Wallner gaining leadoff reps, but will he be Twins' main No. 1 guy?

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Twins rolled out a lineup on Friday that could quite easily be the one they use on Opening Day on March 27 in St. Louis. And as he has done in every game he¡¯s started this spring, slugging outfielder Matt Wallner batted leadoff.

Now, it is still February. We¡¯re still several weeks from games that count. But when something happens again and again, even in Spring Training, you can begin thinking that it might have some meaning.

It is, as manager Rocco Baldelli said Friday, ¡°a concept in action.¡±

Which is to say, if the question is whether Wallner might see significant time at leadoff against right-handed pitching in the regular season, the answer is absolutely yes. If the question is whether Wallner is written in ink as the 2025 Twins¡¯ primary leadoff man, the answer is just as easily a no.

¡°Rocco talked [with me] about it a little bit, and then it¡¯s just trying it out and going from there,¡± Wallner said.

At a minimum, there¡¯s something to it. There¡¯s interest in how it could work. Wallner is by any measure one of the Twins¡¯ best hitters, and in simplest terms, more plate appearances for your best hitters is always a good idea.

¡°I think Wallner is certainly a candidate to hit up there,¡± Baldelli said. ¡°And for a guy who hasn¡¯t really ... done that role, I want to give him opportunities in Spring Training to gain some comfort so it gives us the option to do it when the season starts. I wouldn¡¯t want to stick someone out there Opening Day that has not had to do that, so that¡¯s really all. It¡¯s trying to use these games for good use. He¡¯s on base a lot; he hits balls hard. And the hit-by-pitch ¡­ they all matter.¡±

Wallner is not a conventional leadoff man. He has one career start there, in September. He¡¯s mostly made a name for himself due to his power. Wallner is athletic for his size, size (6-foot-4, 220 pounds), but he¡¯s not a classic speedster. He strikes out in more than 30 percent of his plate appearances, but there¡¯s no time that a strikeout is less costly than when a hitter is leading off a game or an inning.

Mostly, he does the most important thing for a leadoff man -- gets on base. He does it better than just about anyone else on the roster, with a .366 career mark that is the highest of any Twins regular.

¡°He¡¯s good,¡± Baldelli said. ¡°He¡¯s a good hitter. Over the last two seasons overall, you look at his body of work, he¡¯s been as good of a hitter as we have. And overall, he gets on base and he hits balls hard.¡±

Again, it¡¯s still February. It would be a mistake to read too much into anything that happens in any game at any point this early in spring. Wallner could hit second or fifth or seventh or nearly anywhere in the lineup. He almost certainly will not lead off against lefties; he¡¯ll likely even sit against some of them.

One thing to know about the Twins is that they don¡¯t tend to roll out the same guys in the same spots day after day, so even if Wallner gets significant time in the No. 1 spot, he won¡¯t be the only one who does.

But it¡¯s clear there¡¯s interest. Especially since Wallner has repeatedly led off in games that Willi Castro and Edouard Julien have started. Those are the two returning players who got the most starts in the No. 1 spot for the Twins in 2024.

One other factor? Wallner is unfazed by the idea. Some hitters can be picky about where they bat. Wallner just sees it as an opportunity.

¡°It¡¯s good,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s more at-bats, so I think that¡¯s a good thing.¡±

Then again, that seems to be how Wallner approaches most things.

¡°He¡¯s pretty much unbothered by everything,¡± Baldelli said. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I haven¡¯t found a way to irk him yet. He¡¯s a very low-maintenance individual.¡±