One Way the Twins Are Spending Money to Improve Their Offense in 2026

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Twins will be spending some significant money this winter to improve their offense—even if that spending comes in the form of hours tallied by front-office personnel or technological upgrades, rather than new hitters on high-paying free-agent contracts. That was, perhaps, the most intriguing takeaway from the press conference at which the team introduced new hitting coach Keith Beauregard (and bench coach Mark Hallberg) last month.

"We’re gonna build a markerless system that shows what a guy’s swing is, and when it’s good what it looks like and when it’s off, ‘Here’s what we’re seeing,'" Beauregard said via Zoom on November 17. "And it should get us to solutions as quickly as possible, and make meaningful tweaks as quickly as possible, as well."

Nestled in that enthusiastic statement of intent was a somewhat startling admission: the Twins don't already have such a system in place. Sources within front offices elsewhere in the league estimate that between 15 and 25 of the other 29 teams do already have proprietary means by which they provide biomechanical feedback to players on their swings within games—that is, without needing to attach markers and study the player's movements in a laboratory setting.

This is one of the little-discussed shortfalls that has crept up on the team over the last few years. Throughout Derek Falvey's tenure as the head of baseball operations, good analysts, developers, scouts, executives, coaches and instructors have flowed through Minnesota. They've generally been well-regarded by other teams for their acquisition and development of good staffers. That's why they've lost a lot of them to other teams over the last several seasons. When it comes to technology (and the implementation thereof in player development and coaching), however, they haven't invested enough to stay ahead of the curve. In fact, they're a bit behind it.

Diminished spending throughout the organization has had effects reaching beyond the 40-man roster and the nominal payroll. Most of the team's pro scouts were let go earlier this year, and sources familiar with the internal workings of the team say a budget crunch has encroached upon the efforts of the front office since 2023. 

That's the bad news. The good news is that forward strides like the one Beauregard described cost very little. It won't eat up much of the budget for research, development and implementation to add a markerless motion-capture system to their arsenal of tools. The data needed to do that kind of work is already abundantly available to the Twins, via Statcast. Visualizations that animate and illustrate a hitter's swing in three dimensions already exist, and are available to the public via Baseball Savant. Here's the one for Trevor Larnach, for 2025.

However, these animations are composites. They show the average of all the swings a hitter took during the year in question. The application Beauregard described, which the Twins will have at their disposal in 2026, is more nuanced. It will allow them to study individual swings on demand (another capability they technically already had, but which they didn't use extensively in 2025, according to a source), and even more importantly, it will allow them to bin and tailor swings to study them in clusters. 

What does a hitter's swing look like on fastballs down in the zone? What about when the pitch is belt-high and on the inner edge? How are they adjusting to breaking balls, in terms of both their bat path and the transfer of weight in their lower half? These are questions all hitting coaches would agree are important, but there are different ways to attempt to answer them. With improved technological tools at their disposal, Beauregard and assistant hitting coaches Rayden Sierra and Trevor Amicone will try to give their charges more objective, concrete answers in 2026.

For multiple reasons, communication about swings and hitting trouble has been a major weakness for the team over the last two years. David Popkins was fired after 2024 because the front office believed he was unable to adequately convey the team's philosophy to the players under his tutelage. He proved that theory wrong in 2025, as he helmed one of baseball's best offenses and led the Blue Jays to within inches of a World Series title. Although signed to a multi-year deal to replace Popkins, Matt Borgschulte was fired after just one season in his stead. The team's persistent inability to translate apparent talent into consistent production prompted that move.

Larnach is a perfect example. The fault might well lie in him, rather than his instructors, but neither Popkins nor Borgschulte succeeded in getting the young slugger to better understand his own swing. He made major changes from 2024 to 2025, but wasn't even aware of them—or able to articulate the reasons for them.

