3 Twins players who can replace an injured Jorge Polanco

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.