Minnesota Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli: Newly-Minted Taskmaster?

[Eric Blonigen]

Sometimes, you are just getting on with your day, and you read a series of quotes from Twins manager Rocco Baldelli that make the world around you emit that record-scratch noise you see in movies. Has the Twins' famously player-friendly skipper turned into a martinet this spring?

Image courtesy of © Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

 

Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli has taken a lot of flak over the years around a couple of themes: heavily leaning into analytics, and mollycoddling players. The first point is largely unfounded, as analytics are here to stay, and lead to teams like the Rays and Guardians outperforming expectations year after year. That second point, though? That’s a little more nuanced. Caring for players, keeping them healthy, and ensuring they feel supported and set up for success is part of a manager’s role—but it’s complicated.

If you have been hoping for a different approach from Baldelli, there is some reason to think that change is afoot. In a media availability attended by Twins Daily’s own John Bonnes, Baldelli shared some intriguing comments that suggest he and the coaching staff will be focusing more on fundamentals in spring training, and beyond. Let’s look at a couple quotes, then discuss the implications for both the process, and the results fans might expect to see this season.

What Baldelli Said
First, the big one, speaking about the team approach for 2025:

“I wanted to return more to taking it back to our roots, and I think that helps guys focus on what they really need to do … it’s easy when you know what your actual goal is, and we’ve said it pretty clear.”

Next, on team drills:

“It’s about getting out there on the baseball field and preparing for the game … the guys have been taking to all the drills and getting outside for batting practice. There’s probably a little less work in the cage and a little more under the sun”

Carlos Correa expanded, saying:

“Everybody has to be taking ground balls with the team. Everybody has to run every day, because it pushes everybody. That’s exactly what we need on this team … It just brings everybody closer … it’s beautiful to watch, and I’m glad we are doing it this year … it was tough to watch us crumble towards the end of the season … we are correcting those mistakes.”

When asked if he is becoming more of a taskmaster, Baldelli responded: “I wouldn’t go that far, but maybe a part of me is, and that’s ok. It feels good.”

Finally, when addressing the Twins’ hitting approach:

“Some of it’s kind of bringing it back to the way we have probably thought about hitting for a long time. It really comes down to swinging at the right pitches consistently and hitting line drives. I think we’ve probably, at times, made it a more complicated task than it is. It’s not easy. We all know it’s not easy. Very challenging, especially at this level, but when you can shorten that stroke more at-bats than not and really your goal is to hit a line drive and that line drive in the middle of the field becomes valuable to you again, I think you become productive as a team and you become a very difficult team to pitch to.”

Ok, there’s a lot there, and you could probably spend days unpacking all of this. Some of these things are tough to quantify, such as the team togetherness concepts. For the purposes of this article, I’ll let you do your own analysis on that front. That said, you might be asking yourself what you might expect to see differently in 2025 stylistically, as well as what you might look for from a results standpoint. Here are a few thoughts.

Plate Discipline
In 2024, Twins hitters averaged 3.81 pitches per plate appearance, slightly below the league average. They also walked at a 7.7% clip, 0.4% lower than average. One of the things Correa referenced was players giving each other help with their approach at the plate during batting practice. If this holds throughout the season, I would expect to see this reflected by an increase in the average number of pitches batters see, and perhaps an uptick in walk rate. A bit more of an emphasis on on-base skills would almost certainly change the outcome of at least a couple of games for the better.

Line Drives vs Bombas
In 2024, a frustrating number of at-bats ended with hitters trying to do too much, swinging for the fences in key spots and flying out shy of the warning track. Taken at face value, these quotes suggest that when watching games this season, one might notice less of the all-or-nothing approach the team has adopted since the 2019 Bomba Squad. This makes sense, considering the current makeup of the roster. Aside from a few boppers, striving for line drives is a great way to play to the hitters’ skill sets.

