Édouard Julien

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Édouard Julien

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Biographical Information[edit]

Édouard Julien won a Silver Medal with Team Canada before making his major league debut in 2023.

Julien hit .162/.311/.405 for Canada in the 2017 U-18 Baseball World Cup with 16 whiffs in 37 at-bats and 8 walks in 9 games, fielding .911 as Canada's second baseman. He tied for 2nd in the event with two homers (one behind Triston Casas) and tied for 4th in walks but led in whiffs. [1] The Philadelphia Phillies took him in the 37th round of the 2017 amateur draft but he opted for college - even though he did not speak English at the time.

In 2018, he hit .275/.398/.556 with 17 HR and 69 RBI in 62 games for Auburn University. He broke Frank Thomas's Auburn freshman record for RBI. Only one freshman in NCAA Division I had more dingers and he was Freshman All-American. [2] He was 6th in the Southeastern Conference in home runs and led the SEC in RBI, 6 ahead of Wil Dalton. He batted only .205/.289/.372 for the Falmouth Commodores in the Cape Cod League.

The Québec native fell to .258/.388/.453 with 10 home runs and 57 RBI for Auburn in 2019. He was 4 for 6 in the 2019 College World Series and tied a TD Ameritrade Park Omaha record with a 426' homer. [3] He played six games for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks in the Cape Cod League and did well (.348/.423/.565, 5 RBI). He also was with Canada in the 2019 Pan American Games, when they won the Silver Medal, but did not get into a game as Jonathan Malo played 2B and Eric Wood 3B. He was the only amateur position player on the team (they had two collegiate pitchers, Ben Abram and Eric Cerantola). [4]

Edouard was picked by the Minnesota Twins in the 18th round of the 2019 amateur draft. The scout was Jack Powell. [5] He did not play due to an injury which he sustained at the Pan-Am Games and had Tommy John surgery that fall. [6] After sitting out the 2020 season when the Coronavirus pandemic shut down the minor leagues, he finally made his pro debut in 2021 with the Fort Myers Miracle of the Low-A East. He also played for the Cedar Rapids Kernels of the High-A Central that season, hitting .267/.434/.480, with 28 doubles and 18 homers in 112 games between the two teams. He spent the 2022 season with the Wichita Wind Surge of the AA Texas League, batting .300/.441/.490 in 113 games. Following the season, he was named a Texas League All-Star, a AA All-Star by Baseball America and a twins organizational All-Star. He then played in the Arizona Fall League where he hit .400 in 21 games and was named to play in the Rising Stars Game.

In Canada's opening game at the 2023 World Baseball Classic on March 12th, he homered on the first pitch thrown by Akeel Morris as the lead-off hitter against the British national team in the bottom of the 1st. Great Britain had scored three times and chased starter Paul Quantrill in the top of the 1st, but Julien's blast keyed a four-run inning that gave the Canucks the lead. He batted .538 for the event, with an OBP of .667, second among all batters in both categories behind only teammate Tyler O'Neill. With the Canadian team, he formed an infield with fellow Quebeckers Otto Lopez at shortstop and Abraham Toro at third base. He started the year with the AAA St. Paul Saints and was hitting .290 with an OBP of .421 after 9 games when he was called up to Minnesota. He made his debut on April 12th, starting at second base and batting 8th against the Chicago White Sox. he went 0 for 2 with a walk in a 3-1 win. The next day, he was the Twins' leadoff hitter at New Yankee Stadium and triggered a nine-run 1st inning by leading off the game with his first career hit, then adding his first career homer when the team batted around. Minnesota went on to an 11-2 win over the New York Yankees. The homer was one of three consecutive blasts, with Michael A. Taylor preceding Julien, and Carlos Correa following him. He had a very good rookie season, batting .263 in 109 games, with an OBP of .381, 16 homers and 37 RBIs. His OPS+ was 130 and he finished 7th in the voting for the 2023 American League Rookie of the Year Award. In the postseason, he went 1 for 6 in the two-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays, as the Twins won their first playoff series in eons, and then 4 for 11 (.364) with 4 walks, 2 doubles and a homer in their loss to the Houston Astros in the Division Series.

He had the first two-homer game of his career on April 10, 2024, in a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Target Field; the second homer, hit off Alex Vesia in the 5th, was his first ever off a lefty.

Sources[edit]

  1. ↑ 2017 U-18 Baseball World Cup
  2. ↑ Auburn bio
  3. ↑ ibid.
  4. ↑ 2019 Pan American Games
  5. ↑ 2019 Twins Media Guide, pg. 398
  6. ↑ Twinsdaily.com

Further Reading[edit]

  • Ian Bussières: "Édouard Julien prêt pour l’an 2", La Presse, January 30, 2024. [1]
  • Guillaume Lefrançois: "Les efforts d’Édouard Julien rapportent", La Presse, April 15, 2024. [2]
  • Do-Hyoung Park: "Julien gets first MLB hit, HR -- both in 9-run first: Twins' No. 4 prospect has breakout game in Minnesota's surprising, satisfying rout in Bronx", mlb.com, April 13, 2023. [3]
  • Do-Hyoung Park: "Twins loving life with jokester Julien", mlb.com, March 7, 2024. [4]
  • Alexandre Pratt: "L’étoile du Nord", La Presse, August 25, 2023. [5]

Related Sites[edit]

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