The Ever Underrated Jorge Polanco

Years ago, my wife and I took a trip to Cedar Rapids to see the number one prospect Byron Buxton.  Jose Berrios was pitching that day.  Yet, the future Twins player who impressed us the most that day was Jorge Polanco.  He has never been under our radar since.  

Personally, I have considered Polanco the best overall player on the team for five years. He is good.

Polanco is arguably our most consistent, "best" hitter this year. Good in the clutch, good RBI man, good run producer. He also seems to have found a solid defensive home at 2B. His abilities also make us able to have guys like Steer as a trade chip. Frankly, I would put him in the 4 hole in the order and just leave him there for the rest of the season. 

He is clearly part of the core for the next 2-3 years. We're lucky to have him, and on a team friendly contract to boot. 

Polanco's a very good player and it's well recognized here and across the league. This year he's really made a big change in plate discipline and it's paid off with an elite walk rate which I wouldn't have expected, and I think that further elevates his game quite a bit. Defensive metrics continue to be very divided on him and it has a big impact on fWAR vs bWAR. 

I think the question on Polanco is about how much the Twins gain or lose by having Arraez as the starting 2B and what Polanco could bring to the team in terms of trade value.

Polanco always has good ABs, he drives the count. Another attribute of Polanco is his durability. He plays everyday wether he's healthy or not. This can be negative because when he plays hurt his production goes down, longer he plays hurt further his production goes down.  When he's hurt he needs to communicate with Baldelli and not play. The latter 1/2 of 2019 until they they took him off SS he played with tremendous pain and had 2 surgeries. We need Polanco in the line-up as much as possible so keep him off SS.

4 hours ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

Polanco is arguably our most consistent, "best" hitter this year. Good in the clutch, good RBI man, good run producer. He also seems to have found a solid defensive home at 2B. His abilities also make us able to have guys like Steer as a trade chip. Frankly, I would put him in the 4 hole in the order and just leave him there for the rest of the season. 

He is clearly part of the core for the next 2-3 years. We're lucky to have him, and on a team friendly contract to boot. 

Do you realize what you said, “and just leave him there for the rest of the season?”  It is forbidden that a Twin, any Twin, should ever hit in the same spot of the lineup for a week, much less a season.

Thinking back to those Braves teams I grew up with, I would guess that Aaron hit third and Matthews fourth for years, not just weeks.

I LOVE ME some Byron Buxton. Offensively and defensively he is just a difference maker and we are just part of his baseball world when he's out there. He's just that good, even being sub-human as he is now, fighting through his knee issue. Not a team in baseball that wouldn't want Buck on their team. 

But Polanco is so underated its amazing. He plays a good, sometimes great 2B, and only gets better. He hits, gets OB, seldom SO, makes great contact, has power, and comes through in the clutch. CRUNCH time happens, I want Arraez and Polanco up to bat. No disrespect to Buxton or AC4. 

Kirilloff and Miranda, unless we do something stupid and trade one of them, are going to be part of the heart ofthe order for many years to come. But Polanco is so good, and so versatile, he could hit 2-5 and be just as dangerous and effective. 

And he's not exactly old. He's a keeper, IMO, and a re-sign the next year or so.