Digging into the data, in 2024, 24.4% of the Twins’ batted balls were classified as line drives, and 28.4% were fly balls. Based on Baldelli’s remarks about line drive swings, fans might see a shift in hitters’ spray charts, and an overall reduction in average launch angle. Results-wise, I would expect to see the number of doubles the team hits increase, perhaps significantly, in exchange for a modest reduction in home runs. I would also look at the same rate data throughout the season. Will we see the above numbers reversed at the end of the season? If so, that should lead to an increase in runs scored from players without a ton of home run power.

Infield Defense
Nick Nelson recently wrote about the infield defense potentially being a bit scary, with some combination of Ty France (-12 OAA), Edouard Julien (-4 OAA), Jose Miranda (-7 OAA), Brooks Lee (-3 OAA), Royce Lewis (1 OAA), and Willi Castro (1 OAA) manning everywhere in the dirt except shortstop. For those counting along at home, that’s -24 OAA collectively in 2024 by your 2025 Twins infielders. Converting that to FRV and run prevention, the group was about two full wins worse than average fielders last season. By making fielding practice mandatory, one might expect to see fielders’ OAA improve year over year, through a focus on getting off better throws, turning double plays more consistently, better positioning on the dirt, and all the other things that go into fielding effectively. Will consistent practice reps be enough to take the aforementioned bunch from butcher-ish to average-ish? Well, it sure can’t hurt. If it works, picking up two additional wins on fielding alone could make a significant impact come late September.

The proof, they say, is in the pudding. With a little discipline, team drills, a shift in hitting approach, a little more esprit de corps, and a bit more fire from Baldelli, the younger Twins hitters just might become more complete players, and lead to a handful of additional wins in the process.

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If you are among the fans who have been calling for stylistic changes to the Twins’ game, or have bemoaned Baldelli’s approach to managing, how are you feeling about these changes? Comment below with your thoughts.

 

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[LambchoP]

Fundamentals, athleticism, defense, and situational hitting all should be worked on and improved. We need to be able to move runners over and get hits with RISP. We do not have an elite offense, which makes these skills even more important. Cleaning up our defense will also help out a lot of our young pitchers who will not doubt be throwing innings for us at some point this year. My main concern is Rocco sticking with struggling veterans for way too long when there are other options. France, Bader, Paddack.... Give them their fair shake, but if they're not cutting it, next man up.

[Linus]

I’m glad they are trying something different.  They have not been fundamentally sound in the field or on the bases for a long time and it never got any better.  Maybe this is acknowledgment of the problem.

[USAFChief]

It's a start. Particularly the part about taking infield. 

 

[Muppet]

Glad to see they are doing this... but doesn't this just look like practice? Shouldn't they always have been taking grounders, and having batting practice where they help each other out? I guess I just have no idea what happens between games. 

[Karbo]

Only time will tell. It all sounds nice and on paper looks great. But, how will they execute? Really, this team wasn't put together with a lot of guys who can run or handle a bat. The FO put together the team with an eye towards power. And that's fine, if you have 2-3 guys that get on base often, and can run. It will be interesting to see how new owners will change things. Will Falvey be gone? If so that usually means a new manager and field staff.

[Gamblerssoftball]

A slight shift from Bomba to Piranha. Looking at the personnel, that seems to be the right track. I think I like it...

[LastOnePicked]

As usual with Rocco, none of this really makes sense. "Back to our roots"? What roots are those? His teams have never played fundamentally sound baseball. He's never seemed to put pressure on players to make changes. And this isn't the first spring after a late-season collapse. I don't understand what point he's trying to make. If changes are needed, they were needed long ago.

As always, I want this team to do well, but tigers don't change their stripes. He is what he is. I don't expect to see any meaningful changes in the way this team plays ball. 

[thelanges5]

Good to see Rocco adjusting his style to the personnel he has. Can’t keep doing the same thing over and over - definition of insanity. 

[D.C Twins]

Believe it when I see it....

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, LastOnePicked said:

As usual with Rocco, none of this really makes sense. "Back to our roots"? What roots are those? His teams have never played fundamentally sound baseball. He's never seemed to put pressure on players to make changes. And this isn't the first spring after a late-season collapse. I don't understand what point he's trying to make. If changes are needed, they were needed long ago.

