Buck's Back: Twins To Activate Byron Buxton on Friday

[JD-TWINS]

2 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

As I read this on the transaction wire, Vasquez came back for Camargo, and Margot came back for Helman. The Twins have announced Buxton will be back for Martin although that isn't yet reflected on the wire. 

I think that really only leaves two questions - who goes when Correa is ready to come back and when will that be? Has to be either Lee or Keirsey down unless there's an injury.  I'm guessing that Keirsey may stay so we have a true CF to back up Buxton. Buck isn't 100% and will probably only play 3-4 games a week in the field with another as a DH. So who goes when Correa is ready (hopefully next week)? Unless an injury makes that decision, it looks like it will be Lee. Having said that, a hot streak at the plate by either Lee or Keirsey could change that decision. Lee will play more, so the chance to stay is in his hands. 

IMO for September stretch:

Larnach - Buxton/Castro - Wallner - Margot in OF

Lewis/Miranda - Correa/Lee - Julien/Farmer - Santana in IF

2 catchers

I saw somewhere in today’s posts that since August started Farmer leads Team with .946 OPS……..I thought he would be shuffled on to the bench somehow to allow him to remain around Team. Seems he may be taking Lee’s spot as he’s recently played ALL 4 infield positions.

Could see Lee & Farmer up the middle defensively late in games if Correa isn’t completely ready to go.

Lee moves out in October, as things stand today, since Castro can fill spots in IF as well.

[nicksaviking]

37 minutes ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

Martin has not exactly been tearing it up offensively.  Maybe the hope is Keirsey can provide a little more.

Right, the fear of the unknown should be greatly mitigated if the known doesn't provide much offense anyway.

[AKTwinsFan]

If he can get hot again it'll be great, it seems like all season once a player gets hot the coach benches them a few then they go cold. I would have kept Martin around and put Helman back to St. Paul. Martin has been good when he gets on base. 

[Parfigliano]

9 hours ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

Keirsey stays, Martin goes. Interesting choice. Guess defense matters. 

Keirsey has hit some balls hard just right at people.

[chpettit19]

44 minutes ago, AKTwinsFan said:

If he can get hot again it'll be great, it seems like all season once a player gets hot the coach benches them a few then they go cold. I would have kept Martin around and put Helman back to St. Paul. Martin has been good when he gets on base. 

Helman is already back in St Paul. Was demoted yesterday for Margot.

[bean5302]

50 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

Keirsey has hit some balls hard just right at people.

9/7 - 98.1mph high fly ball out, pitch 93mph fastball, middle upper strike
9/7 - 104.9mph worm burner to 2B out, pitch 92mph fastball, inside lower section strike
9/7 - 78.7mph chopped into the ground out, pitch 92mph sinker meatball
9/10 - 92mph lazy fly out, pitch 95mph fastball, middle inside strike
9/10 - strike out swinging 88mph changeup, middle outside ball a few inches off the plate
9/10 - 92mph lazy liner out, pitch 93mph fastball, outside middle strike
9/10 - 65mph chopped into the ground, "hit", pitch 99mph fastball middle low strike
9/11 - 79mph soft lazy liner out, pitch 97mph sinker, inside lower strike
9/11 - Hit by pitch, 84mph curve
9/11 - 65mph soft lazy liner out, pitch 86mph slider, insider upper strike
9/11 - 96mph high fly ball out, pitch 95mph fastball, inside middle strike

Keirsey's only "hit" was probably an out if the 1B covered first, and most of Keirsey's contact has resulted in batted balls with pretty low chances of being a hit. It's not like he's looking totally overmatched and striking out all the time, but he's not making particularly good contact despite pitchers challenging him with mostly fastballs around or in the middle middle strike zone. It's only 11 plate appearances so not much you can take away from it. Guess the Twins want to get a longer look or they feel Keirsey might help solve their defensive woes in CF.

[bean5302]

Austin Martin is one of the only Twins hitters who has actually been carrying his weight lately. Good thing we sent him down.

