Twins’ Trevor Larnach happy to be back in the outfield
With a new coaching staff in place this spring, Trevor Larnach decided to ask for what he wanted.
Larnach was coming off a season in which he played a team-high 142 games. But he was the team’s starting designated hitter in more than half of those games — the player the Twins used the most in that role last season.
He believed in his ability to contribute more.
“My whole life I’ve played the outfield. I’ve never felt that I’m just a DH only, but the manager’s going to run his team how he runs his team,” Larnach said. “I’m just going to give him my two cents and my truth, and if he follows suit with that, then great. But I’m going to go down telling him, ‘Look, I’m not just a DH only.’ ”
His message was received. Larnach has DHed only once this season, and Wednesday’s game against the Seattle Mariners marked his 18th start in left field. It came a day after he made a great catch there, potentially one of the best of his career.
With the Twins protecting a one-run lead in the sixth inning on Tuesday, J.P. Crawford hit a ball toward left center. Larnach was off to the races, heading toward center before drifting back and thrusting his glove up as he leapt.
“Normally, I haven’t caught those before, so I looked in my glove. I’m like ‘Oh (snap),’ ” Larnach said.
Starting pitcher Joe Ryan raised both of his hands above his head, and cameras caught a look of awe on his face. After the game, the pitcher called the catch “spectacular.”
“It’s a credit to him,” manager Derek Shelton said of Larnach. “Since the beginning of spring training, he has worked really hard on his defense. I know he and Grady (Sizemore) are doing it. If you watch even in between pitches, he’s working on his jumps and his breaks. It was a really good catch.”
The focus of his defensive work, Larnach said, has been on a little bit of everything, from running, to throwing, to right now working on glove work with Sizemore, the team’s outfield coach and a former Gold Glove-winning center fielder.
But asked if he felt Tuesday’s catch was indicative of the hard work he has put in to improve his defense, Larnach, who has been among the Twins’ best offensive producers this season, too, was quick to say no.
“My whole thing is everything happens so fast and then it’s over, and now it’s 11 o’clock and we have a game in an hour,” he said before Wednesday’s day game. “Before you know it, it’s the next game, the next opportunity. I try to be as humble as I can and just literally approach it like ‘That was cool, that was fun, but it’s over. Here’s the next thing.’ ”
Briefly
Bailey Ober (2-1, 3.94 ERA) will take the mound on Thursday when the Twins kick off a four-game set against the Toronto Blue Jays at Target Field. First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. He will square off against Kevin Gausman (2-1, 2.57 ERA). … Thursday will mark the return of Maplewood reliever Louie Varland , whom the Twins traded to Toronto last July.
