Making the most of it.

It's been a while since the Twins have been able to truly enjoy a season in which many of the players were auditioning for the next season. Generally, when things aren't going particularly well, that means not many of those auditions are going well either. Such is the case with the Twins, though not all of them are going poorly. There are a few players who have likely played themselves into a real role in 2026. 

I'm not talking about guys like Byron Buxton, who is obviously the focus of the team, or Luke Keaschall. the only spark the team seams to have had when he's healthy. I'm talking about players who were not necessarily on the radar at all, or at least emerged as a candidate for a greater role than they were expected to have on July 31st. 

In particular, the two top names I am thinking of make the trade with the Blue Jays a few seasons ago have been standing out the brightest. Now that the stadium is empty, Austin Martin and Simeon Woods-Richardson are really showing up. 

Austin Martin, in particular, has been a welcome surprise. Martin didn't see Target Field until after the deadline, as he was in St. Paul up until that point. For the Saints, he was hitting over .300, and now with the Twins, he is hitting .296. For having almost no power, his OPS is nearly .800 in his time with the Twins, and as filling the role of utility player has accumulated .9 win above replacement. His walk rate and strike out rate are improved over his freshman campaign, and it looks like we are finding out the type of player he is going to be.

Essentially, Marin is being asked to replace Willi Castro. For comparison, Martin's WAR production exceeds Castro's for the full season (thanks to Castro being trash with the Cubs) but Martin has produced .9 wins in a month and a half against Castro's 1.1 in 3 months. Martin offers the positional flexibility Castro does, along with being a regular table setter for a team in dire need of one. 

In the month of September, following a stint on the IL for a stomach ailment, Simeon Woods Richardson has been the anchor of the Twins rotation. Heck, he's been one of the best pitchers in baseball. Certainly, SWR has shown flashes before, but also some valleys (like August, while fighting the initial stages of his tummy bug) but he has the tuff to strike out 11 per 9, as he has done this month.

Woods-Richardson has proven to be effective when he is not giving up the long ball, which he hasn't been this month. This is a similar course to the one Brad Radke started his career with, though Radke didn't strikeout as many batters, which meant he worked deeper into games. But for now, a healthy Simeon Woods Richardson is a nice asset. 

Taj Bradley, Cole Sands and Kody Clemens have also shown flashes of brilliance to go along with the established stars and these recently emergent players. The cupboard is not bare. The Twins will, as always, hinge on their health and depth. If nothing else, at least Austin Martin can play a few different positions.