Aaron Hicks Called Up

[twinsnorth49]

2013 didn't bother me much, to be honest. What really grated on me was repeating the mistake in 2014.

Agreed, doubling down on it was the worse of the two for sure, especially since they already had Presley at their disposal to wait it out.

[Blackjack]

I hope Aaron does well but after his past performance I'm not holding my breath.  More time in the minors to face some slumps and other adversity wouldn't have hurt him one bit.

[tobi0040]

 

I hope Aaron does well but after his past performance I'm not holding my breath.  More time in the minors to face some slumps and other adversity wouldn't have hurt him one bit.

 

I agree it would not have hurt him.  But timing is the issue.  Arcia is hurt and Buxton could be 30 days away. 

 

And he is 25 with 1,500 MLB AB's. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

So do we see 2/3rds of our Outfield of the Future start tonight or tomorrow?

[Danchat]

Shane Robinson has been placed on the family emergency list. He'll be gone 3-7 games.

Once he's ready for his return, I expect Schafer to get DFA'd.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

I really, really like the way the Twins managed Hicks this time.  And I believe this is the direct impact of Paul Molitor.  He set the tone in Spring Training and it continued in the Minors. 

 

Hicks' year started poorly in AAA.

I agree that they've done everything right with Hicks so far in 2015, but I am not sure that Molitor deserves much credit for it.  It was pretty much a no-brainer move to send him to AAA to start 2015, I am pretty sure Gardy would have done it too.  (Now it was arguably a no-brainer move to send him down to start 2014 too, but both TR and Gardy seemed to think otherwise, and we really don't know how Molitor would have handled it.)

 

And Hicks' year did not start that poorly in AAA.  He's been great his last 20 games down there, but he had an even higher ISO in his first 7 games (and a higher isolated discipline too -- OBP minus AVG).  He cut down on the K's after that, and saw his BABIP jump -- important changes, for sure, but not quite the narrative you claim.  (Also I don't think many people were calling for Hicks to be called up quite *that* quickly, although perhaps out of frustration with Schafer...)

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

2013 didn't bother me much, to be honest. What really grated on me was repeating the mistake in 2014.

2014 was probably worse.  But 2013 wasn't good either -- at minimum, if Hicks was projected to be in consideration for opening day 2013 (batting leadoff, no less!), he should have been promoted to AAA for August 2012 and/or MLB for September 2012.  Nothing in Hicks' pro career up to that point suggested that skipping AAA for MLB opening day was a good idea.

[h2oface]

 

Hicks should have and would have spent time in AAA (like he is now) had Ryan put any semblance of a back up plan together in CF in 2013. The fact they did it again without any reason the following year is even more inexplicable. The Twins ultimately got Sam Fuld to save Hicks from himself, how hard could that have been at the very beginning?

I was fully in support of the move to start him in 2013. Everything seemed to be falling into place like a dream. His spring training was a chapter in that storybook progression. I don't see how anybody wouldn't give it a shot there and with total fan support after the shocking trades of both center fielders. But after the struggle, I felt he should have really been moved to AAA sooner and stayed there until a September call up to see if Hicks was progressing. Much of what he has been judged by was brought because of his behavior as well as his performance, especially considering the switch to not switch hitting and back (reportedly without consultation, I guess, even though gardenhire and ryan could have told him no way), the reports about winter ball, and his lack of focus in spring training. But I still hope for the chapter where he finds his mojo at 25, holds center until Buxton takes over, and then moves to right and replaces Hunter. I am super stoked that it is happening now, sooner than later.

[TheLeviathan]

More I thought about this, the more I thought it belonged here:

 

I'll be really curious to see the leg kick in action.  As a fan I have two things I want to see from Hicks early and often - the ball getting actually driven and his play in CF looking less like it deserves a Benny Hill soundtrack.

Do that and I'll be very excited about his prospects for contributing.

[Secondary User]

 

The "ramrodding' wasn't the speed at which he was promoted, it was skipping a level. Hicks had alternated average and above average seasons with the bat at that point in his career -- exactly the profile you don't want to skip AAA and be your opening day CF and leadoff hitter.

If that was in the cards at all, he should have tasted AAA and perhaps even MLB in 2012. All around, a rare development misstep by TR.

 

I see a lot of people calling for the young guys to be brought up.  That if we're going to be rebuilding, then let the kids take their lumps as they go.  It is not at all odd to jump from AA to AAA.  As for the good year/bad year.

 

First year out of draft, good

1st full year, injured

2nd full year, good

3rd full year, numbers look poor, but it's also the pitcher friendly FSL, so probably not as bad as they appear at first glance

4th year, mashed at AA, with a scorching Fall league before that and a scorching spring training after.

 

Was he rushed up?  Yeah.  Should he have not been batting leadoff.  Absolutely.  But I don't think his movement through the system was as egregious as people make it out to be

[Otto von Ballpark]

Even his "mashing" in AA misses some nuance. His first 3 months in AA were rather pedestrian, then he mashed the last two months. Probably why he didn't get promoted in 2012 -- yet that slow developing performance is the primary evidence cited to support him skipping AAA for the opening day roster!

[ashbury]

 

Nice story in the Rochester newspaper:

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/baseball/minors/2015/05/11/twins-finally-give-call-aaron-hicks/27157091/

That leg kick timing mechanism must be awesome. If I remember correctly, Hunter had something to do with that.

Only helps if you're timing the right pitch.

 

_{^{/ my comment might be colored by watching him flail at three pitches in the dirt in his first AB today}}

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

 

 

_{^{/ my comment might be colored by watching him flail at three pitches in the dirt in his first AB today}}

So Hunter is mentoring him...

[HitInAPinch]

 

 

 -- important changes, for sure, but not quite the narrative you claim. 

Here's where, by and large, my narrative comes from:

 

http://m.1500espn.com/pages/sportswire.php?sID=13742

 

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Here's where, by and large, my narrative comes from:

 

http://m.1500espn.com/pages/sportswire.php?sID=13742

That's nice, but nowhere in that article does it mention Hicks struggling at AAA this season, even for a week, because he hasn't really done so (at least not to any notable extent).

 

Nor does it really make a valid case that Molitor did anything that any other manager wouldn't have done, with a player who has already squandered multiple opportunities versus two MLB veterans as his other options.

 

I agree that they finally handled Hicks well this spring, but it started at the top with TR and I suspect Gardenhire would have followed suit the exact same as Molitor.