MINNEAPOLIS -- Everyone in the baseball world now knows Akil Baddoo's name, after the young outfielder stormed across the starting line of his career with a first-pitch home run, a grand slam, a walk-off hit and an RBI triple through four games.

And, until last offseason, he was in the Twins' organization.

Minnesota lost Baddoo to Detroit in the Rule 5 Draft in December, after the Twins chose not to protect the 22-year-old by adding him to their 40-man roster. His grand slam, walk-off and triple all came against the Twins, who saw plenty of what they are missing out on during the clubs' recent three-game series at Comerica Park.

How did the Twins let him slip away?

"They’re not easy decisions, when you kind of get to the line and where you’re going to draw the line," president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. "He was certainly in the conversations to add to the roster at the time."

It's easy to see Baddoo's performance throughout Spring Training (.325/.460/.750 with five homers) and early this regular season and think that the Twins must have missed something, but what makes Baddoo's storyline all the more special is that, well, nobody could have expected him to succeed like this so soon.

Consider that Baddoo never played above Class A Advanced in the Minor Leagues, peaking with 29 games in Fort Myers in 2019. On top of that, he underwent Tommy John surgery in May 2019, meaning that he didn't play in a game for nearly two years before he arrived at Spring Training for the Tigers in February.

Given where the Twins are in their cycle of contention -- hoping to win now -- they had to weigh several different factors in the decision not to protect Baddoo, like the availability of spots for potential free agent signings and the ability for players on their 40-man roster to fill in as part of the Major League team if needed. The uncertainty around Baddoo likely didn't help his case.

"[That was] probably a lot of the conversation we had in our room around just the potential for that," Falvey said. "We always know that any player you leave open or unprotected who is a good player -- which we thought Akil is and did think then and still think now -- [losing him is] always a possibility. But ultimately, proximity to the Major Leagues, with what you just said, a lot of time down."

It's also unclear where Baddoo would have fit in the present, or future, of the Twins' roster. Minnesota already has an outfield logjam with Max Kepler, Byron Buxton, Jake Cave, Brent Rooker, Kyle Garlick and Alex Kirilloff at or near the Major League level, and top prospects Trevor Larnach and Gilberto Celestino aren't far behind.

In a way, only a team like the Tigers -- deep in a rebuild, able to take a chance on young talent -- might have taken a gamble on Baddoo. And even on that side, it was certainly perceived as a bit of a risk.

"It was a little bit of a gamble, obviously," Detroit general manager Al Avila said to MLB.com's Jason Beck. "Really, the A-ball thing was not the issue. It was that he hadn’t played in two years. Our scouting reports were actually really good, in that some of our guys felt that he might be able to handle it, because he was very athletic, very toolsy. And physically, he doesn’t look like your typical A-ball guy that’s a little bit skinnier and needs to grow into his body still."

It's tough to watch exciting young talent slip away, but the Twins should still be in a good place -- both now and in the future -- with their current group. Considering how highly they regarded Baddoo's character, his former organization is just happy that he's finally found an opportunity, and is thriving.

"He worked his butt off and kind of put himself in the situation where he’s at now, and it’s awesome to see him have the success that he’s having," said Ryan Jeffers, who was teammates with Baddoo in the Minors from 2018-19.

"Akil, great kid, through and through, one of the greatest makeup kids we had in the system," Falvey said. "Certainly, what he’s done already has been tremendous, through the course of his Spring Training and [how] he’s gotten off to this start. I’m really happy for him personally on that front."