The standings don’t mean much in late February, but a six-game skid still isn’t ideal. Since our last check-in, the Twins have dropped six straight and now sit at 2-7 overall this spring. It’s early, workloads are being managed, and plenty of pitchers are still building up — but this past week wasn’t exactly clean baseball.

The stretch included a pair of Tuesday losses (10-5 to Baltimore and 12-1 to Tampa Bay), a 5-3 loss to Boston on Wednesday, a 6-4 defeat against Pittsburgh on Thursday, a 17-5 blowout by the Yankees on Friday, and a 13-8 loss to the Red Sox on Saturday. The results don’t matter much this time of year, but individual performances are worth monitoring.

With that in mind, here’s the latest temperature check.

Who’s Hot?
Alan Roden: I’m not sure anyone has helped themselves more this spring than Roden. He’s 7-for-12 with a home run, and the contact quality has backed it up. He’s recorded multiple 100+ MPH exit velocities and hasn’t looked overmatched in any situation.

It’s not just the production, it’s the at-bats. He’s controlling counts and squaring up pitches he should be driving. When a hitter pairs contact ability with impact like that, it stands out.

Gabriel Gonzalez: As if there wasn’t already enough traffic in the outfield picture, Gonzalez is forcing his way into the conversation. Since our last check-in, he’s 4-for-6 with a pair of batted balls over 104 MPH. That’s loud contact by any standard.

He’s shown he can handle different pitch types and hasn’t looked rushed at the plate. With all of the left-handed outfielders in the Twins’ system, a productive right-handed bat like Gonzalez could make things interesting if this continues.

Kody Clemens: Clemens has swung the bat well early on. He’s 3-for-10 with two walks and, notably, no strikeouts. For a player whose value is tied heavily to power, that kind of zone control is encouraging.

All three balls he put in play Saturday were over 100 MPH, and he’s hit a few others hard that turned into outs. Clemens likely projects as infield depth, particularly on the right side, but he could carve out a bigger role if he keeps controlling at-bats and hitting the ball this hard.

Who’s Not?
Marco Raya: Friday against the Yankees was a tough one for Raya. He recorded just one out while allowing five earned runs on one hit and four walks. He threw only 16 of 31 pitches for strikes, and command was clearly the issue.

His fastball touched 97.8 MPH, so the raw stuff is there. But when you can’t consistently land pitches in the zone, velocity doesn’t matter much. For a pitcher who’s battled command issues in the past, this wasn’t a step forward.

Justin Topa: Topa’s outing on Wednesday against Boston flipped that game. He needed 31 pitches to get two outs, allowing four earned runs on two hits and three walks. Two of the four balls put in play against him were hit over 104 MPH.

Even more concerning was the strike throwing; just 11 of 31 pitches landed in the zone. Topa entered camp looking like a strong bet for a bullpen spot, but outings like this open the door for competition.

Andrew Morris: The young righty drew the start on Tuesday against Baltimore, and it didn’t go well. Over 1 ⅓ innings, he allowed four earned runs on six hits, with no walks and no strikeouts. He threw 25 of 40 pitches for strikes, but too many of them caught too much of the plate.

The velocity dip stood out. After sitting 95-96 MPH last year, his fastball was 92-93 in this outing. That could simply be part of ramping up, but with less margin for error, hitters were able to square him up. Morris allowed more hard contact in 2025, and that trend showed up again in his first spring appearance.

It’s still early. These games often turn into minor-league scrimmages by the middle innings, and a bad week in February doesn’t define anyone’s season. But if we’re taking an early pulse, a few bats are trending up, and a few arms are still trying to find their footing.