The Twins added Oswaldo Arcia and Josh Willingham to the active roster on Sunday to reinforce the depleted outfield. The move came at a much-needed time, considering Eduardo Nunez, Eduardo Escobar and Danny Santana – infielders by trade – had all seen time in the outfield recently.
The Twins got crushed by injuries in the early season, yes, but another, more indirect, cause of their outfield plight can be traced back to the late-2000s.
In the three MLB drafts from 2006 to 2008, Minnesota selected three consecutive outfielders with its first-round pick: Chris Parmelee (2006), Ben Revere (2007) and Aaron Hicks (2008).
Unfortunately for the Twins, none of those top prospects have made significant contributions to the club the past several years. Revere, still homerless in his fifth MLB season, now roams center field for the wilting Phillies franchise after being traded for pitching in December of 2012. Meanwhile, Parmelee and Hicks are struggling – yet again – to find their groove at the big-league level. However, due to the Twins' obvious vested interest in their high draft picks, Parmelee and Hicks have longer leashes than the average replacement-level player.
It's good to have patience with high draft picks, especially for a franchise that has seen numerous cast-offs excel after leaving Minnesota. But Parmelee and Hicks may not be extended much more grace if their performance continues to harm the ballclub.
Parmelee is now in his fourth partial season as part of the big-league club. Only once, in 2013, did the 2006 draft pick play in more than 100 games with the Twins (101). The issue with Parmelee is that he is, first and foremost, a hitter – something he has not exceled at during his major-league call-ups. Despite a .271 career minor-league average along with 101 MiLB home runs, Parmelee has posted just a .242 MLB mark with 20 home runs in close to 700 plate appearances.
His brightest stretch came as a September call-up in 2011 when he batted .355 in 76 at-bats. Since then, Parmelee has been given ample opportunity to stick with the club permanently. He started the season with the Twins in 2012 but hit .179 through the first month and a half and was sent down. Parmelee wound up spending four different stints with the club that season, unable to find any consistency.
Parmelee then began 2013 as an every-day player but didn't last through July, hitting just .223 in the first half of the season.
The Twins put Parmelee through waivers prior to the 2014 season but were able to retain him when nobody picked him off the waiver wire. That put Parmelee in a unique situation. For the first time since 2011, he was not on the big-league roster by default when the Twins opened the season. Instead, he wasn't even a part of the 40-man roster.
Parmelee swung a hot bat in April and May to earn the call-up, and he promptly made his presence felt with a walk-off home run against Boston. But much like Parmelee's big-league career, the auspicious beginning was followed by a slew of sub-par performances. Parmelee enters play on May 27 hitting just .200.
Parmelee does not offer too much beyond his bat-swinging prowess. He is not a base-stealer and does not cover much ground in the outfield. If the average doesn't climb, the 26-year-old loses his value. This is an alarming realization for any team dealing with an underachieving first-round pick.
Parmelee seems to thrive most when he's given a chance to string together at-bats. But with Willingham and Arcia now healthy, where will those at-bats come from if Parmelee does not earn them in his shorter stints? Parmelee may not get many more chances.
Hicks, 24, is the other former first-rounder still trying to figure things out. If Parmelee's roller-coaster ride is approaching its conclusion, then Hicks' is just beginning. The speedy center fielder ascended quickly up the minor-league ranks from 2010 to 2012, recording over 40 extra-base hits in each of those three seasons. A stellar spring training in 2013 earned Hicks a call-up to the Twins before he even spent a day in Triple-A.
Then Hicks nosedived, beginning the big-league season 2 for 57 last year. Behind the 8-ball from the start, Hicks never recovered. On only three days of the season – July 8-10 – did Hicks finish a game hitting above the .200 mark. His season ended on Aug. 1 when he was demoted to Rochester.
The team hoped a new year would spark newfound confidence for Hicks, but thus far he has only seemed more confused in 2014, often looking overmatched at the plate. Hicks made the curious decision on Monday to forego switch-hitting and become a strictly right-handed hitter; anything to help boost his sub-.200 average.
While poor draft picks go unnoticed far more often in baseball than in any other sport, they do become more newsworthy in the case of Parmelee and Hicks, who have continually teased the Twins with great numbers in the farm system but have not performed as big leaguers. Because they were so highly acclaimed as prospects, the Twins are obligated to give them repeated opportunities. Their shelf lives are bound to be longer than the likes of Alex Presley, Clete Thomas or Darin Mastroianni because of the player-development years the team has put into them.
For the Twins, unfortunately, their obligation to integrate Parmelee and Hicks has backfired to this point. Both still have a chance to prove themselves, but until that happens, they will simply be considered Quadruple-A players.
| Sam Ekstrom is a staff writer for Cold Omaha at 105 The Ticket. He has previously served as a play-by-play broadcaster in Iowa and South Dakota and has covered Minnesota sports since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @SamEkstrom for further insights |