Twins takeaways: Alan Roden among many looking to take advantage of opportunity

New York Times

4 days ago

DETROIT — Less than a week ago, Alan Roden joined a Minnesota Twins team with myriad opportunities but also a clubhouse processing a madcap 48-hour period in which a meltdown ensued and a roster was ripped apart.
The first player from last week's trade blitz to be added to the roster, the rookie outfielder was tasked with navigating the uncertainty and trying to establish himself in the majors. A polished hitter in the minors with Toronto who hasn't yet stuck, the Twins made it clear they plan they plan to give Roden every chance to succeed.
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After struggling in his first five games, Roden broke out Wednesday afternoon with two hits, including a solo home run, as the Twins powered their way to a 9-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Luke Keaschall drove in three more runs, Brooks Lee and Austin Martin homered, and waiver claim pitcher Thomas Hatch delivered 4 1/3 innings as the Twins won their first series since before the All-Star break.
Six days after decimating their major-league roster with eight trades involving 10 players, the clubhouse enjoyed the moment after the plucky young Twins finished their first post-deadline road trip with a 3-3 record.
'It was a whirlwind coming here and being in the lineup the first day,' Roden said. 'You do your best with it. … (But) there's a lot of energy. Guys are pulling for each other. We kind of all are at that stage where we're trying to get our feet wet in the big leagues and all trying to figure it out.'
Compared to Wednesday, the clubhouse in Cleveland was subdued on Friday. But not by much.
As eight arriving players acclimated to their new surroundings, the leftovers took stock of what remained.
In the previous two days, Griffin Jax had blown up at Rocco Baldelli in a blowout loss and later requested a trade. Star shortstop Carlos Correa waved his no-trade clause and was dealt back to Houston, which prompted one teammate to tell The Athletic 'no one wants to stay if they are selling like this.'
Joe Ryan said Friday he thought he'd been traded but wasn't. And as they recounted watching the deadline together as teammates in the room were traded, no players seemed to understand why Louis Varland was traded.
Acquired with Triple A pitcher Kendry Rojas in the trade which sent Varland to Toronto, Roden was the only player to be added on Friday. After making the short trip to Cleveland from Triple-A Buffalo, Roden met his new teammates and prepared to face Cleveland's Gavin Williams.
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Before the group took batting practice, Baldelli addressed the entire team, encouraging players to take advantage of the opportunities in front of them. Club president Derek Falvey and general manager Jeremy Zoll made themselves available to answer any questions on a player's mind.
Batting second in a 3-2 loss in 10 innings, Roden went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts. Over his first five games, Roden went 1-for-13 with eight strikeouts. He also misplayed a ball in Sunday's win after taking over as a defensive replacement.
Basically, his early performance is the opposite of what the Twins hope the former Toronto third-rounder can provide. Across four minor-league seasons, Roden batted .302/.409/.457 and walked 165 times and struck out 165 times in 1,319 plate appearances. He also played plus defense.
Finally on Wednesday, Roden got it going.
Starting in center field, Roden led the game off with a single against Jack Flaherty and scored on Keaschall's two-out, two-run double. Five innings later, Martin and Roden, who bats left handed, homered off Detroit lefty Tyler Holton.
'He's handled it well,' Baldelli said. 'We believe in him and his bat and his defensive abilities in the outfield. I'm looking forward to just watching him play, watching him get into a rhythm at the major-league level and show us all the great things he can do. He's a good-looking kid and a guy that I think can do some really good things in the big leagues.'
Despite the slow start, Roden, like many new teammates, has a blank canvas to prove himself over the final 7 1/2 weeks of the season. Opportunities are plentiful for Keaschall, Martin, Kody Funderburk, Cole Sands, Justin Topa, Kody Clemens, Lee, who smacked a 430-foot homer and has looked good at shortstop since replacing Correa, and others.
Six days after they sorted it all out, players are starting to enjoy their new reality. The Twins and their fans have to hope it helps them settle in and solidify themselves as major leaguers.
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Here are several other takeaways from an emotional six-game road trip:
• With five key relievers traded, the Twins are essentially holding open tryouts for the final spots on the pitching staff.
They know there will be bumps and bruises from an inexperienced group. They expect them to pop up on occasion like in Monday's loss. But they like the situation for the opportunities it's providing.
The Twins are experimenting with four-day throwing schedules for bulk pitchers Travis Adams and Pierson Ohl. They're giving chances to Funderburk, Topa and Sands to pitch late innings. And they're scouring the waiver wire for talent, which has led to waiver claims for Hatch and Brooks Kriske, who was claimed from the Chicago Cubs and pitched a scoreless ninth Wednesday.
'Sometimes you know a little bit about them, sometimes you know almost nothing about them,' Baldelli said. 'I can talk to people all I want. I can look at their plot. I can do all that. That doesn't really do it for me. I want to watch them pitch. I want to spend a little time around them. I want to see how they fit in with the group and everything is working together.'
Baldelli liked what Hatch provided Wednesday, facing one over the minimum through 4 1/3 innings until he yielded a leadoff single in the eighth. Kansas City's minor-league pitcher of the month for July, Hatch, 30, knew Baldelli would let him go as long as he was effective and kept producing zeroes.
Here for two days and two wins, Hatch appreciates the clubhouse vibe.
'It's always fun to come into a team like this because they're young and hungry,' Hatch said. 'It just makes coming to the park really fun.'
• Byron Buxton is closing in on returning and he's hyped for the aggressive style he's seen Baldelli push the past few days. Buxton hit for a second straight day Wednesday and is performing all baseball activities. Buxton said it's possible he needed a few more days to recover, which leaves open the possibility for a Friday return.
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'Cause a little bit of havoc on the bases, leaves a few more pitches over the plate for hitters to hit, and it makes the game tough when you've go to try to worry about somebody like Keasch or AMart at first base and you have Royce (Lewis) or me or (Matt Wallner) at the plate,' Buxton said.
• Baldelli likes how his group handled the aftermath of last week's chaos. He cited Keaschall and Lee turning two double plays on Wednesday and how Lee raced from first to third on Edouard Julien's second-inning single, which set him up to score in a wild pitch. He also liked the immediate response to Kerry Carpenter's go-ahead homer in the third as Lee answered back with his 11th homer of the season in the fourth.
'We responded like a team,' Baldelli said. 'Guys were showing up all over the field, making plays. We turned some nice double plays today. We ran the bases great. Guys are going up there having winning at-bats. … We did that today over and over again.'
• Before the series, Tigers manager AJ Hinch said the Twins' newfound aggressive style was noticeable during the Cleveland series. The Twins didn't slow down in Motown.
'They're playing a little bit differently in the super small sample to create their run-scoring opportunities,' Hinch said. 'I don't think you can ever disrespect anybody no matter what the other organization is going through. We have been in that position before, where we've been the team that is doing a lot of different things and looking up toward what's next.'
The Athletic's Cody Stavenhagen contributed to this report.
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