{"id":32358,"date":"2025-05-16T22:25:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T22:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/32358\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T22:25:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T22:25:09","slug":"border-battle-begins-breaking-down-the-twins-interesting-lineup-vs-brewers-twins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/32358\/","title":{"rendered":"Border Battle Begins: Breaking Down the Twins’ Interesting Lineup vs. Brewers – Twins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t1. No Correa, No Buxton Amid Concussion Concerns
Neither Carlos Correa<\/a> nor Byron Buxton<\/a> is in the lineup after Thursday\u2019s scary outfield collision, and both remain in concussion protocol. Their absences loom large, especially with Matt Wallner<\/a> on the injured list and Harrison Bader<\/a> apparently still not available (but on the active roster). Ryan Fitzgerald<\/a> is on standby via the taxi squad<\/a>, as the Twins’ depth continues to get stretched.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“Players can remain in the league\u2019s concussion protocol for multiple days, even if they haven\u2019t been diagnosed with a concussion,” reports<\/a> Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune. “Correa said he felt fine when he walked around downtown Milwaukee on Friday morning, but he wasn\u2019t visible in the clubhouse when it opened to reporters in the afternoon.”\n<\/p>\n

\n\tUPDATE: Correa has officially been placed on the 7-day injured list and Fitzgerald has been activated. Buxton remains in the protocol.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t2. Clemens Over Lewis? Believe It.
Kody Clemens<\/a> hitting sixth, Royce Lewis<\/a> seventh. That sentence alone would\u2019ve broken a few brains back in March. But it says a lot about both players\u2019 current trajectories. Clemens \u2014 a fringe big-leaguer by most evaluations \u2014 has delivered in big moments, with multiple clutch, game-altering homers during this win streak. Meanwhile, Lewis has struggled to regain form since coming off the IL and, truthfully, has looked lost at the plate dating back to last August. Talent favors Lewis long-term, but right now, Clemens is the more dangerous bat. The lineup reflects that.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWith all of these injuries to key players piling up, now would be a GREAT time for Royce Lewis to remember who he is.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t3. Larnach Leads Off (Again)
For the third time this season, Trevor Larnach<\/a> finds himself in the leadoff spot. With Edouard Julien down in St. Paul, Buxton in limbo, and Wallner still likely weeks away, the Twins are without a trio of players who’ve led off in 40 of their 44 games. Now it looks like Larnach has emerged as the next man up, and to his credit, he\u2019s earned it. His left-handed approach plays well at the top, and he’s been swinging a hot bat lately with an .856 OPS during the win streak.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t4. Brooks Lee<\/a>, #3 Hitter: Ready or Not
Lee batted eighth when he made his season debut for Minnesota back in mid-April, coming off a rookie season where he looked very much like a hitter who belonged at the bottom of the order. In just over a month with the Twins, he has worked his way up into the heart of the lineup, batting cleanup in each of the past six games and tonight moving into the #3 spot. He’s come through with some big hits to earn the vote of confidence from Rocco Baldelli<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tPersonally, I’m still not fully sold on what I’m seeing. Lee has shown flashes at the plate, but his plate discipline remains a work in progress \u2014 a 12-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and .250 OBP in May don\u2019t exactly scream \u201cmiddle-of-the-order anchor.\u201d But with injuries piling up and bats slumping, Lee gets a chance to hit in a premium spot. The tools are there \u2014 the consistency needs to catch up. Ready or not, he\u2019s got a chance to prove something.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tPlagued by attrition, the Twins need Lee and other players like him to step up and carry the load. So far over the course of this streak, guys have been answering the call.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1. No Correa, No Buxton Amid Concussion ConcernsNeither Carlos Correa nor Byron Buxton is in the lineup after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,1391,2223,3225,461,822,60,3190,4,148],"class_list":{"0":"post-32358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-twins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brooks-lee","10":"tag-byron-buxton","11":"tag-carlos-correa","12":"tag-kody-clemens","13":"tag-minnesota","14":"tag-minnesota-twins","15":"tag-minnesotatwins","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-twins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114519862367641135","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}