The Minnesota Twins made another batch of roster moves to kick off the offseason by outrighting five players off the 40-man roster.
Most initial transactions are straightforward moves to free up roster space. Usually, it’s players on the fringes of the 40-man roster who fans won’t recognize. But every Twins fan recognized that infielder José Miranda, who lost his 40-man roster spot, went unclaimed on waivers and elected free agency.
Miranda’s fate felt sealed when the team decided not to bring him up to the big leagues after the team dumped a third of the roster at the trade deadline. The organization’s decision to outright Miranda shocked some of the fanbase. However, Minnesota’s decision to end Miranda’s time in the organization becomes less shocking the more you look at the numbers.
During the 2021 season, no prospect in the Twins farm system was more famous than José Miranda. The 2016 second-round draft pick slashed .341/.395/.559 with 17 home runs and a 149 wRC+ (100 is league average) since his callup to Triple-A St. Paul on June 29 of that season.
However, Miranda didn’t make his big-league debut until May 2, 2022, but he made a great first impression. Through a half-season’s worth of action, Miranda notched a .285/.332/.477 slashline with 13 home runs and a 131 wRC+.
Unfortunately for Miranda, a mix of poor performance and injuries dampened the hype. Since his first 81 games in the major leagues, Miranda logged a .255/.302/.383 slash line along with a 92 wRC+ and only 15 home runs over 217 games. He went from one of Minnesota’s building block players to someone now on the outside looking in on the 40-man roster.
Player development is rarely linear. Several factors influence whether a player takes the next step in their career. Teams need a solid development plan, and hitters need to progress by quickly addressing their weaknesses. The player must also develop while avoiding pitfalls outside of the player’s or a team’s control.
Miranda is at his best as a hitter when he can generate power. He has 28 career home runs, but he also often hits doubles for power. Miranda logged 15 doubles in his first 81 games during the 2022 season. Since then, he’s only hit 42 doubles over the other 217 games of his big league career. The problem was the several factors that limited Miranda’s ability to collect multiple bases with a single swing.
Pitchers would allow Miranda to get himself out at the plate. Not so much in strikeouts, considering his 17.6 percent strikeout rate was better than the 22.2 percent league average strikeout rate. But his 51.9 percent swing rate (47.3 percent is league average) and his 71.7 zone swing rate (67 percent is league average) show that he had trouble being selective at the plate.
Miranda still could find a way to sting baseballs, considering his 88.9 MPH average exit velocity is just above the 88.6 MPH league average. But when a hitter addresses an overly aggressive tendency, it leads to a below-average 5.8 percent barrel rate, with a 7.2 percent barrel rate being league average.
Even when Miranda made good contact, he still needed to find more ways to elevate the baseball. His 23.8 ft./s sprint speed is ranked in the bottom 1 percent of all major leaguers. Ground balls will likely be outs for him. In 2022, he succeeded because he hit balls in the air at a 57.6 percent rate. Meanwhile, he posted a career-worst 43.5 percent ground-ball rate last year.
That’s why it’s unfortunate he never fully developed in Minnesota. Miranda never could find a way to lay off when opposing pitchers were throwing pitches on the edge of the strike zone. That led to swings at pitches outside the zone, which meant Miranda saw fewer mistake pitches to crush.
Miranda, 27, also suffered injuries frequently throughout his career. A shoulder injury limited him to just 40 games in 2023. He bounced back with 121 games in 2024, but was limited with a back injury. After playing on April 12, Miranda suffered a hand injury while buying water at Target. Miranda spent the rest of the season in St. Paul, playing only 12 games in 2025.
His development wasn’t linear, either. After a down 2023 season, Miranda had a 114 wRC+ 2024 season, where he set a franchise record 12 straight at-bats with a hit. Then Miranda’s issues resurfaced last year, with a 7 wRC+ in just 12 games. How opposing teams attack a player constantly changes over time, but Miranda just can’t quite shake the tendencies that halt his production.
Miranda was never going to be a high-level defender. Primarily a third baseman, Miranda had a -7 outs above average across 78 games in 2024, followed by a -2 OAA rating over 12 games in 2025. First base is another option, but defensive issues remain. Over 92 career games, Miranda only contributed a -4 OAA. Whether he stuck somewhere defensively or moved to a full-time designated hitter role, Miranda was going to stay a starter because of his bat.
Miranda’s fate as a prospect is a negative sign for a franchise in an awkward position, mainly because players can’t take the next step. Lewis was another top-100 prospect who made his debut with the Twins in 2022. He experienced immediate success with 24 home runs, a .980 OPS, and a 170 wRC+. Since then, Lewis has hit 22 home runs, but he’s had a .659 OPS and an 82 wRC+ over his next 176 games.
In 2023, Brooks Lee, Matt Wallner, Austin Martin, and Edouard Julien were among Minnesota’s best 12 prospects in its system. All of them are entering the 2026 season with uncertainty about their future in Minnesota. Players need to do their part and produce on the field. But all these hitters struggling simultaneously doesn’t reflect well on Minnesota’s ability to prepare those players when they get an opportunity to produce.
Entering next season, Minnesota has a new core of prospects on the way who could help them turn things around. Luke Keaschall’s strong rookie season is a positive sign. Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and Kaelen Culpepper are all top 100 global prospects.
Not every prospect can become a team’s rising star. It’s the nature of baseball. Still, after the 2022 season, José Miranda was poised to become a prominent member of Minnesota’s lineup for the long haul. But he was never able to build on his initial success and is now out of favor in the Twins organization because he couldn’t be more selective at the plate or find a way to elevate his hits more consistently.
The Twins must evaluate what went wrong with Miranda’s tenure and ensure they are developing hitters correctly because they need their next wave of young players to pan out to start winning again.
