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WARNE: The Time is Now -- The Twins Should Call Up Zack Granite


Brandon Warne

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By now you’ve probably heard that the Minnesota Twins have an outfielder who is setting the world on fire down at Triple-A. His name is Zack Granite, and he’s a jack-of-all-trades as far as outfield defense is concerned, and he’s hitting a robust .371/.423/.516 in 54 games between Triple-A Rochester (49 games) and High-A Fort Myers (five games).

 

He’s not just stellar in the batter’s box, but he’s stolen 119 bases over five season in the Twins system at a success rate of 73.4 percent. The success rate is a little lower than one might like, but he’s gotten increasingly better in recent years, stealing 73 bases over the last season-and-a-half at a success rate of 79.3 percent. Depending on the run environment in the big leagues year-to-year, a good success rate is somewhere in the vicinity of 75 percent, so he checks off that box.

 

But this year’s offensive outburst is way, way out of character for the 24-year-old outfielder. That’s even more true when considering he was hitting just .259/.303/.339 coming into June. That’s right; in 27 games this month, Granite is hitting an unheard of .486/.541/.697 with 11 doubles, three triples, two home runs and 13 walks against 15 strikeouts. His BABIP for the month is an unconscious .554! He’s got more than one hit in 20 of the 27 games he’s played in this month.

 

But part of bringing Granite up now is to capitalize on that hot stretch. He’s already on the 40-man roster, basically is who he is and isn’t likely to be ruined by being “rushed” as a player who’ll turn 25 by season’s end.

 

He can also help the Twins right now.

 

Kennys Vargas is hitting just .234/.264/.426, and as a bat-first — or perhaps more accurately, bat-only — player with limited access to playing time, he’s really not helping the team that much. His role is even further diminished when considering Eduardo Escobar has been so hot lately that he’s taken more playing time at third base, with Miguel Sano seeing more time at DH. Even if that doesn’t continue, it still probably means more of Escobar at DH or shortstop, and a shuffle which trickles down to less time for Vargas on the field.

 

Read the rest of this article on ZoneCoverage.com here.

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Thank you for the thoughtful article. My question is: Assuming, for arguments' sake, they bring him up and do something with Sano, where would he play? Where would he bat? Would he take at bats away from Escobar? Polanco?

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Appreciate the idea. It's sound. Personally, I'm not convinced Granite can't be a full time starter, AVG/OB/SB leadoff guy with good defense. He understands and embraces his role. Further, he's showing continued improvement which is always a good sign.

 

And he probably deserves to be up. (So does Garver probably). But it's not just that simple as he then takes AB from others, or sits too much. Would Vargas really deserve to be send down again? He's been slumping a bit lately, but guys do sometimes. And then they work out of it. And if I'm not mistaken, his AVG against LHP has actually come up a bit lately. And he recently hit his first RH homerun. More opportunity as of late? Things just equalizing? Hard to say. But while a fan of Granite, I'm still not certain it's time yet.

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I would like to see Granite in the cf/lf mix with Rosario and Buxton. I get your reasoning for that to be at Kennys's expense. It's a compelling article. I'm undecided on the topic. Granite seems like he could help us in more ways while Vargas is a bit redundant with this roster. So, I reluctantly(because I like Vargas) lean towards your opinion.

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We're lucky there hasn't been a major injury to a starter yet. That time will likely come.

 

It does seem that Vargas would have to be the one sent down, unless they drop a pitcher...which is unlikely with this bullpen. Maybe there will be a 2-for-1 trade around the break to solve the roster crunch.

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With Granite's stats, he certainly deserves a call up, but OF is one area we are pretty much set--for now and the future. Would love to see him leading off for the Twins, but at whose expense? Having a minor injury to one of the OFs requiring a 10-day DL stint would not be a bad thing for the Twins right now. Even if it's Buxton, he may benefit from a 3-5 day rehab in AAA. Other than a trade, I just don't see where Granite would fit right now or who would have to be demoted. Remember we have Adrianza ready to come off the DL so someone already needs to go down. I wish we had a SP at AAA who deserved a call up as much as Granite.

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I agree that Belisle should be DFA'ed.  We need to find out this year which relievers can get the job done and which relievers need to go.  You do not want to have inexperienced relief pitching in critical roles when this team figures to compete(starting next year).  This year has been fun, let's get some value out of it. 

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Four outfielders who are all defensively talented would be nice.  Put Grossman at 1B/DH.  I am afraid that Vargas just has not done enough to hold his roster position and the pitching staff continues to grow so we cannot just add another bench player. 

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