Welcome to part 2 of grading the 2026 Twins! You can read part 1, the starting pitchers, here.
Today, we’ve got the biggest group: infielders and catchers. For the sake of clarity and my sanity, I included Kody Clemens and Ryan Kreidler here despite them both playing a good amount of outfield. Utility players are people too! Here are all the infielders for the Twins last year, ordered by plate appearances.
Note: in the table below, * denotes a career best while ^ is a career worst.
Josh Bell
Bell was exactly
the player the Twins thought they were getting when they acquired him last winter: a respected, if underwhelming, veteran who would provide good, not great, production. He hit in the middle of the lineup all season and had a penchant for coming up with hits with runners in scoring position, shown by the 96 RBI. However, his walk rate fell to a career low and he was completely unplayable in the field after short test at first in May. Given the Twins’ plethora of outfielders, it’s highly unlikely Bell will be back next year as they’ll need to cycle those guys through the DH slot to get everyone regular playing time. Thank you for your service, Josh.
GRADE: B-
Brooks Lee
He opened the season as the regular shortstop, moved to third base in mid-May, and thrived from there. Defensively, it was hard to look better than Lee did at the hot corner, an especially stark contrast to his inability at short, and he earned a Gold Glove nomination as a reward. Offensively, he also made major strides, setting career highs in OPS, HR, RBI, and fWAR while clocking in with almost exactly league average production.
It was an encouraging season for the young switch hitter, but his swing decisions, contact quality, and general approach at the plate don’t support his overall production. That can be a good thing as there is still room to grow, but for now the Twins will take a high level defender with the potential for more.
GRADE: B+
Kody Clemens
It was a season to remember for the veteran journeyman. After establishing himself in Minnesota in his first extended opportunity in 2025, Clemens took another step forward in 2026. He set career highs across the board, led the Twins in homers, and his defensive versatility was essential for a team that had to switch up the defense on the fly throughout the season. He opened the season as the starting first baseman, played the outfield almost exclusively after Buxton’s injury and Wallner’s demotion, and then settled in as the everyday second baseman after Keaschall got bumped to the outfield in June.
Despite what Justin Morneau says on the broadcasts, both Clemens and the Twins would probably benefit from finding Clemens a platoon partner. He had a 116 wRC+ versus righties and just 88 facing lefties. He’s likely best used in the Willi Castro role, a super utility player who is in the lineup nearly every day. But like Castro, he’s a good floor-setting piece the front office can use as a baseline as they search for potential upgrades in the lineup.
GRADE: B+
Royce Lewis
Much was made of Royce Lewis’ terrible start, demotion, and then emergence after being recalled and moved to first base. But the reality is that he was just as bad after those strong couple weeks.
Prior to his demotion, Royce was hitting .163/.261/.279 with a 31% strikeout rate, 54 wRC+, and just three homers. Then he had a 131 wRC+ from when he was recalled to June 29th. And then just an 82 wRC+ from then on, which was technically better than his first month and a half, but still 18% below league average. He finished particularly cold with a 51 wRC+ in September, his worst mark at any point in his career.
After all his injuries, surgeries, and setbacks, Royce just looks slow. His swing is long, he’s hitting into weak outs and strikeouts at career-worst levels, and he made several game-losing blunders in the field. The Twins need offensive upgrades, and Lewis’ spot in the lineup and the field are the easiest places to slot those players in. I think he can still be a valuable role player, but he’s not a starter anymore. Rolling into 2027 with him locked into a starting slot would be a mistake after seeing him play this poorly for 2.5 calendar years.
And frankly, I’m not sure he has the attitude and humility to be a part time player yet. He’ll get there eventually, but it likely won’t be with the Twins. His final grade gets an extra bump down from him somehow still ranking fourth in plate appearances on this team.
GRADE: F
Victor Caratini
Caratini opened the season in, a full time role, spelling Ryan Jeffers behind the plate twice a week and starting at first against most left-handed pitchers, who the Twins faced plenty of in the first two months. He was terrible offensively, but had one of the hottest stretches of his life corresponding exactly with when Jeffers went on the IL with a broken hamate.
When Jeffers went down, Vic was hitting .192/.299/.231 with a 57 wRC+ and just one homer. From May 19th – July 9th, Caratini hit .281/.361/.491 for a 135 wRC+ and six bombs. Then to close the season, Caratini hit .183/.270/.211 for a 42 WRC+ and not a homer to be found over the final two and half months. I can only draw one conclusion from this: Victor Caratini personally hates Ryan Jeffers and despises sharing a locker room with him. Or maybe catchers in their mid-30s are unreliable and probably bad free agent signings more often than not. Who’s to say?
