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LF: B+
The Twins started the season with Oswaldo Arcia as their opening day left fielder. Arcia debuted with the Twins in 2013, and while far from a perfect player, his 34 career home runs trailed only Mike Trout and Yasiel Puig in home runs by any player under the age of 24 entering 2015. After only 19 games with decent offensive production (.276, 2 home runs, 8 RBI, and a .716 OPS) Arcia suffered a hip injury leading to the call up of Eddie Rosario. Rosario hit the ground running, homering on the 1st major league pitch he ever saw, and never looked back. Arcia never returned to the major leagues. Rosario has really had an incredible all around rookie season. He is hitting .267, with 13 home runs, 15 triples, and 18 doubles. He's also driven in 50 runs and has a .748 OPS. The 15 triples lead major league baseball and he has also displayed a rocket of an arm with pinpoint accuracy in LF. His 16 outfield assists are 2nd in all of baseball. Get this, since 1914, only 2 other rookies have managed at least 15 doubles, 15 triples, 10 homers and 10 stolen bases. Both of them eventually became All Stars and I would not be at all surprised if Rosario follows suit. Rosario's only issue is his low OBP (.289) due to his high number of strikeouts (118) and nearly nonexistent number of walks (15). Once he better grasps the concept of pitch selection and working counts, the sky is the limit for him. He just turned 24 so I think it's safe to say the Twins have their left fielder for years to come. Where this leaves Arcia within the organization? I have no idea.
CF: B-
My grade for Twins center fielders would be higher had the position not been so horribly mismanaged at the onset of the season and if Aaron Hicks wouldn't have suffered any injuries. The Twins opened the season with Jordan Schaefer as their opening day center fielder. Schaefer, not surprisingly, played similarly awful to the way he'd played in each of his other 5 seasons in the majors and after 27 games was released by the Twins. One really had to scratch their head as to what our favorite organization was doing when we release an opening day starter, after that little amount of time, and said player is completely out of baseball following the release. No other major league team even bothered to sign Schaefer and assign him to one of their minor league affiliates, yet the Twins ran him out there as their opening day starter and for about a month in total. Coinciding with Schaefer's release, eternal prospect, Aaron Hicks was recalled from Rochester. Twins fans nationwide collectively yawned as we wondered why we didn't just call up the man we keep hearing is the best prospect in baseball, Byron Buxton. After 2 seasons of watching Hicks play absolutely horribly and lose his job in CF in successive years to say enthusiasm for his return was tepid is an understatement. To everyone's surprise, Hicks came back to the majors and finally looked like the good all around player he was always billed as. Defense was never an issue for Hicks and the stellar glove work we had become accustomed to seeing from him the previous two seasons hadn't changed. What did change was his drastic improvement at the plate. Hitting mostly leadoff, Hicks posted a solid line of .256, 11 home runs, 33 RBI, 13 stolen bases, and a .721 OPS in just 97 games. We did also finally get to see Buxton, the man we'd all been waiting for. While Buxton made our jaws drop in flashes by turning singles into doubles and doubles into triples, and by chasing down balls in the gap that initially looked like sure doubles off that bat, he also looked completely over matched more often than not against major league pitching. He also wasn't able to avoid injury; a recurring thing throughout his minor league career. Regardless, it was nice to see Buxton get his feet wet and I'm sure his future is bright.
RF: B-
For all intents and purposes, Torii Hunter was the every day right fielder for the Twins. Hunter turned 40 late in the season, and considering his age, played pretty well. Hunter finished with a low .240 average, 22 home runs, and 81 RBI. The power production was certainly respectable from Hunter. On the negative side, like seemingly every other Twin, he eclipsed 100 strikeouts (105) and had his worst OPS since 1999 (.702). I think it's fair to say Hunter's leadership was important in a clubhouse that previously severely lacked any. The Twins certainly could've done worse in RF in 2015.
DH: B+
From July 2nd on, the Twins get an A at the DH position. This of course was the day Miguel Sano was called up from the minor leagues. Sano essentially saved the Twins season by absolutely crushing major league pitching from the get go. Sano finished the year hitting. 269 with 18 home runs, 52 RBI, 36 extra base hits, and a .916 OPS. Oh yeah, and did I mention he was in AA the first 3 months of the season? Sano struck out too much, with a whopping 119 K's in only 335 plate appearances, but when he didn't swing and miss, his bat was absolutely electric. Prior to Sano's call up, Kennys Vargas was most often used at DH. Vargas was a major disappointment in 2015. He finished the year hitting just .240, with 5 home runs, and 17 RBI and a putrid .626 OPS. Vargas started slow, was benched, seemingly started to break out of it, then was demoted and not seen again in a Twins uniform until September.
Starting Rotation: C
The 2015 starting rotation was certainly a mixed bag of sorts. The Twins were dealt a big blow before the season even started when their free agent prize, Ervin Santana, tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and was suspended for the first half of the season. Santana came back in the second half and was very solid for the Twins with a 7-5 record and a 4.00 ERA; also pitching 108 innings in 17 starts. The Twins 2014 free agent "prize," Ricky Nolasco, resumed where he left off in 2014 as one of the worst pitchers in baseball. Injuries and ineffectiveness accurately describe Nolasco's season. In a nutshell, he was completely unreliable nearly every time he toed the rubber. Thankfully injuries assured it wasn't too often. Kyle Gibson made huge strides as a starting pitcher for the Twins in '15. In his third season with the Twins, Gibson posted a respectable 11-11 record, with a 3.84 ERA, and pitched 194 2/3 innings. Gibson was the Twins most reliable starter from April-October. Tommy Milone was also a fairly reliable arm to emerge for the Twins in '15. Milone was ushered around a bit between AAA, the bullpen and the starting rotation, but finished the year with a 9-5 record with a 3.92 ERA, starting 23 games and tallying 128 2/3 innings. Phil Hughes was a bit of a disappointment this year. Hughes wasn't able to build on the momentum of his very good 2014 season. His velocity was way down and he struggled to keep the ball in the ballpark. In 25 starts, Hughes finished with an 11-9 record with a 4.40 ERA in 155 1/3 innings. Late season injuries also derailed Hughes' season. Mike Pelfrey was basically the same train wreck he's always been since the Twins signed him prior to the 2013 season. In 164 2/3 innings and 30 starts, Pelfrey posted a 6-11 record with a 4.26 ERA. Pelfrey was surprisingly effective in the first part of the year, but after the first few months, seemingly every time the Twins got him a lead he would immediately lose it. Trevor May started 16 games before being moved to the bullpen and was nothing more than an average starter in those starts. Tyler Duffey was called up August 5th and was an absolute God sent for the Twins. In 10 starts, Duffey posted a 5-1 record with a 3.10 ERA and was the Twins most reliable starting pitcher down the stretch.