"There's been no intentional changes to the swing this year," Larnach said in August. "Everything I'm trying to do is the same as last year, and if anything's different, it's just my adjustment to the pitch and to what I'm seeing."

That might have been true, as far as it went, but it betrayed an insufficient self-knowledge, which can be blamed partially on a lack of irrefutable feedback. Beauregard's markerless capture system will force Larnach to reckon more with the realities of his swing, which might be part of why the team felt optimistic enough to retain him at the non-tender deadline in mid-November.

Slushy swing talk was a virus that spread throughout Minnesota's clubhouse in 2025. Carlos Correa (who came to the team from the Astros, and thus has had his swing captured and dissected in quantitative fashion for a decade), Ryan Jeffers, and late-season reinforcements Ryan Fitzgerald and James Outman could be counted on to accurately describe their own swings, but Larnach, Matt Wallner and others frequently demonstrated a mistaken or incomplete comprehension of themselves in motion. That can reflect a player's attitude or inclination, as much as a team's tendency, but the Twins' lack of cutting-edge tools certainly made it more possible to come to work every day and be underprepared for the hard work of hitting big-league pitching.

In 2026, Larnach, Wallner, Royce Lewis and Luke Keaschall will have the benefit of that hard data, be it in numerical or visual form. Beauregard is ready to find the best way to communicate with each individual, but one way or another, the goal is to get them the actionable information they weren't receiving (at least in actionable form) until now.

"I think it goes back to meeting guys where they’re at, and figuring out how to speak their language," Beauregard said. "When you learn to speak their language, you build (basically) a base model of what type of swing works for them. And with some of these biomechanical markers, and some of the things you just alluded to, it allows us to get to resolutions a little bit quicker, so when they’re outside of those markers, we can catch flags."

The 2026 Twins will have to do more with less, at the plate. Hiring Beauregard was part of the plan to do so, but supporting him with better technology and advanced tools the team should have had already will be important, too.

View full article

[DJL44]

Biomechanics are fine, but they aren’t going to help Brooks Lee (for example) decide what pitches to NOT swing at.

[EGFTShaw]

QUOTE:"When it comes to technology (and the implementation thereof in player development and coaching), however, they haven't invested enough to stay ahead of the curve. In fact, they're a bit behind it"

Inexcusable.

[Whitey333]

I sometimes feel a little sorry for the hitters.  There seems to be more and more information and analytics out there that I can't help but think maybe at least in some cases it's information overload.  Then with so many different hitting coaches spewing their philosophies and interpretations of the analytics it could be many of the hitters get way too much info.  Just wondering.  Not much has helped the Twins the past few seasons.

[old nurse]

57 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Biomechanics are fine, but they aren’t going to help Brooks Lee (for example) decide what pitches to NOT swing at.

Better knowledge of biomechanics and outcomes will tell you why to not swing at those pitches with that swing. 

[Old Crow]

Was it Oliva who explained "see ball hit ball"?  Too much over thinking leads to brain freeze.

[old nurse]

40 minutes ago, EGFTShaw said:

QUOTE:"When it comes to technology (and the implementation thereof in player development and coaching), however, they haven't invested enough to stay ahead of the curve. In fact, they're a bit behind it"

Inexcusable.

Did the ex hitting coaches want the data?  More information to players who do not listen to the information given is a pointless proposition Lewis wouldn’t change. Easier to change the coach than the players. Just ask Rocco. 

[nicksaviking]

13 minutes ago, old nurse said:

Did the ex hitting coaches want the data?  More information to players who do not listen to the information given is a pointless proposition Lewis wouldn’t change. Easier to change the coach than the players. Just ask Rocco. 

Technology or no technology, the last coaching staff couldn't fix ANY hitters. Plenty seemed to get worse the longer they they were here though.

[Riverbrian]

Hope it works! 

 

 

[old nurse]

1 minute ago, nicksaviking said:

Technology or no technology, the last coaching staff couldn't fix ANY hitters. Plenty seemed to get worse the longer they they were here though.

