In "Fun with Player Comps" I look at player comps for 30 current Twins who figure to ply a role in 2023, starting with their closest age player from Baseball-Reference.com prior to 2022. I then move into the best and worst case scenarios based on each player's general vibe. Find the first installment for the middle infield here.

The Twins center-field options will include at least one new face for 2023 in Joey Gallo. The rest of the group contains the same warts: When Byron Buxton gets hurt there will be a massive trade-off in offense, defense, and/or flexibility for the rest of the position player group. The upside could be fun, though. Let's start with the new guy:

Joey Gallo

B-R best comp through Age 28: Dave Kingman

It's hard to beat this comp. If I got to pick it myself it might have been this very fellow. Kingman was essentially the Gallo of the 70s and 80s: he didn’t walk much because that wasn’t what all-or-nothing sluggers did back then. But like Gallo, he was a caricature of himself, even when he was having some good years and collecting down-ballot MVP votes.He hit 442 home runs, which is great, but that came with a .236 batting average and a .302 OBP. But the comparison to Gallo runs deeper than numbers: when your dad complains about Gallo's strikeouts and how his style of play is ruining the game (without any knowledge or mention of his great outfield defense), your dad's dad was complaining about Kingman, one of the first players to normalize striking out over 100 times per year. His dad complained about Mickey Mantle, probably.

Worst case: White Sox Adam Dunn, post-contract extension Chris Davis

I wouldn’t recommend looking up stats on these comps.

Best case: Median Cody Bellinger

Bellinger’s true talent probably wasn’t represented in his 2019 MVP season, but it also wasn’t in his 2021-2022 seasons. In 2018, however, Bellinger put up a 120 OPS+ with good defense across multiple positions, including center-field. That would be nice to see from Gallo.

Byron Buxton

Age 28: Bo Jackson

This might be somehow better than Gallo’s Kingman comp. Bo was electrifying and could do things no other human could do across multiple sports. Sadly, he was a little healthier than Buxton until his tragic hip injury, but outside of Mike Trout, his five tools weren't been matched until Lord Byron first learned how to turn on pitches.

Worst case: Ellis Valentine

Valentine was one of the hottest prospects of the 1970’s and one of the first to exhibit five loud tools. His failure to launch was partly Tim Raines’ fault for getting him hooked on cocaine, and partly the brutal AstroTurf in Montreal’s garbage can of a stadium. It all caught up to him and after age 26 he was a shell of himself; by age 30 he was out of baseball. Coming up with Gary Carter, Raines and Andre Dawson, all Hall-of-Famers, you really start to feel for Montreal fans of that era, who witnessed one postseason series win despite all that talent. "Cry me a river," say fans of Buxton and the Twins.

Best case: Kevin Kiermaier’s glove and Gary Sheffield’s bat

One player can’t encapsulate the upside of Buxton, but these two pin it down fairly well. Buxton has the lightning quick bat and snarl of Sheffield, and is Kiermaier's only peer when it comes to fearlessly running down impossible-to-catch fly balls.
 

Gilberto Celestino

(No comps yet)

Worst case: Shane Robinson

Robinson was a fungible fourth or fifth outfielder with some on-base ability and plus defense, but never developed any power to speak of. He reached the peak plate appearance season of his career with the Twins in 2015 when he came to bat 197 times.

Best case: Manuel Margot

Margot has carved out an interesting career. He was originally a hot Red Sox prospect out of the Dominican with power, speed and good center-field defense. In what became a trend of trading him for mercurial late inning relievers, he was traded to the Padres for Craig Kimbrel. He was later flipped to the Rays for one Emilio Pagán. He has since become a streaky but valuable role player for the Rays, providing a .695 OPS, decent defense and the ability to go yard and steal a base. He also has been clutch for the Rays in the postseason, hitting five home runs for the Rays in their pennant winning 2020 season. If Celestino can come close to that level of production, the Twins can live with Buxton playing only 80-90 games, provided those games include the stretch run.

Nick Gordon

Age 26: Chris Burke

Burke had some big postseason moments with the Astros in the early aughts but had an otherwise nondescript career. He did slash .276/.347/.418 in 2006 but otherwise never had a slugging percentage higher than .368. Gordon also needs to keep his slugging squarely in the .450 range for him to have significant long-term value.

Worst case: Christian Colón

Colón was a high draft pick who never hit enough to carve out a career as a utility man. He did win a ring with Kansas City, but after posting a 104 OPS+ over his first two years encompassing 168 plate appearances, he dropped that number to 47 playing sporadically for three teams in 250 plate appearances. If Gordon stalls in his development with the bat, his middling defense won't save him from a similar fate.

Best case: Scooter Gennett

Gennett was mostly a second baseman who hit the ball harder than you would think, and despite his 5’10” frame, put up some big power numbers in Cincinnati. Gordon would love to match Gennett’s peak, but also would probably like to stay in the league a little longer- Gennett played his last game at age 29. To reach a peak like that, Gordon has to continue to refine his approach and hunt pitches a little better, but he has surprised us a few times already, so why not?

Quite a bit of variance, no? Sorting through these options legitimizes the Gallo signing a little more, only because Kepler won't play center whether he remains with the team or not, and it gives them another dice to roll when Buxton isn't available. Anything is better than Jake Cave and Mark Contreras.

Link to previous entry in this series:

Fun with player comps- Middle infield edition