Who will lead the Twins in playing time at DH?

It may or may not surprise you, dear reader, that Trevor Larnach got the most starts at DH for the Minnesota Twins last season.

But it may surprise you that it was less than one-third of the games (49). Moving further down the list is certainly intriguing: Royce Lewis (26), Ryan Jeffers (25), Jose Miranda (18), Matt Wallner (13) and Alex Kirilloff (10).

These are the only players who did so more than 10 times. Now I'm sad about AK retiring again.

In 2023, the Twins operated with a permanent DH for the first time since Nelson Cruz. That was Byron Buxton, who did so 80 times.

The 2022 team might have been the most balanced in team history. Seriously, peep this leaderboard:

• Buxton - 34
• Luis Arraez - 34
• Gary Sanchez - 32
• Miranda - 20

We're now entering season seven of the Rocco Baldelli, and I think we can safely assume the team will go with a "DH-by-committee" approach based on the past. Unless a specific circumstance (Buxton) or potential Hall of Fame DH (Cruz) come around, Baldelli's bunch likes to keep things moving in the spot.

So who is most likely to lead the team in games at DH?

Let's take a look at the candidates (in no particular order):

Behind door 1: Edouard Julien

Our first bachelor is the above-average hitter with no defensive home. Julien is a good bet to lead the team in DH appearances if he can even regress to his career numbers (112 wRC+) rather than either of his highs (135 in 2023) or lows (80 last season).

An added benefit for Julien is that he's likely to make the Opening Day roster with the bumps and bruises the Twins are currently dealing with, so a hot start could keep him in the bigs even when others return to health.

Add to that he's a left-handed hitter, and thus would still hold the long side of a DH platoon, and it feels like Julien is a reasonable bet for this highly thought of honor.

Behind door 2: Jose Miranda

Miranda might be the right guy but at the wrong time. He's not a standout at first or third base, so that's a factor.

But another factor is that he's the primary backup to an oft-injured third baseman (the currently sidelined Lewis) and a first baseman who, for all his success in Spring Training, was still available for $1 million in free agency for a reason.

If Lewis plays 130ish games and France stays on the team all season, Miranda would likely be the guy here.

But the odds of one or both of those bets failing to cash is pretty high.

Behind door 3: Trevor Larnach

Larnach makes a ton of sense here. He carries a lot of the same positives and has far more big-league equity to lean on than Julien. Larnach slashed .259/.338/.434 last season (a 121 wRC+), and also provides the Twins with depth in the outfield, where they're leaner depth-wise than on the infield (even with injuries).

The Twins also signed Harrison Bader to do more than just play against lefties, it seems. That would often shift Larnach into a likely DH role, unless, of course, Bader is playing because a lefty is starting.

It's hard to make any sort of comparison across positions and with the statistics publicly available, but my eye test also suggests Larnach is a better outfielder than Julien is an infielder. Now one would ordinarily think that would favor Julien, that's not the case if he's squeezed off the roster when there's inevitably a crunch and he doesn't provide much at all on that side of the ball.

Larnach is the safe choice to repeat as DH champion — but is he the right choice?

Behind door 4: Someone else

Even the most stacked team in MLB (the Dodgers) has roughly a 25 percent chance of winning the World Series. If that sounds low, it's not — the odds sit lower than one might expect due to the sheer number of teams and length of the playoff gauntlet, among other reasons — and it's in fact quite high.

By comparison, on the AL side the highest percentage is a scant 5.7 percent, and that's the Yankees repeating as pennant winners and cashing in this time.

If that feels flimsy, it's because it is; we have no idea how the pitching staff is going to stem the tide of losing Gerrit Cole for the season, and the offense will definitely have a different look without Juan Soto.

All of this is to say sometimes it's better to just take the field.

Who else is a candidate?

Willi Castro might have an outside shot, though he'd probably need a lot of guys to stay healthy and play every day for that to happen.

Matt Wallner could also be a dark horse, though I suspect if the Twins install a better defensive right fielder — Bader, Emmanuel Rodriguez or DaShawn Keirsey Jr. — it would be at the expense of Wallner moving to left.

I think the real sleeper here is Luke Keaschall. He's not throwing right now due to his recovery from Tommy John surgery, so DH is already a natural fit. He's hitting everything in sight from the right side, and is considered more or less big-league-ready with the bat after posting a staggering 158 wRC+ between High- and Double-A.

He's not going to make the Opening Day roster, but it's like they say — it's not about who starts, but who finishes.

Feel free to vote on the poll below!