For a hot weekend last summer, Jose Miranda was the toast of Target Field, with eyes on him throughout major league baseball.
On July 6, the Twins infielder went 4 for 4 against in a wild, 13-12 loss to the Astros to break the club record by hitting safely in 10 consecutive at-bats, passing Joe Mauer (8), and then Tony Oliva, Mickey Hatcher and Todd Walker (9).
The next day, he was hit by a pitch in his first plate appearance, then hit a pair of singles to expand his club record by hitting safely in 12 consecutive at-bats and tie three players for the major league record: Johnny Kling (1902), Pinky Higgins (1938) and Walt Dropo (1952). After that game, Miranda was hitting .326 with nine home runs and 43 RBIs in 72 games.
Now, Miranda is stuck at Triple-A hitting .194 with a .263 on-base percentage in 57 games since being demoted to St. Paul after just 12 games with the Twins. For a player who has hit his entire career, it’s nearly inexplicable.
“I’ve hit my entire career, and for me to not hit the way I typically hit, it’s disappointing for me,” Miranda said before going 0 for 2 with a strikeout in a loss to Worcester on Thursday at CHS Field. “It’s frustrating, super frustrating. Especially not hitting the way I hit, you know, down here, because it’s one thing to not hit up there (in the majors) and keep working, putting in the work, but not hitting great down here, it’s way different.”
Miranda struggled in 2023 but was limited to 40 games by a shoulder impingement that required season-ending surgery. After being optioned to St. Paul on April 16 this season, he injured his left hand while trying to stop a case of bottled water from falling to the floor and didn’t play until May 9.
But now, Miranda said, he’s healthy.
“Obviously, I haven’t been hitting the way I normally hit, and I feel like it’s part of the game, that these things can happen,” he said. “I’m still trying to figure things out, keep putting in the work every day, because that’s the main thing that I have to focus on — just to put in the work before the game.”
In his first stint at St. Paul in 2021, Miranda hit .343 with 17 home runs and 56 RBIs in 80 games. As a Twins rookie in 2022, he hit .268 with 15 home runs and 66 RBIs in 125 games while playing third and first base. But after he tied that record on July 7, he finished the 2024 season by hitting .219 with no home runs and six RBIs in 49 games, and he hit .167 in 12 games with the Twins this season.
Between May 31-June 7, Miranda went 10 for 29 with two home runs and four RBIs to raise his Triple-A average to a season-high .253. But he entered Friday’s game against Worcester at CHS Field hitting .194 with a .263 on-base percentage.
If Miranda knew what’s going on, he’d have fixed it by now.
A year ago, he said, “It was great. I was going into the box not even thinking about anything. I was just looking for a good pitch to hit and then crushing it. So, I know that’s the player that I am. I’ve just got to get back to that and keep trusting the process.”
López throwing
Pablo López, on the 60-day injured list with a Grade 2 teres major strain in his right shoulder, has been ramping up his rehab program. On Friday, he threw 90 feet on flat ground, something more than long toss.
“There’s some pump behind it,” he said.
López said he was on pace to throw from 120 feet on Saturday, “which will ge me close to (throwing off) the mound.”
It’s all good news, but doesn’t indicate the ace right-hander will be back in the rotation anytime soon.
“I think now it’s just a waiting game to give the arm the volume, give the arm the distance, getting used to that feel of ‘this is what I’m supposed to be doing,’ ” López said. “I’m supposed to be throwing baseballs pretty hard and then bouncing back for the next day.”
Briefly
The Twins placed left-handed reliever Anthony Misiewicz on the 15-day Injured List with left shoulder impingement. The move is retroactive to July 23. To take his place on the 26–man active roster, the Twins recalled lefty Kody Funderburk from St. Paul, where he was 3-0 two saves and a 1.78 earned-run average in 19 games.
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