Danny

Valencia

Kinsler, 39, is currently an advisor to the Padres and hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2019. Valencia, 36, also made his last big-league appearance back in 2019. They will get a few games to tune-up with Long Island before joining Team Israel as they play a series of exhibition contests in mid-July. The Olympic baseball tournament, which is being held in Japan, is set to begin on July 28.

Valencia’s 45th extra-base hit of the season was his second three-bagger. He’ll bring a .249/.297/.398 triple slash into play on Saturday.

His hit was one of only three by the Twins, who couldn’t do much against Royals’ starter Bruce Chen. Valencia had been dealing with shoulder soreness, but now looks good going forward.

It was the third baseman’s first appearance since Wednesday, as the flu has been keeping him out of action. Valencia now has an impressive 70 RBI to go with a .250 batting average.

Valencia sat out Friday’s game after suffering whiplash as the result of a car accident. He should be fine.

Valencia wasn’t an asset as the Twins’ third baseman last year, so he has something to prove entering 2012. He’s hit .282 with four homers this spring, which qualifies as a decent start. He actually showed more pop than expected last year, finishing with 15 homers, but his .246 average and .294 OBP weren’t at all satisfactory. We’re guessing an average closer to .270-.280 is in store for this season.

It was a two-run shot in the fourth inning that tied up the game at the time. Valencia hasn’t bounced back from last year’s disappointing showing yet, as he’s hitting just .220 thus far with only five extra-base hits. He’s not much of a mixed league option.

Valencia opened the season as the Twins’ starting third baseman but batted just .190 with 23 strikeouts and two walks in 103 plate appearances. The 27-year-old should be called back up once he gets his bat going against a lesser level of competition. The Twins will use a combination of Alexi Casilla, Jamey Carroll and Trevor Plouffe at the hot corner in the interim.

“I’ve given Danny a couple days,” Gardenhire said. “He’s good to go. Danny’s ready to play. I don’t think he needs a day to relax. I know he’s pressing a little bit, trying to get hits like everybody else in our lineup. But a good two-hit day would probably make him feel pretty good about himself.” Gardy would probably be warm to the idea of putting Valencia on the bench if he had better options, but, unfortunately, he doesn’t, so he’ll let him try to hit his way out of a slump. Valencia is hitless in May and sports a hideous .207/.221/.315 batting line for the year.

Neal says the Twins “could decide that Danny Valencia would be better off working on his game at Triple-A Rochester,” leaving Inge to platoon with Sean Burroughs at third base. He also says Inge could interest Minnesota because he could catch, which makes sense for a team that’s carrying two catchers that both play other positions. The Orioles also reportedly have interest in the veteran.