Rocco Baldelli discusses Edouard Julien’s demoting by the Twins.
The Twins manager acknowledges that deciding to demote Edouard Julien wasn’t simple.
The Minnesota Twins’ week has been oddly bittersweet. It was virtually confirmed late on Sunday night that Royce Lewis would be making his victorious comeback to the starting lineup, and Tuesday’s announcement rung true in almost every aspect.
The announcement that Lewis would eventually return was accompanied by the revelation that Edouard Julien would be moved to Triple-A St. Paul in order to free up space on the roster. The fact that Minnesota lost 5-1 in Lewis’s first game back, despite the fact that he reached base three times, including on a single home run, added even more to the week’s mixed feelings.
Even while it made some sense after taking a step back, Julien losing his roster spot came as a bit of a surprise.
Although he wasn’t having the finest season by any means, he wasn’t the worst hitter in the clubhouse and his defense was improving. Nevertheless, he was the least effective of the young Twins players currently on the field, so a trip to St. Paul could be beneficial for him.
All season long, Julien has had difficulty maintaining consistency. While he has had moments, he is also leading the league in strikeouts that are not swinging and is hitting.During his last seven days with the squad, he scored 182 runs and finished 5-for-38 in the remaining 16 games.
None of that, in Rocco Baldelli’s words, made the choice to demote him any simpler.
Rocco Baldelli acknowledges that the Twins’ choice to demote Edouard Julien wasn’t an easy one.
Baldelli discussed the decision to send Julien down to Triple-A before to Tuesday’s reintroduction of Lewis. Though he made sure to emphasize that nothing about the choice was taken lightly, he did allude to certain positive aspects of the scenario that others had brought up.
“[The decision was] hard, because there was actual discussion to be had, but also it ended up becoming clear that of all possible decisions that you can make, that that was the right one for this time,” said Baldelli.
Sending Julien down has an upside that goes beyond what it might do for him in the long haul this season: it shows how good the Twins’ young core is right now. Trevor Larnach and Jose Miranda had appeared to be cast aside, but they have found a niche that has allowed them to become vital members of the squad.
The most impressive performance came from Miranda, who virtually erased the bad performance from the previous season and brought back the magic he had in 2022. Miranda is slashing.280/.311/.469 and has already doubled his home run total from a year ago after hitting.211/.263/.303 with a.566 OPS.
After Matt Wallner ousted him from a position during the previous season, Larnach took over and has flourished. With an OPS of.870, he is hitting.270 so far this season and, depending on the situation, can play both DH and outfield platoon.
Even while Alex Kirilloff isn’t performing as well as Miranda and Larnach are, he has made tremendous progress from his injury-plagued and inconsistent play in the previous season. All of this is to imply that Julien’s demotion has less to do with his own shortcomings than it does with the fact that everyone else in his bracket is performing significantly better.
Without a doubt, Julien will be able to rekindle his attacking magic in St. Paul, which will only serve to highlight the strength of Minnesota’s young movement.
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