Twins’ Emmanuel Rodriguez’s Unique Profile Nears MLB Readiness
The Twins are grateful that 22-year-old outfielder Emmanuel Rodriguez grew up in the Dominican Republic, where he never had a chance to play American football.
Otherwise, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli believes, Rodriguez might be wearing shoulder pads and a helmet today.
Rodriguez’s thighs “are the size of Emmitt Smith’s,” Baldelli said in reference to the NFL’s all-time leading rusher after watching Rodriguez crush a long spring-training home run against all-star closer Craig Kimbrel a year ago. “He’s a tank.”
Those tank treads—er, muscular legs—may drive E-Rod, as his teammates sometimes call him, to Target Field sometime in 2025.
Rodriguez was limited to just 47 games in 2024 because of a nagging thumb injury that made swinging a bat painful. But offseason surgery, “sort of a clean-up procedure,” according to Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey, has solved the problem.
Now, Falvey said, “I’m excited about spring training and seeing a healthy version on him with a little taste of Triple-A—what that could look like.”
If it looks anything like the progress he showed when healthy in 2024, Rodriguez could find himself in the Twins’ lineup by midseason.
The center fielder opened last season with two incredible months at the plate for Double-A Wichita that produced a .298/.479/.621 batting line with eight home runs and nine stolen bases in 37 games.
Perhaps even more impressive, Falvey said, was his plate discipline. Rodriguez drew walks in 25% percent of his plate appearances and refuses to chase out of the zone. In fact, his power, patience and speed enticed the Twins to give Rodriguez a one-week look at Triple-A St. Paul at season’s end.
“Emma has such a unique profile. It’s almost impossible to look at that profile and say how it’s going to translate to the big leagues, because no one else has it,” Falvey said. “That ability to hit for power but also get on base so much, he’s a lot closer than we think.”
