Luke Keaschall's tenure as the Twins' starting second baseman appears to have come to an end after several weeks of hints that the team was considering other options for the position and also pondering alternative fielding assigmments for the defensively limited 23-year-old.
Keaschall began to get pregame work at first base in early June, around the time Royce Lewis was doing the same at Triple-A. Now that Lewis is back, and taking well to first base, Keaschall's pregame work recently switched to right-field reps under the coaching of Grady Sizemore, a two-time Gold Glove center fielder.
"I think internally we've been talking about it probably for a few weeks," manager Derek Shelton said. "Brought it up to him, I think, within the last week to 10 days. His response was 'whatever it takes for us to win or you feel is best for us to win, then that’s what I’ll do.' We wanted to make sure he got some reps."
Shelton put the plan into action on June 20, shifting Keaschall from second base to right field for the ninth inning of the Twins' blowout victory in Arizona. It was a brand-new position for Keaschall, but he did play center field in the minors and left field had long been considered a fallback option if the infield didn't work out.
"It's going to be a work in progress," Shelton said. "We're aware of that and there's probably going to be some growing pains. Any time you make an adjustment with a position, we have to go into it eyes wide open and realize there are things we’re going to still need to talk about, but I'm confident that he'll be able to pick it up."
Less than a week after Keaschall made his outfield debut with the Twins, he was the starting right fielder Friday against the Rockies. And he was back starting out there again Saturday and Sunday. I asked Shelton if he now considered Keaschall strictly an outfielder or planned to keep giving him some time at second base.