Even in his Forest Lake days, Twins' Matt Wallner showed his power potential

There is at least one season ticket holder who wouldn't mind seeing young slugger Matt Wallner become a fixture in the Twins' daily lineup.

"I actually have half-season season tickets with a group of friends," Twins fan Tal Gravelle said. "So we go quite a bit."

The Twins fan actually is a big Wallner fan, because Gravelle is the former Forest Lake High School coach who witnessed the power hitting — and power pitching — Wallner used to lead the Rangers to the Class 4A championship game in 2017. Then Wallner starred at Southern Mississippi before being drafted by the Twins with the 39th overall pick in 2019.

Wallner is part of a group of relatively inexperienced Twins who have kept the offense from being totally abysmal this season. That group includes first baseman Alex Kirilloff, who is injured; rookie second baseman Edouard Julien and third baseman Royce Lewis, who was activated from the 10-day injured list on Tuesday. Wallner entered Tuesday's game against Detroit batting .240 with eight home runs and 18 RBI in 37 games. His batting average has dipped, but his .520 slugging percentage remains impressive.

While Twins manager Rocco Baldelli loses the hair from his beard — he has no more left on his head — while trying to figure out when Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton will begin to produce, 20-somethings such as Wallner have provided offense.

Gravelle, who stepped aside after the 2021 season, has been at Target Field when the 25-year-old Wallner has parked baseballs in the seats and the times he's uncorked 95 miles-per-hour throws from the outfield. Then Gravelle has flashbacks.

"He was a good player as a youth and I tracked him and knew his family a little bit," Gravelle said. "I brought him into our JV program as a ninth-grader and he did OK. Then I brought him into the varsity as a sophomore and he did really well. He worked really hard. His hitting was ahead of his defense. He had to improve on that, as well as his pitching. He kept getting better and better."

That powerful 6-4 frame began to take shape after his junior year in high school, when he gained 20-25 pounds of muscle to weigh 220 pounds by his senior season. He also hit 90 mph on the radar gun. He was a masher and flamethrower.

"He definitely got into me a couple of times when he thought I wasn't doing the right thing, which is a great thing," Wallner said of Gravelle. "It helped me not be such an idiot. He was definitely supportive of me, but critical at times."

Gravelle received a text from Southern Mississippi assistant coach Mike Federico when Wallner made his first appearance out of the bullpen as a freshman. It was a picture of the scoreboard that listed his fastball at 96 mph. Earlier this month, one of his throws from the outfield was clocked at 100.4 mph. The man could be setting saves up for Jhoan Duran.

But Wallner likes to hit.

"I had lunch with Matt that summer when he came back," Gravelle said. "And he said, 'I'm done. I don't care about pitching, coach. I just want to hit, and I want to play the outfield.'"

Wallner hit 58 home runs in three seasons at Southern Mississippi, and the adjustments continued as a professional. He hit eight home runs over his first 65 games in the minors, then hit 15 over his next 68 and 27 over his next 128 games. In 67 games with the Class AAA Saints and 37 with the Twins this season, he has another 19.

He took his lumps in his baptism with the Twins last year, hitting .228 with two homers over 18 games. There were concerns he was chasing too many breaking pitches out of the strike zone. Wallner sent a text to Gravelle at time, stating, "I've got to cut down on these strikeouts."

Wallner has reduced his strikeout rate from 38.5% last season to 28.2% this season. There's an upward trajectory with Wallner that began when he bulked up before his senior year in high school that continues today, physically and productively.

And Gravelle, with more time on his hands these days, will have a frequent seat at Target Field to watch Wallner continue his ascension. Wallner's greatest moment with the Twins so far occurred Tuesday night, when he belted a 450-foot, sixth-inning grand slam in a 5-3 victory over the Tigers.

"I'm surprised but not that much," Gravelle said. "I figured he would get there and kind of expected him to do pretty well."