Keon

Broxton

This will be a homecoming of sorts for Broxton, who appeared in 269 games with Milwaukee between 2016-2018. Granted, he hasn’t played in the majors since 2019 and will probably be nothing more than minor league depth down the stretch.

Broxton has been at Triple-A St. Paul all season and posted just a .623 OPS. The 31-year-old will look for a gig elsewhere.

The Twins’ spring training roster is down to just 30 players with less than a week to go before Opening Day. There aren’t any major surprises in this latest batch of cuts, but the subtraction of numerous versatile bench options like Broxton, Lin, Riddle and Refsnyder, virtually guarantees that utilityman/backup catcher Willians Astudillo will be on the team’s Opening Day roster. It also means that the final roster spot could come down to reserve outfielders Brent Rooker and Kyle Garlick.

Broxton was with the Brewers in 2020 but never got the call from their alternate training site. The 30-year-old outfielder holds a weak .209/.297/.388 career batting line in 376 games at baseball’s highest level.

He is expected back sometime this weekend. Broxton is in line to be an extra outfielder for the Brew Crew this season.

The 29-year-old returns to where he spent most of his career and where he had a 20-20 season back in 2017. Broxton has been awful since then and has bounced around, but he’s not a bad guy to have for depth purposes.

He opted to test the open market rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Tacoma. Broxton had a miserable year between the Mets, Orioles, and Mariners, posting a .167/.242/.275 batting line over 228 plate appearances.

He’ll serve that one game suspension on Sunday. He was given the suspension for making contact with home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez on Monday.

Broxton has appealed the suspension and will be available to the Mariners until that appeal is heard. The 29-year-old outfielder has struggled to a .173/.241/.286 batting line in 217 plate appearances this season between the Mets, Orioles, and M’s.

Keon Broxton will man center field and bat eighth against Trent Thornton. Dylan Moore is starting in right field and Tim Lopes in left. Smith is just getting a day of rest after a big game on Thursday in which he went 3-for-4 and stole two bases. He leads the majors with 34 stolen bases on the season. He set a career high by swiping 40 bags with the Rays last season, which was the third-highest total in the big leagues.