The hitting got better under Popkins as the year went on?

[old nurse]

Missing from the article is how long has this been around, how do they collect the data and what was the cost. Is it a system that will tell you that the hitter is just hoping the bat meets the ball?

[nicksaviking]

36 minutes ago, old nurse said:

The hitting got better under Popkins as the year went on?

Individually, which young players improved overall? Lots of them came up, were hot, the other teams adjusted and then the Twins never had an answer. But outside of Jeffers, nobody has become a hitter that can confidently be stuck in the lineup every day.

[terrydactyls]

1 hour ago, old nurse said:

Missing from the article is how long has this been around, how do they collect the data and what was the cost. Is it a system that will tell you that the hitter is just hoping the bat meets the ball?

I took golf lessons over 15 years ago where they used similar technology to track my swing and then superimposed my swing over that of a PGA player with a comparable swing.  I made minor tweaks that I would not have comprehended if explained non-visually.  It greatly improved my ball striking - but not my score.  I still couldn't putt.

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, Old Crow said:

Was it Oliva who explained "see ball hit ball"?  Too much over thinking leads to brain freeze.

I think you are selling Oliva way short about his knowledge of hitting. Good hitters have a plan when they get to the plate. They know what to attack and what to lay off. Ideally, they practice the swing so much that muscle memory kicks in and they don't have to worry about that when they're at bat.

[D.C Twins]

Well thank God that "Ryan Fitzgerald and James Outman could be counted on to accurately describe their own swings,"

I assume that they accurately described them as terrible?

[DJL44]

1 minute ago, D.C Twins said:

Well thank God that "Ryan Fitzgerald and James Outman could be counted on to accurately describe their own swings,"

I assume that they accurately described them as terrible?

You can have a beautiful swing, but it doesn't matter if you can't make contact with the ball.

[Blyleven2011]

4 hours ago, EGFTShaw said:

QUOTE:"When it comes to technology (and the implementation thereof in player development and coaching), however, they haven't invested enough to stay ahead of the curve. In fact, they're a bit behind it"

Inexcusable.

Imagine that , falvey behind on the curve  ...

The smartest man in the room behind on the curve , imagine that ...

 

[Woof Bronzer]

Do biomechanics help players run the bases?  Sacrifice?  Play defense?  Run out ground balls?  Hit cutoff men?  Let's work on those things too.  It won't cost much, and it'll have a much stronger correlation with winning than using fancy software to increase launch angle by 2.2%. 

[Parfigliano]

4 hours ago, EGFTShaw said:

QUOTE:"When it comes to technology (and the implementation thereof in player development and coaching), however, they haven't invested enough to stay ahead of the curve. In fact, they're a bit behind it"

Inexcusable.

The kitchen/game day buffet wasn't MLB level according to Paddack.  What comes next?   We learn the weight room is medicine balls, various sized rocks and fan belts on pulleys screwed to benches, walls, and ceiling.

[DJL44]

25 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Do biomechanics help players run the bases?  Sacrifice?  Play defense?  Run out ground balls?  Hit cutoff men?  Let's work on those things too.  It won't cost much, and it'll have a much stronger correlation with winning than using fancy software to increase launch angle by 2.2%. 

Biomechanics can help with running, throwing and fielding. They won't help you figure out what base to throw to, when to take the extra base or where to position yourself on the field.

[karcherd]

I am glad to hear that Outman and Fitzgerald now know their swing, their careers have really taken off.  You could have at least cite a better example of success to prove the software works.

Do all players want this technology or maybe they have other methods to be successful.  I too worry that they are getting information overload, and I believe Lewis has alluded to this in the past.  Even Rocco in 2024 openly pondered if they were getting too much information.  All the analytics and technology is great but there are still fundamental components of hitting that seem to be overlooked.  One of those is having a plan when you go up to the plate and how often have we seen the offense shut down after the first couple of innings.  Are there in game adjustments being made, are they watching the pitcher or the iPad.  So can they adjust their swing, but can they identify the pitch or what pitch they should be sitting on.  We need to get back to the basics.

