Josh Willingham’s Resurgence A Positive Sign For Minnesota Twins

by

It’s been a rather tough year for the Minnesota Twins, but with the return of Josh Willingham to the middle of the lineup the once bleak offense has found some life. Willingham is just 2 years removed from winning a silver slugger award and having a career year where he hit 35 home runs and collected 110 runs batted in. So in a lineup that ranks 15th in runs scored among all teams in baseball you not only get a guy with a proven track record as a run producer and power hitter but a guy who is pretty solid in the on-base department. From 2006-2012 Willingham’s OPS was 800. or higher, so it never hurts to get a guy like that back in the lineup to help your team.

The issue for the Alabama native has never been production, but rather health. Dating back to his days with the Marlins he always had back problems that would keep him out of the lineup. He’s healthy now for the Twins and has been on a tear over the last seven days as he is hitting .348 with 8 hits, 1 double, 2 home runs, 7 runs batted in, 6 walks in 23 at-bats. He is proving at 35-years old to not only still have the ability to produce but also maybe a trade chip moving forward the team.

The Twins are now 29-32 and sit in last place in the AL Central 5.5 games behind the Detroit Tigers who sit in first place. Should the Twins continue their losing ways than Willingham will be shopped around for some young talent in return. A contender could really use his bat in the middle of the order down the stretch whether it be in the home stretch or the playoffs. He has a good eye at the plate to get on base, solid run producer and could offer other players in the batting order more protection with better pitches to hit. I think its a good thing that he is back and hitting no matter how Twins continue to play this season its only going to benefit them whether be short-term this season or long-term with whatever they can get for him in a possible trade.