ByungHo

Park

Park was largely a bust with the Twins back in 2016-2017, but he returned to Korea in 2018 and proved to have a couple more monstrous KBO seasons left in the tank. Having turned 35 years old this past summer, he’ll presumably ride out the remainder of his playing career in his native country.

He’s just receiving a routine day off. Brian Dozer is in the designated hitter spot, while Jorge Polanco is handling second base.

It appears to be a routine day off. Byung-Ho Park is on the bench again, as well. The Twins are going with Trevor Plouffe at first base, Eduardo Nunez at third, Eduardo Escobar at shortstop, Robbie Grossman in the designated hitter spot and Danny Santana in left field.

Sano is set to begin a rehab assignment on Friday before likely being activated next week. Park is 2-for-28 over his last eight games to drop his season line to .200/.283/.429, and he’s been benched fairly often this month. What could save Park is if Trevor Plouffe (groin) needs a DL stint, although the initial indication is that it’s more of a day-to-day injury. “I haven’t changed my opinion on the fact that I think his signing is going to, over time, prove to be a valid one,” Molitor said of Park. “I think how he was able to start originally maybe raised a lot of people’s expectations on how fast his transition was going to be. It’s just been more where we’re kind of back to how we thought it might be.”

The Twins had the option of keeping Oswaldo Arcia and sending down Byung-ho Park last week, but they said they didn’t even consider it. Park is batting just .200 for the year now. He does have 12 homers, but with 73 strikeouts in 205 at-bats, he’s not helping right now.

Park also walked in the game, reaching base in all four plate appearances. It was a refreshing sign of life from the 29-year-old, who had just four hits combined since May 17 coming into the game. Signed to a modest deal and possessing good power, Park has hit .226/.313/.471 with nine homers in his first tour of Major League Baseball.

Plouffe missed a couple games with a mild groin strain. He’s at first base Sunday, as the Twins are using Joe Mauer in the designated hitter spot and again benching Byung-ho Park. Byron Buxton and Kurt Suzuki are also getting breathers, as Danny Santana and Juan Centeno are in center field and at catcher, respectively.

The Twins are using the same lineup they did on Friday, but Mauer will DH and Byung Ho Park will play first base.

Oswaldo Arcia is getting the start at DH. Park got off to a solid start this year but has cooled off considerably over the last month and a half. Tuesday will mark his second absence in the last three games.

It’s unclear how much time he might miss. Park is batting .224/.297/.526 with 10 home runs in 31 games since his demotion to the Triple-A level on the first of July, but he had been in a slump lately. The South Korean slugger was slashing .191/.275/.409 with 12 home runs through 62 games for Minnesota.