Also it would be nice to know how many teams truly use this software.   A pretty big range was provided and that tells me maybe it isn't as much of a proven tool as the author wants us to believe.

[ashbury]

4 hours ago, Whitey333 said:

I sometimes feel a little sorry for the hitters.  There seems to be more and more information and analytics out there that I can't help but think maybe at least in some cases it's information overload.  

If so, that wouldn't speak well of the mental capacities of the players the Twins go after, given that other teams don't seem to suffer the same overload.

[Pat]

If a player is thinking about all this information when he is in the batter's box, the ball will be in the catcher's mitt before he decides what to do.  You need to have a clear mind and then react.  Hence, Oliva's " See ball , Hit the ball."

[Pykkman]

Glad they are adding resources for the players.  But outside of a few players this offense is currently built on hopes and prayers. It may end up ranking lower than the bullpen.   

[tony&rodney]

The one issue I see within the article is a reference to a coach not relaying the team philosophy on hitting. The tools, the coaching expertise, and the relationship between the players and coaches is important. Where trouble may arise is when the suits are sticking their heads into the clubhouse. The front office has a job and the people in the clubhouse have a job. Baseball may have a problem with the interference between the two parties. I wonder how serious that interference was in recent years for the Twins. Will this continue?

[jkcarew]

9 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I think you are selling Oliva way short about his knowledge of hitting. Good hitters have a plan when they get to the plate. They know what to attack and what to lay off. Ideally, they practice the swing so much that muscle memory kicks in and they don't have to worry about that when they're at bat.

Oliva always attacked. His plan really was see-ball-hit-ball. Wasn’t a guy that was ever into working the count or looking for a specific pitch/location…and it’s reflected/validated by his numbers, and also by the eyeballs if you were around to watch him hit. He swung and made contact with pitches anywhere near the strike zone, and hit the ball all over the field. He had two things working for him that the “average” or even “good” hitters didn’t. Foremost, ridiculously extreme high talent level, also…Killebrew hitting behind him.

 

[Doctor Wu]

20 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

I took golf lessons over 15 years ago where they used similar technology to track my swing and then superimposed my swing over that of a PGA player with a comparable swing.  I made minor tweaks that I would not have comprehended if explained non-visually.  It greatly improved my ball striking - but not my score.  I still couldn't putt.

And the Twins still won't be able to bunt. 

[Doctor Wu]

18 hours ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Do biomechanics help players run the bases?  Sacrifice?  Play defense?  Run out ground balls?  Hit cutoff men?  Let's work on those things too.  It won't cost much, and it'll have a much stronger correlation with winning than using fancy software to increase launch angle by 2.2%. 

Oh man, talking about launch angle is causing those cramps to come back!

[Old Crow]

17 hours ago, Pat said:

If a player is thinking about all this information when he is in the batter's box, the ball will be in the catcher's mitt before he decides what to do.  You need to have a clear mind and then react.  Hence, Oliva's " See ball , Hit the ball."

Amen!

[DJL44]

13 hours ago, jkcarew said:

Oliva always attacked. His plan really was see-ball-hit-ball. Wasn’t a guy that was ever into working the count or looking for a specific pitch/location…and it’s reflected/validated by his numbers, and also by the eyeballs if you were around to watch him hit. He swung and made contact with pitches anywhere near the strike zone, and hit the ball all over the field. He had two things working for him that the “average” or even “good” hitters didn’t. Foremost, ridiculously extreme high talent level, also…Killebrew hitting behind him.

That doesn't square with his 448 career walks. He wasn't up there hacking at balls outside the strike zone. Oliva was a major league hitting coach for a decade. You don't get that job if your only hitting advice is "see ball, hit ball".