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Last year, Josh Bell led the Washington Nationals in starts at designated hitter with 97. Trevor Larnach led the Twins with 78. Victor Caratini ranked third on the Astros with 29 starts at DH. This year, all three are poised to get a share for Minnesota, with others like Matt Wallner, Ryan Jeffers and Royce Lewis slotting in occasionally.  

For the 2026 Twins, designated hitter is a position of defensive tradeoffs and limited upside, albeit one with a reasonably stable veteran floor.

TWINS DESIGNATED HITTERS AT A GLANCE

Starter: Josh Bell
Backup: Trevor Larnach
Depth: Victor Caratini, Matt Wallner, Eric Wagaman
Prospects: Gabriel Gonzalez, Kala’i Rosario, Ricardo Olivar

Twins fWAR Ranking Last Year: 17th out of 30
Twins fWAR Projection This Year: 20th out of 30

THE GOOD
Bell is the kind of player you want at DH, so long as he can harness the offensive form he showed last year following his slow start. Bell’s OPS was below .600 in late May before he turned a corner and slashed .278/.358/.478 with 16 homers in his last 95 games, anchoring the No. 3 and 4 spots in Washington’s lineup in the second half. 

As a switch-hitter, Bell gives you a matchup-proof veteran bat to write into the middle of the order, and using him at DH prevents his sub-par defense from taking a negative toll. The position is designed for guys like him. 

It’s an open question how often the Twins will be able to use him there, given the presence of Larnach on the roster and the lack of a clear starting-caliber first baseman. But no matter how things transpire around him, Bell is going to be available as a quality bat to plug into this bat-only spot.

 

Larnach offers another quality bat suited for the purpose. As we discussed in the left field breakdown, he’s a reliably solid hitter against right-handed pitching, and like Bell, his value plays up when you don’t have to use him in the field. Therein lies a bit of quandary, because playing one of Larnach or Bell at DH means accepting the defensive tradeoff with the other. Divvying up DH playing time will largely be a matter of deciding which guy gives the Twins more (or takes away less) by playing his position. 

I’d expect to see a fairly balanced mix of Larnach and Bell here (until one or both get traded), with Caratini — another switch-hitter — also mixing in sporadically. Against left-handed starters, we’re probably looking at Caratini at DH and Bell at first base, or vice versa, to maximize righty bats in the lineup. Eric Wagaman also could enter the mix if he’s on the roster.

All perfectly fine hitters. There’s ample functionality to this experienced group that should make it easy to keep the DH position occupied by a respectable hitter with a non-terrible matchup every night.

THE BAD
Like several other positions for the Twins, this is one where a sturdyish floor is offset by a pretty unexceptional ceiling. Over the past two years, Bell’s OPS+ is 104, Larnach’s is 106 and Caratini’s is 105. These are slightly above-average hitters who haven’t shown much capability to rise above that in recent seasons.

They are also among the highest-paid players on the low-spending Twins, for whatever that’s worth. By tendering a contract to Larnach for nearly $5 million while also signing Bell and Caratini for a combined $21 million, Minnesota’s front office invested in having enough legit bats on hand to ensure the DH position is never totally wanting. That’s worth something.

With that said, these investments didn’t bring a great deal of upside, and the byproduct of spending on bat-first players is that you’re not improving the defense or athleticism of the team. To the contrary: These are very slow runners who will clog the basepaths when they get on, and in the cases of Bell and Larnach, will hurt you in the field when they’re not at DH. Hopefully they can deliver enough power to make up for it.

THE BOTTOM LINE
Pairing the lefty-swinging Larnach with multiple switch-hitting options gives Derek Shelton flexibility with the lineup and adds a certain amount of stability at DH. These are known quantities, for better or worse. Ideally you’d like to have a little more explosive potential in some of the bats rotating through the position, but there’s something to be said for experience and competence. 

Catch up on the rest of our roster preview series:

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