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.