Lee and Julien, each (at different times) dubbed the Twins’ future answer at the keystone, struggled last season. In 185 plate appearances as a rookie, Lee had a .585 OPS, and Julien only performed marginally better. For what it’s worth, Lee appears to be the far superior defender, but neither inspires supreme confidence.
The general feeling among onlookers is that the battle for second base is between Lee and Julien, but if neither performs, Castro will be a suitable solution.
Although he struggled in the second half last season (.627 OPS, 77 OPS+), and some of his value is tied up in being to play all over the diamond, Castro has been a relatively consistent (103 OPS+ between 2023 and 2024) option and could fill the position admirably.
However, even if Castro is the Opening Day second baseman, that versatility likely means there will still be a spot for Lee or Julien on the bench. Without Lee or Castro, the alternatives at second base would be Royce Lewis, Austin Martin, or Mickey Gasper. So whether or not one of the two wins the starting job, there will be at least one spot for them to fight over.
Lee certainly has more flexibility than Julien, with the ability to play second base, third base, and shortstop.
There are questions as to whether Lee has the range to play shortstop, but if he’s on the team, he’d probably be the backup shortstop, edging out Castro. Julien, on the other hand, can play only questionable defense at second and first base.
Whether they were the starting second baseman or a bench player, both would get at least a little playing time away from the keystone.
And yet, it’s debatable whether both can get enough playing time right now.
Dividing Up Playing Time
For this exercise, let’s assume that Lee wins the job out of spring training and is the team’s primary second baseman (which seems more likely at this point).
Suppose Julien makes the team as a bench player who will see time at first base, second base, and designated hitter.
In that case, the bench will look like this: Julien as a backup infielder, Harrison Bader as a backup outfielder, Castro as a super-utility option, and Christian Vázquez as the backup catcher.
In this case, where would Julien get his playing time? Well, he wouldn’t be starting against lefties, so we can cross out about 25-30% of games right away. Then, we need to consider Bader and Castro.
Bader will (hopefully) mainly be playing center field, giving Byron Buxton the day off. Still, he’ll also get the occasional start in a corner, bumping Matt Wallner or Trevor Larnach to designated hitter or shielding them from a left-handed starter altogether.
It seems Bader will be something of a pseudo-starter, getting considerable run—more than a standard fourth outfielder.
Speaking of pseudo-starters, Castro, too, will play a lot. However, he needs to coexist with Bader, which means that Castro will play minimally in center field (where he started 24 times in 2024 and 29 times in 2023). Twins fans can expect Castro to play a more prominent role on the dirt, in this scenario, especially against righties. (He’s better from the left side of the plate.)
In that case, Julien would get time at second base (if Lee is either covering shortstop for the day or taking the day off and Castro is on the bench) or playing third base or the outfield (which would only be days that Bader is in center or sitting).
In short, he would only play second base on days that neither Lee nor Castro are, and there’s a righty on the mound.
Julien can play first base and DH. However, first base is also crowded (albeit not with elite talent but rather hard-to-move bodies), given the presence of Jose Miranda and Ty France—pseudo-starters themselves, at minimum. Miranda will also get time at third base, further limiting Castro’s non-second-base duties.
Even without that, the path to playing time for Julien at first base isn’t clear; he didn’t meet the offensive standard at the position last year.
It’s a couple of crowded rooms that Julien is stepping into, and as a bat that the Twins (at least in the recent past) thought could be a future asset, it’s hard to sign him up for playing so sparingly.
We don’t need to do the same step-by-step with Lee, because many of the same factors come into play.
If Lee isn’t the primary second baseman, some of his time will come in starts against lefties (hitting right-handed has historically been his weaker side, at least in the minors, for what it’s worth) at second base, in lieu of Julien.
He would see minimal time at DH, so the rest of his action against righties would come when A) Lewis, Castro, and Miranda aren’t playing third base, B) Correa isn’t playing shortstop, and C) Julien and Castro aren’t playing second base.
He’d probably be able to weasel his way into more playing time as a bench player than Julien would, but it’s hard to see it being more than about 70% of the time, which might not be enough to justify the very recent top prospect’s role.
Of course, all of this goes out the window when the Twins face some injury, which is inevitable—and may even happen before Opening Day.
Also, if Castro doesn’t repeat his performance of the last two seasons, Lee and Julien will have more time.
But as this roster is constructed right now, there are too many players in line for regular time to roster both Lee and Julien.
Despite their flexibility, there’s only enough room for one to get enough playing time to flourish.
Given all of the platoon bats and pseudo-starters, a lesser player may actually have more utility than one of the two second basemen.
If Julien starts the year in Triple A, Gasper could be an option who can do the things Julien can do (get on base and play passable first, second, and DH) while also serving as an emergency catcher—without the handwringing over whether the 29-year-old rookie is getting enough playing time.
Martin and DaShawn Keirsey could also play bit roles at the end of the bench.
Martin, a righty hitter, could see time versus southpaws in the outfield (though he doesn’t have great platoon splits), keep Castro out of center (where he is at higher risk of wearing down), be an emergency option at second base behind Castro and whichever of the two make the team, and be a pinch-running option late in games.
Keirsey, too, can cover all three outfield spots and pinch-run, though he is left-handed and a bit redundant alongside Wallner and Larnach.
However, if the Twins are looking for something they don’t have, his speed complements the current roster, and could you imagine a late-game outfield defense of Bader, Buxton, and Keirsey? Wow.
Again, none of this will matter once someone inevitably gets hurt, but with FanGraphs’s Roster Resource projecting both to make the Opening Day roster, it’s worth examining how feasible that would actually be.
