Does anyone else understand why David Popkin is still the Twins hitting coach?

[jaimedude]

I know Baldelli is the manager but things seem really out of whack right now and it is more than the injury bug.

This is more than a strike out issue or bad luck. The Twins hitting approach seems really flawed at least it appears so. Being last in all of baseball is more than poor.  Team batting average of .195, before today, OBP .284, slugging .336 .For those totals we could have Joe Vavraa walk in the door and possibly do better coming in off his couch. 

 Twins baseball has become unwatchable and it is the poor hitting approach(strategy) and execution as much

as pitching. This isn't just this year either, this is carryover from last season. 

There really is a large enough sample size that there appears there 

is change needed. April is early but there are alarming things and trends happening daily.

If the manager will not do it, make a change, then front office appears to need to do something.  

Are the Twins really this talent poor? 

 

[FlyingFinn]

 

"Does anyone else understand why Randy Popkin is still the Twins hitting coach?"

No. Because I thought it was David Popkins. Who knew!

[Tovar12]

Might just as well be David S Pumpkins - the results couldn't be any worse!

 

[Schmoeman5]

Randy, David, Popke, Bobke, Popkins, Pop-in, pumpkin. It's one of those. Dammit 

[jaimedude]

There is clearly something  gone amiss in hitting even if I got hitting coach name wrong. Twins team not just struggling to hit, or score runs, they are utterly tanking. They are struggling at all levels of organization. Hitting coach could just as well be Randy Dobnak in disguise. 

[FilthyMogwai]

Because this team, unfortunately, has no culture of winning. It hasn't for a long time. It simply doesn't replace guys until well after they should have. Nicest team in the league.

[FilthyMogwai]

3 hours ago, jaimedude said:

There is clearly something  gone amiss in hitting even if i got hotting coach name wrong. Twins team not just struggling to hit, or score runs, they are utterly tanking. They are struggling at all levels of organization. Hitting coach could just as well be Randy Dobnak in disguise. 

At least Dobnak could throw BP quality fastballs that they could square up on during hitting practice.

[Parfigliano]

To fire him would be admitting the colossal mistake they made in hiring him.  TC dont roll that way.

[big dog]

We could just recycle the same thread from last year, which IIRC quieted down considerably once Lewis came back, Julien and Wallner came up and started hitting, and they quit playing Gallo. Then he seemed to be a better hitting coach somehow. Sucks to have a slump this bad to start this season, especially twice in a row, but it's not as if the team has never hit with this coach.

I'm not riding this slump another three weeks without doing something, though.

[Five minute major]

The Pohlads need to clean house at the executive level who hired Baldelli who is not a big league coach.  This franchise is still living off of the huge coat tails of Nelson Cruz and what he did to the on the field team.   The offense is a bad as any I have seen and I am not young.   There is no hope with this team.   You are correct in that the easiest quick fix is to ditch the hitting coach.  Not only is the team bad but they are painful to watch with their approach.  

[jaimedude]

4 hours ago, big dog said:

We could just recycle the same thread from last year, which IIRC quieted down considerably once Lewis came back, Julien and Wallner came up and started hitting, and they quit playing Gallo. Then he seemed to be a better hitting coach somehow. Sucks to have a slump this bad to start this season, especially twice in a row, but it's not as if the team has never hit with this coach.

I'm not riding this slump another three weeks without doing something, though.

My concern isn't just the Twins slump, the whole organization through minor leagues is struggling to hit, with exception of a few players. This is starting to resemble a system issue not just a few coaches. Is it the drafting, the coaching. I know Buehler was a good catch, outside of trades seems to be weakness from recent draft classes. 

[NotAboutWinning]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:06 AM, jaimedude said:

My concern isn't just the Twins slump, the whole organization through minor leagues is struggling to hit, with exception of a few players. This is starting to resemble a system issue not just a few coaches. Is it the drafting, the coaching. I know Buehler was a good catch, outside of trades seems to be weakness from recent draft classes. 

I've thought this as well. Watch Tom Froeming's system recaps. Is this the result of years of drafting swing for the fences no position players and late round pitching gems?

[Doctor Gast]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:06 AM, jaimedude said:

My concern isn't just the Twins slump, the whole organization through minor leagues is struggling to hit, with exception of a few players. This is starting to resemble a system issue not just a few coaches. Is it the drafting, the coaching. I know Buehler was a good catch, outside of trades seems to be weakness from recent draft classes. 

 Twins were terrible in '21, & the FO came under a lot of fire & for their HR-focused hitting approach. The hitting coaches were blamed & were fired. They then hired Popkin, I was leary about him leading the Loons to a HR title & the Twins wanted to continue their hitting approach, TD members assured me that it wouldn't be the case.

