Twins' Matt Wallner finding his groove with St. Paul Saints

MINNEAPOLIS — Matt Wallner thought about the biggest difference between the way he struggled at the start of the Twins season and the way he's torn up Class AAA pitching this month.

He asked, after leaving the batting cage Friday, what time it was.

It was 2:55 p.m., a little more than four hours before first pitch at CHS Field.

"That was like 15-20 minutes [in the batting cage] right there," Wallner said. "Two months ago, it would have been at least an hour. Too much."

Wallner always carried a reputation for spending a ton of time working on his swing and study opposing pitchers. The key to becoming the St. Paul Saints' hottest hitter is learning to dial it back.

In June, through Monday, he had 11 homers, 25 RBIs and 22 runs in 18 games. Statcast defines a hard-hit ball as a 95-mph exit velocity. Wallner was averaging a 94-mph exit velocity on the balls he's put into play. He was batting .333 with a .400 on-base percentage and a 1.190 OPS.

"It may have been too much work in the beginning and counterproductive," Wallner, 26, said. "I love hitting, so it kind of runs into a problem there because I'll do it all day. I think going forward, I don't need to go down that rabbit hole anymore of just hitting too much. Just trying to keep it simple."

The Twins demoted Wallner after he totaled two hits —a double and a home run (off a position player) — in his first 33 plate appearances with three walks and 17 strikeouts. He no longer looked like the same guy who hammered right-handed pitching last year, earning a start in four of the club's six postseason games.

The Forest Lake native and former Southern Mississippi star didn't fare much better during his first month in the minor leagues. Any time he showed a glimpse of an upswing, he sank into another slump. In his first 33 games at Class AAA, he hit .183 with five homers and 20 RBIs in 126 at-bats while compiling 16 walks, 53 strikeouts and a .274 on-base percentage.

"I was trying something every day," Wallner said. "I was OK with struggling. I just wanted to get back to feeling good. Eventually, I just needed to slow down and get back to simplicity. It took literally a month and a half, but the last three, four weeks, I feel good."

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