How Rocco Baldelli and the Twins Plan “Something Drastic” On the Bases

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Since Rocco Baldelli took over as manager in 2019, the Minnesota Twins have been built to slug. That first year, the “Bomba Squad” shattered records, launching baseballs into the seats while Baldelli mostly sat back and let the lineup do the heavy lifting. The half-decade since has been marked by attempts to recreate that magic, with lineups stacked with power but lacking speed and athleticism. The result? An offense that too often stalls when the long ball isn’t there.

Now, Baldelli and his staff are pushing a new agenda—one that looks nothing like the passive, station-to-station approach of recent years. On Sunday’s Inside Twins broadcast, Baldelli pulled back the curtain on the team’s new emphasis on basepath aggressiveness.

Why Now?
Baldelli admitted that the shift had been on his mind for some time, but it wasn’t until bench coach Jayce Tingler presented the idea that the wheels started turning.

“Jayce Tingler, our bench coach, actually came to me last week and said, ‘Hey, what do you think about doing something drastic? What do you think about really opening this thing up on the bases,’” Baldelli said. “Knowing that it might get a little wild out there at times, but leaving it in the hands of the players to be more aggressive in every possible way.”

The timing, Baldelli explained, felt right for experimentation.

“I thought to myself, if we are ever going to do this, there’s no better time than right now to see what it looks like if you allow our players to open it up,” he said. “We’ve seen some great, seen some good, seen some not so good, but overall I’ve been really pleased with what I’ve seen from it. I like this team more aggressive than not-aggressive.”

Minnesota has added players to the roster in the second half, like Luke Keaschall, James Outman, Austin Martin, and Ryan Fitzgerald. While they have seen various levels of baserunning success, there is more speed on the roster compared to earlier in the season. There’s also nothing to lose in a season heading toward 90 losses. Let the players run wild and see if the team can perform better than expected. 

A Missed Opportunity Earlier?
Of course, some fans might wonder if the team waited too long to make such a shift. Outside the team’s 13-game winning streak, the offense struggled to find consistency. However, Baldelli pushed back against that narrative.

“It’s always easier to say after the fact that something could have been done,” Baldelli said. “I think at that point, we were actually playing really good baseball. Say we didn’t play well for a week, that I was going to make a massive overhaul to let our players go wild and aggressively on the bases. I don’t think that was the right time to do it.”

That restraint, though, may give way to a new identity for this roster, a team that makes opponents uncomfortable by applying pressure on the bases.

Player	Sprint Speed (ft/s)	Extra Bases Taken
Byron Buxton	30.1	3
James Outman	28.7	1
Luke Keaschall	28.5	0
Austin Martin	28.3	0
Ryan Fitzgerald	28.0	0
Kody Clemens	27.8	1

Aggressive vs. Reckless
Of course, with freedom comes the risk of chaos. Fans watching from home will wonder: how do you know if it’s aggression or simply recklessness?

“Truthfully, I’m watching it the same way that fans are watching it,” Baldelli admitted. “I’m used to putting signs on dictating when we do what, and right now, the players are going to have a little more openness and ability and freedom out there.”

It’s a fine line, but one Baldelli seems willing to live with as the Twins shift gears. Baldelli was known for his aggressive approach as a player, so it makes sense that that’s the type of team he’d want to manage. For fans looking to spot the difference in this new approach, Baldelli pointed to a handful of cues.

“There’s a lot to watch,” he explained. “The jumps, the leads. It’s going to be the number of times we go out there trying to take extra bases. You do that out of the box and on your initial first couple of steps on the base paths. You should see guys on their toes and trying to make things happen and not just waiting for things to happen.”

In a season where power production has not come easily, the Twins are looking for an edge. Speed and aggressiveness may not be as flashy as 400-foot home runs, but they can grind down opponents, turn singles into doubles, and manufacture the kind of runs that win close games.

