Twins infielder Jose Miranda, who’s been out more than two months with an impingement in his right shoulder, is headed for a pre-surgery consultation today and expected to undergo a surgical procedure tomorrow, reports Dan Hayes of The Athletic. The Twins have yet to make any kind of formal announcement or divulge specifics on the forthcoming procedure, but they’ll surely have an update once it’s been completed.
Miranda, 25, had a strong showing as a rookie in 2022, finishing his debut campaign with a .268/.325/.426 batting line, 15 home runs and 25 doubles in 483 plate appearances. That includes a woeful stretch at the plate during his initial call to the big leagues; Miranda posted a much heartier .286/.346/.451 line with 14 of his 15 long balls in 413 trips to the plate following a brief demotion to Triple-A.
That performance understandably locked Miranda into a starting job to begin the 2023 season, but his production was a shell of his 2022 output. Miranda hit just .220/.275/.318 before being optioned to Triple-A St. Paul in mid-May, and his .225/.326/.360 showing in the minors following that demotion wasn’t much better. The Twins summoned Miranda back to the Majors in July when Royce Lewis was injured, but he went just 1-for-10 before landing on the injured list himself.
Given this year’s pronounced drop-off in production and the revelation of a looming surgery, it’s fair to wonder whether Miranda was ever at 100% this season. Notably, he withdrew from the 2023 World Baseball Classic due to shoulder discomfort early in spring training. The young slugger was touted as a bat-first prospect throughout his rise through the Twins’ system, scorching Double-A opponents at a .352/.413/.593 clip in 2021 before moving up to Triple-A and hitting .343/.397/.563 in 80 games at that level. If this year’s downturn did indeed stem from a balky shoulder, there’s hope for him to turn things around in the future.
Looking ahead, however, Miranda’s role with the Twins is far cloudier than it was heading into the season. Lewis, the 2017 No. 1 overall pick, returned from a second ACL tear in as many years and has run with the third base job, slashing .306/.356/.528 with a dozen homers in 51 games. He’s now batting .305/.349/.532 through his first 249 MLB plate appearances. Across the diamond, Alex Kirilloff has again battled some injuries in 2023 but has produced nicely when healthy, hitting .266/.352/.430 in 270 plate appearances.
Miranda hasn’t played much second base since his time in the low minors, but that spot is spoken for in Minnesota anyhow, with Twins stalwart Jorge Polanco hitting .260/.341/.461 this season. The Twins hold a $10.5MM option over Polanco that feels like a lock to be picked up. Minnesota will also be mixing rookie Edouard Julien in at second base, first base and designated hitter, after the burgeoning young OBP machine has batted .273/.383/.457 with 12 homers and a gaudy 14.8% walk rate in his first 338 MLB plate appearances.
Miranda still has a minor league option remaining beyond the current season, so there’s time yet for him to play his way back into the team’s plans. But the Minnesota infield has become much more crowded since that strong rookie season, with the emergence of Lewis and Julien, the return of Kirilloff and the re-signing of Carlos Correa on a six-year contract. Having so much infield depth is obviously a good “problem” for the Twins to have, but the increased depth at the big league level and this problematic shoulder injury both mar Miranda’s path back to a prominent role at Target Field. He’s still under club control through the 2028 season.
You forgot Lee at AAA starting to pound on the door for an infield job across the river.
Miranda’s in kind of a tight spot and he’s always come across a likable, so you feel for the guy. I hope they fix the shoulder, he gets back to AAA and plays well, and next July they work out what the plans will be. The Twins have a lot of guys all ripening at once. Recall that this traffic comes only a year after sending two other good corner IF guys to the Reds, Castro, Farmer and Solano were all added last winter and have played well, and Buxton looks to be long way from opening the DH role to anyone else. I smell trades over the winter.
Plus Austin Martin is having a nice little bounce back of a season at 2B in St. Paul as well.
Trade Buxton. He has never hit enough to just DH, and if he can’t play CF, then he has no use on a winning team’s roster
Nobody would take that contract even if Buxton waived his 100% no trade clause.
Eat the contract and free up a roster spot. No need to clog the DH with a “CF” and see if the can of Longhorn Straight you trade him for turns into a useful reliever or a backup Catcher or something
First Buxton has a no trade clause.
Second, who’s trading for a guy who might never play the field again and didn’t hit this year?
Maybe Carmen can take over, she could feed the team in a pinch with her fruit hat, yum…
Miranda’s way down the depth chart at this point. It’s been a tough season for him, but with an option left, the Twins can hope he rebuilds from value in AAA to start next year to set up a trade.
Nah miranda ain’t going anywhere
He’s a stash and save for the inevitable Royce Lewis injury in 2024.
Rolls Royce is almost Buxton esque on the infield side.
Miranda is potentially a .285/330/600
Hitter in the future
…I mean… yeah, Miranda could be a dramatically different hitter than he’s pretty much ever been, but I think the realistic 90 percentile expectation for him is more like .270/.325/.425.
If any other GM willing to trade for him believed Miranda had a legitimate potential of a .930 OPS guy, that’d be great.
With how injury-prone Kiriloff is, it wouldn’t surprise me if Miranda was the primary 1B next season. Hopefully he gets right in the off-season.
Maybe he can take over Solano’s role next year
Kirilloff is definitely constantly hurt to the nth degree, but I’m not sold on Miranda’s ability to hit. Miranda’s career wasn’t looking too great 2 years ago when the Twins left him unprotected from the rule 5 draft and no team claimed him.
Miranda’s exit velocities, scouting and history suggest he’s going to have mediocre power, probably staying in that 15-20 HR range, and he doesn’t take walks so his bat doesn’t profile well as a 1B/DH type. That said, Miranda is a very poor runner so 1B/DH is probably his optimal defensive position.
I expect Miranda to start 2024 in AAA.
Might want to check a roster. He hasn’t been playing for a couple months so there is no performance of late, there hasn’t been any animosity because he’s been away from a playing role for so long, and he never pitched. But yeah, sweet hot take.
I have no idea what you’re talking about. Miranda has never pitched.
Not Miranda’s fault, but so tired of opposing announcers wasting innings talking about “Hamilton”.
He’s been around enough that they can stop talking about him and Lin being cousins.
Considering Miranda has played in a whopping 40 games this year, it’s kinda hard to believe it’s being mentioned a whole lot.
Bundle Gallo, Miranda, and Buxton together and see who wants em.