After hitting above .300 against minor league pitching throughout the past month, Matt Wallner is back in the major leagues.
The Twins added Wallner to their active roster Saturday after they placed third baseman Jose Miranda on the 10-day injured list because of a shoulder impingement. Wallner, the 25-year-old outfielder from Forest Lake, reached base in eight consecutive plate appearances with the Twins in May before he was demoted due to a roster crunch in the outfield.
Wallner will vie for playing time with lefthanded-hitting corner outfielders Joey Gallo, Max Kepler and Alex Kirilloff, and switch hitter Willi Castro, but it was hard for anybody to ignore his production at Class AAA St. Paul. He hit .308 with seven homers, 31 RBI and 34 runs in his last 36 games while lowering his strikeout rate by a significant margin.
“I just feel like I’ve been consistent since I left,” Wallner told reporters in Oakland. “I’ve hit the ball well. The biggest thing is that I’ve put the ball in play more than I ever have, so I feel good about that part.”
This is Wallner’s third time with the Twins this season, spending time on the active roster from April 8-15 and May 23-29.
“He’s been doing a good job,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We can probably find some ways to get him in there and get him some at-bats, but there is no direct way to get him in there for regular ABs right now,” noting the presence of other lefthanded-hitting corner outfielders.
Miranda was scratched from Friday’s lineup because of his shoulder injury, which stems from spring training, and apparently didn’t improve with time off during the All-Star break. His stint on the IL is retroactive to Wednesday. Called up on July 2, he went 1-for-10 with a strikeout.
It’s been a disappointing season for Miranda after he showed promise as a rookie last year. Miranda is batting .211 through 40 games with a .263 on-base percentage and seven extra-base hits in 152 plate appearances.
With Royce Lewis (oblique) and Miranda on the IL, the Twins started Castro at third base Saturday. Kyle Farmer and Donovan Solano will continue to see time at the position too.
Draft signings
The Twins reached agreements with four of their top seven draft picks this week, according to MLB.com draft analyst Jim Callis.
High school outfielder Brandon Winokur, who was picked in the third round and had committed to UCLA, agreed to a deal worth $1.5 million. The slot value for his pick, No. 82 overall, was $859,700, so the Twins will find savings from other picks to fit him into their draft bonus pool.
Fourth-round pick Tanner Hall, a righthander from Southern Miss, and sixth-round pick Jay Harry, a shortstop out of Penn State, agreed to contracts below the slot value of their picks. Wisconsin high school righty Dylan Questad, a fifth-round pick, reached a deal slightly above his pick’s slot value at $500,000.
Etc.
• The Twins had three players listed on Baseball America’s post-draft top 100 prospect rankings: Walker Jenkins (No. 19), Class AA shortstop Brooks Lee (No. 36) and Class A-Advanced outfielder Emmanuel Rodriguez (No. 66). Lee entered Saturday hitting .272 with 28 doubles, seven homers and 48 RBI in 70 games. Rodriguez is batting .215, but he’s posted a .374 on-base percentage with 10 homers and 33 RBI in 58 games.
• Patrick Murphy gave up five runs in the ninth inning, and Durham came back to beat the Class AAA Saints 8-5 on Friday night as the teams returned from a four-day break at CHS Field. Anthony Prato and Andrew Stevenson each homered and drove in two runs for the Saints, who led 5-3 going into the ninth.
The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.