I'm sitting here watching Samuel Deduno regress before my very eyes. In a way, it is sad because it would be fun for a 29 year old journeyman pitcher to suddenly harness the talent that he obviously has and become a dominant starter. The reality is that this rarely happens and while Deduno's results were good in his first couple months, the underlying stats did not support his success. He still walks way too many batters and doesn't strike enough batters out to mask it. He is starting to give ...
Miguel Sano steps into the box. He is just a huge man. The game is tied at 1 and the opposing pitcher is locked in, but Sano already has 3 hits, including a double that hit the top of the fence. The pitcher has been working him away, and Sano is taking what he is getting, driving all three hits to right-center. He really has become a good all-around hitter in this league. The pitcher deviates from the game plan for just one pitch, comes inside, and Sano absolutely launches it to the seats in ...
The Cedar Rapids Kernels held a press conference Wednesday to introduce their new Major League affiliate, the Minnesota Twins. It was actually more of a public introduction to which the press was invited, but that was certainly the right approach by the Kernels. Affiliation changes are big deals in the local communities and when your organization hasn’t had a change in 20 years, it’s an even bigger deal. ...
A couple of milestones happened for the Twins during the past week. The team won a series against the Indians but as part of that series, Josh Willingham crushed his 35 home run of the season and Liam Hendriks picked up his first victory at the big league level. These might not seem like very important numbers but the story behind those numbers gives a little bit more meaning to these milestones. For Willingham, he became the first Twins player to hit 35 home runs since Harmon Killebrew ...
In 2005, and following several MLB trade rumours, Ryan Zimmerman was among the first ever group of players to be drafted in by new franchise the Washington Nationals. He was immediately sent down to the minor league to hone his skills, but it wasn’t long before the former University of Virginia student was making headlines at the very top of Major League Baseball. His statistics at the bat and in the field as the ball club’s starting third basemen are impressive, and his ...
The front office will likely do some shopping-n-swapping to infill the rotation this winter however one member of the Twins staff who is almost certain to get an opportunity to win a role next spring is Samuel Deduno. For the most part, Deduno’s unexpected and head-scratching success has continued across his 13 starts. He has struggled to get ahead of hitters (54% first pitch strike rate compared to the 60% league average) and then falls deeper behind in the count (8% of all his plate ...
Rightfully so, the big story from the Twins 6-4 win in Cleveland was Liam Hendriks. The right-hander won his first big league game in his 18th big league start. It was a tremendous moment for the Australian. However, it was also a huge night for another Twins player. He went 4-5 with a home run and four RBI. He had two RBI singles, and the home run came with a runner on. It’s been a huge season for the powerful outfielder. After last night, ...
As the offeseason is approaching, there are plenty of decisions the Twins will have to make in the coming months. The team needs to address some gapping holes in the starting rotation, there are issues with the middle infield, and even the training staff might need to be replaced. There are plenty of things the Twins could do to make some subtle improvements for the 2013 campaign. It isn't like the club's revenue stream is going to allow them to go out and spend ...
I may have exaggerated a little. I know – shocking for a blogger. For months I’ve been saying that this free agent class of pitchers is almost historically deep. That might be a little strong, unless you think history only goes back as far as 2007. Because based on the dollars that were thrown around, 2006-2007 was an unbelievably lucrative free agent starting pitching market – for the players. It didn’t work out nearly as well for the owners. The top two contracts given ...
Point - The Twins should try to pass Cleveland for 4th place in the Division The final two weeks of the season are extremely important for the Twins' momentum as they move into 2013. Currently, the Twins are in last place in the AL Central and the entire American League. This embarrassing situation is one that the Twins should work hard to remedy over the course of the next two weeks. There are plenty of exciting players to watch on this team and the future seems very ...
With last night's three hit performance, Joe Mauer continues to climb up the ladder for best batting average in the American League. There are still a couple of players for him to pass so it will be interesting to see if he is able to earn his fourth batting title in the last seven seasons. The other titles might come with more meaning since the Twins were fighting for the playoffs in each of those campaigns. It seems like Mauer is on a mission this season after ...
After weeks of speculation, a press conference has been scheduled for 1:30 Wednesday to announce that the Cedar Rapids Kernels will become the new Class A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins for the next four years. Twins officials toured the Kernels facilities Monday afternoon and met with the CR Board of Directors later that day. The Twins, who have been sending their Class A prospects to Beloit for the past eight years, had been rumored to be favoring a move to Cedar Rapids for ...
Denard Span stepped into the box to lead off Tuesday night's game and turned on the third pitch he saw from left-hander David Huff, driving it into right field for a double, sparking a three-hit night. In six games since returning from the disabled list, the center fielder is now 9-for-25 (.360) with two doubles, a triple and four runs scored. His late-season success bodes well for Terry Ryan heading into an offseason where Span will likely be the club's ...
Ben Revere doesn't swing and miss often. So he doesn't reach many 3 ball counts, and what follows below can be taken with heavy salt. Still, if there is meaning in his small sample of 3-ball data, then Ben Revere's high contact percentage allows for absolutist decisionmaking at the plate in order to maximize on-base percentage. Observe, Ben Revere is already a patient hitter: But Revere puts balls ...
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