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Twins’ Edouard Julien trying to rule again

betsy helfand, pioneer press
·4 min read

WASHINGTON — It made its way through the Twins clubhouse this spring training until Edouard Julien finally heard it.

In the song titled “Edouard Julien, Are You Gonna Rule Again?” FanGraphs’ Davy Andrews, asks the simple question repeatedly.

“It was funny because I’ve never heard any song about me,” Julien said of the song, which was accompanied by a music video with multiple cutouts of his face bouncing around the screen. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

Tuesday, he was serenaded in person.

Andrews showed up at the Nationals Park pregame — Twins bench coach Jayce Tingler had told Julien that Andrews would attend a game in either New York or Washington D.C. — and after the Twins’ 10-0 win over the Nationals, he performed his song in the middle of the clubhouse with Julien sitting right next to him.

“Obviously I’ve heard (it) a lot in spring training, and it was good to have him in person here and get in front of the guys,” Julien said. “It was fun.”

The performance, starter Joe Ryan said, was “electric.” Manager Rocco Baldelli referred to the song multiple times as “a hit.”

Andrews’ song is set to the same tune as California rock band Wckr Spgt’s song about former French president François Mitterrand, replacing the lyric “François Mitterrand, do you have the heater on?” with “Edouard Julien, are you gonna rule again?”

“I think Eddy was loving it. The rest of the guys were loving it,” Baldelli said. “I think he added a new verse to what Jayce would call the ‘smash hit.’ I think he added a new verse for us, which is just lovely. I mean, great day.”

The music video was embedded in an article about Julien, posted to FanGraphs in late January, about Julien’s breakout rookie season. His sophomore campaign hasn’t gone quite as well thus far, but the second baseman is doing his best to try to rule again.

“I’ve just got to trust my approach and trust it’s going to work,” Julien said. “I keep going away from it and being indecisive. I’ve just got to trust it and ride it for a couple weeks and see how it goes.”

Julien excelled as a hitter in college, in the minor leagues and during his rookie year in the majors, so this has been something new for him, but it’s something Baldelli said Julien is well-equipped to handle.

“He can do this. There is nothing standing in his way,” Baldelli said. ” … He’s got a really good head for the game. There are a lot of things I could say that are really complimentary about the way he handles things, so he should be able to handle this. I have no doubt about it.”

Julien, who went 0 for 3 with a strikeout in the Twins’ 3-2 win over the Nationals on Wednesday, is hitting .207 this season with a .696 OPS. He’s encountered a recent rough patch and is hitless since May 15. Known for his eye at the plate, Julien hasn’t drawn a walk since May 11.

“It’s for sure tough when you don’t perform as well as you want to do,” Julien said. “You always feel like you’ve got to work and do all that stuff to get out of it, but sometimes it’s just get a rest and being in a better mental spot than you are, and I think that’s a problem for me. I think a little too much, and that’s the game. It’s not always physically. It’s always mentally. For me it is. I’ve got to be better with my approach.”

Baldelli’s 400th

It took eight tries, but the Twins manager finally captured his 400th win on Tuesday.

Though he’s never one to tout his personal accomplishments, Baldelli did enjoy the postgame moment, in which the team toasted him. Getting it done for Baldelli, center fielder Byron Buxton said on Tuesday, “was beautiful.”

“Any time there’s a good reason to get the team together for a few minutes after the game, that’s worth it to me,” Baldelli said. “I don’t like being out there and accepting things, but when it comes from our guys, it’s nice.”

A lineup card will eventually make its way to Baldelli’s Target Field office, where it will join the cards he has hanging from other milestone wins.

“It’s for the players so I can see all their names up there,” Baldelli said. “I don’t need to see it thinking about a personal record. It’s all about them in my mind.”

Briefly

Trevor Larnach was in the outfield on Wednesday for the first time since May 9 as he deals with a foot issue. Baldelli said Larnach still isn’t at 100% but playing the outfield was something they thought he could handle at this point. … The Twins have Thursday off before hosting the World Series-champion Texas Rangers over the weekend.

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