Matt

Wallner

Wallner was hitting sixth today against lefty Steven Matz. In his previous three starts against righties, he hit cleanup twice but also sixth once, with Trevor Larnach hitting cleanup then. One hopes Wallner will be hitting ahead of Larnach against righties in the regular season. Even in a down 2025, Wallner still out OPS+'d Larnach 110 to 99. Wallner has a 129 OPS+ the last three years, compared to 104 for Larnach. Wallner should also have a better chance of remaining in the Twins lineup than Larnach when the team is facing a lefty.

Wallner will miss the rest of the season. The 27-year-old’s campaign ends with a slash of .202/.311/.464 with 22 homers and four stolen bases over 104 games. Assuming he sticks in the organization, he should be a middle-of-the-order option for Minnesota to begin 2026.

Wallner was removed Wednesday with back spasms, and he’ll miss at least one more game with the ailment. James Outman gets the start in Wallner’s absence.

Wallner was 0-for-1 with a walk before leaving the contest in the fifth inning. He’s likely day-to-day for now. There should be an update on his status following the game.

It’s the second time in the last three games that Wallner has found himself on the bench against an opposing right-hander, which isn’t ideal. It may have something to do with him hitting .170/.284/.386 with a 34/10 K/BB ratio over 102 plate appearances in his last 25 games. James Outman will start in his place in right field and will bat ninth against Ryne Nelson and the Diamondbacks on Saturday evening in Minneapolis.

Wallner appears to be just getting a day off against José Soriano and the Los Angeles bullpen. He’ll take a break with Trevor Larnach lined up in right field.

Wallner started a five-run uprising with a one-out walk off of Jonathan Cannon in the fourth inning. He would score the Twins’ first run on a two-out RBI single by Ryan Fitzgerald. Wallner then belted a 408-foot (107.7 mph EV) solo shot off of Tyler Alexander in the fifth that increased the Twins’ advantage to 6-4. He also led off the seventh inning with a walk but was erased on a double play. For the season, the 25-year-old slugger is now slashing .209/.313/.483 with 21 long balls and 36 RBI.

Wallner struck out his first three times up before taking Jeff Hoffman deep in a 4-4 game. It was his fourth homer in three games and 20th in 315 plate appearances this season. Of the previous 19, 13 had come with the bases empty and six with one man on. He hadn’t had a three-RBI game this season until connecting on his solo shot and two-run homer Monday. Now he has two.

A truly baffling thing is that the Twins seem to think more of Trevor Larnach than Wallner, who was in the lineup tonight after sitting out two of the previous four games against righties. Wallner has the better offensive numbers now and over the course of his career, and he almost always plays the field when he starts, since Larnach is almost exclusively a DH now, Wallner has been really bad with runners on this season, which we assume is factoring into the Twins’ thinking. He did hit one of his homers with a man on tonight, so that’s something. In 311 plate appearances this season, he’s driven in himself 19 times and teammates 13 times.

Wallner is back after three days away and should return to being an everyday player between right field and DH. He hit .306 with five homers and eight walks in the 11 games leading up to his absence.