DETROIT - Trevor Larnach has spent a lot of this year answering questions that had nothing to do with his swing.
Last winter, he was a candidate to be non-tendered. Then came the Trade Deadline, when reports said a deal that would have sent him to Houston was pulled at the last second. For a player who had spent stretches fighting for at-bats, that kind of uncertainty could have easily knocked him off course.
Instead, Larnach has put together what may be the best season of his Major League career. He’s been in the outfield regularly, has topped 100 games out there for the first time, and has defended at roughly league-average level according to Statcast. At the plate, he’s also done enough to rank second among Twins players with at least 400 plate appearances in on-base percentage.
“It's huge for me,” he said. “I put so much work in the offseason to be the best version of myself on the field.
And what I mean by that is, I didn't work on [just] hitting the entire offseason. I worked on my throwing, my running, everything, just in hopes of the chance that I get to play the outfield, because over the past few years, there's been inconsistency with playing out there.
There's been a lot of games where, more often than not, I’m DHing, and I've never viewed myself as just a [designated hitter]. So, I really do tip my cap off to [manager Derek Shelton] and the staff, because they gave me that opportunity."
That chance has mattered, and so has the way Larnach has handled everything around it. He comes across in the clubhouse as quiet, deliberate and very much locked into his own routines. He doesn’t say much, but when he does, there’s usually substance behind it.
And while his demeanor stays steady, that doesn’t mean he’s immune to the emotions that come with a season like this one. He’s simply learned how to deal with them better.
August showed that clearly. After a strong first half, his production dipped sharply after the Trade Deadline. He didn’t let it snowball, and even though he says he’s still not quite where he wants to be at the plate, he’s been solid in September.
“Over a period of a career,” he said, “when you fall into enough little ruts like that, you kind of start to learn, like, OK, there's anger, and ... sadness, whatever you want to call it, but you can't really listen to it, because it's just, it's there. And at some point, your emotions and time is just going to move on, and how do you want to look back and say you handled it?”
That calm approach has helped him navigate the last 12 months, and Shelton has repeatedly pointed to Larnach as someone built to handle the kind of deadline drama he just lived through. He tunes out the noise, sticks to his routine and shows up with the same face every day.
Larnach says that kind of composure doesn’t happen by accident. It’s earned.
“Experience does contribute to the maturation, but there is a bit of learning you’ve got to do, too,” he said. “At least from my end, I had to learn how to be the player I wanted to be.
And through all that, you meet people, and you work on things that you’re weak at, or that you need improvement at. It's one thing to go through all that, but it's another thing to look at those obstacles and say, 'OK, what am I doing wrong?
And then, how can I assess, how can I attack those obstacles?'”
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