RandBall: Twins' young core goes from bottom to the heart of the order

Of all the remarkable things that have happened to the Twins' offense lately, there's one that seems more startling than the others:

Byron Buxton (47), Eddie Rosario (10) and Jorge Polanco (6) have combined to hit ninth in the Twins order 63 times this season, a testament to how much each has struggled at various points this year. On nine occasions, the trio hit 7-8-9 in a Twins order that was struggling to score runs.

But now seven times since Aug. 22, those three have represented the heart of a robust Twins order — going Polanco-Rosario-Buxton as the 3-4-5 hitters each time, most recently Sunday. This was not done out of desperation. This was done because each hitter earned it.

While it's true that where a player bats in the order can be an overrated piece of information, it still is astounding to think of the turnaround of those three young players in the context of their ascent in the lineup.