Minnesota Twins

Pitch To Contact - at this point, I think we can go with capital letters, don't you? That phrase and philosophy have drawn a fair amount of criticism, a chunk of which is just snark, but some of which at least tries to ground itself in statistical analysis. In a thread started yesterday on Twins Daily, there was a lot of debate on Pitch To Contact, what it means and what we really know about its effects.

When Bill James unveiled several new tools for analyzing baseball, the most fundamental ones usually started by analyzing team stats. ...

Coming into the game, Minnesota Twins centerfielder Aaron Hicks had a hitting line of .137/.239/.216 (.455). He had just five extra base hits in the first 30 games. He had struggled on defense as well as with the bat.

And then came Monday night.

After popping up in his first at-bat, Hicks came to the plate to lead off the 4^th inning. He launched a long home run, 416 feet to straight-away centerfield. ...

It has been a season of streaks so far this year for Joe Mauer.

Things started well in the first couple weeks of the season. Through 14 games, he was hitting .393/.439/.574 with two home runs and five doubles. His batting average was high, he was hitting the ball out of the park and the Minnesota Twins were surprising the experts with their .500 record.

Over the next twelve games things were not quite so pretty for Mr. Mauer. ...

Kyle Gibson is anxious to finally reach the big leagues, and he's currently making a strong case in Triple-A with a 3.32 ERA and 1.16 WHIP through seven starts. His most recent outing was his most impressive: a complete game shutout with eight strikeouts, two walks and four hits.

Gibson is on an innings limit this year and has already logged 40 innings in Rochester, increasing the urgency to call him up soon so he can spend time adjusting to the majors, thus preparing himself for a full, successful season in 2014. But space is limited in the Twins' rotation and Gibson is not the only one vying for a spot.
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On Saturday, May 4, Ryan Doumit, at .203, was not even hitting his weight. With a slugging percentage of .291 to boot, the Minnesota Twins’ switch-hitting catcher/DH was a few nights of binge eating hot wings from matching that number as well. As a regular guest of manager Ron Gardenhire’s vital fifth spot in the batting order, Doumit’s woes directly impacted the team’s offense. The offense had concluded April with just 92 runs scored – ahead of only the Chicago White Sox at 89.

Last year, while providing crucial support in the heart of the order, the vast majority of his plate appearances came from the left side of the plate. His total numbers are most buoyed when he succeeds ...

It's time for our monthly look into the Twins and members of the Twins organization that are on Twitter. Last month I added some of the staff and media associated with the minor league affiliates. This month there are several new players who have each added a Twitter account including Twins reliever Ryan Pressly and uber-prospect Miguel Sano. I've also now included the percent their Twitter following has increased since both last month and February. It's an interesting look.

As always, I encourage you to let me know if there are players or others who should be included. Of course, we encourage you to follow the Twins Daily writers as well. Help us catch up to Miracle pitching coach Ivan Arteaga. ...