Here again, the Twins are trying to divert the focus off their hitting approach & blame the coaches. The problem isn't with Popkin, it's the Twins HR hitting philosophy that has been drafting, coaching & signing players to fit this mold that results in SOs & non clutch hitting for years. The FO have to be held accountable.

[bean5302]

On 4/18/2024 at 7:09 AM, Five minute major said:

The Pohlads need to clean house at the executive level who hired Baldelli who is not a big league coach.  This franchise is still living off of the huge coat tails of Nelson Cruz and what he did to the on the field team.   The offense is a bad as any I have seen and I am not young.   There is no hope with this team.   You are correct in that the easiest quick fix is to ditch the hitting coach.  Not only is the team bad but they are painful to watch with their approach.  

I suspect the ownership will purge the front office if the season goes poorly. After all, this is the final year for Falvey's contract and Pohlad hinted ownership's on the field expectations have been raised as of last year. If things turn around and the Twins advance in the playoffs, I suspect Falvey will get an extension.

[Dave Borton]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:06 AM, jaimedude said:

My concern isn't just the Twins slump, the whole organization through minor leagues is struggling to hit.. 

Although I couldn't find stats from AA ball:

StP:  20th lowest OPS out of 20 teams
Ced Rapids: 3rd highest OPS out of 12 teams

[sftwinsfan]

I don't take the young guys coming up from the minors last year and finding success to necessarily validate he's a good hitting coach, I see it as almost damning those guys he wasn't working with found success and now he's had them awhile they're going downhill. Look at Julien, the guy looks like he's going to pull a muscle he's swinging so hard. I also agree there is an organizational problem both in talent evaluation and strategy. It was pretty easy to see Manuel Margot and Carlos Santana are not very good, yet they went and got them. Santana had a very good career, but he's largely shown he's cooked since 2019 with last year being an outlier. Their all or nothing approach seems to feast on bad pitchers or bottom of the barrel bullpen guys in blowouts when the pressure is off. 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

5 hours ago, sftwinsfan said:

I don't take the young guys coming up from the minors last year and finding success to necessarily validate he's a good hitting coach, I see it as almost damning those guys he wasn't working with found success and now he's had them awhile they're going downhill. Look at Julien, the guy looks like he's going to pull a muscle he's swinging so hard. I also agree there is an organizational problem both in talent evaluation and strategy. It was pretty easy to see Manuel Margot and Carlos Santana are not very good, yet they went and got them. Santana had a very good career, but he's largely shown he's cooked since 2019 with last year being an outlier. Their all or nothing approach seems to feast on bad pitchers or bottom of the barrel bullpen guys in blowouts when the pressure is off. 

No player has ever had a sophomore slump in the history of baseball except for Wallner and Julien because Popkins coached them.

there’s a name for it because it does happen. The league continuously adjusts.

i have to imagine, if there wasn’t a budget constraint, the FO would not have targeted Santana or Margot.

[jaimedude]

Where is the gong for the gong show hitting coach? 2 for 22 this series with runners in scoring position. Twins are having brutal at bat's in all counts. No patience and everyone is trying hero ball. Baldelli doesn't make a change he may be out the door soon enough. 

[John Belinski]

Guess the only bright side of the poor record is maybe Rocco will be replaced with a manager that knows baseball. I really wish we would have kept Paul as manager and think we would have been a better team this year and past several years. Rocco took Paul's team and won games during past several years. 

[Hubie29]

Hitters need a hitting coach. So we really don't even need one with this roster.

[cheeseheadgophfan]

The biggest concern for me is that few if any hitters are improving under Popkins.....guys that are supposed to be proven major league hitters like Farmer, Vazquez, Santana, Buxton and to a lesser extent Castro look absolutely clueless right now.  Julien has taken a step back.  Wallner looked lost.  The only guy that you could say has improved is Jeffers.  There is something fundamentally wrong with the approach the team is taking right now, and that comes from the hitting coach.

[Wyotwinsfan]

Here’s a guy that has improved since leaving the Twins - Miguel Sano.  I think this has more to do with him working hard to get in shape so he could get back to the big leagues.  I thought he was done and had no chance again to play, but I guess I was wrong.  He is now hitting cleanup for the Angels.  He was 3 for 4 yesterday with his first home run and a double as the DH.  Today he played 3rd base and went 1 for 3 to raise his average to .300  and OPS to .810.   
I used to think he only got a hit when the pitcher hit his bat.  It’s still early but it looks like he might have figured something out.   Maybe being out of baseball motivated him to improve, but it’s still hard for me to believe.   Anyway, good for him and I’m glad he is doing well. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Popkins is too young. Maybe he'll be a good hitting coach one day. But he simply doesn't have the experience to be at the major league level. He was a questionable hire at best when it was made and it only looks worse with time.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

1 hour ago, cheeseheadgophfan said:

The biggest concern for me is that few if any hitters are improving under Popkins.....guys that are supposed to be proven major league hitters like Farmer, Vazquez, Santana, Buxton and to a lesser extent Castro look absolutely clueless right now.  Julien has taken a step back.  Wallner looked lost.  The only guy that you could say has improved is Jeffers.  There is something fundamentally wrong with the approach the team is taking right now, and that comes from the hitting coach.