The “Bomba Squad” identity carried Minnesota for a season. If Baldelli’s vision takes hold, this new style might carry them further.

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Have you noticed the Twins approaching base running differently in recent weeks? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

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[rdehring]

And who says you can't teach an old dawg a new trick?  Now if someone will tell the guys in the front office, maybe they will get more players who actually can run a bit.

[Nshore]

They have to be aggressive and smart.  Not "Watch this - hold my beer".

[Aggies7]

They should try getting on base first 

[JADBP]

I really could care LESS what Rocko thinks.   He has lost this team …. and me.  
 

please please send Rocks for Brains packing.  

[Woof Bronzer]

I'm confused.  The extreme sabermetrics crowd has insisted for years that baserunning doesn't matter, it isn't worth the risk and by ignoring it the Twins are just "doing what every other team does" because hitting home runs is the only offensive strategy that works and fans who don't understand this are just dumb rubes.  The Twins even used to instruct their catchers to stick out the leg for pitch framing purposes and not worry about throwing base stealers out on defense.  So...what changed?   

[Doctor Gast]

To have a decent running game you need a lot of help from the base coaches. Twins aren't getting it from their coaches; they are more of a hindrance than a help. Last game I watched, speedy Keaschall should have stolen 2B but he looked confused & apprehensive. He didn't even make an attempt.

[mickster]

28 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

To have a decent running game you need a lot of help from the base coaches. Twins aren't getting it from their coaches; they are more of a hindrance than a help. Last game I watched, speedy Keaschall should have stolen 2B but he looked confused & apprehensive. He didn't even make an attempt.

He needs to get to 2B for a better view of the strike three that Julien looks at

[rv78]

Tommy Watkins can now send everyone around 3rd with reckless abandon. Wait his does that already.

Two problems:

1.This is Tinglers idea, the guy who couldn't hold a managers job in San Diego.

2.Rocco isn't smart enough to think this up on his own. 

You can just feel the intelligence flowing from their tiny brains.

[P Meyer]

Rocco finding more ways to make less decisions. Doesn't develop. Doesn't coach. You'd think you could find a cheaper manager who is willing to be a lame duck. 

[Riverbrian]

Timing is right? Well... in regards to having nothing to lose for the rest of the season. The timing is right. The timing has been right for a few years now. They are behind the curve. Many teams have kicked their  baserunning aggressiveness into high gear.  

I'm all for getting these boys on the roster playing full tilt baseball. I've grown tired of station to station. I've grown tired of outfielders laying up instead of laying out on sinking liners within reach.   

Get these boys running the bases hard, get these boys laying out for some diving catches. Let them try to nail runners at the plate. Let them bunt when the shift opens up a dead spot. Let them bunt when you'd like to get a runner advanced in a key situation. Bunt in April and May and June and July instead of waiting until their backs are against the wall in September so it doesn't look so foreign to the player all of sudden asked to bunt because desperation for run production all of sudden caused a strategy change.  

It's nice that Rocco is going to let them spin around the bases. I applaud it. Just wondering why it ever stopped in the first place. 

[Dave Borton]

"I like this team more aggressive than not-aggressive..."

Tingler makes a suggestion and all of a sudden it's like someone turned on a flashlight in the middle of the night in an Arizona desert.

His whole meandering logic defies a rationale approach to the game; like a switch being flipped.

To me, he seems ______________________ in this season ___________ under his leadership (sic).

 

[nicksaviking]

“Truthfully, I’m watching it the same way that fans are watching it,” Baldelli admitted. “I’m used to putting signs on dictating when we do what, and right now, the players are going to have a little more openness and ability and freedom out there.”

Whether it's running the bases, swinging for the fences, taking a pitch, chasing a pitch, cheating toward the line, playing in a step or trying to nail a runner at home, in real time professional athletes often have a better instinct for what to do in the moment than the guy sitting comfortably on the bench.