[RpR]

12 hours ago, mnfireman said:

Julien, Lee and Martin have played good enough to stay, but with Correa also due back, 2 of them may/will have to be optioned out

Bollocks, -- Julien and Lee should be in AAA finding out they are as bad as they look in the Majors.

[RpR]

1 hour ago, Parfigliano said:

Keirsey has hit some balls hard just right at people.

A nasty occurence with a goodly number of Twins players this season.

[chpettit19]

46 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

9/7 - 98.1mph high fly ball out, pitch 93mph fastball, middle upper strike
9/7 - 104.9mph worm burner to 2B out, pitch 92mph fastball, inside lower section strike
9/7 - 78.7mph chopped into the ground out, pitch 92mph sinker meatball
9/10 - 92mph lazy fly out, pitch 95mph fastball, middle inside strike
9/10 - strike out swinging 88mph changeup, middle outside ball a few inches off the plate
9/10 - 92mph lazy liner out, pitch 93mph fastball, outside middle strike
9/10 - 65mph chopped into the ground, "hit", pitch 99mph fastball middle low strike
9/11 - 79mph soft lazy liner out, pitch 97mph sinker, inside lower strike
9/11 - Hit by pitch, 84mph curve
9/11 - 65mph soft lazy liner out, pitch 86mph slider, insider upper strike
9/11 - 96mph high fly ball out, pitch 95mph fastball, inside middle strike

Keirsey's only "hit" was probably an out if the 1B covered first, and most of Keirsey's contact has resulted in batted balls with pretty low chances of being a hit. It's not like he's looking totally overmatched and striking out all the time, but he's not making particularly good contact despite pitchers challenging him with mostly fastballs around or in the middle middle strike zone. It's only 11 plate appearances so not much you can take away from it. Guess the Twins want to get a longer look or they feel Keirsey might help solve their defensive woes in CF.

His xBA is .265. That's not bad at all (league average is .245). xSLG .447 (league average .406). xwOBA .342 (league average .315). Those are very respectable numbers. Hard hit rate right in line with league average (33.3% for him compared to league average 36.5%). Line drive rate of 33%. 

As you said, incredibly small sample size, but the statement "Keirsey's contact has resulted in batted balls with pretty low chances of being a hit" is false. He's also seen 53.8% fastballs. Lewis has seen 51.8%. Wallner 55.6%. Miranda 52.2%. Correa 55.7%. So he hasn't, by any means, been challenged with more fastballs than the average Twins hitter. He has seen 8% of pitches middle-middle. Lewis gets 6%. Correa 7%. Miranda 7%. Wallner is down at 5%, but otherwise he's not far off of any of those guys for middle-middle pitches or fastball percentage seen.

All of his expected numbers are above average. He's been more than respectable in his ABs to this point. I assume he's still here for defense and pinch running, but his expected data is quite nice. It's a basically useless sample size, but at least give him the credit he deserves. He's not looking like a superstar or anything, but he's certainly held his own in an incredibly small sample.

[Shaitan]

I'm continually surprised at how worked up people get about the 30th spot on the roster (depth-wise).

To me, Keirsey, Helman, Castillo, Carmago, etc, are all essentially the same AAAA player.

Same with Martin and Lee, except with the "prospect" label.

Yes some are better on offense or defense or are faster or bat LH vs RH, but that's why options exist. The Twins will move all of these players between Saint Paul and MLB as it fits their needs. A demote, just like a promotion, is never permanent. Heck, half this thread is trying to figure out this week's 5 roster moves. It's always changing.

But I appreciate the passion y'all bring about it for sure. In summary, I don't think any of these fringe players are difference makers anyway in terms of a 162 game W/L record. They all deliver about the same value. Keeping Kiersey up for now tells me this is "playoff mode" where defense matters (more).

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Question re Keirsey...

His batting stance is very unusual, or least it looks that way. I wonder if the Twins have tried to make any adjustments to it. He didn't have issues in AAA but I could see him struggling to catch up to anything that's off the plate.

[LA Vikes Fan]

4 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Keirsey has hit some balls hard just right at people.

