Twins Name Garvin Alston New Pitching Coach.

[yarnivek1972]

Out of curiosity (given that MLB coaching is historically lily white): the Twins now have black hitting and pitching coaches.

 

Is this a first in baseball?

Doubt it. There have been plenty of black hitting coaches. Not so many pitching, but odds are a few crossed paths. Dave Stewart was a coach before moving to FO I think. Was Dwight Gooden a coach? Was Bob Gibson ever a coach?

 

Really not a whole lot of black pitchers, period. Usually, IMO, they are too good of athletes to pin down to pitch.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Doubt it. There have been plenty of black hitting coaches. Not so many pitching, but odds are a few crossed paths. Dave Stewart was a coach before moving to FO I think. Was Dwight Gooden a coach? Was Bob Gibson ever a coach?

Really not a whole lot of black pitchers, period. Usually, IMO, they are too good of athletes to pin down to pitch.

I doubt it as well but thought it might be a first for the reason (pitching) you listed. There are several black hitting coaches but few pitching coaches.

[Doomtints]

 

I will bet the farm that this guy is big on data, saber-mechanics, video -- pitching has so many rich avenues to explore.

 

I'm betting all coaches look at film.

What are saber-mechanics?

[yarnivek1972]

I'm betting all coaches look at film.

 

What are saber-mechanics?

You know, like Jedi fighting techniques.

[Doomtints]

 

You know, like Jedi fighting techniques.

 

Is Yoda available? Has Falvey even tried to get him?

[yarnivek1972]

Is Yoda available? Has Falvey even tried to get him?

Overated.

[old nurse]

 

I doubt it as well but thought it might be a first for the reason (pitching) you listed. There are several black hitting coaches but few pitching coaches.

Al Jackson and Mike Harkey may have been the only previous pitching  coaches  Harkey was the pitching coach, Don Baylor the hitting coach.

[Oldgoat_MN]

 

Overated.

Yoda over ate?

[USAFChief]

Is Yoda available? Has Falvey even tried to get him?

decline phase.

[AlwaysinModeration]

I had to dig back through the forums to find this page, but I specifically wanted to comment on the Alston page.

 

Here is a fascinating look at demographic trends in baseball since 1947. African-American players are down to under 7% of all players, and most of them are outfielders, and only 2-3% of pitchers are African-American. Latino players are about 27% of all players and roughly 20% of pitchers.

 

https://sabr.org/bioproj/topic/baseball-demographics-1947-2012

 

I think the fact that the Twins have hired Rowson and now Alston as hitting and pitching coaches is significant. I note that the two recent signings, Pineda and Rodney, are Dominican pitchers who I believe are both Afro-Latino. Maybe I am reading too much into this, but it seems like the new front office may be setting up the organization to capitalize on a league-wide inefficiency. The article makes it clear that African-American players contribute a higher percentage of the games WAR proportionally than white players.

 

Alston worked with the As on their pitching rehab for several years. With Trevor May and now Michael Pineda as prominent TJ cases, he may have some invaluable experience to bring to bear.

 

On a related note, I also would very much like to see the Twins go after Chris Archer. It would cost a lot in terms of prospects, but he would be an ace for this staff, on a much cheaper contract than Darvish would cost. His 2017 numbers were down because of an abnormally high BABIP. (And new Twins Bench Coach Derek Shelton has been with the Rays for the most of Archer’s time there.)

 

The 2019 rotation could be:

Archer

Santana (if extended)

Berrios

Pineda

Romero

[terrydactyls]

The 2019 rotation could be:

Archer

Santana (if extended)

Berrios

Pineda

Romero

What? Where's Deunsing? Nolasco's a free agent. Hughes is coming back...

[Circus Boy]

 

I had never heard of him at all but somehow the name rang a bell

So, I did a little research

 

Headed over to ancestry.com and yep sure enough right there on the first page I saw

 

Great-great Grandad - Walter Alston    

 

Drafted by Old-time Twin connection Bob Gebhard

 

Congrats and Welcome to Minnesota

He has a brother named Navin.

[Circus Boy]

 

Overated.

Rated over he is.

[RaymondLuxuryYacht]

 

Is Yoda available? Has Falvey even tried to get him?

Against this hire I would be

[ashbury]

On our hands time is, a lot of it to have, we seem.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

The 2019 rotation could be:

Archer

Santana (if extended)

Berrios

Pineda

Romero

I would hope Berrios will take a step forward in 2018 and expect a 36-37 year old Santana would have some back end of career decline. Pineda could come back strong from TJ this year too.

 

Archer

Berrios

Pineda (if he comes back in 18 to pitch in the bp)

Santana

Romero

[DocBauer]

Exhausted the Yoda references, I believe we have, mmmhmm.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Exhausted the Yoda references, I believe we have, mmmhmm.

Perhaps, but there is another.

 

Deceptively high spins rates, Yoda has.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Against this hire I would be

 

I think Yoda would make us redefine what an ace truly is.