FORT MYERS, Fla. -- What's the best way to get noticed if you're an 18th-round Draft selection? Try leading all of Minor League Baseball in walks.

Infielder/outfielder Edouard Julien hadn't played a professional game since he was drafted with the 539th overall selection in the 2019 Draft, but following his recovery from Tommy John surgery, he exploded in his first season on the field by showcasing a combination of power, speed and patience at the plate. His 2021 season featured 110 walks, 18 more than his nearest competitor (incidentally, teammate Aaron Sabato).

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"I was lucky enough to have that COVID year, so that I could rehab and take my time and get back healthy," Julien said. "I think that was a pretty good fit for me to have that COVID year. I came back from 2020, and I was lucky enough to start in Low-A and just play baseball again.

“It was pretty fun. It was a fun year for me. I just had fun and enjoyed every moment of it."

Thanks to all of those walks, Julien's final 2021 slash line stood at .266/.434/.480 -- good for a .914 OPS -- with 18 home runs, 28 doubles and 34 stolen bases, with the majority of that damage coming for Low-A Fort Myers in the notoriously offense-deficient Florida State League.

Even so, Julien likely has more development to go than most, since he grew up out of the baseball mainstream in Quebec, Canada, where opportunities in baseball pale in comparison to those in hockey or soccer. (He's too young to remember much about the Expos' time in Montreal, 150 miles from his home in Quebec City.) He focused on ski racing and hockey as a kid and didn't turn his full attention to baseball until he was 15.

Though Julien spent time with the Canadian National Team and traveled to the United States to face high-level players his age, he didn't see too many pitchers with more polish on a regular basis until he committed to Auburn University, where he had to adjust to the new level of play and life in the United States while also learning English, since he only spoke French at home. (He's now trilingual, having added Spanish.)

"They play to win," Julien said. "They try to get you out. I think that was the biggest adjustment I had to make -- to make adjustments against pitchers, to read what they're trying to do with me. I think that was the biggest adjustment I had to make moving from Canada."

Despite the gaudy numbers, the 22-year-old Julien still has to develop some more of that polish to establish himself firmly in the prospect conversation as he continues his professional journey, and that was evident in some facets of his game last season.

For one, the big offensive numbers also came with a heaping dose of strikeouts. Julien whiffed 144 times, tied for 35th among all Minor Leaguers, though those only represented 28% of his plate appearances. In that regard, Julien's extreme patience and feel for the strike zone might actually work to his detriment, as the downside of working deep counts in search of walks is that all of those two-strike counts also lead to more strikeout situations.

Because of that, the Twins are working with him to be more aggressive and attack more hittable pitches, which could go hand-in-hand with the surprising pop he showed last season despite his relatively slight 195-pound frame.

"Whenever you go up a level, the pitching gets better, and the mistakes, they don't do it as much, and I'm aware of that," Julien said. "And so I'm going to be a little bit more aggressive, but I'm going to stick to my approach and swing at strikes. I'll be for sure more aggressive, but I'll stick to my approach."

The other concern is that Julien has no clear defensive fit, and there's still a good amount of improvement needed with his arm and consistency. He split time between second base, third base, first base and left field last season, with second and left feeling most natural to him. But if he still lacks the defensive chops to be a regular anywhere, that versatility could play to his benefit.

All the same, Julien's offensive performance certainly spoke for itself in 2021, and he'll only grow more comfortable as he continues to adapt to the professional lifestyle, surrounded by such fellow Canadians as LaRon Smith and Jordan Balazovic. He should have every opportunity to show that last year was no fluke.