He was supposed to be the next Torii Hunter. Maybe even better. When the Minnesota Twins snagged Aaron Hicks with the 14th overall pick in 2008, they weren't just drafting a baseball player; they were drafting a 97-mph arm, a scratch golfer, and a switch-hitter with elite speed.
The hype was real. But the reality?
Well, the reality of Aaron Hicks and the Minnesota Twins is a messy story of rushed timelines, a crisis of confidence, and a trade that still gets debated in dive bars from Minneapolis to the Bronx. If you look at his Baseball-Reference page, you see three seasons in Minnesota with a .225 batting average. But that doesn't tell you why the Twins eventually gave up on a guy who threw a 105.5 mph rocket from the outfield just months after they traded him.
The Prospect Pedigree: Why Everyone Was Obsessed
Before we get into the struggles, you have to understand the ceiling. Aaron Hicks wasn't just another prospect; he was the prospect. Between 2009 and 2013, he was a fixture on top-100 lists, peaking as the Twins' #1 overall prospect.
He was a "tool-sy" dream. Scouts at Baseball America couldn't stop talking about his "plus-plus" arm. The Athletics actually wanted to draft him as a pitcher because his fastball sat in the mid-90s with natural movement. But Hicks wanted to hit.
The Twins obliged.
In the minors, he showed flashes of becoming a patient, power-hitting center fielder. By 2012, he was crushing it at Double-A New Britain, hitting .286 with 13 homers and 32 steals. The Twins saw enough. Maybe they saw too much. After trading away established stars Denard Span and Ben Revere in the 2012-2013 offseason, they left a massive hole in center field.
They decided a 23-year-old who had never played a game at Triple-A was the answer.
The Opening Day Gamble That Backfired
The 2013 season started with a bang—literally. Hicks had a monstrous Spring Training, hitting .370 and clobbering four home runs. He won the center field job outright.
Then April happened.
Major League pitching is a different beast. Hicks went 0-for-12 to start his career. By the end of his first month, he was hitting .132. The "passive" label started to stick. He was taking too many pitches, falling behind in counts, and looked completely overwhelmed by big-league velocity.
- 2013 Stats: 81 games, .192 AVG, 8 HR, 84 strikeouts.
- The Demotion: He was sent down to Rochester in August to find his swing.
It wasn't just the stats, though. It was the vibe. There were whispers about his work ethic. Fans were frustrated. Here was this incredible athlete who seemed to be overthinking every single pitch.
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The Switch-Hitting Crisis of 2014
If 2013 was a struggle, 2014 was a full-blown identity crisis.
Hicks was so frustrated with his left-handed swing—which scouts called "long and loopy"—that he actually gave up switch-hitting in the middle of the season. For a few weeks, he decided he was just going to bat right-handed.
Think about that. A professional ballplayer changing his entire approach in June because he's lost.
The experiment lasted less than a month. He went back to switch-hitting, but the damage was done. He finished the year hitting .215. The Twins were losing patience. Byron Buxton was looming in the minors, and the "Future of the Outfield" tag was quickly being transferred to the kid from Georgia.
The 2015 "Breakout" and the Trade No One Expected
Ironically, Hicks finally started to look like a ballplayer in 2015. He spent time in Triple-A, found some rhythm, and came back to the Twins with a different edge.
He hit .256 with 11 home runs in 97 games. He was finally using his speed (13 steals) and his arm was a weapon. He even won the Twins' "Most Improved Player" award.
Then, on November 11, 2015, the news broke.
Minnesota Twins trade Aaron Hicks to the New York Yankees for John Ryan Murphy.
Wait, what?
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The Twins needed a catcher. Kurt Suzuki was aging, and John Ryan Murphy was a young, controllable backstop from the Yankees' system. But trading Hicks right when he finally seemed to "get it" felt like a classic Minnesota sports move. Assistant GM Rob Antony admitted it was a tough call, noting that Hicks had finally learned "what it took to be a professional."
Why the Minnesota Twins Moved On
Looking back, the trade was a gamble on a specific need. The Twins had a logjam of outfielders. They had Buxton, Eddie Rosario, and Max Kepler all fighting for reps. Hicks was the odd man out, and his trade value was finally high enough to fetch a starting-caliber catcher (or so they thought).
The aftermath of the trade was lopsided:
- Hicks in New York: He became a core part of the "Next Gen" Yankees, signed a $70 million contract extension, and had a 27-homer season in 2018.
- Murphy in Minnesota: He struggled immensely, hitting just .146 in his first season with the Twins before being traded away himself.
Actionable Insights: Lessons from the Hicks Era
If you're a Twins fan or a baseball nerd looking for the "why" behind the Aaron Hicks Minnesota Twins saga, here’s what we can actually take away from those three chaotic years:
- Rushing prospects is dangerous: Hicks skipped Triple-A entirely before 2013. That lack of seasoning at the highest minor league level likely contributed to his early-career "passivity" at the plate.
- The "Gap" between tools and performance: Hicks had 80-grade arm strength and 60-grade speed, but without a consistent swing path, those tools didn't translate into WAR until he left Target Field.
- Target Field is tough on lefties: As a switch-hitter, Hicks struggled with the deep right-field power alley in Minnesota. His power numbers spiked almost immediately when he moved to the hitter-friendly dimensions of Yankee Stadium.
The story of Hicks in Minnesota is a cautionary tale about patience. He wasn't a bust; he was just a late bloomer who needed a change of scenery and a more defined role to escape the pressure of being the "next big thing" in the Twin Cities.
If you want to track his impact today, look at how the Twins now handle their top prospects like Walker Jenkins—giving them significant time to fail and adjust in the high minors before handing them the keys to center field on Opening Day.