The Twins made their September call-ups official Tuesday morning, and the names that came up from Triple-A St. Paul told their own story. Minnesota promoted utilityman Ben Ross and right-hander Garrett Acton, a pair of moves that also left Matt Wallner staring at an increasingly uncertain future.
That’s a strange place for Wallner to be, considering where his career once seemed headed. He was the 39th overall pick in the 2016 draft, reached the majors in 2022 and then looked like he might be building into a real fixture in Minnesota’s outfield.
In 2023, he hit .249/.370/.507 with 14 homers and 41 RBI. He followed that with a 2024 season in which he rebounded from a slow start and finished at .259/.372/.523 with 13 homers and 37 RBI.
Through his first three seasons, he put together a .251/.366/.500 line with 29 homers and 88 RBI over 169 games.
But the league caught up. Wallner has always been an aggressive swinger, and the strikeouts started piling up.
His strikeout rate sat in the 20s, including a 36.4 percent mark in 2024 according to Baseball Savant. He got it down to 29.1 percent in 2025, but that still ranked in the bottom sixth percentile of qualifying hitters.
This season, it jumped again to 39.3 percent.
The swing-and-miss issue has been even more damaging. Wallner posted a 35.5 percent whiff rate last season, the highest in the majors, and that number ballooned to 44 percent in 135 plate appearances this year. The result has been a steep slide in production: .193/298/.419 with 26 homers and 50 RBI over his last 138 major league games, including a .167/.259/.292 line with four homers and 10 RBI in 34 games.
There have been other warning signs too. Baseball Savant shows his sprint speed falling from 28.3 feet per second during his 2022 debut to 26.0 feet per second this season. His defense has also gone backward, with a career-low minus-8 in defensive runs saved last year and minus-3 before his demotion this season.
Wallner has done everything he can to hit his way back into the conversation at St. Paul.
Entering Tuesday’s series opener against the Omaha Storm Chasers, he had already broken the Saints’ single-season home run record with 24 homers. But that surge hasn’t changed the bigger picture, and the Twins’ recent decisions have made it harder to see a path back.
Luke Keaschall was shifted to right field after Wallner was sent down, and the Twins appear committed to keeping him there despite the defensive issues. Other recent promotions have also pushed Wallner further to the side, with Alan Roden, Walker Jenkins and Gabriel Gonzalez all reaching the majors since his demotion. The club even went with Kyler Fedko before designating him for assignment Tuesday, and when the Twins needed another call-up for the stretch run, they chose Ross instead.
Ross, 25, has a career minor league line of .236/.325/.413 in five seasons and 499 games. That decision says plenty about where Wallner stands right now.
Minnesota needs pitching, and Wallner’s profile still carries one obvious selling point: power. He turns 29 in December, which still leaves him young enough to matter for several seasons. If the Twins decide to move him, that bat could make him useful to a team looking for help, perhaps enough to bring back a promising reliever or add to the starting rotation as Minnesota looks ahead to 2027.
For now, though, the message feels plain. Wallner was passed over when the Twins made their September moves, and that makes his return look less likely by the day.
In Other News...
Twins Move On From Kyler Fedko In Painful Roster Twist
September roster churn brought an especially tough turn for Kyler Fedko, whose brief run in the Twins organization ended with a designation for assignment after a severe knee injury. Minnesota made the move while also promoting infielder Ben Ross to the 40-man roster and recalling right-hander Garrett Acton from Triple-A as part of the clubs September call-ups, a reminder that this time of year can be as much about paperwork as it is about opportunity.
Fedkos situation carries a painful layer beyond the roster math, since injury waiver rules mean he will be released because of the injury and then becomes available again afterward. The door is not necessarily closed from there, whether that leads to a return with the Twins or a chance elsewhere, but for now the transaction underscores how quickly a promising path can change when health intervenes. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Triple-A Lineup Is Suddenly Chasing An Even Bigger Record
The power surge in St. Paul has turned the Twins Triple-A affiliate into one of the most dangerous lineups in the minors, and the Saints just added another layer to an already historic season. Their latest long ball pushed them past the International League mark, passing the Omaha Storm Chasers and giving the club a new single-season home run record to chase the rest of the way.
Kalai Rosario supplied the tying blast before Cody Morissette delivered the record-breaker, and the balance of the lineup has been almost as striking as the raw total. The Saints now have 12 players with at least 10 homers, a depth of thump that has them within reach of the all-time minor league single-season home run record held by the El Paso Chihuahuas, giving Minnesota plenty to monitor as the year winds down. [Read more 🡒]
Royce Lewis Slump Is Becoming A Serious Twins Problem
Royce Lewis gave the Twins a much-needed offensive burst over the summer, powering through June and July with eight homers and 24 RBIs while looking like a central piece of the lineup. Since August, though, the bat has gone quiet in a way that has been hard to ignore, with the power disappearing and the strikeouts piling up as pitchers have started to work him differently.
The adjustment has been clear in the way opponents are attacking him, leaning away from fastballs and toward more breaking pitches, especially sliders when the count gets to two strikes. For Minnesota, that turns Lewiss slump from a temporary cold spell into something more pressing, because his ability to force pitchers back into the zone has become a bigger part of the offense than it was a couple of months ago. [Read more 🡒]