Great interview, regardless of if these two make it or not, we should be seeing them in the system for a long time barring trade. They both seem to be good enough ballplayers for the orgainzation to give long leashes. I like that Melotakis acknowledges that he needs to continue to work on the change up and I'm not surprised he said they are starting from scratch with that pitch but I'm a little surprised they are doing so with the slider. I'd think that would be a big reason why his K numbers are down. Rebuilding two pitches has to be pretty tough at this point yet he's still pitching well enough. I'd imagine if the changeup develops those K numbers will rise quite a bit. Hicks is my adopt a prospect and after the draft I took him last year too. I remember looking at the college numbers and thinking, wow, this dude is not a 17th round pick, especially in a day and age of profession baseball where the strikeout is not nearly the stigma it once was.
Interesting article Brad. Good for you. Personally, I wouldn't cheer for the Yankees if they were playing Al Qaeda.
Originally Posted by Oldgoat_MN Great article. Thank you TFFA. It's great to have you there. Good for us! He's not striking out at a higher rate than he did at High-A. This is really good news. Surprising, even. What I find most surprising is how few of his pitches are near the knees. Pitchers are coached to keep the ball down as children. Very odd. Thanks for the comment. I think this pitch data is more useful to judge inside/outside rather than high/low. Some of these at bats make it look like everything is belt high, and that just doesn't seem possible.
Great article. Thank you TFFA. It's great to have you there. Good for us! He's not striking out at a higher rate than he did at High-A. This is really good news. Surprising, even. What I find most surprising is how few of his pitches are near the knees. Pitchers are coached to keep the ball down as children. Very odd.
Don't forget the first game the "Twins" played was a 6-0 win over the Yankees back in 1961. Complete game shutout by Pedro Ramos.
Great work. I wish Pitch f/x data was available. From what I can see, pitchers are assuming he is free swinging and trying to get him to flail around. He is missing the inside stuff because I think he is struggling to adjust to how well pitchers at AA can move the ball around. Its possible he is a guess hitter and he needs to learn how to react to the ball. The NB Offense is so terrible, no pitcher will let him beat them. We will see over the long run, but I expect him to adjust and start making them pay. I would love to see you do something similar for Baxendale too. I am very curious why he is struggling so much in AA.
Thanks for your obviously hard work in putting this article together. It shows what has been frequently happening to Sano last year and this year already at the lower levels. Nice stat on the pitches per PA. It looks like he's going to get a lot of practice trying to hit for power going the opposite way, like Cabrera does. I guess what we have to ask about plate protection is, does he need more than having just Pinto batting behind him? Is Kennys Vargas also needed in the 5th spot in the order, as well?
I'm sure the Rockies will explore all trade options before placing him on waivers, because he'll surely be claimed. I would be stunned if the Twins didn't put in a claim; I'd be equally stunned if a team with priority higher than the Twins didn't also put in a claim. The Twins and Rockies have been trading partners twice in the last handful of years (Jose Morales and Kevin Slowey), so maybe they do make a deal. Would the Rockies take either Cole De Vries or B.J. Hermsen for a guy they'd lose for nothing? Or could they do better?
Is kind of funny , we dont accuire anyone to help us push W.C. spot, Then we dont bring up the kids to catch a glimps of the future....
The Phillies, Rockies, Blue Jays, Padres, Dodgers, Pirates, and Yankees all have sub .700 OPS at third base this year. The Pirates (.642) and Yankees (.615 and with question marks all over regarding A-Rod, Youk, and rookies) are two lowest. I would ask them about Plouffe.
Cuddyer couldn't play the infield as well as Plouffe. This season Plouffe has looked like a 3B for the first time and I now have hope that he'll continue to improve his D at the hot corner. Trevor Plouffe is going to be an ALL-Star caliber hitter at some point. Hopefully it won't take him leaving the Twins and their "WAY" for his talents to flourish.
Originally Posted by Badsmerf I like Plouffe and hope he can be apart of the Twins future. Even if Sano comes up at 3b, Plouffe has enough talent to move around to keep his bat in the line-up. It wouldn't be so bad to have a guy like Plouffe that can play multiple positions while put up about an 800 OPS. If the line-up is that good that the Twins can't find a full-time position for him I think it will be a good problem to have. Having a guy a first, third, left, right and DH with RH power who can move around the field isn't a problem. It is the kind of luxury the Twins haven't had in a long time. I guess Cuddyer before he established himself in RF would be an example of that kind of utility player.
I like Plouffe and hope he can be apart of the Twins future. Even if Sano comes up at 3b, Plouffe has enough talent to move around to keep his bat in the line-up. It wouldn't be so bad to have a guy like Plouffe that can play multiple positions while put up about an 800 OPS. If the line-up is that good that the Twins can't find a full-time position for him I think it will be a good problem to have.
Good stuff; very thorough! I am hoping to see a note in the near future that Pinto has been called up to Rochester. I hope we see him in the September call-ups too.
Took my Dad and Dad-in-law for Father's Day to game 2. Had a great time. Hope to see Plouffe keep it up. It would be nice if he gave the Twins a reason to move him to 2nd base when Sano gets called up.
Whoops. You're right, of course. I wouldn't change anything else about those last two sentences, though.
I believe Trevor Plouffe is 27 today, so maybe that changes things slightly.
Because Leyland is allowed to have more than one friend, more than one person he respects
Why would he pick Gardenhire? Personally, I agree totally. The interesting part, to me, in my dumbest thread ever?, is that fans are constantly reminded how much Leyland says he respects Gardenhire, in print and in video, and the clip about Leyland picking Gardenhire to be on the all-star staff the last time he was in this position was even played again in the last series against Detroit. The "machine" and propaganda promote this to defend the fact that Gardenhire is still the manager of the Twins. The fact that he has had two consecutive 95+ losing seasons has not seemed to bother the Twins front office. This is unprecedented for him to still be at the helm after the last two seasons. Leyland has no criteria to follow in his choices for these positions as his staff for the all-star game. It is totally his choice. Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura and Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons were picked. Not Oakland's Bob Melvin, or Texas' Ron Washington, or the Yankees' Joe Girardi, or Baltimore's Buck Showalter. As these were all playoff teams from 2012, one could argue that they are all the deserving ones if it was about the team's records and performance. The White Sox and Blue Jays don't fit in that type of equation last year, nor are they ripping it up this year. Personally, what Melvin has and is accomplishing in Oakland and what Buck Showalter has done for the Orioles, one could argue that they are the ones who deserved the nod. The fact that Leyland's pick has nothing to do with any of that, and that he picked who he "likes", why not Gardenhire? He always says Gardenhire is such an amazing baseball mind. But not this time. So where Leyland acted, the Twins did not. I found that ......... interesting...... and appropriate.
Originally Posted by Pius Jefferson Dumbest thread ever. It becomes an actual thread only when there are a few responses.
