{"id":82255,"date":"2025-08-23T15:31:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T15:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=82255"},"modified":"2025-08-23T15:31:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T15:31:48","slug":"these-three-twins-are-approaching-make-or-break-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=82255","title":{"rendered":"These Three Twins Are Approaching Make-Or-Break Status"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Some players are trying to keep or earn a job down the stretch in 2025. While not quite at this crossroads, the Twins have several players approaching this point.<\/div>\n
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Image courtesy of \u00a9 Ken Blaze-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
With so many impact players shipped out at the trade deadline, opportunity has emerged for a handful of players to stake their claim headed into 2026.<\/p>\n

Their performance for the remainder of the season may not only determine their role next year, but whether they\u2019re on the roster at all. There\u2019s also a group of players who, while they haven\u2019t quite reached that point, they\u2019re approaching it very quickly.<\/p>\n

For this group, their performance this season and early in 2026 will be significant for their future with the Minnesota Twins organization.<\/p>\n

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Roden may be the opening day left fielder regardless, as it\u2019s easy to see a scenario in which\u00a0Trevor Larnach<\/a>\u2019s arbitration of around $5m is seen as untenable. Roden is a plus defender and easily edges Larnach in that department but lacks even fleeting glimpses of offensive upside so far in his career.<\/p>\n

\"image.png.a919add002a391b314f53882792d8fc2.png\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Who is the Twins’ best pitching prospect?<\/h3>\n
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Acquiring another left-handed hitting outfielder was always questionable, given the team\u2019s already existing logjam in that department. Roden was given a head start down the stretch and will have nothing to show for it.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll have to hit immediately in 2026, or any number of upcoming corner outfield bats from either side of the plate could get their shot.<\/p>\n

There is no shortage of candidates to take at-bats away from him if he struggles next season, including\u00a0Emmanuel Rodriguez,\u00a0Gabriel Gonzalez,\u00a0Kyler Fedko,\u00a0Austin Martin, and potentially even\u00a0Walker Jenkins\u00a0eventually.<\/p>\n

RHP\u00a0Simeon Woods Richardson<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, an IL trip due to illness interrupted Woods Richardson’s bounce-back from early-season struggles.<\/p>\n

While not quite up to the standard he set as a rookie, SWR has performed more than adequately to continue to fill the back end of the rotation. He should still return this season to continue building on his new splitter, which has helped him turn things around. He\u2019s posted a serviceable 4.40 ERA since he began throwing the new pitch on May 14.<\/p>\n

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Unfortunately for Woods Richardson, the Twins added a wave of competition at the deadline.\u00a0Mick Abel\u00a0and\u00a0Taj Bradley\u00a0blow him away in the raw stuff department, and we\u2019ll likely see them before the end of the season (or, weekend) in the big-league rotation.\u00a0<\/section>\n

Kendry Rojas\u00a0has struggled in his debut with St. Paul but will likely be up sometime next season. <\/p>\n
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Woods Richardson has to pitch well down the stretch, or his role could be in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

Even if the Twins trade away a starter or two this offseason to save some money, they have a glut of rotation depth with plenty of upside. The Twins could look to either trade him or move him to the bullpen shortly if he doesn\u2019t fully cement himself as part of the 2026 rotation.<\/p>\n

3B\u00a0Royce Lewis<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The vibes don\u2019t seem great with Lewis, who once looked like one of the core pieces cemented in the Twins lineup. It\u2019s been over a year since we\u2019ve seen consistent production from the Twins third baseman, and his occasional eyebrow-raising quotes pointing to unhappiness with the team are beginning to add up.<\/p>\n

At this point, it\u2019s safe to assume that Royce\u2019s frustrations with the team are reciprocated. His .632 OPS since August 1 of 2024 is a huge reason the Twins offense has been so lackluster, and he\u2019s been slid down the lineup recently as he\u2019s failed to show any signs of consistency.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re approaching the point where we have to ask whether Lewis is the player we thought he was.<\/p>\n

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The Twins will likely be asking this very question soon as well. Lewis will have the remainder of 2025 and the beginning of 2026 to turn it around, but the decisions become difficult as players like\u00a0Kaelen Culpepper\u00a0approach MLB readiness.<\/p>\n

An offense can\u2019t be competitive with a third baseman performing the way Lewis has for the last year, and the repeated headline-worthy quotes are likely getting tiresome on the business end. After once holding a near-untouchable status, Lewis may soon find himself on the verge of being squeezed out of the depth chart.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some players are trying to keep or earn a job down the stretch in 2025. While not quite at this crossroads, the Twins have several players approaching… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":82260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nThese Three Twins Are Approaching Make-Or-Break Status - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=82255\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"These Three Twins Are Approaching Make-Or-Break Status - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some players are trying to keep or earn a job down the stretch in 2025. 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