Twins Daily Hitter of the Month - May 2023

[Ted Schwerzler]

The Minnesota Twins are hanging on atop the AL Central, and while the pitching has paved the way, a few key hitters have helped to hold serve for the club. Who was named the Twins Hitter of the Month for May?

 

Image courtesy of graphics by Thieres Rabelo

As was the case for April, Rocco Baldelli has seen the Minnesota Twins remain in first place atop the AL Central largely due to an improved pitching staff. While the bullpen has had some hiccups, the starting rotation has been nothing short of exceptional. Even still, there have been a couple of batters doing some heavy lifting in order to keep the lineup afloat. Take a look.

Honorable Mention #2: Willi Castro 24 G .319/.355/.500 (.855) 4 2B, 3 HR, 6 RBI
Arguably the last position player to make the Twins 26-man roster out of spring training, Castro has become an invaluable piece for Baldelli and the lineup construction. His utility has been used all over the field, and with Byron Buxton relegated to designated hitter duties, it has been Castro filling in behind Michael A. Taylor in centerfield.

Coming into the month with playing time happening sporadically, Castro has forced Minnesota’s hand with his bat. Playing in 24 games and posting an .855 OPS, Castro has contributed more than just singles. He has four doubles to his credit, and a trio of dingers.

Things have been even better the second half of May as Castro has a .908 OPS across his last 13 games. With Minnesota still working through health situations regarding Max Kepler, Joey Gallo, and Jorge Polanco, expecting Castro to fill in everywhere remains a good bet.

Honorable Mention #1: Ryan Jeffers 19 G .263/.429/.474 (.903) 2 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI
It has been somewhat of a mixed bag defensively for Jeffers this year, but he’s on the short side of a timeshare with Christian Vazquez at the moment. Should his bat continue to look like it did this month, that could change as the year goes on.

After playing in just 12 games last month, Jeffers has pushed his usage up some during May. He’s still not hitting for a high average, but the OBP is impressive and his .903 OPS is beyond impressive and especially as a catcher. Jeffers has three extra-base hits this month, a pair of doubles (one which recently came with the bases loaded) and a pair of homers, and he’s rocking a strong 10/6 K/BB.

The Twins drafted Jeffers early for his bat behind the dish. It has always been a question if he would stick defensively, and while he has, there are still going to be lumps that keep him from an every day starting role. For now though, the bat belongs in the lineup.

Hitter of the Month: Alex Kirilloff 23 G .314/.448/.486 (.934) 3 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI
When the Twins broke camp without Alex Kirilloff or Jorge Polanco, it was less than ideal. Returning on May 6 though, Kirilloff has done nothing but hit. He owns a .934 OPS through his first 23 games, and his plate discipline has been unbelievable out of the gate.

Kirilloff announced his return to the lineup in a big way when he hit a pair of big flies on May 13 against the Cubs in just his seventh game back. His 22/14 K/BB has helped to put pressure on opposing pitchers, and he has often found himself in advantageous counts because of it.

If there is a level of concern it’s that the exit velocities, hard hit rate, and barrel percentage are all down a bit from his career norms. Being able to hit for power, and without pain, is what the wrist injury directly impacted. If he can keep going like this and ease back into the corner slugging player he looked to be, Minnesota will have a middle-of-the-lineup fixture. 

Who do you think was the best hitter for the Minnesota Twins in May? Leave a comment below and start the conversation.

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[roger]

So happy for AK and the Twins.  Hopefully, the wrist will become a distant memory.  You said Jeffers had three extra base hits, a pair of doubles and a pair of home runs.  Aren’t two pair four?

[Doctor Wu]

But back to the actual hitters of the month, Kiriloff definitely deserves the honor. A relief to have him back on the team and hitting well. And Jeffers has been even hotter lately. That's been the real surprise for me this year. Maybe they can help motivate Buxton and Correa to start hitting better. 

[stringer bell]

All three are comeback stories and three of the guys I root for with extra gusto for some reason. Willi Castro has earned more playing time with good performance at the plate, on the bases and in the field. He played a particularly strong game at third base yesterday.

Ryan Jeffers has also earned more playing time in his job share behind the plate. All in all, he's done very well defensively and his offensive production recently is also noteworthy.

Kirilloff has come back from injury to show an outstanding plate approach. He hasn't driven the ball as often as I had hoped, but he's reaching base and getting key hits. 

[wsnydes]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

I do, for those of us who dislike Gallo as a player it is satisfying to point these statistics out.  The three batters selected are good choices - I would add Wallner, but for a team that has struggled at bat all season it is also interesting to look at the bottom group which would include Gallo, Correa, and Michael Taylor. 

