Matt Wallner rejoins Twins after adjustments

Do-Hyoung Park

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Matt Wallner has tried to avoid seeing the overwhelming outcry from Twins fans clamoring for his return to the team -- and now, that cacophony should recede a bit with his recall to Minnesota’s Major League roster following Jose Miranda’s placement on the injured list.

“I try not to see it as much as possible,” Wallner said. “It’s just people texting me and whatnot, sending me certain things, and that’s cool. But I kind of hate seeing that, for the most part. I don’t like to see comments, good or bad.”

Instead of focusing on a factor that was largely out of his hands, with Alex Kirilloff, Joey Gallo and Max Kepler all staying healthy to keep the organization’s No. 5 prospect at Triple-A St. Paul, Wallner instead focused on building on a strong stint in the big leagues during which he reached base in his last eight plate appearances before he was the victim of a May 29 roster crunch.

And after going 7-for-19 with a double, a homer and three walks as a big leaguer, Wallner continued to crush the Minor Leagues, hitting .291/.403/.524 with 11 homers and 20 doubles in 67 games with the Saints.

“There’s only so much you can do,” Wallner said. “Things kind of need to fall into place sometimes. But I feel like I did a good job of just controlling what I can control and try to show up at the ballpark every day, try to do the same thing. I felt good about it in that sense.”

Significantly, Wallner believes he's made adjustments to improve his consistency in making contact and using all fields, focusing on taking pitches where they’re given instead of trying to do too much.

At times in the past, Wallner said he was comfortable hitting line drives to the opposite field only when he was feeling quite locked in and seeing the ball well. Now, with his focus away from pulling the ball for power, he believes he can do so more routinely. Given that swing and miss has been a primary concern in Wallner’s player profile, he’s hoping to carry that through into the Majors.

“I kind of feel like I’ve opened up the field a little bit more for the first time,” Wallner said. “I feel like I’ve been hitting line drives up the middle more. That’s kind of been hit or miss throughout my career, but now I feel like I’ve been seeing better pitches and continuing to manage them.”

The burly slugger didn’t have much of a chance to show that off immediately, as the A’s threw lefties in Wallner’s first two games back, but the chances should come soon enough.