The Twins have announced a series of roster moves, with outfielder Max Kepler going on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to September 14, with a right wrist sprain. Fellow outfielder Matt Wallner has been selected to the club’s roster. To create space on the 40-man, right-hander Drew Strotman has been designated for assignment. Additionally, Louie Varland has been recalled to serve as the “29th man” for today’s doubleheader.
Kepler’s trip to the IL, his second of the year, will add to a very frustrating pile of injuries for the Twins this year. Kepler joins eight other position players who are currently on the shelf, in addition to eight pitchers, giving them a total of 17 players currently on the IL. The Twins spent months atop the AL Central division standings but have seen these mounting injuries drag them down to five games back of the Guardians, with the White Sox in between.
Kepler’s had a bit of a down year but will surely still be missed by the club. His batting line of .227/.318/.348 amounts to a 95 wRC+, or 5% below league average, but he’s still produced 2.0 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs due to his strong work in right field. Since the move is retroactive, Kepler can return in a week. However, with just over two weeks left on the schedule, there will be a narrow window for Kepler to work with.
Wallner, 24, was selected 39th overall by the Twins in the 2019 draft, climbing his way up the minor league ladder since then. This year, he’s split his time between Double-A and Triple-A, getting into 128 games between the two. In that time, he’s hit 27 home runs and has slashed .277/.412/.541, 144 wRC+. He’s walked in an impressive 17% of his plate appearances but also struck out in 29.8% of them. He’s been in the back half of Baseball America’s top 30 Minnesota prospects for the past few years but jumped up to #8 on their most recent iteration, thanks to his strong season here in 2022. FanGraphs views him similarly, putting him in the #10 slot. Both reports compliment his tremendous power but raise concerns about the whiffs. He’ll try his hand at major league pitching, beginning by starting in today’s game.
Strotman, 26, was drafted by the Rays but came over to the Twins in the Nelson Cruz deal last year. Though he was largely a starting pitcher in his first few professional seasons, he struggled enough after the trade that Minnesota tried moving him to the bullpen this year. Unfortunately, Strotman hasn’t taken to the switch so far, as he’s produced a 6.44 ERA in 50 1/3 Triple-A innings this season. That’s come with a strong 51.1% ground ball rate and 24.2% strikeout rate, but a dismal 13.8% walk rate. The control has been a nagging issue for Strotman, who’s posted double-digit walk rates in all of his recent stops.
Despite those command issues, Strotman has some promising traits and can still be optioned for the remainder of this year and one more season. Teams searching for pitching depth could take him on as a project and try to improve that control. With the trade deadline passed, the Twins will have to put Strotman on waivers in the coming days.
Another series of twins moves, pagan still on the team
I think tgry are going yo keep him hoping they can fix him. Red Sox
the same with Braiser. Both guys having devastating years, but have more team control so clubs want to see if they can fix and get a cheap arm.
It’s been 3 years since he was good. He’s overpaid already and another year at that rate while blowing up games is a bad idea imo
Twins season is over, too many injuries killed it.
Every team in MLB has had major, long-term injuries this year due to labor negotiations.
IMO the Twins fell apart when their above average pitching coach went back to collage.
It’s backwards that MLB teams think nothing of giving $1m contracts to marginal players hoping they might “catching lightening in a bottle” instead of giving their primary pitching, hitting, base running and defensive coaches that money……coaches that can make those – and other players – better.
Out of necessity the FO had the go-along / get-along “team playing” manager stick Royce Lewis in CF at the ML level in which he had few skills. Lewis tore up his knee running into a wall and was gone for the season. Apparently they had insufficient back-up plans for Brian Buxton getting injured (now THAT was a big surprise!). One would think they would have had multiple options ready going into spring training. They allowed their excellent pitching coach to leave and made other penny wise-pound foolish moves as they grasped at straws.
The owners need to get the people high in the Twins Baseball Ops department to get their noses out of the statistics on their computers, visit one of the better high school baseball programs in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region, and take lessons in how to play fundamental baseball from the coaches there.
^^^^^^^^
This
I saw Matt Wallner in the Arizona Fall League, big hitter, but I thought Jerrod Kelenic, Christian Pache, Joey Bart were good also, baseballs hard
Foolish 40 man roster manipulation.
Let’s see if Farhan will go after Strotman