Sunday's Lineup May Give Us Hints

[John Bonnes]

FORT MYERS - Sunday afternoon’s game is the Twins’ Grapefruit League home opener and is also televised on Fox Sports North. Under managers Ron Gardenhire and Paul Molitor, that often meant a starting lineup loaded with Twins regulars for at least a couple of at-bats. That also gives the manager his first chance to start experimenting with a potential batting order. Will the same be true for Twins manager Rocco Baldelli?They were last year, or at least the top few spots were pretty close. This was a little surprising given that it was also a split squad day. In fact, you might remember that there was some concern about whether Baldelli would arrive in time for the home opener, as he also attended the afternoon road game in Sarasota, about 1.5 hours from Hammond Stadium.

 

But the challenge of fielding two teams on the same day didn’t stop the top of the lineup from looking similar to what we saw in the regular season. Last year, the Twins top five spots in the lineup were pretty consistent for the first couple months: Max Kepler leading off, Jorge Polanco hitting second, Nelson Cruz in the 3-spot, Eddie Rosario hitting cleanup and CJ Cron batting fifth.

 

That February day, Kepler didn’t play (not even in Sarasota). Instead Jorge Polanco lead off. But Cruz, Rosario and Cron all batted in the third, fourth, and fifth spots. The second spot, which belonged to Polanco in the 2019 season was occupied by Jonathan Schoop. (He only batted second spot four times in the entire 2019 season.)

 

Also, guess who subbed in for Polanco at the leadoff spot? Luis Arraez, who was barely a blip on the prospect radar at that time. This year he is seemingly one of the top two options to lead off games, and it’ll be interesting to see who Baldelli has in that spot on Sunday afternoon. One reason it might not be Arraez? He might be playing on Saturday.

 

Saturday's lineup hasn’t been announced yet, but the Twins open the Grapefruit League on the road, two hours away. Often, veterans don’t make that bus trip. However the Twins are required to have at least four players who are expected to be on the roster in their lineup. With Arraez being lowest on the seniority list, he will likely make the traveling team.

 

The topic about who will bat leadoff spot in the lineup has been broached several times in the first week with Baldellii, but so far he has refused to hint at what he would like to see happen. Whether or not he tips his hand on Sunday, there are a myriad of other decisions to make up and down the order. If you’re interested in exploring these, I recommend you check out (and follow) Twins Daily on Twitter, as we’re crowdsourcing the Twins lineup with fans.

 

But most of all, I suggest you stay tuned and check out Sunday’s game. It will be one of the few times early in the preseason that we’ll see a mostly full roster of projected starters. Even if it doesn’t give us any hints on what Rocco has in mind, it sure will be fun to see that loaded lineup.

 

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[Twodogs]

Let's go Twins!

[4twinsJA]

Anxious to see players on the field. Going to be a great year for Twins fans.

[jimbo92107]

Kepler, Polanco, and Arraez. An embarrassment of riches for the Twins at leadoff. 

[Seth Stohs]

I'll be shocked if Nelson Cruz plays on Sunday. Last year, he didn't play in games for awhile. They will start most of their starters, but not all. It's a home game. 

[Homerhankie]

I am extremely excited for this team. I will be down in Ft Myers for a week in March to cheer on our Twins!!

[DocBauer]

Kepler, Polanco, and Arraez. An embarrassment of riches for the Twins at leadoff.

To me, that is the entire key to any sort of "regular" order. (Though I'm sure Rocco will continue to mix things up as he did last season).

 

There are good, sound reasons for Kepler, Polanco or Arraez all hitting #1. And it creates a bit of a trickle down affect. There are almost as many reasons for Arraez hitting 7-9 as there are for him hitting #1. Hitting between or behind less contact prone batters, for instance. You almost can't make a mistake however you make out the lineup.