Edouard

Julien

Not too long ago, Julien was a bat-first infield prospect who rose through Minnesota’s minor league system and had a solid MLB debut in 2023, where he finished 7th in AL Rookie of the Year voting. However, his inability to make consistent contact has been tough for him to overcome, and he sports a .232/.336/.382 career slash line in 917 MLB plate appearances. He is also a poor defender at second base and a below-average baserunner, which complicates his overall value. Perhaps moving to Coors Field will help him regain that offensive value. He is out of minor league options, which is part of the reason this trade was made, but also means the Rockies cannot send him to Triple-A.

Clemens will get the day off with Edouard Julien getting the start at first base against Luis Gil and the Yankees’ pitching staff.

Julien took Tarik Skubal deep in the third inning because baseball is weird. It’s just the third homer for Julien, and it lifts his slugging percentage all the way up to .328. Julien looked like a pretty intriguing fantasy option not that long ago, but even with a game like Wednesday, he doesn’t appear to be much more than a depth piece.

Kody Clemens moves to left field, and Edouard Julien will start at first base. We’ll provide an update when we know more about how severe the injury is for Larnach.

Keaschall is at second base and batting fifth on Tuesday against the Tigers in his return after missing more than three months with a fractured forearm. He has some history in the outfield and at first base, but he’s played only second base and DH’d this year, both before getting hurt back in late April and since beginning a rehab assignment three weeks ago. Assuming that the Twins stick with that plan, it seems like bad news for Edouard Julien, though perhaps he’ll see some time at first base. Keaschall may need a little while to get going, but since he’ll have the green light on the basepaths, he’s worth trying in mixed leagues.

Keaschall, who has been out since April with a forearm fracture, is batting .265/.367/.327 with seven steals in 14 games on his rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul. The Twins could option him out and let him continue to work on things in the minors, but it they were going to do that, they wouldn’t have put his nameplate up. He’ll likely be activated Tuesday and start taking away playing time from Edouard Julien. There’s a good chance he’ll have some mixed-league value the rest of the way.

Joulien has struggled in the majors since his solid rookie campaign two years ago, but he’ll get another shot with Willi Castro now a member of the Cubs. He could help in the average category and has shown the ability to draw free passes, but fantasy managers should take a wait-and-see approach before adding him to their fantasy club.

With Willi Castro and Royce Lewis set to return to the lineup on Tuesday, the Twins needed to clear space on the active roster. Julien was starting regularly against right-handed pitching, but hitting just .198 with a 28 percent strikeout rate thanks to his overly passive approach at the plate. Unless he shifts his approach, it’s hard to see him becoming an MLB regular.

Castro has been sidelined with an oblique injury since April 16th and was finally placed on the IL late last week. He has been swinging the bat right-handed and plans to swing left-handed on Tuesday. If his body responds well to that, the Twins could bring him back for this weekend’s series against Boston, which could cut into the playing time for Brooks Lee or Edouard Julien.

Julien worked Kyle Hendricks for a walk to start the home half of the first inning, then came around to score the game’s first run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Carlos Correa. He then drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth inning and rode home on Trevor Larnach’s three-run blast. Julien also led off the sixth with a walk, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Byron Buxton’s RBI triple. On the season, the 25-year-old infielder is slashing an underwhelming .222/.296/.333 with one homer and seven RBI.