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The reasons for a second-half surge, an AL Central title and a streak-breaking playoff trip for the Twins in 2023 were varied.
But it's hard to imagine where the Twins would have been a year ago without the contributions of three rookies: Royce Lewis, Edouard Julien and Matt Wallner.
Lewis was the headliner with his penchant for big hits — grand slams in the regular season, just regular homers in the playoffs. Julien displayed both patience and power, finishing seventh in the Rookie of the Year voting and paving the way for an offseason trade of Jorge Polanco. Wallner hit enough long homers to make up for his strikeouts, finishing the season with a slugging percentage of .507.
Each player rode a wave of talent mixed with some anonymity to first-year success. But as is often the case, counting on that success to carry over to year two has been difficult — something Patrick Reusse and I talked about on Monday's Daily Delivery podcast.
For Lewis, of course, it has been all about health. He looked to be picking up right where he left off in the season opener with a homer and single in his first two at-bats, but a strained quad while running the bases knocked him out for two months.
His anticipated return Tuesday comes at the expense of the struggling Julien. His average had dipped all the way to .207 before he was officially sent Monday to Class AAA St. Paul, where the Twins hope he will regain the proper mix of patience and power while taking fewer third strikes.
Julien will be reunited with Wallner, who earned an early demotion to St. Paul by starting his second season with the Twins by going 2-for-25 with 17 strikeouts. His struggles have continued at Class AAA with a .200 average, but Wallner has shown signs of progress lately.
Both players might be heartened by Jose Miranda, who battled his own sophomore slump a year ago after a strong rookie season. Miranda fought his way back to the Twins earlier this season and has been one of their most productive hitters this season with a .280 average and .780 OPS.
If not for Miranda's success or Lewis' return to health, Julien might still be on the Twins. That the Twins are still on a 90-win pace without much of a contribution from last year's star rookies says a lot about their depth.
And if Lewis, Wallner and Julien can join the party this season and shake what ails them, this offense could be as potent later this summer as it was at the end of last year.
