Polanco out for all of Spring Training, Julien has gotten some valuable reps at second base and might have fast-tracked himself as a result. Minnesota can start Solano in a majority of the games that Polanco will miss, and pepper in Nick Gordon and Kyle Farmer as well, but this could be a stars aligning situation for Julien to get the call and prove himself as a contributor who deserves a shot now and one that lasts longer than the duration of Polanco’s absence.