Twins Option Edouard Julien; Royce Lewis Expected To Return Tuesday

The Twins have optioned second baseman Edouard Julien to Triple-A St. Paul, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Dan Hayes of The Athletic reported last night that the move was likely on the horizon, as the Twins need to clear roster space for the return of infielder Royce Lewis, who’s expected to join the team tomorrow for their series opener against the Yankees.

Julien, 25, graduated from top prospect status to the Twins’ apparent everyday second baseman last year when he hit .263/.381/.459 with 16 homers in 408 plate appearances as a rookie. Minnesota felt comfortable enough with the Canadian-born slugger at second base that they traded stalwart infielder Jorge Polanco to the Mariners this offseason when looking for ways to pare back the payroll.

Julien hit .223/.330/.500 with seven homers through the end of April, but he’s since fallen into a slump that’s seen him post a bleak .169/.274/.181 slash over a span of 95 trips to the plate. He’s still walking at a hefty 12.6% clip but has also fanned at a 38% rate during that slump (and in 34% of his plate appearances on the season overall). Julien’s extremely patient approach has helped him walk in nearly 15% of his MLB plate appearances, but that patience can border on passivity as well. Jonathan India is the only qualified hitter in baseball who’s swung at fewer pitches than Julien’s 37%.

The monthlong slump will make Julien the roster casualty for the return of Lewis, who’s been Minnesota’s best hitter when healthy dating back to his 2022 debut. Injuries have marred Lewis’ career to date — he’s twice torn his right ACL and has been out since Opening Day due to a quad strain — but the 2017 No. 1 overall draft pick is a .313/.369/.564 hitter (159 wRC+) in 282 MLB plate appearances. He also swatted four homers in 26 postseason playoff appearances last year (in addition to homering in his first at-bat of the 2024 regular season).

With Lewis reclaiming the regular third base job and Julien headed to St. Paul, the Twins’ infield will take on a different look. Jose Miranda has been the team’s primary third baseman and, after a lost 2023 season, has reemerged as a key contributor. The 25-year-old Miranda (26 later this month) is another former Twins top prospect who impressed as a rookie in 2022, popping 15 homers and batting .268/.325/.426 in 483 plate appearances. He tried to play through a shoulder impingement that eventually required surgery last season, hitting just .211/.263/.303 in 40 big league games.

Now that his shoulder is back at full strength, Miranda looks like his old self. He’s taken 151 turns at the plate and delivered a quite-productive .280/.311/.469 slash with six homers and nine doubles. Miranda doesn’t walk much (3.3% this season, 5.3% career) but puts the ball in play at a very high rate (14.6% strikeout rate this year, 17.4% career) and has plenty of extra-base pop. Though he played some second base in the minors, it doesn’t seem likely he’ll do so at this point. He’ll rotate between the infield corners and designated hitter, but utilityman Willi Castro figures to pick up the bulk of playing time at second base. The switch-hitting Castro is out to a .260/.335/.420 start and has experience playing all over the diamond.

The Twins could’ve made a more aggressive roster decision, cutting ties with a struggling veteran instead. But Carlos Santana has rebounded from an awful start to bat .253/.340/.434 over the past 30 days. Kyle Farmer and Manuel Margot both have ugly numbers on the whole, but as Hayes notes, Margot is hitting left-handers fairly well and Farmer is valued both for his defensive versatility and his leadership in the clubhouse. Optioning Julien also preserves depth in a way that parting with someone like Farmer or Margot would not; both players could reject outright assignments to the minors in favor of free agency.

The Twins’ infield crunch falls into the “good problem to have” bucket of cliches. Julien’s demotion certainly doesn’t change the organization’s view that he can be a valuable long-term contributor, but he’ll head to Triple-A for what’s likely to be a relatively short-term reset. Presumably, in the event of an injury in the infield or at just about any non-catcher spot among the team’s position-player corps, Julien would be the first man back up. (Castro could slide right back into a super-utility role or into an everyday outfield role.)

From a service time vantage point, Julien’s slump could potentially cost him, however. He entered the season with 135 days of MLB service. Had he stayed in the majors for good, he’d have been a slam-dunk Super Two player following the 2025 season. It’s still possible he reaches that designation but is now far from a sure thing. Julien has already reached one full year of MLB service, so this assignment won’t impact his timeline to free agency, but it could potentially cost him a fourth trip through the arbitration process.