As always, I want this team to do well, but tigers don't change their stripes. He is what he is. I don't expect to see any meaningful changes in the way this team plays ball. 

Fundamental baseball was their calling card under TK and Gardy.  Now it's infield optional, I'm confused about which base to throw to, and what's hitting behind a runner

[tony&rodney]

We will have some semblance of an answer by October if indeed the Twins are working on fundamentals.

[Doctor Gast]

"The first point is largely unfounded, as analytics are here to stay, and lead to teams like the Rays and Guardians outperforming expectations year after year."

Analytics is essential but weird philosophy they plug into it is garbage. Almost all teams have some form of analytics but what separates  TB & CLE from the others is better player evaluation, development & having faith in work they put into their players to play them & let them develop on the MLB level.

Last offseason, the focus was hit HRs no matter what, heck with SOs & fundamentals. They quickly changed their tune early in the season & Popovich did a good job of turning the ship around. The problem was with the philosophy the FO instilled not the hitting coaches. Another problem was confusion on the base paths. Instead of firing the hitting coaches, they should have fired the 3B coach (Watkins) & 1B coach (Conger).

The change of focus to fundamentals over solely hitting HRs is super important & is drastic. Baldelli is right in having a heavy hand to right the mistakes of the past. It'll take time like learning anything new & we need to be patient. Like Baldelli needs to be finally patient with Miranda & some of the other players getting their feet wet. We are finally heading in the right direction, our success will be determined by how well we can execute.

 

[BillyBallLives]

Wow, BRILLIANT...back the fundamentals!!

 

Who knew that actually throwing to the right cutoff man, executing a sacrifice bunt, etc, etc were that important to winning baseball?

[Doctor Wu]

Hmm, it certainly can't hurt. As things look now, the infield defense has the potential to be very .,, unpredictable. On a side note, looking at the photo of Rocco near the top of the page, I still can't get used to that ugly new "M" cap. 

[Fezig]

Fundamentals aside, what was that hideous thing on top of his head? 

[PatPfund]

Badly, badly needed correction. You can't teach range, but you can teach where to be in that range, and what to do. Not just "I know" in the head, but "I can and have" in muscle memory through drill.

Not every team can afford an Ohtani or Betts, but every team can afford the staff that implements these drills. It is the cheapest way to give yourself a chance in every game; don't give away free outs. (Really sad it took over six years to figure it out, but better late than never.)

[shimrod]

If they haven't been practicing and reinforcing fundamentals at the MLB level it's likely they haven't been doing it in the minors either. 

Which would explain why every prospect we promote is a defensive liability. Buxton is the last plus defender we developed internally and his defense is dependent on intrinsic athletic ability. 

[DJL44]

Correa seems pretty active in this new approach. I wonder how much of it was spurred by his feedback.

[BillyBallLives]

11 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

still can't get used to that ugly new "M" cap. 

I thought it was a Houston hat at first glance.  Can't imagine the uniform that goes with it.

[Bodie]

On 2/20/2025 at 6:55 PM, BillyBallLives said:

Wow, BRILLIANT...back the fundamentals!!

 

Who knew that actually throwing to the right cutoff man, executing a sacrifice bunt, etc, etc were that important to winning baseball?

Now, can we ACCEPT THE FACT that you can't hit the ball hard if you DON'T MAKE CONTACT?

 

Silly question for this organization, under this regime...

[gman]

On 2/21/2025 at 4:32 AM, Doctor Wu said:

Hmm, it certainly can't hurt. As things look now, the infield defense has the potential to be very .,, unpredictable. On a side note, looking at the photo of Rocco near the top of the page, I still can't get used to that ugly new "M" cap. 

I agree on the "M". I won't buy one.

[gman]

There are hitting fundamentals, there are fielding fundamentals, there are base running fundamentals and pitching fundamentals. Hopefully they will be working on them heavily throughout the system.