GRADE: D+
Ryan Jeffers
Jeffers was well on his way to his first All-Star appearance and likely would have been the AL starter as well. Unfortunately, a poorly timed broken hamate put those hopes to rest. Regardless, it was a season to remember for the Twins’ starting catcher. The freak hand injury was his only missed time all season and he spent the rest of the season hitting smack in the middle of the lineup nearly every day. He was able to put together the power we some from him in his younger seasons with the walks and contact skills he had developed in his late 20s.
Jeffers didn’t grade out well defensively, but there is a lot that goes into catching that is unquantifiable. Every Twins pitcher and pitching coach praised Jeffers’ game calling, staff management, and penchant for coming up with big ABS challenges in crucial moments. There isn’t a person in the organization who has a negative thing to say about Ryan and he is not only the best catcher on the free agent market, he might just be the best hitter.
The Twins will likely extend the Qualifying Offer his way, which he will definitely decline as big spenders like the Yankees, Angels, Astros, Rangers, and Giants are in need of upgrades behind the dish. The Twins have their catcher of the future in Vahn Lackey, but with him still being a year or two away, maybe Tom Pohlad gives the front office the go-ahead to give Jeffers a big 3-4 year deal to hold down the plate in the meantime. There are very few free agent hitters worth any investment this season, so why not use it on the guy you already know and love?
His name is Jeff. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll get one final season of him in Minnesota.
GRADE: A
Ryan Kreidler
Kreidler set career highs across the board, but that was likely just due to an increase in playing time. He is a perfectly acceptable utility guy capable of playing anywhere outside of catcher and he performed at a perfectly acceptable level across the board. If he performed any better, he probably wouldn’t be a utility player anymore. Welcome to the storied history of Twins utility players, Mr. Kreidler. Nick Punto, Eduardo Escobar, Eduardo Nuñez, Marwin Gonzalez, and Willi Castro will have something nice for you at the ceremonial luncheon. We’ll see you in 2027.
GRADE: C+
Tristan Gray
Tristan Gray, for some reason, had an absolute chokehold on the starting shortstop gig for a couple months in the middle of the season and no one is exactly sure why. He hit a big grand slam early in the season (off of future Twins closer Yoendrys Gomez) and did absolutely nothing after that. He played incredibly poor defense, somehow making me long for the days of Brooks Lee at short, looked lost at the plate, and couldn’t find a walk to save his life. He is out of options and wasn’t even a courtesy call-up in September, being surpassed by Ben Ross and Aaron Sabato. I would expect him to be dropped off the roster early in the offseason.
GRADE: F
Kaelen Culpepper
Amidst the Tristan Gray debacle, Culpepper was on the verge of making his MLB debut when a glute injury placed him on the Triple-A IL and delayed his start. He wasted no time when he finally got the call, hitting a home run in his first game and picking things up relatively quickly.
There are still some questions about Culpepper’s long term defensive home, but he played relatively well at shortstop in his limited action, and definitely defended well enough for the Twins to head into 2027 with him as the guy there. But Marek Houston isn’t far behind him and is widely considered to be one of the best defenders in all of the minor leagues. The good news is Culpepper’s athleticism will play anywhere on the diamond and he has improved greatly in each season in the organization. He’ll need to do that on both sides of the plate if the Twins want to compete for the division next year.
Also of note: a late season IL stint means he will just barely retain his rookie status for 2027 and should make him one of the leading candidates for Rookie of the Year next season.
GRADE: B
Alex Jackson
Jackson was, generously, an assistant coach occupying a roster spot for the rest of the season. Ungenerously, he was a mascot masquerading as a player. He spent 101 total days on the Twins roster and amassed just 73 plate appearances in that time. A period, I should add, when the Twins were struggling offensively and dealing with injuries to nearly every outfielder on the roster save Trevor Larnach. He played fine when he was in, but the lack of PT shows how unseriously Derek Shelton felt about him as a contributor. And yet he might end up being the backup catcher next year.
GRADE: D? I guess?
Incomplete: Orlando Arcia, Ben Ross, Aaron Sabato
Some highs, some lows, some good strides on the player development front, but overall the Twins’ infielders were an underwhelming group that were a big reason they weren’t able to maintain their competitiveness in the second half. Heading into 2027, the left side of the infield feels fairly set but the front office has a lot of decisions to make on the right side between Lewis, Clemens (who will factor in somewhere), and the free agencies of Ryan Jeffers and Josh Bell.
FINAL OVERALL GRADE: C-
