Trevor Larnach homers in return to Twins lineup

It’s a rare off day for Larnach with an opposing right-hander on the mound. Alen Roden will start in his place in left field and will bat seventh for the Twins against Padres’ veteran Walker Buehler.

Larnach was replaced by Luke Keaschall in the leadoff spot Tuesday, but he still hit second then because Byron Buxton was resting. With Buxton back today, Larnach is hitting in the bottom half of the order against a righty for the first time since June 9. Larnach is 5-for-32 with just one walk and one run scored in his last nine games, and he’s definitely a weaker option in mixed leagues while batting lower in the lineup.

Reporter Michael Marino said yesterday that a deal sending Larnach to the Astros for Bryan Abreu was nixed by Houston’s ownership, which much prefers to part with prospects instead of major league talent. Perhaps that’s still a path to a deal. The Twins could give Matt Wallner another look if they trade Larnach and also still have outfield prospect Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez as replacement possibilities.

Larnach had gone hitless in his last three starts and was 8-for-33 with two extra-base hits since the break, but he’s still having a nice season on the whole. His current .373 OBP is a full 50 points ahead of his career mark from his first five years.

Larnach actually started on the bench, but wound up with three at-bats against Cleveland’s relievers after Gavin Williams left. Larnach is hitting .391/.440/.696 in his last seven games and .294/.383/.460 overall in what has been a nice bounceback season, even if he only plays against right-handers.

That’s odd, especially after The Athletic’s Dan Hayes just wrote about Larnach potentially being available in trade. However, it probably has something to do with the fact that Larnach is 0-for-12 against Cleveland starter Gavin Williams in his career. The Twins have Austin Martin starting in Larnach’s place in left field today. Brooks Lee is leading off.

Statcast says the homer, a 360-foot liner to right off Tim Hill, would have left four ballparks, which doesn’t even account for it getting a little help from the wind blowing out to right at Yankee Stadium today. It was just the 14th regular (non-inside the park) homer with a launch angle 18 degrees of lower this season. Still, it was an impressive 106-mph drive from Larnach in a matchup with a quality left-handed reliever. It was his sixth career homer against a southpaw. He’s 5-for-28 with two homers against lefties while serving as a platoon player this year.

Larnach also was able to put down his first career sac bunt after the D-backs brought in a lefty to face him in the sixth inning today. It didn’t lead to a run, but that’s a worthwhile tactic for Larnach against lefties, considering he’s hitting just .148 against them this season and .210/.272/.305 for his career. Fortunately, Larnach has been strong enough against righties that he’s hitting .281/.378/.427 overall this year.

Larnach started only two of the three games against the Rangers, but he went 7-for-11 with two homers in the series sweep. He entered with just three homers on the season, even though he’s been better than usual when it comes to average and, especially, OBP. Almost exclusively a platoon guy this season, he’s at .273/.373/.417 through 217 plate appearances.

Larnach’s fourth career four-hit game pushed him up to .264/.368/.396 for the season, but while that’s really pretty good, he hasn’t at all enhanced his stock with a 30 percent hard-hit rate that is barely two-thirds of his career average, His bat speed is down, and he’s managed just four homers in 212 plate appearances. He’s been fine for the Twins in the process, but it hasn’t been in the kind of way that is going to make him more attractive to his current team or to other potential suitors in 2027.