Sure, but that can be done in a thread of its own.  Not in the Hitter of the Month thread.  The majority of comments in this thread so far involve Gallo and not about the topic of the thread.

Now, moving back to the topic at hand...

[wsnydes]

Its fun to see Kirilloff healthy and productive.  He put together a nice month in a lineup sorely needing it.  Hopefully he keeps building on it and continues to finally grow to his potential.

Jeffers' month seemed to be a quietly productive month.  Maybe I wasn't paying that close of attention until recently, but this stretch snuck up on me.  Happy to see it.  Especially after his struggles last season.

Castro, what can I say?  It's always fun to see a guy push his way into the lineup by taking the opportunities given to them and making the most of them.  That's certainly what Castro has done.  

[Dman]

I never saw Castro being this good with the bat. The ultra aggressive approach is usually to volatile to be consistent.  And yet here he is on the list as one of the Twins best hitters.  If he can keep this going what a stoke of luck for the Twins to have found such an integral player and giving up nothing in return.

I never give Jeffers props so just have to this time.  I have really enjoyed his approach this year.  He is willing to take pitches and or jump on the first pitch.  He is hitting pretty much everything hard and he can take a walk.  Looking very well rounded at the plate this year.  Kudos to him on great start to the year.

Kirilloff sure does seem special and I am really happy to see the walks this year.  It makes him a complete hitter IMO.  Pitchers fear him and don't want to throw him strikes and he needs to take advantage of that and make them throw in the zone. He has been doing that and the results speak for his great approach at the plate.  He keeps this up and it will be all star status in the future.

[Lartwinfan]

Great to see those guys get going. Now if Buck and CC can dump the slumps and get back to normal we will have a lot to look forward to watching.. Fun to watch them putting the ball in play last night instead of trying to hit a home run on every swing. and striking out. Those uppercut home run swings are fine in a hitters count, but leveling out the the plane and putting the ball in play is this old guys preference to watch.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

1 hour ago, stringer bell said:

All three are comeback stories and three of the guys I root for with extra gusto for some reason. Willi Castro has earned more playing time with good performance at the plate, on the bases and in the field. He played a particularly strong game at third base yesterday.

Ryan Jeffers has also earned more playing time in his job share behind the plate. All in all, he's done very well defensively and his offensive production recently is also noteworthy.

Kirilloff has come back from injury to show an outstanding plate approach. He hasn't driven the ball as often as I had hoped, but he's reaching base and getting key hits. 

Plus Castro can, and will, steal bases. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

5 minutes ago, Lartwinfan said:

Great to see those guys get going. Now if Buck and CC can dump the slumps and get back to normal we will have a lot to look forward to watching.. Fun to watch them putting the ball in play last night instead of trying to hit a home run on every swing. and striking out. Those uppercut home run swings are fine in a hitters count, but leveling out the the plane and putting the ball in play is this old guys preference to watch.

Someone who knows Buck and C-4 please tell them to hit the balls to right field some and tell Buck to bunt some. As R. Lee Emrey said with enthusiasm in a great scene, where he plays a Marine Drill Instructor in "Full Metal Jacket": "Thank you very much." 

[wsnydes]

17 minutes ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Someone who knows Buck and C-4 please tell them to hit the balls to right field some and tell Buck to bunt some. As R. Lee Emrey said with enthusiasm in a great scene, where he plays a Marine Drill Instructor in "Full Metal Jacket": "Thank you very much." 

Let's stay on the topic of the thread.  Thank you very much! 🙂

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Just now, wsnydes said:

Let's stay on the topic of the thread.  Thank you very much! 🙂

Sorry I got carried away. 

[Major League Ready]

What a great story for these guys.  Lots of folks were cursing Jeffers and wanted Vasquez to get 80% of the starts.   Many wrote Kirilloff off completely and the tigers obviously wrote Castro off.  Welcome to Minnesota Willi.  

[jmlease1]

I've always been a big fan of Kirilloff as a hitter, the only thing holding him back was the bum wrist. Hopefully that's behind him now, but they'll probably need to keep an eye on him. He's got a sweet swing and pretty great eye at the plate. Totally deserving hitter of the month. (I think I'd rather see him at 1B than in the OF, but as long as he's healthy and in the lineup regularly I'm going to be pretty happy)

Jeffers is definitely earning himself more playing time. Be great if he can keep hitting close to this while catching a little more. (a little more time off might help Vazquez anyways) Jeffers had a bumpy season last year between injury and his power stroke abandoning him and it's great to see him hitting the ball hard this season. Glad the team didn't give up on him.

