If the 2010 season started today the Twins would likely platoon 29-year old righty swinging Brendan Harris with either 32-year old switch hitting Nick Punto or 27-year old switch hitting Matt Tolbert. Either way the Twins would have pathetic production at the hot corner. Harris played in 123 games for the Twins last season and he was 108 for 414 (.261 avg, .672 OPS) with 44 runs scored, 6 homers and 37 RBIs. The bad thing for the Twins is that Harris is the best hitter of this bunch. Harris is not a good defensive 3B either as he made 6 errors in 44 games at shortstop last season while showing absolutely terrible range.

32-year old switch hitting Nick Punto appears to have a edge as Harris’ platoon partner if for no reason other than Ron Gardenhire likes him. He played in 125 games for the Twins last season and he was 82 for 359 (.228 avg, .621 OPS) with 56 runs scored, 1 homer, 38 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. Punto could be in line for a decent year with the bat as he has hit .284 for the Twins in even numbered years and only .224 in odd numbered years. Punto didn’t make any errors in 5 games at 3B in 2010 for the Twins while showing outstanding range.

27-year old switch hitting Matt Tolbert played in 27 games at 3B for the Twins last season and he made 2 errors while showing slightly above average range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 3B IN 2010: D-