Image courtesy of Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

I’m not sure what it is about Matt Wallner that leads to him not being fully appreciated by Twins fans for what he is. You would think that this status as a hometown product — Forest Lake native, former Mr. Baseball Minnesota turned first-round draft pick — would help his case. Instead the opposite dynamic could be at play, with the self-effacing insecurity of us Midwesterners (I say it lovingly) causing us to reflexively downgrade “one of us.” Certainly Joe Mauer seemed to experience this effect.

There is also the style of play that Wallner brings to the table. He swings and misses a ton. He strikes out in bunches. He’s not going to post high batting averages and he’s not going to necessarily make things happen with his legs. But production in baseball isn’t about hits or stolen bases, not directly anyway. It’s about getting on base and hitting for power. In these areas, Wallner excels like few others.

Through 191 major-league games and 661 plate appearances, a little over one full season’s worth of action, Wallner has slashed .253/.368/.503 with 32 home runs, 36 doubles, 94 RBIs and 69 walks. That is All-Star caliber offensive performance bordering on MVP level. 

Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at the wOBA leaderboard for all big-leaguers since Wallner first got called up. Through the lens of this sabermetric stat, which uses a run-value-based formula that reflects the actual impact of each event, Wallner’s productivity at the plate is almost unrivaled. Among players who have made as many or more plate appearances since 2022, only eight have a higher wOBA and it is just about the most superstar-laden list you can imagine: Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Yordan Alvarez, Freddie Freeman, Juan Soto, Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Ronald Acuna Jr.

Among Minnesota Twins players with 600 or more career plate appearances, only two have a better career OPS than Wallner’s .871: Nelson Cruz (.984) and Harmon Killebrew (.892). We’re not just seeing one of the best hitters in the lineup; so far in his major-league time Wallner has been one of the best hitters in baseball and in franchise history. Which makes it all the more hard to believe, in retrospect, that he spent almost the entire first half of 2024 in Triple-A due to a 13-game slump, but, I digress.

What’s important now is that, after a lengthy injury layoff, Wallner is back in the Twins lineup and making an impact as usual, with two homers already in his first four games since returning from his hamstring injury. 

If the Twins are going to make a serious push this summer, they’ll need more than just their big-name stars to lead the charge. Wallner might not often be mentioned in the same breath as Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, or Royce Lewis when fans talk about core pillars, but he absolutely belongs in that conversation. His bat is that impactful — not just a luxury, but a necessity for this offense to reach its full potential.

 

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