MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. | Édouard Julien quickly climbs the steps leading to the Target Field when he is interrupted by a journalist from Bally Sports, the broadcaster of the Twins games. “Hey, Eddy, do you have a minute for me?”
The reporter was looking for reactions to the superb catch that Byron Buxton, a teammate, had made the day before and which was fueling discussions among Minnesota fans that day.
“Ask him to tell you about his new haircut too!” another Twins player says to the journalist.
“Ok I can answer, but really just a minute,” agrees Julien, quickly removing his cap to reveal his freshly trimmed hair, before giving his impressions of his colleague’s game, with a smile on his lips, for… more one minute.
Posters, jerseys and circuits
Almost a year ago to the day, Édouard Julien played his first MLB game at Target Field in Minneapolis.
The “little” guy from Quebec was then a solid prospect for the organization, endowed with momentum worthy of the major leagues, but also a defense to refine.
Édouard Julien hits his first home run! –
Twelve months have passed since then, and a quick walk around the Twins stadium leaves no doubt: he is a full member of the organization, champion of the Central section of the American last year.
His picture hangs on several posts surrounding Target Field. At the official store, sweaters with the name “Julien” and the number “47” embroidered are prominently displayed, whether in junior or adult sizes.
Photo credit: Photo taken by Jessica Lapinski
With 19 home runs, 95 hits and 40 RBIs since his debut in the majors, the 24-year-old Quebecer is a star within this more than 60-year-old organization, which has seen Kirby Puckett parade in his uniform and Harmon Killebrew?
We wouldn’t go that far. At least, not yet. But one thing is certain, journalists assigned to cover the team noted that Twins fans quickly adopted “Eddy”.
An “easy to like” guy, who charms them not only with his powerful stick, but also with his joking side, goofy.
A “good kid”, that is.
Fame? Never mind
However, more is needed to destabilize the main person concerned. The posters bearing his image, the supporters who buy a sweater in his name, “it’s part of my job,” he later points out to Journal That day.
Photo credit: Photo taken by Jessica Lapinski
The celebrity that is associated with his role, the second baseman clearly doesn’t want to make too much of it.
“The only thing I focus on is trying to help my team. This is the reason why I go to the field every day, why I work hard,” insists Julien.
Tuesday evening, when The newspaper met him after the second game of a series against the Los Angeles Dodgers and a certain Shohei Ohtani, no one on the Twins had really been able to help the team win.
Minnesota had just been beaten 6 to 3. At the start of the season, the sticks were slow to warm up in Minneapolis, and, until then, Julien was no exception.
That night, he was 0 for 4, and his 2024 average had dropped to .107 after a superb training camp.
Not easily impressed
Sitting at his locker alongside his friend, veteran second baseman Kyle Farmer – who knows the words “bonjour” and “cheese” in French – Julien calmly answered questions from the Journal tying his shoes, despite the palpable disappointment.
Obviously, it takes more than a difficult start to the season to destabilize the young player from the Canonniers’ baseball sports-study program. The biggest proof is undoubtedly these two home runs that he was going to hit the next day (things change quickly in baseball!).
Photo credit: Photo Getty Images via AFP
The other is the confidence he displays when asked what he learned from this first year in the big leagues.
A confidence that his manager, Rocco Baldelli, also mentioned when asked how he had seen “Eddy” evolve over the last few months.
Be a role model for young people
A Shohei Ohtani at bat while he is very close to his second base? This doesn’t seem to impress Julien in the slightest and even less now “that he’s faced almost every team in the league.”
“For me, it’s just baseball. These are the same regulations, regardless of the level, he insists. The only difference is that there are more people in the stands, that the pitchers are a little better.
Photo credit: Photo Getty Images via AFP
But, if he doesn’t seem to make much of his new reality as an MLB player, Julien comes alive when we talk to him about these fans who wait for the athletes to have them sign autographs.
“Often, on the outskirts of the pitch, there are young people waiting, who arrive earlier. And it’s for them that we play baseball, he points out. I would even add that it’s the reason we have a job.”
“Most of the people who watch the games are our fans,” continues Julien. We are a bit like models for them. I believe you have to have them at heart, show them what it means to be a person.”
Without knowing it, with these two sentences, Julien confirmed what made him a player that Twins fans quickly adopted.
A “good kid”, as we were told around this immense land which has gradually become partly his in the last year.
2024-04-12 23:40:38
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