Like a lot of young baseball players, Matt Wallner spent a good chunk of his offseason working to refine his major league swing. The goal was to cut down on his movement in the batter’s box and get the bat through the zone more quickly.
Part of that was working with Twins hitting coaches David Popkins and Derek Shoman at Shoman’s baseball and softball training facility in Elgin, Ill. Using at-bats from Wallner’s first major league experience last September, the coaches presented the 25-year-old outfielder with some solutions for refining his stride, the goal being to cut down on strikeouts.
Wallner made a good first impression with the Twins, hitting a pair of home runs and driving in 10 runs in 18 games. He also batted .228 with 25 strikeouts.
“And then right out of the gate in camp, it was good,” Shoman said.
Briefly.
“My rhythm didn’t really work with it, so I kinda banged it in spring training,” Wallner said.
That’s OK, Shoman said. Wallner was clearly hitting well enough in St. Paul — .300 with a home run, six RBIs, two walks and nine strikeouts — to get called up when right fielder Max Kepler went to the injured list with knee soreness.
“As a coach and as a player, you have the understanding that you might have to call an audible,” Shoman said. “It might not be a long-term solution.”
Wallner said his swing is essentially the same one he used at Forest Lake High School and for three seasons at Southern Mississippi.
“I think it’s just a cleaner version of what it was,” he said. “I move a decent bit now, but it’s way simpler than it was. I mean, I used to have way more hand movement. It’s always the unnecessary movement that I’m trying to cut out.”
And he still is.
“He does an excellent job of game-planning and taking advantage of any and all resources and information that we have,” Shoman said. “Matt is very in tune with that, and that is why he’s had the success he’s had.”
So, the refinement continues, just from a more familiar posture.
“At the end of the day, you’ve kinda gotta do what feels good to you, and that’s, I guess, moving a little bit more for me,” Wallner said. “So, I went back to it.”
Gallo to IL, Julien to make debut
The Twins placed outfielder/first baseman Joey Gallo on the injured list before Tuesday night’s game with what the team is calling right-side soreness. He hasn’t played since being removed in the sixth inning of the home opener last Friday. According to an industry source, infielder Edouard Julien appears set to make his major league debut in Wednesday afternoon’s series finale.
Signed to a one-year, $11 million deal in December, Gallo is hitting .278 with three homers, seven RBIs and a 1.183 OPS. The move is retroactive to Saturday. He took grounders at first base on Tuesday and was scheduled to take some swings, which apparently didn’t go as hoped. “If he can’t swing,” manager Rocco Baldelli said beforehand, “then it is probably an IL stint.”
Julien, second baseman who spent last season at Double-A Wichita, played eight games in major-league camp this spring and hit .348 with three home runs and six RBIs before leaving to join Team Canada for the World Baseball Classic. There, he hit .538 with a .660 on-base percentage and 1.154 OPS.
A left-handed batter, Julien is hitting .278 with two home runs, three RBIs and a .417 on-base percentage in eight games with Triple-A St. Paul.
Briefly
Carlos Correa missed his second game Tuesday because of back spasms. Baldelli said the star shortstop was scheduled to do some baseball activity and, if all went well, could be “good to go for tomorrow.” … Kepler said he is swinging and fielding, and that his knee is improving. “There’s no point, really, in playing through injury when it can get worse and, who knows, the whole knee blows and then I’m done for the year.”
