Are you ready for a potent bat and a whole lot of walks, Twins fans? The answer better be, “Oui, bien sûr,” because Edouard Julien has arrived.

The injury to Joey Gallo has made room for the Twins' No. 4 prospect (No. 96 on the Top 100) to join the big league club, and while we won’t take any credit at MLB Pipeline for the promotion, we will say we were prescient by listing him recently as a player who could/should arrive soon.

He says he likes to be called Eddie, though that might be to make it easier for those who do not speak French. Whatever you call him, the guy can hit.

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It’s not been a typical path to the big leagues for Julien. The Quebec native went to Auburn and was ruled eligible for the 2019 Draft somewhat last-minute as Major League Baseball decided his secondary school year in Canada counted as a year of college. The Twins noticed his power and his plate discipline in the SEC (27 homers and a .393 on-base percentage) in two years and went over slot to sign him as their 18th-round pick that June.

No one got to see what he could do in professional competition until 2021, but the Twins thought they might have found someone interesting when he hit well during the 2020 COVID instructional league camp they held. When he posted a .914 OPS across two levels of A ball in 2021, leading the Minors with 110 walks, they realized he was a legitimate prospect.

It was last year when the Twins front office recognized they very likely had a big leaguer of some sort on their hands. He hit .300/.441/.490 in Double-A, walking 98 times in the process. Then he went and absolutely obliterated the Arizona Fall League, tying for the batting title with a .400/.563/.686 line. Small sample size, sure, but he walked more than he struck out and had 10 extra-base hits, and it was more a continuation of what he’s been doing rather than an outlier.

The fact that he raked in big league camp this spring, hitting .348 and slugging .739, surprised no one. And he kept doing Julien-like things in his first taste of Triple-A this year, hitting .290/.421/.548 over nine games.

This isn’t just a guy who sees pitches and gets on base. He can drive the ball, to all fields, and in many ways is still learning how to tap into his over-the-fence power. He had two homers and two doubles in the early going with St. Paul, and Twins fans are going to get to see him continue to hit the ball, very hard, everywhere. His two homers were both north of 103 mph off the bat and he registers triple-digit exit velocities with regularity, with five in nine games already this year.

Julien obviously maximizes his ability to do damage by seeing a lot of pitches. He drew more walks in 2021 and 2022 combined than anyone else in the Minor Leagues, and there’s no reason to think he’s going to stray from his advanced approach. There will be some swing-and-miss that goes along with this -- he has a 26.5 percent career strikeout rate heading into his big league debut -- but it’s certainly not out of the ordinary. His K rate did drop a little in Double-A last year and, overall, it’s really offset by his astounding 20.3 percent walk rate in his career. He’s worked to make sure he’s not too passive and is selectively aggressive. If he sees a pitch early in an at-bat he can crush, he doesn’t hold back.

And lest you think Julien is a one-dimensional player, he’s a very smart baserunner; he stole 34 bags in 2021 and 19 last year. He’s certainly not a burner, but with the new rules, seeing him turn in 20-20 seasons eventually doesn’t seem outlandish.

It’s definitely his bat that got Julien to the big leagues, and it’s taken him some time to find a defensive home, as he’s played some outfield, some third base and some first base before more or less settling in at second base. He’s not a guy who will wow with his glove, and he might not need to save room on a shelf for Gold Glove awards, but one of the things that has stood out to the Twins’ player development staff is how tirelessly he’s worked to be capable enough to play defensively at the big league level. The second half of last year, the Fall League and so far this year, he’s made tremendous strides at the keystone.

And that’s what makes evaluators confident that not only can he hit in the big leagues, he can stay there and not be a DH every day. His work ethic is as impressive as his pitch recognition, giving him the chance to stick around for a long time