The Minnesota Twins are going to start the 2011 season with 26-year old switch hitting Alexi Casilla as the starting shortstop. Casilla played in 69 games for the Twins last season and he was 42 of 152 (.276 avg, .726 OPS) with 26 runs scored, 1 homer, 20 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. Casilla will be an asset offensively for the Twins if he can hit for about the same batting average as he did last season because of his speed. With 500 ABs in 2011, I think Casilla will be able to steal 25-30 bases for the Twins in 2011. Casilla had 4 errors in 30 games at SS for the Twins last season while showing good range. The Twins hope that Casilla can handle SS defensively as he came up as a 2B.

24-year old righty swinging Trevor Plouffe will be duking it out with 28-year old switch hitting Matt Tolbert for a back up job in 2011. Plouffe played in 22 games for the Twins in his first taste of the majors last season and he was 6 of 41 (.146 avg, .460 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 2 homers and 6 RBIs. He went up to the plate hacking for the Twins last season as he didn’t walk at all while whiffing 14 times. Plouffe also played in 102 games in AAA-ball for the Twins last season and he was 98 of 402 (.244 avg, .730 OPS) with 53 runs scored, 15 homers, 49 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Plouffe only made 1 error in 9 games for the Twins at SS last season while showing slightly above average range. Matt Tolbert played in 3 error-free games for the Twins last season while showing outstanding range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE TWINS SS IN 2011: C

The Twins signed 26-year old switch hitting Tsuyoshi Nishioka to a 3-year deal to come over from Japan and serve as the starting 2B. Nishioka played in 144 games in Japan last season and he was 206 of 596 (.346 avg, .905 OPS) with 121 runs scored, 11 homers, 59 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. Nishioka won the batting title in Japan and the Twins are hoping that he’ll hit at least .300 for them in 2011. It will be interesting to see if Nishioka can handle major league pitching as Japanese players have been hit and miss in America.

28-year old switch hitting Matt Tolbert will likely be the Twins’ utility man in 2011. He played in 48 games for the Twins last season and he was 20 of 87 (.230 avg, .672 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 1 homer, 18 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Twins would be happy with Tolbert if he hits a little bit over .250 in 2011. Tolbert made 1 error in 20 games at 2B for the Twins last season but he showed terrible range.

26-year old switch hitting Alexi Casilla heads into spring training as the Twins’ starting SS. He played in 24 games at 2B for the Twins last season and he made 1 error while showing good range there.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE TWINS AT 2B IN 2011: B-

29-year old lefty swinging 1B Justin Morneau missed half of last season due to a very nasty concussion. He’s supposedly going to be ready to go this spring and the Twins desperately need him to stay healthy in 2011. Morneau played in 81 games for the Twins last year and he was 102 of 296 (.345 avg, 1.055 OPS) with 53 runs scored, 18 homers and 56 RBIs. From 2006-2009, Morneau averaged 90.8 runs scored, 29.5 homers and 117.5 RBIs per year and that’s the kind of production the Twins expect out of him in 2011. Morneau is also a very solid defensive 1B as he only made 1 error in 77 games at 1B for the Twins last season. I fully expect Morneau to be a finalist for the MVP Award of the A.L. in 2011 if he can just stay healthy enough to play in at least 140 games.

31-year old righty swinging Michael Cuddyer will fill in at 1B whenver Morneau needs a breather. Cuddyer played in 84 games at 1B for the Twins last season and he made 3 errors. He’s average on D at 1B. Cuddyer is the starting RF for the Twins.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE TWINS 1B IN 2011: A+