Ten positions in ten days: Third Base

Our countdown to opening day sits at just five days, that means we’re looking at third base.

The Presumed Starter: Marwin Gonzalez

With Miguel Sano likely unable to play for the first month of the season, Marwin Gonzalez will probably get most of the starts at third base to start the year. The Twins signed Gonzalez to a 2 year, 21 million dollar contract in February.

After a breakout season in 2017 (4.1 bWAR, .907 OPS, 23 HR, 90 RBI), he had a mediocre 2018 (2.5 bWAR, .733 OPS, 16 HR, 68 RBI). The main reason Gonzalez is valuable to the Twins, though, is his ability to play several positions (3B, 2B, 1B, SS, LF, RF). This means he’ll be able to move around and give many of our starters a day off throughout the year.

The Bench Guys: Ehire Adrianza, Willians Astudillo, Ronald Torreyes

Willians Astudillo could see time at third base, especially while Sano is out. Last year he took the Twins fandom by storm and hit .355/.371/.516 in 97 plate appearances.

Ehire Adrianza is another option off the bench, if he makes the team. Last year he hit .251/.301/.385 in 114 games.

Ronald Torreyes, who signed with the Twins in December, is another option. I don’t expect him to make the team out of spring training, but we can always call him up from Triple-A if needed.

Check out our preview of shortstop for a more in depth view of Adrianza and Torreyes.

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at second base.