{"id":666287,"date":"2026-04-06T11:44:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/666287\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T11:44:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:44:38","slug":"how-the-minnesota-twins-have-maximized-trevor-larnach-in-a-minimized-role-twins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/666287\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Minnesota Twins Have Maximized Trevor Larnach in a Minimized Role – Twins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tTrevor Larnach<\/a> went 0-for-3 with a walk Sunday, but before that, his season was off to a nice little start. Through 16 plate appearances, he’s batting .273\/.500\/.455, with two doubles and five walks. Despite not yet hitting a home run, the left-handed-hitting veteran is hitting the ball hard in the air often; walking often; and whiffing almost never. Displaying plus plate discipline, the long-time Twin has been the club\u2019s most effective hitter nine games into its 2026 campaign, with offseason acquisitions Tristan Gray<\/a> and Josh Bell<\/a> close behind him. Again, we’re analyzing 16 plate appearances, but Minnesota has maximized Larnach in a manner that club decision-makers should be able to sustain as the season progresses.\n<\/p>\n

\tFifteen of the 29-year-old\u2019s 16 times up have been against right-handed pitchers. He’s handled them well, too. In fact, he’s thrived on offspeed pitches, specifically, as when he socked an opposite-field double off an 85.9-MPH knuckle curve from Orioles hurler Shane Baz<\/a> on March 29. He also pulled a 92.3-MPH splitter off Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Joe Boyle<\/a> on April 3, good for a double and nearly that elusive first round-tripper.<\/p>\n

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\tAfter (somewhat surprisingly) tendering Larnach a contract last offseason, the front office has turned Larnach into a self-actualized corner outfield platoon bat, shielding him from southpaws. On the surface, using Larnach in this hyper-specific role makes sense, given the stark platoon splits he’s consistently produced over his six-season major-league career (114 wRC+ over 1,190 plate appearances against RHP; 64 wRC+ over 306 plate appearances against LHP). Given how manager Derek Shelton<\/a> has deployed him early this season, Twins Territory might be witnessing one of the more restricted platoon jobs in recent baseball memory. If Larnach can remain a plus bat against righties and settle down to a more realistic 120-130 wRC+ against them, his role could be worth the minimal roster flexibility, considering that major-league lineups face right-handed starting pitchers far more often than southpaws.<\/p>\n

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\tAh, but Larnach didn\u2019t fall out of a coconut tree; he exists in the context of all in which he lives and what came before him. Minnesota has three young, talented left-handed-hitting corner outfielders in Alan Roden<\/a>, Emmanuel Rodriguez<\/a>, and Walker Jenkins<\/a> and right-handed hitting corner outfield prospect Gabriel Gonzalez<\/a>, all knocking on the door of the bigs at Triple-A St. Paul.<\/p>\n

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\n\tHopefully, those guys will soon force Minnesota\u2019s hand, effectively forcing the club to provide the quartet opportunities with the parent club. Given the low expectations surrounding the Twins this season and the team’s stumbling 3-6 start, another busy trade deadline might lie ahead. If the club continues to slip into irrelevancy while Larnach excels against right-handed pitching, the 2018 first-round draft pick could become an enticing trade chip this July, opening space for one of the outfield prospects. For now, though, Larnach has blossomed into one of the club\u2019s few consistent hitters, even if he only appears in the lineup against right-handed pitching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trevor Larnach went 0-for-3 with a walk Sunday, but before that, his season was off to a nice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,822,60,3190,4,3477,148],"class_list":{"0":"post-666287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-twins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-minnesota","10":"tag-minnesota-twins","11":"tag-minnesotatwins","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-trevor-larnach","14":"tag-twins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116357592820504499","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666287","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=666287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}