Kody Clemens has spent the first half of 2026 making the Twins’ lineup look a whole lot deeper and a whole lot more dangerous.
He’s been everywhere Minnesota needs him - second base, left field, right field and first base - and he’s handled all of it well enough to be more than just a plug-in option. The offensive production has been there too, capped by a current three-game home run streak. That combination of versatility and pop is exactly why Sports Illustrated’s Tony Liebert made the case that Clemens belongs among the year’s All-Star snubs after the league unveiled the 2026 MLB All-Star Game rosters.
Liebert pointed out that Clemens has been above-average defensively at all three of those positions and argued that his bat stacks up favorably with Travis Bazzana’s, while also making the case that the Twins should have landed three spots on John Schneider’s AL roster. That argument lands because Clemens has done the one thing managers value most: show up wherever he’s needed and keep producing.
His role in Derek Shelton’s lineup has been steady, and at times it’s delivered in the biggest spots. That everyday presence has helped power what the source describes as Minnesota’s AL-best offense, and it’s why the All-Star case feels so natural. If that still isn’t enough to get him in, then it’s at least enough to call him the Twins’ first-half MVP.
And this isn’t some sudden arrival out of nowhere.
Calling 2026 a breakout year would ignore what Clemens already did in 2025. After the Phillies cut him on April 23, 2025, he joined the Twins on April 26 and immediately started piling up career highs in eight major categories.
He did it in just 112 games, while being asked to split time between first base and the outfield, and he finished with a personal-best fWAR of 1.7. Then-manager Rocco Baldelli gave him more responsibility, and Clemens ran with it.
This season has pushed him even further. He’s on pace to play 138 games and is set to establish new career marks across those same categories and more. He’s already within one of last year’s totals for runs, hits and doubles despite having 45 fewer at-bats, passed his doubles high on June 6 with 18, and should set a new home run best by the end of July.
The broader numbers are loud, too. Clemens ranks in the top 20 in the American League in doubles, triples, home runs, slugging percentage and OPS.
If you want the dramatic version, he’s one grand slam away from joining that group in RBI as well. His swings lead the Twins in exit velocity, and over the last 30 days, only Junior Caminero has driven in more runs in all of baseball.
Sixteen of Clemens’ RBI have come in his last 15 games as of Sunday, July 12.
That production matters even more because Minnesota has gotten real help elsewhere. Josh Bell and Brooks Lee have combined for 111 RBI, which accounts for a quarter of the team’s total offense.
Byron Buxton, meanwhile, remains the club’s biggest star and has continued to hit with his usual force when injuries allow him to stay in the lineup. Even after missing all but two games since June 28, he still ranks sixth in baseball in home runs, and his desire to remain at Target Field has offered a steady source of hope.
Buxton is still Buxton - the Twins’ soul, as the source puts it, and a player whose center-field shadow will sit alongside Puckett’s and Hunter’s when his career is done. But for the first half of 2026, the most valuable Twin has been Clemens.
What makes that so compelling is the way he’s done it. He’s hit above league average, moved around the diamond to help younger players like Royce Lewis and Luke Keaschall find their own defensive homes, and given Minnesota a version of the utility bat it lost when Willi Castro moved on. After seven years in the minors and uneven stops in Detroit and Philadelphia, Clemens has given the Twins exactly what they asked for - and more.
The result is a player who has become essential to a team sitting in the middle of a three- or even four-team fight for the AL Central and the American League. No one on the roster has done more to keep that push alive than Kody Clemens.
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Byron Buxtons All-Star Moment Just Raised A Bigger Twins Question
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Munetaka Murakami has taken Buxtons spot on the roster, but the bigger conversation around the Twins is less about one night in July than what comes next with a player whose name keeps surfacing in trade chatter. Buxton has made clear where he stands, and the organization has been just as clear in acknowledging how much his loyalty has meant. The question now is whether that mutual appreciation can carry into something longer lasting once he is back from the injured list. [Read more 🡒]