MINNEAPOLIS -- Edouard Julien's breakout season began long before Opening Day, when the then-little-known prospect crashed the international scene in the World Baseball Classic with a tournament-best 1.821 OPS while acting as his country’s table-setter in the leadoff spot ahead of Freddie Freeman.

That breakout began with “Canada” stamped across his chest -- and now, to cap a stellar rookie campaign, Julien will be tasked with setting the table as the leadoff hitter for Minnesota’s lineup against Canada’s team in the American League Wild Card Series.

Julien’s bat was always going to get him to this point. As for his glove … the Twins would probably have preferred to avoid the topic altogether. When he first arrived in the Majors, any ball hit toward Julien was cause for consternation -- and as the Twins think back on his journey, they emphasize all the work (and tough love) that went into his improvement at the keystone.

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“Us giving him a lot of crap about it as well, just kind of wearing him out about how bad his defense is,” Kyle Farmer said before Minnesota's 3-1 victory over Toronto in Game 1 on Tuesday at Target Field. “I think it's more of a bigger brother kind of thing, picking on a little brother, getting him going and forcing him to get better.”

That kind of ribbing works for Julien, who dishes it as well as he takes it -- and clearly, it’s worked. Considering the reports on Julien from his rise up the Minor League system and the eye test of his first few weeks in the Minors, it’s a huge win that Julien finished the season with a Fielding Run Value (per Statcast) of exactly zero.

The Twins always had faith that Julien could hit like this, the so-called “God of Walks” and his incredibly discerning eye seemingly a sure bet for production like the .263/.381/.459 slash line with 16 homers that he put up as a rookie this season while forcing his way into action at second base.

“When he first signed, I think there was a lot of discussion about if he was even going to have a position,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He went from that to a stage where he was in grind mode, he was just competing in practice every day to just get better here and there.”

Once Julien got into the Majors, the Twins insisted on leaving him at second base. Through intense daily work on the field with infield coordinator Tony Diaz, and drawing from the help he’d received along the way from others like Minor League infield coordinator Tucker Frawley, Double-A manager Ramón Borrego and Triple-A bench coach Tyler Smarslok, Julien did.

In the season’s last month, the motions looked more fluid; the throws looked less hesitant. And what better representation of that improvement than Julien stepping up when it mattered most, snagging a short-hop grounder while on the move and making an off-balance throw for the final out of the Twins’ AL Central clincher?

“I just feel more confident,” Julien said. “There's just certain times in the past where I would think about myself and I would be scared of doing certain moves with my gloves and actions. It just feels free. I just play and have fun. I don't worry about anything but having fun on the field.”

As would be expected for a kid from Québec City, Julien was initially an Expos fan, but he ended up having to root for the Blue Jays once the Expos left town. His favorite player was José Reyes, who Julien said “hit for power, ran, played defense, did everything.”

Julien used a tremendous year to get closer to that -- especially in the “played defense” sense -- and with Royce Lewis limited to designated hitter for the time being, the Twins will have to lean on Julien to play a good second base.

He’s been working all season for this chance.

“It's been a pretty unique year, for sure,” Julien said. “First playing for your country in the World Baseball Classic, now I have a chance to beat my country's team, so it's going to be cool, and hopefully we come on top.”