This story was excerpted from Matthew Leach’s Twins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
BALTIMORE -- Manager Derek Shelton was emphatic on Saturday afternoon when he was asked about his lineups: Don’t make too much of two games. It’s very early in the season, and besides, every manager wants to get as many of his players into the lineup as possible in the early going.
But, well…
We can definitely draw a few conclusions from Shelton’s first two regular-season lineups. He has admitted as much. Here are a few things it seems safe to count on, at least in the early going.
Austin Martin and Kody Clemens are the primary leadoff hitters
Martin will lead off and play left field most of the time against left-handed pitching. Clemens will play in a variety of spots, including first base, second base and, perhaps, third and the outfield corners. He'll lead off against righties.
It’s true that Clemens has not been a great on-base guy in his career, as opposed to Martin, who has shown that skill throughout most of his time in professional baseball. So he’s not a conventional choice, and I definitely got some frustrated responses when I posted about this on social media Saturday. I get it.
But two things:
One, things can change. We could see Matt Wallner there. We could see Luke Keaschall there. Yes, Shelton said this is how it will be for now, but he also said things can change.
But the other aspect, and I found this interesting, is that it sounds like Shelton also views the leadoff spot as an opportunity to pinch-hit aggressively. You’ll likely see Victor Caratini brought in there sometimes, or even Keaschall on days when he sits and Clemens starts at second. I’m not saying Clemens is the guy I’d choose there, but I’d hold off on screaming too angrily until we see how exactly Shelton handles it.
Trevor Larnach is going to play the outfield
It’s time for a bit of a mea culpa here, because I definitely misread something in Spring Training. I thought that left would be a platoon with the winner of the James Outman-Alan Roden competition splitting time with Martin, and Larnach mostly playing DH. Instead, Larnach will get a good bit of time there -- more than Outman.
“He’s going to have to play the outfield,” Shelton said. “I know he DH’d 81 games last year and played the outfield early. The way the function of our roster is, he’s going to have to play the field. Because we do have Josh [Bell], we do have Victor. … And if you ask Trevor, he would prefer to play the outfield. So it’s just going to be trying to manage the volume and how long it actually happens in the game.”
That is to say, Bell and Caratini are both going to play a lot, and, of course, so is Ryan Jeffers. And so is Clemens. So one of those guys will have to DH if they’re all in there. That pushes Larnach to the outfield, and Outman to more of a reserve, pinch-hitting, defense and backup center-field role.
Bell is going to DH a lot
When the Twins signed Bell, it appeared he’d take over as their primary first baseman. And he’s going to play some first for sure. But it does appear that Shelton prefers Caratini’s defense at first to Bell’s. So when they’re both in the lineup, and Caratini isn’t catching, then it will more commonly be Caratini at first and Bell at DH, rather than the other way around.