Matt Wallner should be up with the Twins ASAP
The Minnesota Twins need offense and there is one player provide it in bunches at Triple-A St. Paul.
This player is hitting .307/.416/.573 with 11 homers and 42 RBI this season and had a max exit velocity in the 93rd percentile last season.
According to Statcast, this player has a 13.3 percent barrel rate and an expected slugging percentage of .656 in the majors this season. He is a player who should be in the lineup most days – and his name is not Max Kepler or Joey Gallo.
This player is Matt Wallner, who is yet again terrorizing Triple-A pitching and should be on the verge of being called up to the Twins.
Wallner did it again on Friday night, going 3-for-5 with a double and a triple in the Saints' 10-3 victory over Gwinnett. It was a proper encore to what he did on Thursday night, going 3-for-5 with two home runs in a 13-7 victory over the Stripers.
These performances have become common for the 25-year-old after he was sent down by the Twins to make room for Kepler – who was coming off a hamstring injury – on May 29.
In 27 games since his demotion, Wallner is hitting .346/.445/.673 with seven homers and 26 RBI. With a .368/.520/.579 line with a home run and four RBI in 19 at-bats with the Twins this season, many are wondering why the front office isn't getting Wallner on the first plane to Baltimore.
The most popular theory is that this is a battle between Wallner and Kepler. Kepler is hitting .218/.308/.396 with 48 home runs and 145 RBI in 340 games since his breakout in 2019 but it was believed that the elimination of the shift would help him improve those numbers.
This has not been the case, however, as Kepler is hitting .203/.274/.418 with 11 home runs and 25 RBI in 56 games this season. Even worse? Kepler is hitting .192/.241/.385 with five homers and 11 RBI since Wallner was demoted, increasing the calls for Wallner to replace Kepler.
But as of now, that doesn't appear to be happening. A report from The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal stated that the Twins believe Kepler still has upside at age 30 and the team doesn't appear ready to move on.
While that's frustrating, it doesn't mean Wallner's path is completely blocked. Gallo has also struggled since Wallner was sent to St. Paul, hitting .161/.246/.355 with four home runs and four RBI in his last 20 games, including homers both Friday and Saturday.
While Gallo's defense is superior, the most important number here could be Wallner's 23.4 percent strikeout rate since his demotion. This is not a huge difference from Kepler, who has a 24 percent strikeout rate since his return but it's a massive difference from Gallo, who has struck out in 49.2 percent of his plate appearances since May 29.
For a team currently on pace to shatter the 2021 Chicago Cubs record of 1,596 strikeouts in a season, and that ranks 21st with 4.23 runs per game, removing Gallo could be part of the equation. But with a one-year, $13 million contract, the Twins could be stubborn enough to keep trotting Gallo out there despite his lack of productive at-bats.
Eventually, something needs to change. Wallner seems ready for his major league spotlight and it's up to the Twins to decide just who he will replace.
