Six potential surprise MLB teams of 2023
By Bill Felber
AL Central
Few MLB franchises had as interesting a winter as the Minnesota Twins, who saw their star shortstop Carlos Correa leave, then leave where he had left, then leave there to return to the Twins.
The Twins produced a second consecutive poor season in 2022, finishing 78-84 and a surprising 14 games behind the Guardians. In first place as late as the second week of August, they stumbled dispiritedly through the season’s final six weeks, going 21-34 down the stretch. That included seven losses in eight September starts against the Guardians when Minnesota was still a plausible playoff contender.
What has changed to make Minnesota a potential surprise team entering 2023? Only expectations. The personnel is largely identical, and that’s a good thing.
Begin with the return of the Prodigal Son, Correa, to again anchor the infield at shortstop. After batting .291 with an .834 OPS, he exercised the opt-out clause in his contract. That left a gaping hole in both the Twins’ offense and defense which they eventually filled by signing … Correa.
The other key is likely to be Byron Buxton, a center field genius when he’s on the field. Nagging injuries reduced Buxton’s availability to just 92 games in 2022 and also shot holes in his production. His .224 average was a personal worst for any season with more than 150 plate appearances.
Buxton was still good for 24 home runs, but he did not get on the field at all after Aug. 22, and it’s no coincidence that the Twins were 16-26 from that date forward.
Buxton’s availability never comes with a guarantee; he’s an eight-year veteran who’s only once made as many as 100 starts. But if Buxton can hold down regular time in 2023, he and Correa provide Twins fans with two reasons why their team can be the surprise of the AL Central.