Four Twins players, on the roster bubble, to watch as spring training winds down

SARASOTA, FLA. – Parts of the Twins roster are more settled than others.

The Twins tipped their hand on how they envision the top half of their batting order against righthanded pitching. Manager Rocco Baldelli consistently writes, in order, Matt Wallner, Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton, Trevor Larnach and Royce Lewis atop his lineups when those five players are in the same game.

In the rotation, the Twins have Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Chris Paddack and Simeon Woods Richardson pitching on successive days behind Opening Day starter Pablo López.

Still, a handful of roster battles need to play out before the club travels to St. Louis in less than two weeks. Here are four players to watch throughout the final stretch of camp:

The Rule 5 pick has a clearer path to a roster spot after camp injuries to Michael Tonkin and Justin Topa, which may keep both relievers off the Opening Day roster. Eiberson Castellano, a 6-3 righthander, features a fastball that reached 98 mph in an outing earlier this week and a vicious mid-80s curveball, so the talent is there. But he’s struggling with his command, walking eight batters of the 31 batters he’s faced this spring.

The difficulty with carrying a Rule 5 player is that he must remain on the active roster all season. If not, he must be placed on waivers and offered back to the Philadelphia Phillies, his original team.

“The strike throwing becomes really important because to be able to last for a full season in a Rule 5 situation,” Baldelli said early in camp. “You’re going to have to go out there and you’re going to have to live in the zone to be able to sustain that spot on the team.”

If Edouard Julien makes the Opening Day roster, it’s a sign the Twins plan to play him a lot against righthanded pitching. His lack of defensive versatility — he made two throwing errors at first base in a spring training game last weekend — works against him as a regular bench candidate.

He had three hits Thursday, including two doubles, as he mostly ambushed fastballs on the first pitch of his at-bats. The Twins know he can crush fastballs, though. It’ll be important to see how he fares against breaking balls in his final Grapefruit League games.

“Part of his goals are not to simply be aggressive, no,” Baldelli said. “Part of what he does so well is he gets on base and has long at-bats, waits for the pitch he’s looking for. I do think in some of these games, he’s getting fed a lot of fastballs and he’s swinging. And he should. He shouldn’t go up there and take hittable fastballs.”

Austin Martin has worked almost exclusively as an outfielder during camp, starting one spring training game at second base. His outfield defense looks much improved, with quicker jumps when reading the ball off the bat.

He wanted to show more of his athleticism this year, and that could help him win a bench spot out of camp. He’s swiped three bases in spring training games, which is important for a team that doesn’t have much speed. His bat has begun to show more consistency, too, which he will need to maintain, recording three hits in a pair of games this week despite lineouts against pitchers Chris Bassitt and Jared Jones.

When Kody Funderburk is pitching at his best, he gives the Twins a second lefty in their bullpen alongside free-agent addition Danny Coulombe. When he’s at his worst, he looks like he did against the Philadelphia Phillies earlier this week, when he walked four batters and threw only 12 of his 29 pitches for strikes.

If Funderburk stays in the strike zone, allowing his cutter and slider to overpower hitters, he could secure a spot in the Opening Day bullpen. It helps, too, that he can handle pitching multiple innings.