How does it just occur now that micromanaging might have been a huge underlying problem with this team? Especially when you are micromanaging dozens of young players who are SUPPOSED to learn how and when to trust their own instincts?

Managing isn't telling the players what to do at all times, it's supposed to be showing them how they can all use their own unique talents DIFFERENTLY to achieve the same goal.

[Major League Ready]

They just don't have the players for this strategy at this point in time.  They have three guys that are a legit base stealing threat.  (Buxton/Keaschall/Outman)  It could look quite different in 2026.   There are quite a few guys (Jenkins/Rodriguez/Culpepper/Fedko/Roden) that could changes things considerably.

[Reptevia]

3 hours ago, Woof Bronzer said:

I'm confused.  The extreme sabermetrics crowd has insisted for years that baserunning doesn't matter, it isn't worth the risk and by ignoring it the Twins are just "doing what every other team does" because hitting home runs is the only offensive strategy that works and fans who don't understand this are just dumb rubes.  The Twins even used to instruct their catchers to stick out the leg for pitch framing purposes and not worry about throwing base stealers out on defense.  So...what changed?   

What I came on here to say.   Are they finally coming to the conclusion that there is something really wrong with the underlying data?

[USAFChief]

34 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

They just don't have the players for this strategy at this point in time.  They have three guys that are a legit base stealing threat.  (Buxton/Keaschall/Outman)  It could look quite different in 2026.   There are quite a few guys (Jenkins/Rodriguez/Culpepper/Fedko/Roden) that could changes things considerably.

Did you even read the OP?

I don't see stolen bases mentioned. 

 

[USAFChief]

".There’s a lot to watch,” he explained. “The jumps, the leads. It’s going to be the number of times we go out there trying to take extra bases. You do that out of the box and on your initial first couple of steps on the base paths. You should see guys on their toes and trying to make things happen and not just waiting for things to happen.””

 

This is somehow radically new??

Call me old fashioned, but I have been in favor of running hard out of the box for quite some time now. 

 

This management team is so hopelessly inept as to defy imagination. 

[Woof Bronzer]

13 hours ago, Reptevia said:

What I came on here to say.   Are they finally coming to the conclusion that there is something really wrong with the underlying data?

It's because the saber guys don't understand statistics.  Just because data shows that home runs are a more efficient way to generate runs than by stealing bases, for example, does not mean you should try to hit home runs with every swing and never ever steal a base.  The saber guys take these huge, extreme leaps with data and they're just wrong.  Jocks and math do not mix.  

I'm guessing 150 years ago when the first baseball game was played, the hitters learned the rules and said "I'll just try to hit a home run every time, that's the best way."  And probably by game 2 they realized "easier said than done" and started to understand the value in things like hitting for contact, sacrificing runners, stealing bases.  We're living in an age where the saber guys think they've cracked the code to baseball that couldn't be cracked in 150 years.   It's slowly starting to turn, but it'll take a while to dig out of this mess.  

 

[Linus]

They have (mostly) a bunch of plodders who don’t even understand the most basic risk / reward dynamics on the bases. What could possibly go wrong?  How about teaching these guys fundamentals of baserunning before we turn them loose?

[terrydactyls]

I was always thought of as a player who ran like he was waist deep in water.  But that never prevented me from watching for a chance to take an extra base.  For example, I noticed that the left fielder, after fielding a ball, would almost always tossed the ball leisurely to the closest infielder.  I kept this in mind as I went from first to second on a single.  As I rounded second base, I watched the left fielder lob the ball with a high arc to the shortstop instead of throwing it towards third base.  So I took off for third and safely slid in.  All this at the speed of my mother using her walker.  It's baseball awareness, not just speed.

[Old Crow]

Isn't this something along with bunting that should be worked on in spring training not after the season is a ldst cause?

