3 Twins Players with Something Left to Prove in 2022

I would say our starting pitchers have the most to prove.  I like the article and I think Celestino will improve - we brought him up early and he is still at an age where he could be in the minors.  He will do well.  Jeffers is a puzzle, after his rookie year I expected more.  Catcher is going to be a difficult position to judge and he has to take it over and improve on the last two years.  Arraez has disappointed with his entire second half.  He was my favorite player, but he has fallen in my estimation - was it his early power hitting? Did he start swinging for the fences instead of hits?  

I have to admit I am not rooting for Arraez - I want Judge to get the triple crown - it would truly be historic!

To the pitchers - Varland, Winder, Ober, Sands, have to rise and take over in the rotation and the bullpen.  We need Moran to show he can stick.  

This could have been a more lengthy article. There's only about three Twins who don't have anything left to prove.

I would have to disagree. Both Jeffers and Arraez have established themselves to be major league players that are important to the Twins going forward. Jeffers was headed towards a good 2nd half of the season before the broken thumb. He'll be just fine come 2023. Arraez has already proven he's one of the best hitters in the game. A second half slump of a .276 batting average is still respectable in todays game and still makes him one of, if not the best hitter on the team. As for Celestino, he's a good defensive player that should never be used as more than a 4th outfielder. With a broken Buxton every year the Twins need to find a better part-time center fielder to play when Buck is not. The FO has chosen to pay for a part-time Buck and need to adjust their "Plan" to account for it. 

Ober, Winder, Moran, and Larnach have the most to prove.

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

 

I have to admit I am not rooting for Arraez - I want Judge to get the triple crown - it would truly be historic !

.

 arraez ,  though he is playing injured and that is easy to tell  , base running , hitting ,  he is grimacing when he swings , left hamstring and maybe knees too have led to his downfall but he is still out there playing and giving it all he's got while injured ... 

Arreaz still gave us plenty of exciting baseball before the allstar break  , also I have seen lots of players in the years that go to allstar game and then have poorer numbers in second half , why is that , pressure , injuries , homerun derby really messes up a hitters swing ...

IF Jeffers defensive ability does not improve 200 percent , he does not belong on the Twins team.

Arraez is a mystery, some thing changed drastically, some good, home runs, mostly bad, big slump, few walks.

Next spring will be very interesting to see who is there, and who stays on the Major League team, I would love to see every one, and I mean every one, who is on the team now in spring training and then get weeded out.

Louie Varland just got called back up. He has to prove he belongs. 
 

Every actual Twins fan is rooting for Arreaz to win the batting title from the evil Yankees.

I don't think any of these 3 have anything to prove to us Twins. They have been around long enough, to know who they really are. I disagree with Chief that Celestino is a bad prospect. He has always shown us that he can play CF & has kept us in games where Buxton was absent. He has shown us that he can hit for the most part this year (young players have to readjust to pitchers). His over zealous base running isn't necessarily a bad thing, he just needs to mature into it.

Jeffers is who he is. I have never seen Jeffers as a primary catcher and don't think he can change my mind coming off the IL. My suggestion is going after Omar Narvaez in free agency. By most peoples' minds Sanchez is the worst starting catcher in MLB. Yes maybe his defense  dimensions has improved but his hitting took a dive.

Arraez has nothing to prove to us. To us he's the best contact player in the game. On the national level he still needs to prove this but unfortunately he has petered out. There isn't much more that I'd rather see than him doing this but under these circumstances, I don't think that'll happen.

The one that has the most to prove is Palacios. He has to prove to us that he can hit MLB pitching now so that he can sub Correa next year & be the INF utility player or even be the place holder for Lewis. Otherwise we need to go outside the organization.

Ober, Winder, Varland and Sands each proved that they can pitch here and in spring training is where they find their pecking order. I think that FO will have to decide how to use Pagan next year. How they use him now & his performance will dictate his destiny

I think Jeffers has the most to prove that he belongs, and unfortunately the Twins appear to have put all their catching eggs in his basket.  

3 hours ago, RpR said:

IF Jeffers defensive ability does not improve 200 percent , he does not belong on the Twins team.

Arraez is a mystery, some thing changed drastically, some good, home runs, mostly bad, big slump, few walks.

Next spring will be very interesting to see who is there, and who stays on the Major League team, I would love to see every one, and I mean every one, who is on the team now in spring training and then get weeded out.

Almost 0% chance of that.  Sano...gone too expensive to get nothing in return.  Sanchez will probably get 10 million out of someone, guessing he will be gone too.  Correa, odd are he will be gone.  Bundy and Archer...next. Pagan...goner. Garlick and Cave will get minor league contracts at best.  And there most likely be a trade or two.  So no chance of everyone coming back the way teams turn over today.

6 hours ago, USAFChief said:

As a side note, I believe him to be the worst baserunner I've seen in decades of watching MLB.

Since Carlos Gomez. I don't watch much minor league ball, except for the Saints, and way too many of the Twins' young players seem to be fraught with simple low-IQ baseball mistakes/ It was really hear Gladden mention it a few times on the radio. He was referring, mostly, to Celestino, but was not exclusive in his criticism.

3 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

He has always shown us that he can play CF & has kept us in games where Buxton was absent. He has shown us that he can hit for the most part this year (young players have to readjust to pitchers). His over zealous base running isn't necessarily a bad thing, he just needs to mature into it.

We are talking about the same Celestino? The 23 soon to be 24 year old player with a .617 OPS correct? and Not a different actually young prospect that I didn't know about?