The Minnesota Twins’ offense has been going through a rough slump. Since May 1, the team has produced a .523 OPS, 50 wRC+, and a league-leading 26.8 percent strikeout rate. Worse yet? Minnesota’s lineup owns a 25.7 percent strikeout clip through the entire season, the third-highest in baseball.
There is no one person to pin the lineup’s struggles on. Every hitter from Carlos Correa to Joey Gallo to Byron Buxton has struggled at the plate. Help is on the way with Kyle Farmer set to rejoin the team soon. But Farmer won’t be enough. The Twins lineup needs a spark, and it might take more than Farmer to provide a boost to the hitting core.
It’s time to put up the bat signal and call up top prospect Brooks Lee from Double-A.
Calling Lee up might seem desperate. However, with the way the Twins lineup is hitting right now, desperate seems like the right term to describe the offense. Some fans will scoff at the idea of Minnesota being willing to call up a top prospect earlier than expected. But there is precedent for such a move last season when then-top prospect Royce Lewis received his big-league call-up on May 6.
The Twins promoted Lewis to the majors from Double-A when it seemed like Correa was going to miss multiple weeks with a broken finger. It was a perfect opportunity for Lewis. He crushed Double-A pitching and could acclimate to the big leagues in a temporary situation. Rocco Baldelli protected him by placing Lewis towards the bottom of the batting order to gain some confidence in the majors.
He went on to hit .300/.317/.550 with two home runs in only 12 games last year. Minnesota had a big role for Lewis before an ACL injury ended his season. Lewis is expected back sometime this season, but it will be weeks before he can return to the Twins. In that brief span, Lewis produced on the field and also appeared to make an impact in the clubhouse. Minnesota went 7-5 when he was in the lineup.
Lee finds himself in a similar situation as Lewis. Last year’s eighth-overall pick wasted no time producing in the minor leagues. Lee hit a combined .303/.389/.451 with four home runs in 31 games between rookie ball, High-A, and Double-A in 2022. Lee picked up right where he left off this year with an .818 OPS in 25 games for Double-A Wichita. His efforts even earned him the most recent Twins Minor League Player of the Week award.
At age 22, Lee would be making his big-league debut ahead of schedule. However, he has baseball pedigree from playing four years at Cal Poly, being the son of the school’s head coach, and spending a good amount of time at big-league camp during Spring Training. Sharing some time at third with Farmer and even occasionally giving Correa a break at shortstop can also give Lee plenty of at-bats. If the Twins follow the blueprint they established with Lewis, it could provide the offense a jump and give fans a taste of Lee in the big leagues before he fully earns an everyday starting position.
To get up to the big-league level, Lee needs a spot for everyday playing time. Jorge Polanco and Correa aren’t going anywhere so third base is the spot for Lee. Therefore, the Twins would need to have Farmer and Lee up to the big leagues while José Miranda and Willi Castro play in St. Paul.
Miranda has been disappointing this season considering how he played last year. He put together a strong rookie campaign with a .268/.325/.426 with 15 home runs in 125 games in 2022. After a disappointing finish last year, he showed enough promise for the Twins to trade Gio Urshela, clearing the way for Miranda to take over third. Miranda even slimmed down to stay in better shape for the 162-game grind, so much so that Correa called him “sexy.” However, Miranda has slashed .219/.275/.313 with 3 home runs and a 65 wRC+ clip through 35 games this season. As of Wednesday, he was officially optioned back down to St. Paul.
A demotion isn’t so much a punishment for Miranda as it is a chance for him to get right. The Twins sent Trevor Larnach down last week for that same reason. Miranda has a low 15 percent strikeout rate with a 6.5 percent walk rate. He’s fallen into the habit of swinging too much at pitches outside the zone resulting in weak contact. When he does make contact on pitches in the zone, he’s been hitting ground balls into the dirt six percent higher than in his rookie season. Some time in Triple-A should give him a confidence boost in a lower-pressure setting, which might be what Miranda needs to get back on track. Miranda has a lot of talent that can benefit the lineup when he’s right.
Optioning Miranda sends a message to the rest of the lineup. The Twins are trying to win games, and the current offensive output is not getting the job done. They can send Miranda down because he has options, whereas they’d have to outright waive a veteran player like Max Kepler.
Miranda is struggling, but he isn’t the only Twins hitter who needs to be better at the plate. The team got a boost from Lewis coming to the big leagues last year, even if his stay was brief. Lee can do the same this year for a struggling Minnesota offense. After all, it worked for the Twins last season, why not try and see if another top prospect can provide some energy to a team that needs it?