Alex Kirilloff has looked better

You can fire the hitting coach, fire Baldelli too. They’ll both be replaced with their clones.

[lecroy24fan]

2 hours ago, Wyotwinsfan said:

Here’s a guy that has improved since leaving the Twins - Miguel Sano.  I think this has more to do with him working hard to get in shape so he could get back to the big leagues.  I thought he was done and had no chance again to play, but I guess I was wrong.  He is now hitting cleanup for the Angels.  He was 3 for 4 yesterday with his first home run and a double as the DH.  Today he played 3rd base and went 1 for 3 to raise his average to .300  and OPS to .810.   
I used to think he only got a hit when the pitcher hit his bat.  It’s still early but it looks like he might have figured something out.   Maybe being out of baseball motivated him to improve, but it’s still hard for me to believe.   Anyway, good for him and I’m glad he is doing well. 

He sat out a full season so i'm sure he was desperate to make money again so he got into a shape that isn't round.

[cheeseheadgophfan]

1 hour ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

Alex Kirilloff has looked better

You can fire the hitting coach, fire Baldelli too. They’ll both be replaced with their clones.

Has he improved or has he just gotten healthy??  Hard to tell.....

[Richie the Rally Goat]

8 minutes ago, cheeseheadgophfan said:

Has he improved or has he just gotten healthy??  Hard to tell.....

[jaimedude]

Free your mind and the rest will follow. Time for the Twins hitting coach to hit the road jack, before time is not left. Don't care if they turn to Watkins or whoever just make a change please.  Current hitting cosch needs to be gone before it is too late. 

[NotAboutWinning]

It is too late... 8 games back and still floundering.

[TopGunn#22]

There is a LOT of baseball left to play but right now the Twins are taking all the joy out of watching baseball with their inability to hit OR pitch.  First hitting:  In addition to all the other hitting stats the Twins are terrible at they are leading the majors in called 3rd strikes.  If there is some kind of "approach" each hitter is being coached to apply each at bat I cannot figure out what it is.  As a team, they look completely out of sorts.

Many of us on TD have questioned this approach since 2020.  Even in 2019, when balls were flying out of ballparks there were far too many strikeouts with runners on 2nd & 3rd and less than 2 outs.  Consider this:  Ryan was DEALING the other day against the Tigers.  We have the lead.  Their #9 hitter gets a gift walk on what should have been a called 3rd strike.  Meadows then steals 2nd base.  He comes in on a bloop hit.  That hitter then steals 2nd base and comes in on an inside out jam shot by Carpenter, and before you know it, the Tigers have a 3-2 lead.

It took Rocco until JUNE last year to figure out with the new rules, that stealing a base wasn't a venial sin.  And that was mostly because Castro swiping bags was igniting the offense.  There were teams that had more stolen bases than we even had attempts the first two months last year.  

Our hitting "approach" is horrible.  But this is also a "POHLAD PROBLEM."  We followed up a division winning season and the first playoff win in almost 20 years with an abysmal off season.  The Tigers, Cleveland and Royals all made aggressive moves to improve.  We cut payroll despite still getting $48 out of the $55 million for 2024 from Balley.  Getting that TV money was not some big surprise.  The Pohlad's had to know they were going to recoup most of that money.  Yet they still cut payroll.  We don't deserve this as Twins fans but the Pohlad's sure do as owners and Falvey and Levine do as the "yes men" who didn't push back and counsel otherwise. 

Instead we have washed up guys like Santana and Margot.  We have veteran guys in our bullpen who are showing they are nothing more than journeymen while we send Alcala down and discuss sending Funderburk down when Duran and a host of others finally get healthy (because they have "options)."  We decided we didn't really need any starting pitching reinforcements other than DeSclafani because we had Paddack and Varland.  How long to paddack and Varland keep their rotation spots???  

There is a lot of baseball yet to be played, and the Twins could still wake up and turn things around.  But at this point they are being beaten in every facet of the game:  Hitting, pitching, baserunning, fielding, managing, situational baseball, you name it.  And there is nothing happening now or planned that would give Twins fans any hope it's going change either.