The Twins used 154 different lineups last season. How does that happen?

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Nobody who was in the room seems to recall who first suggested the radical idea of making slugging outfielder Matt Wallner the Twins' leadoff hitter during spring training. But there's a perfectly obvious reason for that collective amnesia: The idea didn't strike anyone as radical or even unusual.

"One thing I noticed right away about Rocco's [lineup-making] process is that he'll consider anything. He's very curious and open-minded," Twins president Derek Falvey said, referring to manager Rocco Baldelli's nightly postgame lineup debates with his staff.

"He and Jayce [Tingler, Baldelli's bench coach] like to spitball ideas, and if you can make a case, Rocco will give it real consideration."

He's got a track record to prove it. Baldelli used 154 unique lineups over last season's 162 games, and 156 and 152 in the two years before that. Not once last year did Baldelli use the same nine hitters in the same order for two games in a row, and no lineup was used more than three times over the course of the season.

And Wallner, this spring's lineup curiosity? Though he started only 62 times in 2024, he found his name in all nine spots in the order — including leadoff, when he went 0-for-5 in a Sept. 16 win over the Reds — at least once.

"I guess if you do it enough, it just becomes the norm," said fellow outfielder Trevor Larnach, who in his rookie season of 2021 started a game in all nine spots as well, and last season batted in every spot but ninth. "It's out of my control, so I just prepare the same way, wherever they put me. Batting third, fourth or seventh and eighth, it doesn't matter. I'm still trying to hit the ball hard."

OK, but ballplayers are human. Surely they perceive a message of trust from Balldelli when they're near the top of the batting order, and doubts about their ability if they're at the bottom.

"It's an ego gratification thing, no doubt," said Larnach, who was in the No. 1 spot 13 times in 2024. "Not a lot of guys can say they bat leadoff or third or fourth in the big leagues. It means something."

Yep, and the opposite is true, too. Just ask Byron Buxton, who as a 22-year-old in 2016, started 88 games — 80 of them batting ninth.

"That was early in my career, when I was just getting experience. Hitting at the bottom was part of getting me to where I am now," said the 31-year-old center fielder. "But you start feeling that you're in the pitcher's spot, especially after leading off my whole life before then. That's just not what you want. So I took it as a challenge — get out of the bottom."

So where do all these lineups come from?

"They are 100 percent Rocco," Falvey said. "We have our own internal system, our own information on every player on the roster, and he has all of that at his disposal. He solicits opinions from our [data] staff, from the coaches, from the trainers. And then Rocco writes out the lineup."

Late night decisions

That usually happens about a half-hour after the final out, when the manager convenes a late-supper meeting in his office. Coaches Tingler and Hank Conger are usually there, and the team's hitting coaches — last year, David Popkins and Derek Shomon, this year Matt Borgschulte, Trevor Amicone and Rayden Sierra — offer thoughts about who is on a roll and who isn't.

"We talk about the next day's starter, and about who is healthy and who might need a day [off]. Matchups with their bullpen, and who's been pitching a lot lately," said Nate Dammann, the Twins' quality-control coach and Baldelli's chief organizer for the past six years. "They go over the numbers, who has a history with who. There's a lot of information that Rocco considers."

Much of it is about potential mid- to late-inning scenarios. The Astros, for instance, who will oppose the Twins at this year's Target Field opener, have Josh Hader, one of the nastiest left-handed relievers in the game.

"We're looking at the three-batter minimum, and making sure we don't stack our lineup one way or another, where it's easy to bring in a lefty or a righty," Tingler said. "It's not easy, but we try to anticipate what situations we might face. We're trying to mix it up and strike a balance, make the other team's decisions harder."

That's why Baldelli has always valued switch-hitters like Willi Castro and Brooks Lee, or Jorge Polanco and Carlos Santana in years past, players who allow the manager to more easily alternate left and right. They mostly discount players' individual histories against specific pitchers, since those samples are usually small, though "I have to admit, if someone has looked particularly locked in against a guy, we'll discuss that," Tingler said.

'You trust in that'

Baldelli also plans ahead by a series or two, looking for ways to give the regulars a day off, and considering how that might shuffle the defensive lineup. And if something is working, they'll ride a hot streak. Castro, for instance, landed in the leadoff spot in mid-June last year, and hit .302 in that role over the next four weeks. He cooled off in August (.213), though, and rarely was at the top of the lineup after that.

"Usually by the time we're ready to head home, Rocco will throw two or three options to the room," Tingler said. "We kick it around and Rocco will eventually say, 'Let's go with this one.' And then we send it out."

Dammann texts the next day's schedule and lineup to each player and staff member each night.

"If there's something unusual for someone, I'll give the guy a call. Like, if he's a regular but isn't playing tomorrow. Or a new guy [who] hasn't been in our clubhouse yet, I might call and say, 'Hey man, you're playing tomorrow,' " Dammann said. "It's a text from a number he doesn't know, so you give him a heads-up."

So notified, the players go to bed knowing where they're hitting the next day.

"I like to know, but they don't really explain why it's this way or that," said José Miranda. "They have reasons why they want it in a certain order each day, so you trust in that. We know they're trying to put us in the best position possible."