[Otaknam]

I am sooooo tired of Baldelli’s almost total reliance on analytics, especially with the pitching staff. A good manager is able to use psychology to motivate players and show confidence in them. And now it takes a coach to plant the seed that maybe they should try something else, like old school stealing a base or being aggressive on the base paths, maybe even a hit and run, to kickstart Rocco’s inept offensive approach. Any real Twins fan knew this already.

[AlGoreRythm]

19 hours ago, Woof Bronzer said:

I'm confused.  The extreme sabermetrics crowd has insisted for years that baserunning doesn't matter, it isn't worth the risk and by ignoring it the Twins are just "doing what every other team does" because hitting home runs is the only offensive strategy that works and fans who don't understand this are just dumb rubes.  The Twins even used to instruct their catchers to stick out the leg for pitch framing purposes and not worry about throwing base stealers out on defense.  So...what changed?   

They changed the rules a couple years ago to make base stealing easier...

Sabremetrics thrive on large data sets, so even one or two seasons won't fundamentally change things, but slowly, integrating new data will alter expectations, models, etc.

[AlGoreRythm]

17 hours ago, P Meyer said:

Rocco finding more ways to make less decisions. Doesn't develop. Doesn't coach. You'd think you could find a cheaper manager who is willing to be a lame duck. 

How much do you think he makes? Can't be over 2M, and I'd honestly be surprised it was was even approaching 2...

[RpR]

How Rocco Baldelli and the Twins Plan “Something Drastic” On the Bases

Well, the base running last night was some thing Drastic!

[Woof Bronzer]

31 minutes ago, AlGoreRythm said:

They changed the rules a couple years ago to make base stealing easier...

Sabremetrics thrive on large data sets, so even one or two seasons won't fundamentally change things, but slowly, integrating new data will alter expectations, models, etc.

Yep this demonstrates a misunderstanding of statistics.  A large data set may say, all things being equal, over thousands of at bats, your odds of doing X is Y.  But the thing is, baseball is actually played in extremely small data sets.  These are called at bats.  Your odds of doing X in this one at bat depends on 1) the specific pitcher 2) the specific hitter 3) the game situation 4) the weather 5) the park 6) other external and internal factors.  What an average hitter does against an average pitcher in an average at bat weather- and park-normalized over many years may be helpful back pocket info, but it really has little bearing on the outcome of particular at bat.  

Think of football.  The coaches card may call for a field goal in a 4th and 3 situation, but if your QB is Tom Brady, the defense is the Denny Green Vikings, and it's likely your last possession, you're going to overrule the spreadsheet and go for it.  Yet in baseball, the saber guys will kick the field goal 100% of the time and if anyone dares to question it they'll just say "can't argue with the data, every team in the league kicks that field goal."

[The Great Hambino]

1 hour ago, Woof Bronzer said:

It's because the saber guys don't understand statistics. 

You have got to be kidding me.

1 hour ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Just because data shows that home runs are a more efficient way to generate runs than by stealing bases, for example, does not mean you should try to hit home runs with every swing and never ever steal a base.

This is not the argument of sabermetrics.  This has never been the argument of sabermetrics.  This is an extreme bastardization of the argument parroted around the internet by those that just have never even made an attempt to understand it because it goes against what their little league coach taught them in 1972.  You will not find a single article from an actual sabermatrician that says you should try to hit home runs with every swing or never attempt to steal a base.

Regarding stolen bases, the argument is there is an optimal success rate in any given situation to make the attempt worth the risk of making an out and removing the runner from the basepaths.  It does not say to apply this evenly across all situations without considering the variables at hand.  If a team did this, they would be using sabermetrics incorrectly.  And since sabermetrics is a tool, some teams will use it better or worse than others.  The idea that it has created some inflexible blanket strategy is pretty easily shot down by the fact that teams - all of which use sabermetrics (except maybe the Rockies) - still have fairly significant differences in things like stolen base rates and bunt attempts.

