Twins option Matt Wallner to Triple-A St. Paul after rough start

The Twins sent Matt Wallner to Triple-A St. Paul on Thursday, and the move landed like a warning shot more than a routine shake-up. Wallner is in his final minor league option year, so this is not just about fixing a bad month. It is about whether Minnesota still sees a long-term corner-outfield piece or a power bat whose swing-and-miss is starting to price him out of the picture.

Wallner’s start gave the club little choice. He hit .167/.259/.292 with four home runs in 34 games, and his strikeout rate sat in the danger zone, whether measured at 37.4 percent or 39.3 percent. He had also struck out four times in each of his last two games, including what was described as a second straight golden sombrero. For a hitter whose carrying tool has always been elite raw power, that kind of whiff rate is a problem the Twins can no longer ignore.

The pathway back is straightforward, if not simple: everyday at-bats in St. Paul. Minnesota has spent the first six weeks shaving Wallner’s role down, moving him out of the leadoff spot, platooning him and even sitting him against some hard-throwing right-handers. Manager Derek Shelton made the priority clear by saying Austin Martin had earned the chance to play every day, and that Wallner needed regular reps to get his timing back. Martin is now expected to be the primary beneficiary and handle right field on a daily basis.

The roster shuffle did not stop there. The Twins also optioned right-hander Travis Adams and recalled utilityman Ryan Kreidler and right-hander Zebby Matthews. That tells you the club wanted immediate flexibility, but Wallner’s demotion is the move with the widest ripple effect. If he spends at least 20 days in St. Paul, he burns the final of his three minor league option years, a detail that could matter when the Twins map out their outfield depth later this season and into the winter.

Wallner still has a real major league track record to hang onto. He hit 22 home runs in 104 games last season, and from 2023 through 2025 he posted a .231/.345/.493 line with 49 homers in 907 plate appearances. The Twins have been willing to live with the strikeouts because the power can change a game in one swing. But Wallner, a Forest Lake native drafted 39th overall in 2019 and a big league debut on Sept. 17, 2022, is now at a sharper crossroads. Walker Jenkins, the organization’s No. 4 overall prospect in Baseball America’s rankings, is already part of the conversation behind him. The reset in St. Paul has to work, because the margin in Minneapolis just got a lot thinner.