Left Handed Power

[stringer bell]

With his second homer last night, Joe Mauer moved into a tie with several others for most homers as a left handed hitter.  No left handed or switch hitter has hit more than two homers from the left handed batter's box.  There is obviously a need for more power from LH hitters.  Can it be Arcia or Vargas?  Someone on the roster or should they go outside the organization?

[Craig Arko]

Arcia clearly has the capability. Whether he will ever harness it; I guess we don't know.

 

If I was going to make a move now, I'd go with Vargas.

[twinsnorth49]

Vargas SLG% was .561 batting Left vs Rightes  with an .899 OPS last season. He obviously got off to a much slower start this season but  his May OPS was .956 from both sides of the plate..... when he was sent down........?

[TheLeviathan]

 

Vargas SLG% was .561 batting Left vs Rightes  with an .899 OPS last season. He obviously got off to a much slower start this season but  his May OPS was .956 from both sides of the plate..... when he was sent down........?

 

Try not to rationalize this without a doctor present.

[ExpectMorePayLess]

Walker has 6 HRs to RF this season. Lol

[gunnarthor]

 

Vargas SLG% was .561 batting Left vs Rightes  with an .899 OPS last season. He obviously got off to a much slower start this season but  his May OPS was .956 from both sides of the plate..... when he was sent down........?

He only played in 10 games in May, doesn't really tell us anything.  And Molitor wasn't starting him as often in May either.

 

He could be a AAAA player - Klaw thinks he is.  His strike outs and walks haven't looked great at the ML level so let him figure a few things out in AAA. 

[TheLeviathan]

 

He only played in 10 games in May, doesn't really tell us anything.  And Molitor wasn't starting him as often in May either.

 

He could be a AAAA player - Klaw thinks he is.  His strike outs and walks haven't looked great at the ML level so let him figure a few things out in AAA. 

 

His problem is off speed stuff.  The calling card of AAAA is the inability to adjust to that because they don't see it enough in AAA.

 

So the only way to find out is in the bigs, not AAA.

[SwainZag]

I think the obvious answer here is Arcia.  Let him work out his post injury funk in AAA and he will be back.  He probably has more power from the left handed side than anyone in the system.

[USAFChief]

One easy thing to try:  DFA Stauffer, Vargas back to the major leagues.

 

Vargas might not be a savior, but he's a better hitter than the Eddies.  At least he can run into a pitch once in a while and put one in the seats.  

 

 

[a-wan]

Vargas, Pinto and Arcia sitting in a tree... wait, oops. Wrong forum. 

 

Santana to AAA. Nunez, Stauffer, DFA'd. Voila room for the AAA players who should be playing at the MLB level to see if they're actually capable of doing so. This Twins are in first place crap suddenly turns them off of the rebuilding they need to do? 

[goulik]

After reading all these comments, I asked myself who besides Vargas is at AAA,that we could look at? So examining the AAA roster and stats, there are only 3 ops above 800 which are the same three over 500 slugging. Hicks is already here so the only competition for Vargas would be Danny Ortiz (who also bats left) . He leads the team in home runs as well. My vote is Vargas for sure needs to be brought back up but if they are working on something with him DFAing Stauffer could leave room for an Ortiz DH/RF with Hunter DHing occasionally for a week or two. Mid season cup of coffee and if he doesn't clear waivers when sent back down, no big loss.

 

PS: he has 7 homers

[Guest]

 

Mid season cup of coffee and if he doesn't clear waivers when sent back down, no big loss.

 

 

I don't think Danny Ortiz would have to clear waivers in your scenario.  He would have to be added to the 40-man and 25-man rosters for his cup of coffee.  But, he still has all three option years remaining, so he could be optioned back down to Rochester.  

[goulik]

I don't think Danny Ortiz would have to clear waivers in your scenario.  He would have to be added to the 40-man and 25-man rosters for his cup of coffee.  But, he still has all three option years remaining, so he could be optioned back down to Rochester.

 

I was thinking we'd eventually need that 40 man spot for a much bigger name prospect...Buxton maybe?

[Shane Wahl]

Vargas should have never been sent down, and Arcia should be back up already (I could not care less about Arcia's 2015 AAA numbers).

 

It's possible to have a full OF contingent of Rosario-Buxton-Hicks-Arcia-Ortiz in September. Ortiz is a nice doubles power guy who is starting to slowly learn that taking a walk is a good thing.

 

 

 

[Kwak]

There are plenty of place-holders on the 40-man roster--all that is needed are worthy candidates to replace them.  The biggest problem is that the names most frequently cited are "iffy" in the field.  The most likely "iffy" fielder to have a DH spot reserved for him is Sano--not Arcia, Pinto, or Vargas.

[BoomBoom]

Bring up the guy who has 30 extra base hits already.  As posted above - He has more HR (6) to right field than any Left Handed hitter in the system this year.  That includes the Twins.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Does it really matter if Vargas is a AAAA DH?

 

Let's be honest here: a AAAA DH is an upgrade over what the Twins have rolled out at DH much of this season.

[twinsnorth49]

Does it really matter if Vargas is a AAAA DH?

 

Let's be honest here: a AAAA DH is an upgrade over what the Twins have rolled out at DH much of this season.

It amazes me how much this is being overlooked.

[dbminn]

Vargas or Arcia will be up soon. It's a long season and we'll get by until one or both of them are ready.

 

[jimbo92107]

 

His problem is off speed stuff.  The calling card of AAAA is the inability to adjust to that because they don't see it enough in AAA.

 

So the only way to find out is in the bigs, not AAA.

Kind of a Catch 22. Changing speeds is such an advanced technique, pitchers that are getting guys out by changing speeds effectively get called up to the majors before AAA hitters see them more than a few times. Thus, guys like Vargas don't get to work on keeping their weight back and flicking their wrists to foul off slow stuff.

[Willihammer]

So for this season:

 

vs. LH starter: .268/.324/.423 (.747)

vs. RH starter: .235/.286/.344 (.630)

 

That gap is almost as big as their home/road split (.740 vs .609).