2 hours ago, Woof Bronzer said:

We're living in an age where the saber guys think they've cracked the code to baseball that couldn't be cracked in 150 years  

This idea that our pure game of baseball went unchanged for 150 years until those dastardly nerds got their hands on it needs to die.  Pick a statistic - home runs, stolen bases, whatever - their rates have ebbed and flowed throughout the game's history.  Did the sabermatricians cause stolen base rates to crater in the 1930's?

11 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

A large data set may say, all things being equal, over thousands of at bats, your odds of doing X is Y.  But the thing is, baseball is actually played in extremely small data sets.  These are called at bats.  Your odds of doing X in this one at bat depends on 1) the specific pitcher 2) the specific hitter 3) the game situation 4) the weather 5) the park 6) other external and internal factors.  What an average hitter does against an average pitcher in an average at bat weather- and park-normalized over many years may be helpful back pocket info, but it really has little bearing on the outcome of particular at bat.  

Yep.  100%.  Not sure what any of this has to do with sabermetrics since they don't say to apply the average expected outcome at all times.

12 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Yep this demonstrates a misunderstanding of statistics.

Have you considered the possibility that perhaps you have a misunderstanding of sabermetrics?

[Woof Bronzer]

16 minutes ago, The Great Hambino said:

You have got to be kidding me.

This is not the argument of sabermetrics.  This has never been the argument of sabermetrics.  This is an extreme bastardization of the argument parroted around the internet by those that just have never even made an attempt to understand it because it goes against what their little league coach taught them in 1972.  You will not find a single article from an actual sabermatrician that says you should try to hit home runs with every swing or never attempt to steal a base.

Regarding stolen bases, the argument is there is an optimal success rate in any given situation to make the attempt worth the risk of making an out and removing the runner from the basepaths.  It does not say to apply this evenly across all situations without considering the variables at hand.  If a team did this, they would be using sabermetrics incorrectly.  And since sabermetrics is a tool, some teams will use it better or worse than others.  The idea that it has created some inflexible blanket strategy is pretty easily shot down by the fact that teams - all of which use sabermetrics (except maybe the Rockies) - still have fairly significant differences in things like stolen base rates and bunt attempts.

This idea that our pure game of baseball went unchanged for 150 years until those dastardly nerds got their hands on it needs to die.  Pick a statistic - home runs, stolen bases, whatever - their rates have ebbed and flowed throughout the game's history.  Did the sabermatricians cause stolen base rates to crater in the 1930's?

Yep.  100%.  Not sure what any of this has to do with sabermetrics since they don't say to apply the average expected outcome at all times.

Have you considered the possibility that perhaps you have a misunderstanding of sabermetrics?

Haha you proved my point better than I ever could!  "Sabermetrics is gospel!  If you disagree you're an idiot."  

Analytics are a tool, not a philosophy. 

[USAFChief]

28 minutes ago, The Great Hambino said:

 

Yep.  100%.  Not sure what any of this has to do with sabermetrics since they don't say to apply the average expected outcome at all times.

You make good points, but you lose me here.

I bet I can find 1 million* articles by the saber crowd that will argue strategy based on run expectancy charts. 1 billion articles damning sac bunting no matter the situation. 15 years ago everyone worshipped at the alter of OBP. The goal is "dont make outs." SLG is overrated. It was literally the whole point of Moneyball. Today? "Swing hard, baby!"

There are rigid Dogmatists on both sides.

And I dont think it unreasonable to question the Twins rigid adherence to certain saber friendly concepts  

 

*If I've told you once, I've told you a zillion times, dont exaggerate.

[The Great Hambino]

 

6 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Haha you proved my point better than I ever could!  "Sabermetrics is gospel!  If you disagree you're an idiot."  

Analytics are a tool, not a philosophy. 

If that's what you took away from what I wrote, then I don't know what to tell you.

I even used the phrase "And since sabermetrics is a tool, some teams will use it better or worse than others"

If you're going to respond to someone, try actually reading what you're responding to first.