Donnie Barrels Holds the Secret to Fixing the Twins' Offense

[Parker Hageman]

The late spring training signing is one of the reasons the team remains in contention, and shows a path for the team to emulate.

Image courtesy of © Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

The amount of time spent lamenting the underperformance of the Twins' offensive output this season has been significant.

While fans expressed frustration on various social media platforms and comment sections in this space, for the players, the exasperation reached the point that they organized their own players' only meeting to try to rally the sticks -- no word on if they went the live-chicken-sacrifice route. If they had, the results would be better by now.

Still, if there was one player who should be leading that meeting, it's Donovan Solano, a late spring signing who has been the antithesis of what has become the Twins' foundational offensive tenants in 2023. 

Whereas the bulk of the lineup prefers to pull the ball (7 regulars have a 45% or high pull rate), Solano's pull rate has been a much more mild 37%. Whereas the other Twins hitters are trying to get loft on the ball, Solano has sprayed line drives to the big part of the field. His line drive rate of 31.7% is the best in baseball, topping some guy named Luis Arraez (29.4%) by several marks. He still maintains a strikeout rate of over 20%, but it's downright stingy compared to his contemporaries. 

To summarize, he uses the middle of the field, hits line drives, and doesn't give up at-bats. What a novel concept.

Solano's presence has been mainly known since the beginning of June. Specifically, the transition started on May 22 when he went to a full leg kick in his swing.

For the unfamiliar, a player's lower half movements can act as a timing mechanism and increase their ability to use the ground force in the swing. Optimal movement patterns can increase power in the kinetic chain.

This article continues with a deeper dive of how Solano has become one of the Twins best hitters, but it is exclusively for Twins Daily caretakers. To become a Caretaker and read the rest of the piece, you can subscribe here.

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[RJA]

Great article.  When one reads this and then Gleeman's article today on the total failure of the Twins highest paid position players to produce, it is easy to see what the problem is and what the solution is.  With the exception of Solano, it seems like the Twins players are caught in a ground hog day sort of loop--they keep doing the same things day after day and seemed surprised that they are not getting better results.  What is the old definition of insanity???

[John Belinski]

The Twins are certainly getting a good payback on Solano's contract and not getting payback on the 2 big contracts for Buxton and Correa.  Solano should be batting 3rd or 4th in lineup everyday.

[Jeff D.]

Not as fun as Aaraez, but provides the same fun on this 2023 version of the Twins as Louis did last year.

I like the guy. Hits, versatile and enjoys the game. Seems to have good rapport with other guys on the team. He should stay, let some others vanish.

Twins Geezer...........out!

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Great article. Please send multiple copies of your article to Rocco and Poppins for distribution to several Twins hitters (cough, cough - Correa and  Buck - cough, cough).

[Whitey333]

Great article.  We'll done.  Maybe Solano should double as our hitting coach

[Parfigliano]

Donnie Barrels...player/hitting coach?  (cough, cough)

[joefish]

Don't ask every hitter to employ that leg lift. Molitor would not coach that. Some of those hitting streaks for Buxton came after he dumped the high leg lift. 

To each his own. If it's broken, fix it. If it ain't, leave it alone. We need fixin' though. 

I like Solano. 

[Minny505]

5 hours ago, John Belinski said:

The Twins are certainly getting a good payback on Solano's contract and not getting payback on the 2 big contracts for Buxton and Correa.  Solano should be batting 3rd or 4th in lineup everyday.

At least until he cools off, I think I'd bat him second, between Kirilloff(1) and Julien(3)...but that's splitting hairs.

And let him take over 3B on defense until Lewis is fully back. 

[Linus]

So we should hit the ball where it is pitched with a hard line drive swing.  This approach seems vaguely familiar.