Time for Twins to End the James Outman Experiment

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James Outman, Minnesota Twins
Credit: Peter Aiken-Imagn Images

Last summer the Minnesota Twins traded just about everyone with a pulse. Some of the deals worked out. Taj Bradley is showing signs of being a future ace. He was acquired last July, in exchange for reliever Griffin Jax.

Other moves, like sending Carlos Correa back to Houston, did nothing more than pad the Pohlad bank account. And not every trade has a winner/loser.

For example, in one of the other many deadline trades last pulled off by former team president Derek Falvey last summer, the Minnesota Twins sent right-handed reliever Brock Stewart to the Los Angeles Dodgers, in exchange for outfielder, James Outman.

With no minor league options remaining, Outman always seemed destined to make the Twins roster out of camp, despite the Twins’ left-handed redundancies in the corner outfield. Then, in 19 Spring Training games the 30-year-old former 7th round draft pick batted .261 with a .897 OPS, crushing four homers and stealing eight bases.

MN Twins holding out hope for James Outman

But now 14 games into the Minnesota Twins regular season, and it’s become clear that Outman just isn’t someone worth taking up a spot on the active 26-man roster. Outside of his Spring spark, James Outman hasn’t been good at baseball since landing in Minnesota.

In 51 games last season, he batted .124 with a .470 OPS, striking out an incredible 55 times, to just 9 walks. But to start this season, he’s been ever worse, failing to get a single hit in 18 plate appearances, with 10 K’s and 1 BB.

Clearly, the Twins are holding out hope that Outman can return to his 2023 form, when he posted a 114 OPS+ and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. But that dude is long gone. Even on defense, he’s accumulated a -7 DRS over the past two seasons.

Minnesota has five true outfielders on their 26-man roster. Three of them are left-handed bats. At what point do the Twins just rip the band-aid? Maybe someone claims him on waivers, maybe he makes it through to Triple-A St. Paul. Either way, DFA’ing James Outman would be addition by subtraction.

Who would replace Outman on the Twins roster?

Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez are the shiny top outfield prospects that Minnesota Twins fans have been waiting for. However, both are left-handed hitters, and each could potentially use a bit more seasoning in the minors.

And since the Twins are the hottest team in baseball, there’s not enough at-bats for them in a big league platoon role anyway. Same can be said for Gabriel Gonzalez, a right-handed outfielder near the top of Minnesota’s prospect list.

Enter Kyler Fedko.

The MN Twins decided not to protect the 26-year-old Fedko from the Rule 5 Draft, this offseason. And it paid off, as he went surprisingly unselected. Capable of playing all three outfield positions (and first base) Fedko would provide the Twins with a dynamic talent they can use in a variety of different roles.

Last season, Kyler Fedko posted an .855 OPS between Double and Triple-A. After a slow start to the year this season, he launched three homers in a single game last week for the Saints.

Fedko, 26, could directly replace Outman on the 40-man, making that a non-issue, and he’s not a young, high-end prospect who needs every-day at-bats.

Whether it’s this week or next month, at some point the Outman plug has to be pulled. And with Kyler Fedko is waiting in the wings they already have a good option to replace him.

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