The numbers might not look it on the surface — especially after an 0-for-8 weekend in Atlanta — but Twins second baseman Edouard Julien believes he is a changed player.
A good hitter at every stage in his career, Julien spent last year, in his words, “trying to deal with failure” amid a sophomore season in the majors that saw him struggle mightily and get demoted to Triple-A multiple times. He came through that experience with a changed mindset.
A little over a week ago, manager Rocco Baldelli shook up the lineup, reinstating Julien in the leadoff spot, where he had hit before. And while he’s hitting .217 now with an OPS that has dipped below .600, he’s exhibited some of the strides he has made. Some of it is visible — he’s hitting breaking balls better, for example — and much of it internal.
“I feel like at times I would have good contact and good at-bats, but not the results I wanted. They would catch the ball and it would drive me so crazy inside,” Julien said. “It felt like at a point last year, I was not hitting, and every time I would hit it, they would catch it.
“I was so down on myself. This year, every time I hit the ball forward and it’s hit hard, I feel like it’s a win.”
That, Julien believes, will help him keep his confidence and work through inevitable slumps.
Julien said he felt like he was in a better spot with his approach by the end of last year, but his swing wasn’t there. He finished the season hitting just .199 with a .616 OPS. He racked up 102 strikeouts in 94 games, many of them looking.
Over the offseason, Julien worked on tweaking his swing so he could cover more pitches and stay through them better. He also believes, after parts of three seasons in the majors, he has a better understanding of what opposing pitchers are trying to do against him.
Where he hit .120 against breaking balls last year, he’s hitting .250 against them this year, per Statcast data.
“He’s been in the big leagues for … a few years and he’s already seen a lot of different things come his way,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He’s been one of the best hitters in the game for a period of time, and also been forced to make real adjustments, too, in his swing and in his approach.”
A spot on the roster wasn’t a guarantee for Julien coming into spring training and he knew it. He said in spring training he was playing with a chip on his shoulder, trying to prove he belonged.
But with Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee on the injured list to begin the year, Julien started the started the season with the Twins and during April has shown some flashes of what he looked like his rookie year, when he hit .263 with 16 homers and 37 RBIs in 102 games.
“Even when I’m getting outs right now, I come back and I’m not lost,” he said. “I’m not wondering what’s going on. Maybe I just missed a pitch, or he made a good pitch. I just like my odds right now. Every time I’m at the plate, I can do something good.”
White Sox, Angels on tap
The Twins will need much more of that from Julien and his teammates to overcome a 7-15 start to the season. Last year, the Twins found themselves in a similar position, beginning 7-13 before a stretch where they faced the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels and then the White Sox again.
The Twins used the soft part of their schedule — the White Sox recorded the most losses in a season in the history of Major League Baseball last year — to jumpstart their season, going on a 12-game winning streak.
Beginning Tuesday, the Twins will face those two teams over their next six games, giving themselves a good opportunity to right the ship. The Angels are hovering around .500, but the White Sox (5-16) have the American League’s worst record.
Briefly
Bailey Ober will take the ball for the first game of the series against Chicago, which kicks off at 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday. He will be opposed by Davis Martin. Ober, who gave up three runs in 6⅓ innings last time out, did not face the White Sox when the Twins played them earlier this season. … This will mark the second Tuesday home game televised on Fox 9. The game will also be aired on Twins.TV.
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