Minnesota Twins Notebook: Byron Buxton, Louis Varland, Edouard Julien

“It’s clearly a game-winning play,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said on Wednesday. “You could call it game-winning, call it game-saving. You could call it a lot of other things too, but it was amazing, and it’s the type of play that Buck (Buxton) makes, so it’s not out of his realm by any means. It’s actually right in his realm.”

Starting pitcher Chris Paddack, who is scheduled to take the mound in Thursday’s series finale, said Buxton’s catch was “pretty special” as Minnesota improved to 8-15 on the campaign after Buxton sealed Tuesday’s 4-2 victory.

“That one was pretty special just because of the way the game was going,” Paddack said. “We finally got a lead over a division rival. We were at home with our home fans.

“Even plays like that, he makes it look easy,” continued Paddack, who admitted he watched the replay of the catch on Instagram “at least six or seven times.”

Will that be the spark the Twins need to get back into the American League Central race? While it was only the ending of one game in mid-April, Minnesota players were looking for something to kickstart their season … and Buxton may have provided just what they needed.

Buxton kept the good feels inside the Twins clubhouse going on Wednesday, slamming a two-run homer in the seventh as Minnesota posted a 6-3 victory, their 14th straight win over the White Sox inside Target Field.

Louis Varland Comes Into His Own in Twins Bullpen

In that Tuesday win punctuated by Buxton’s catch, right-hander Louis Varland earned his fourth hold of the season with an inning of perfect baseball. Pitching the eighth inning, Varland needed just seven pitches to retire the three batters he faced.

It’s part of what has been a very interesting year-plus for Varland, who made Minnesota’s 2024 Opening Day as the team’s fourth starter but has transitioned into a bullpen role this year. Now focused on being a reliever, Varland, armed with a 98.0 mph fastball (ranking in the 96th percentile among MLB pitchers), has become a true weapon.

“He certainly embraces being in the pen,” Baldelli said. “He’s looked pretty good in the pen from our first experiment out there and his first appearance. And I think he’s just an adaptable person. I think he just has the ability to take some direction and just go do it and perform.

“You might not be as comfortable the first day doing something, but he doesn’t get thrown out of whack. If you say, ‘Lou, you’re going to do this today,’ then he’ll say okay and he’ll just go do it. I don’t know if every player has the ability to do it that directly and that easily, but I think it’s a real strength of his.”

Baldelli went on to praise the mentality of Varland, a 15th-round pick of the Minnesota Twins in the 2019 draft.

“There are some guys that their mentality is whatever they’re asked to do, they’re just going to do it. They’re not going to think about it too much. They’re not going to look back. They’re not asking questions about what if. If they’re asked, they’re just happy to go do the job, and they expect themselves to do the job,” Baldelli said. “And I think that’s been key for Lou from day one. He goes out there, we put him in the pen one day, and he goes out there and looks like he was born to do it.

“In some ways, it doesn’t mean he’s not going to start or not going to do different things. He’s got a long career ahead of him. I don’t know what he’s going to be doing five years from now, but right now, the best thing for him on our team, I think, is coming out of the pen. He’s blowing smoke out of the pen, and his offspeed pitches play tremendously. They play up. He adds velocity. The command is good. He can still pound the zone with this stuff. I think you see a tremendous version of the guy.”

Edouard Julien’s Number To Watch

While Minnesota’s Edouard Julien may not be scorching at the plate just yet (he entered Wednesday’s game with a .203 batting average before collecting a single, walk and a double in his first three plate appearances that night, snapping an 0-for-14 skid), he has certainly become a more selective hitter at the plate.

Julien’s strikeout rate of 25.7% through his first 74 plate appearances of the season may be just above the MLB average of 22.4%, but it is well below his career average of 31.8%. That lower number is standing out as the 25-year-old Julien is exhibiting an uptick in his bat-to-ball skills in 2025.

“I would say that I think there’s a direct correlation with the way he’s making adjustments on offspeed pitches to his strikeout rate,” Baldelli said. “I do think that there’s a swing adjustment there, but also that swing adjustment has to start with a mental adjustment, which I think he’s thought about a lot and he’s made. He has to be able to adapt and make the swing a little more variable, to get to some different pitches, and he’s done that.

“I do think he’s still learning how that swing, to put that swing to best use, and to get the most hard-hit balls and results out of it. But I really like the way, both in spring training and early on in the season, he’s adjusted to several different kinds of offspeed pitches and the way he’s attacked those pitches, fouled some of those pitches off and extended at-bats, and ultimately just put some more balls in play, especially late in the count. I think you’re going to see some positive results from that.”