In April, injuries are beginning to pile up on the Minnesota Twins’ lineup.
They have placed Matt Wallner on the injured list with left hamstring tightness after he left Tuesday night’s game. The Twins are “optimistic” that Carlos Correa can avoid an IL stint after experiencing wrist soreness. Willi Castro left Wednesday’s series finale against the New York Mets because of mild right oblique tightness.
Correa replaced Castro defensively at shortstop, but not before Mickey Gasper could pinch-hit for Minnesota’s utility man, signaling that Correa may still be recovering from his wrist issues. The Twins sent Jose Miranda down to Triple-A St. Paul on Saturday, and they later placed him on the shelf with an unusual hand injury.
That means it was all eyes on the Triple-A roster for Twins fans Wednesday afternoon. St. Paul is full of names fans are waiting to see reach the big leagues. Prospects like outfielder Carson McCusker, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and infielders Yunior Severino and Luke Keaschall were all names to watch on a potential call-up to the majors.
Instead, the Twins decided to let those players continue developing in St. Paul and make a commitment to bring another hitter up to Target Field.
The Twins traded for Jonah Bride, a right-handed hitting infielder, from the Miami Marlins in exchange for cash considerations. Bride and the Marlins were going through a divorce of sorts. Miami designated him for assignment on Tuesday after starting the season by going 4-40 with a .300 OPS, and collecting -0.5 fWAR in 12 games for the Fish in 2025. He also has produced a career-low 84.5 MPH average exit velocity (88.5 is league average) and a 33.3 percent strikeout rate, which is also a career-worst.
Bride’s early-season stats and Miami’s willingness to send him to Minnesota for cash indicate this is a low-wattage move. The Twins likely did it to protect prospects from being called up when they aren’t ready instead of adding a player they feel will be around long-term.
Still, Bride is an intriguing player.
Bride has spent four big league seasons with two teams. He began his career in Oakland, posting a .192/.296/.232 slash line, -0.4 fWAR, and a 61 wRC+ (100 is league average) with the Athletics. Bride’s first season in Miami in 2024 was a career year. He hit .276/.357/.461, generating a 123 wRC+ with 1.0 fWAR in 71 games a year ago, all career-highs. Bride’s 11 home runs and 39 RBI last season were also career-bests.
However, his 71-game sample size last year may be more of an outlier than his career numbers. Still, there’s a way for Bride to return to form and find a middle ground between last season and the rest of his career from a production standpoint.
Bride must find a way to hold his own against fastballs. According to Baseball Savant’s run value, Bride’s career number against the heater is minus-10. Still, he found a way to have a career-best .281 average against fastballs in 2024.
Another reason for Bride’s relationship in Miami being on the rocks was that he got away from his pull numbers. From 2022 to 2024, Bride had a 48.7 percent pull rate, hitting 29.4 percent to center and 22.9 percent to the opposite field. All 11 of his home runs in 2024 went over the fence on his pull side of left field.
Compare that to his early struggles in 2025. Bride has only four hits, but only one of them has left this infield, and it was a single the other way to right field. Pulling the ball doesn’t mean everything to every player. Still, it played a significant role in his career-best 2024 campaign, when he logged a 49.5 percent pull rate.
Helping out Bride’s career season in 2024 was his ability to stay away from strikeouts. Even if Bride’s hitting doesn’t come back to 2024 form, he still can create value for the Twins with other aspects of his offensive production. He has a good eye at the plate, as evidenced by a 20.3 percent career strikeout rate that’s better than the 22.2 percent league average. Pair that with a 10.7 percent career walk rate, and it’s significantly better than the 8.4 percent league average walk percentage.
The other interesting move for Minnesota comes from its change in defensive alignment. Bride has played at the corner infield spots in his big league career. He has 63 appearances at third base, 52 games played at first base, and 35 at second. Bride’s positional flexibility places him in the Gasper camp of platoon guys who can play around the infield. Likely, though, it feels like the Twins will keep him primarily at either of the corner infield spots.
The Twins can still make other roster moves if they add Correa or Castro to the injured list. If Correa goes to the IL, it would likely mean moving Lee to shortstop, opening up an opportunity for Bride at the hot corner while Minnesota waits for Royce Lewis to return.
However, if Castro is unavailable, they could move Brooks Lee to second base while Bride plays at third. That would also give the Twins depth at first base behind Ty France. Gasper and Edouard Julien are options behind him at first, but Bride can also slide into that backup role.
Injuries to position players are stacking up for the Twins. With Minnesota’s front office likely hesitant to use this opportunity to call up a hyped prospect, the Twins instead swung a deal to add a veteran infielder in Bride. How long Bride remains married to the Twins roster will be up for discussion.
Bride could be a placeholder who stays on the roster for a few weeks before the organization lets him go once everyone gets healthy. Still, if he can find just some of his 2024 form, the Twins can get some good value from this deal while adding to their depth.