[Rik19753]

1 hour ago, Lartwinfan said:

Great to see those guys get going. Now if Buck and CC can dump the slumps and get back to normal we will have a lot to look forward to watching.. Fun to watch them putting the ball in play last night instead of trying to hit a home run on every swing. and striking out. Those uppercut home run swings are fine in a hitters count, but leveling out the the plane and putting the ball in play is this old guys preference to watch.

Actually, despite the production, Twins hitters struck out in 14 out of their 43 PAs yesterday, which is 32.6%. So I doubt they changed their approach, they just happened to look good yesterday because the hits were falling.

[Blyleven2011]

15 minutes ago, Rik19753 said:

Actually, despite the production, Twins hitters struck out in 14 out of their 43 PAs yesterday, which is 32.6%. So I doubt they changed their approach, they just happened to look good yesterday because the hits were falling.

Finally the hits were falling  , hit the ball hard and make things happen  ...

You don't have to hit homeruns to score runs all the time  ...

What kind of hitting will show up in the Cleveland series  , patience by walks , singles and doubles or back to the big swing for the bleachers ... 

WE'LL SEE YOU TONIGHT  ...

[stringer bell]

26 minutes ago, Rik19753 said:

Actually, despite the production, Twins hitters struck out in 14 out of their 43 PAs yesterday, which is 32.6%. So I doubt they changed their approach, they just happened to look good yesterday because the hits were falling.

 

9 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Finally the hits were falling  , hit the ball hard and make things happen  ...

You don't have to hit homeruns to score runs all the time  ...

What kind of hitting will show up in the Cleveland series  , patience by walks , singles and doubles or back to the big swing for the bleachers ... 

WE'LL SEE YOU TONIGHT  ...

There were several hits that weren't hit particularly hard. Both of Kirilloff's singles and Farmer's roller through the right side were hit pretty softly. I think the key was using the whole field. Even Kirilloff, who is (rightly) being praised for his hitting approach and skill, is striking out over 25% of the time. 

[Mike Sixel]

Always maintained my belief in Jeffers......so many here wanted to just DFA him.....

[jmlease1]

40 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Always maintained my belief in Jeffers......so many here wanted to just DFA him.....

Never understood that, really. but seeing the reactions to Miranda and Julien not being immediate all-stars makes me wonder if some folks just don't have patience for prospects.

[FlyingFinn]

Castro is who we always wanted Gordon to be. SSS so this may not continue. What will continue is that Castro steals bases much better and has a stronger arm that plays as a backup at SS and 3B.

[stringer bell]

4 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Castro is who we always wanted Gordon to be. SSS so this may not continue. What will continue is that Castro steals bases much better and has a stronger arm that plays as a backup at SS and 3B.

Concur. Willi's career numbers at SS are pretty weak and he hasn't started a single game there for the Twins, but they like him over Gordon there. He's younger, faster and with a stronger arm, so if the hitting is close to equal, Castro is the better player and better fit on the roster, particularly because he's a switch hitter without wide platoon splits.

[Larry Janisewski]

6 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

But back to the actual hitters of the month, Kiriloff definitely deserves the honor. A relief to have him back on the team and hitting well. And Jeffers has been even hotter lately. That's been the real surprise for me this year. Maybe they can help motivate Buxton and Correa to start hitting better. 

And I hope Kepler is watching AK's plate discipline.

[msukirbycarew]

Lewis's SS puts him in the mix especially if you consider his AAA performance that he was was forced into and Wallner ended his run with a high elite performance

[ashbury]

8 hours ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Sir, sorry I got carried away, sir.

FTFY

[gman]

Kudos to Kirilloff for showing how its done. I hope he wins in June also, but with more competition. Maybe from Lewis?

[jmlease1]

On 6/1/2023 at 12:03 PM, stringer bell said:

Concur. Willi's career numbers at SS are pretty weak and he hasn't started a single game there for the Twins, but they like him over Gordon there. He's younger, faster and with a stronger arm, so if the hitting is close to equal, Castro is the better player and better fit on the roster, particularly because he's a switch hitter without wide platoon splits.

Positional flexibility makes a huge difference, especially for those last few roster spots. Castro is clearly the better infielder over Gordon, which helps him out; Gordon has more experience in the OF including fairly significant time in CF. If Castro's also an option in CF that's going to make it hard for Gordon to find a role on this squad as long as Castro hits around league average.

I didn't think much of the Castro acquisition at the start of the season, thought he was just a retread blocking some of our prospects. Happy to be wrong about him so far, hope he can keep hitting.