Good to know. i haven't had a chance to watch the games. It would be great if he could even be a .700 OPS guy because it sure looks like he can field CF and he's the only one outside of Buxton who can. 

[Jocko87]

My guess is Kiersey is here for the rest of the regular season.  His skill set fits better than Martin or Helman by far.  He will be a pinch runner and defensive sub pretty regularly.  

There will be several instances of him running for Larnach and staying in for defense but also Margot might get the at bat then Kiersey comes in for defense.  Maybe to run for Margot too.  Late innings outfield of Kiersey, Buck and Wallner would be pretty solid.  

Having a true centerfielder for Buck to DH occasionally will be nice too.  

Not to get ahead of ourselves, he probably fits the postseason roster pretty nicely too.  Terrance Gore/Jerrod Dyson role.

[USAFChief]

2 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

My guess is Kiersey is here for the rest of the regular season.  His skill set fits better than Martin or Helman by far.  He will be a pinch runner and defensive sub pretty regularly.  

There will be several instances of him running for Larnach and staying in for defense but also Margot might get the at bat then Kiersey comes in for defense.  Maybe to run for Margot too.  Late innings outfield of Kiersey, Buck and Wallner would be pretty solid.  

Having a true centerfielder for Buck to DH occasionally will be nice too.  

Not to get ahead of ourselves, he probably fits the postseason roster pretty nicely too.  Terrance Gore/Jerrod Dyson role.

I was with you until this part...

[stringer bell]

4 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

My guess is Kiersey is here for the rest of the regular season.  His skill set fits better than Martin or Helman by far.  He will be a pinch runner and defensive sub pretty regularly.  

There will be several instances of him running for Larnach and staying in for defense but also Margot might get the at bat then Kiersey comes in for defense.  Maybe to run for Margot too.  Late innings outfield of Kiersey, Buck and Wallner would be pretty solid.  

Having a true centerfielder for Buck to DH occasionally will be nice too.  

Not to get ahead of ourselves, he probably fits the postseason roster pretty nicely too.  Terrance Gore/Jerrod Dyson role.

Keirsey Jr. could be used as a pinch runner and defensive replacement. I doubt that he would be called on to try to steal a base in a game situation. Keirsey Jr. is fast, but I don’t think he has game-changing speed.

Buxton as DH? I thought we learned that lesson last year.

My first reaction to activating him without rehab is that it is a panic move. I hope I’m proven wrong. 

[Jocko87]

1 hour ago, stringer bell said:

Keirsey Jr. could be used as a pinch runner and defensive replacement. I doubt that he would be called on to try to steal a base in a game situation. Keirsey Jr. is fast, but I don’t think he has game-changing speed.

Buxton as DH? I thought we learned that lesson last year.

My first reaction to activating him without rehab is that it is a panic move. I hope I’m proven wrong. 

He won’t steal much because they don’t steal many bases as an organization. 1st to 3rd and 1st to home are more important.  He probably doesn’t blow a tire rounding third.

Buxton will get DH days and an off day or two down the stretch.  They can live with Kiersey in the 9 hole with plus defense over Martin/Margot bat and poor defense.  They are going to use an excellent single skill over a better average player in the tight games. 

[USAFChief]

4 hours ago, stringer bell said:

My first reaction to activating him without rehab is that it is a panic move. I hope I’m proven wrong. 

Ditto.

[Schmoeman5]

Panic in Detroit. Twins don't have a panic button. All is well. 😃 

[chpettit19]

11 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Keirsey Jr. could be used as a pinch runner and defensive replacement. I doubt that he would be called on to try to steal a base in a game situation. Keirsey Jr. is fast, but I don’t think he has game-changing speed.

Buxton as DH? I thought we learned that lesson last year.

My first reaction to activating him without rehab is that it is a panic move. I hope I’m proven wrong. 

If I remember correctly, the graphic on the last game said his sprint to first was the 2nd fastest speed on the team this year behind only Buxton. Now that doesn't mean we'll see a bunch of steals from him, but he's awfully fast.