Flashes of the Twins Rotation Depth

[Cody Pirkl]

There isn’t an immediate need in the starting rotation, but on Friday the Twins were reminded of their depth. Lewis Thorpe made his 2021 debut and it appears it won’t be the last start he makes for the Twins this year.The Twins surprisingly went with Lewis Thorpe to start Friday’s series opener against the Angels over Randy Dobnak, who was already on the roster and would have been able to eat a few innings following the doubleheader.

 

Thorpe faced a formidable Angels lineup even without Anthony Rendon. He struck out two and walked one in four innings of two-run ball. Without watching the game it’s easy to be unimpressed with such a line, but there were certainly reasons for encouragement.

 

 

For starters it’s worth noting that Thorpe’s current 4.50 ERA is misleading. He got BABIP’d to death in his start including a shift beating single to allow his two runs. His FIP instead sits at 2.91 and his xERA which takes Statcast into account sits at 0.97. Thorpe allowed a .130 xBA and .143 xSLG in his four innings. Sure it was only one start, but the lack of comfortable swings has to be encouraging after what Thorpe showed last season where he posted a 6.06 ERA before getting demoted.

 

Speaking of last season, the number one takeaway from Thorpe’s first start was how he presented himself. 2020 something just seemed off as the left hander seemed to lack confidence despite his moderate success in 2019. Instead it was hard to say just by looking at Thorpe that he was making his debut or that he was attempting to raise the stock on his young career which had come crashing down so rapidly in one year.

 

Confidence might be what separates Thorpe from a successful Major League pitcher and the pitcher we saw in 2020. Talent shouldn’t be the question for a young pitcher who in 2019 led all of AAA in K/9.

 

It’ll be interesting to see how the Twins handle Thorpe moving forward. He’s surely in his last option year at this point but the Twins chose him over the newly-extended Randy Dobnak to make a spot start. Could Thorpe perhaps be the first in line for a rotation injury while Dobnak remains in the bullpen? Was this spot start for the lefty a one time deal? Let us know below.

 

— Latest Twins coverage from our writers

— Recent Twins discussion in our forums

— Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email

— Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here

 

Click here to view the article

[yeahyabetcha]

2 runs in 4 innings. With great results like that maybe Rocco will let him stretch out to 4 1/3 innings in his next start.

[stringer bell]

Two runs in four innings is pretty OK considering Thorpe has been at the alternate site since he was ruled to have a fourth option. I'm in favor of keeping Thorpe on the big league roster and sending Dobnak down for now. 

[AceWrigley]

I thought Thorpe pitched better than his stat line indicates. Now if he can tick up the fastball speed to separate his pitches he will probably be even more successful.

[peterb18]

After reading the 4th paragraph I was wondering if I was reading about baseball or in some statistics class. I know this is in the minority on this site but this type of stuff is hurting baseball. Baseball needs more action for fans not over analysis. Reusse recently wrote a great article on Baldelli that symbolizes the problems with baseball. Baseball needs more excitement to keep up with football and basketball. The other day I watched hockey instead of baseball and in the past that never would happen.

 

 

[Dave The Dastardly]

 

After reading the 4th paragraph I was wondering if I was reading about baseball or in some statistics class. I know this is in the minority on this site but this type of stuff is hurting baseball. Baseball needs more action for fans not over analysis. Reusse recently wrote a great article on Baldelli that symbolizes the problems with baseball. Baseball needs more excitement to keep up with football and basketball. The other day I watched hockey instead of baseball and in the past that never would happen.

I live in the country, mostly wooded 12 acres with a creek running through it. That means a lot of wildlife and that means raccoons dropping by. They bust up my wife's bird feeders, steal the occasional chicken, throw open my grill so they can lick up the grease (thanks for that by the way), dig up the potted plants on my deck, raid the vegetable garden, etc. etc. Basically a major pain in the patootie.

 

Anyway, I once made the mistake of asking two of my brothers-in-law, both avid hunters and one a retired infantryman who got into shooting scrapes in both Somalia and Afghanistan, what was the best Raccoon Eradicator I could buy. For the next half hour I was deluged with footpounds, muzzle velocities, trajectories, grains of powder, etc. etc. They both felt pretty pleased with themselves by the time they finished though my brain had gone dormant about one minute into the conversation.

 

So I went home and continued to eradicate raccoons with my trusty .22 Ruger. Aim, squeeze the trigger and dispose of the bodies. That's all I need to know. And I don't think the coons care how many footpounds hit them.

 

My point is, let the statistics guys, like my two gun nut brothers-in-law, do their thing because that's what makes them happy and guys like me and you can just gloss over all those arcane stats and just talk regular baseball stuff because that's all we need to know to hit our target.

 

 

[Doctor Gast]

I think too Thorpe too was a victim of bad defense.

[ashbury]

After reading the 4th paragraph I was wondering if I was reading about baseball or in some statistics class. I know this is in the minority on this site but this type of stuff is hurting baseball. Baseball needs more action for fans not over analysis.

If we cease the analysis, does that bring back more action?

 

[Linus]

I see no evidence in pitching depth in the rotation or the bullpen. We needed two more proven arms but our FO knew better. Now it’s going to be like a couple years ago when they had to cut half the bullpen in June.