A sad stat regarding the Twins and their lack of good hitters

[Rik19753]

Recently, I've become somewhat of an Angels fan because I want to see Ohtani and Trout in the playoffs.

In the Angels game against the Braves today, there was a situation in the third inning when there was a runner on third with two outs, and Matt Olson was walked intentionally.

At that moment, it took me a moment to register what was happening because I wasn't used to intentional walks happening so early in games. Obviously, you see them a lot in certain extra inning situations where the runners don't mean much, but I couldn't remember the last time I'd saw one so early in a game.

So I thought, maybe the Twins don't have a hitter that is dangerous enough to warrant intentional walks?

I went to Fangraphs and looked up IBBs by team excluding 9th and extra inning situations.

Lo and behold, the Twins were dead last in the MLB with 0 IBB before the 9th inning. I guess that's to be expected, when your supposed best hitters in Buxton and Correa aren't even putting up league-average offensive production.

When will be the next time that one of our hitters gets walked intentionally when the runner actually means something? Who will that player be? I suspect it's going to be Julien, but given that he's still a relatively unproven rookie, it may take a while. Depressing, isn't it?

(You can see for yourself using this link: https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/splits-leaderboards?splitArr=45,44,46,47,48,49,50,51&splitArrPitch=&position=B&autoPt=false&splitTeams=false&statType=team&statgroup=1&startDate=2023-03-01&endDate=2023-11-01&players=&filter=&groupBy=season&wxTemperature=&wxPressure=&wxAirDensity=&wxElevation=&wxWindSpeed=&sort=13,1)

 

[alexlegge]

Sad indeed. Another sad part of that stat page for the time being is that the Twins are the only team with a 4-digit strikeout total in the first 8 innings. By comparison, Cleveland's strikeout total is actually quite low during those innings (ominously, it currently sits at 666). Cleveland also simply doesn't hit home runs. Let's root for the Twins to finish the season with at least 1 IBB before the 9th inning and for Cleveland to finish the season with fewer than 100 homers. If both of those happen and the Twins don't win the division, I'll eat my hat.

[JD-TWINS]

Our guys strike out too much as a group to not try to get them out…….goes for even the guys hitting OK. When you hit .175 (guessed) with the bases loaded it gives a feel for effectiveness (lack of) in key situations as a group.

[Doctor Wu]

Ouch that is indeed a very sad statistic. But let's be honest, that's the cold hard truth. There really aren't any batters in our lineup that strike fear into the hearts of the opposing team. Based on recent performance, you could say that Julian and Jeffers (and okay, even Kepler is hitting well lately) might be candidates to draw such a walk, but otherwise there aren't any Twins players you would automatically think of intentionally walking.