Twins 11, Mariners 4: Bats Make Connor Prielipp's First Big-League Win an Easy One

[Dman]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Gotta be honest, I think Wallner needs some tough love at this point. I've been pretty defensive of him, but he honestly is just terrible at the plate. It looks like he's just guessing at pitches rather than seeing them and he needs to get out of his own head. 

"Figure it out or end your MLB career here and now. We're sending you to St. Paul in hopes you can get out of your head and start trusting in your eyes and following a process." should be the message he gets.

 

I tend to agree on Wallner.  I think he knows he isn't performing well and is pressing.  I think he is thinking to much instead of just reacting.  I do think they will give him a couple more weeks to figure it out, but a reset at AAA to get the Mojo back sure seems like a good idea to me.  He is hurting the team too much right now.

[mickster]

10 minutes ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

Nice win. 

I hope Prielipp is here to stay. 

Again, Morris is left in too long. How many times does this same result need to happen before you stop doing it? 

Finally got to see the arm from Wallner. With the bat still not producing, is it enough to keep his spot on the roster? 

Stats are correct on Morris, and put in as a solid BP arm.  I think the extra inning yesterday was too save an arm - and was a good call from Shelton

[JADBP]

11 hours ago, DataNerd said:

Prielipp needs to improve his control, but the slider being this good has been bailing his control out.  Really no ceiling on him, all depends on how well he can locate his stuff.

Not sure that Morris is good for more than a couple of innings right now.  Not ready to move him to the pen full time at 24, but our pen really is bad so he'll probably get some more run before returning to St Paul.

Wallner over Martin in the lineup is just pathetic at this point.  Are they waiting for Wallner's OPS to fall below Martin's OBP?

At what point do you give up on Outman and/or Wallner. Pathetic is right !!!  I am absolutely sick and tired of all the RISP opportunities left behind by Wallner.  I wonder if the Twins are afraid of swapping Wallner for Emma because if they do, Wallner might never play another game in Minneapolis?  Buy throwing him out there every day over and over just hoping he breaks out is just insanity.  Maybe even stupidity.  

[DataNerd]

17 minutes ago, JADBP said:

At what point do you give up on Outman and/or Wallner. Pathetic is right !!!  I am absolutely sick and tired of all the RISP opportunities left behind by Wallner.  I wonder if the Twins are afraid of swapping Wallner for Emma because if they do, Wallner might never play another game in Minneapolis?  Buy throwing him out there every day over and over just hoping he breaks out is just insanity.  Maybe even stupidity.  

Outman is an easy send down.  Yes, he would have to be put through waivers, but I doubt that anyone would claim him and put him on their MLB roster.

[jmlease1]

16 minutes ago, JADBP said:

At what point do you give up on Outman and/or Wallner. Pathetic is right !!!  I am absolutely sick and tired of all the RISP opportunities left behind by Wallner.  I wonder if the Twins are afraid of swapping Wallner for Emma because if they do, Wallner might never play another game in Minneapolis?  Buy throwing him out there every day over and over just hoping he breaks out is just insanity.  Maybe even stupidity.  

Let's not pretend Keaschall has been any better, he's just got more recency bias to help him out. Clemens has also been awful.

Wallner was the sacrificial lamb against all the LH starting pitching we faced early on, and it definitely did not help him get off to a decent start. He should be playing less for sure at least until he works some things out, and they need to protect him against LHP for a while. Congrats, Trevor Larnach: your turn to get beat up by poor roster construction. Martin can play LH every day and Larnach can get more time in RF for now.

Sometime in May is when we're likely to see a real roster decision. Probably only be guys with options, though, because the Twins are fearful of letting assets potentially go for "nothing" regardless of whether they have any actual value. Sunk cost fallacy run amok.

[Mike Sixel]

4 minutes ago, DataNerd said:

Outman is an easy send down.  Yes, he would have to be put through waivers, but I doubt that anyone would claim him and put him on their MLB roster.

And even if they did claim him, it's no loss. 

[twinstalker]

My worry with Prielipp is his ability to throw enough without hurting himself.  This should be a ramp-up season for him, and I do wonder if it would be better for it to be in a more controlled environment.

I'm no pitching expert, but his pitches seem promising.  The Twins are going nowhere.  It would be a shame to overwork him for no real gain.  And yes, I realize they're trying to limit his pitches up here, but there are so many ways to overwork a guy (days of rest, pitches in an inning, pitches in a game, too many sliders, etc)

[bean5302]

2 hours ago, Dman said:

I tend to agree on Wallner.  I think he knows he isn't performing well and is pressing.  I think he is thinking to much instead of just reacting.  I do think they will give him a couple more weeks to figure it out, but a reset at AAA to get the Mojo back sure seems like a good idea to me.  He is hurting the team too much right now.

Yeah, I think he just needs desperately to develop a shorter memory if he's going to make it in MLB.

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, twinstalker said:

My worry with Prielipp is his ability to throw enough without hurting himself.  This should be a ramp-up season for him, and I do wonder if it would be better for it to be in a more controlled environment.

I'm no pitching expert, but his pitches seem promising.  The Twins are going nowhere.  It would be a shame to overwork him for no real gain.  And yes, I realize they're trying to limit his pitches up here, but there are so many ways to overwork a guy (days of rest, pitches in an inning, pitches in a game, too many sliders, etc)

I will never understand thinking pricing in AAA is less stressful. Or why he'd want not want MLB money. Or why you'd waste pitches in the minors if you think he has limited pitches in his arm. 

[JD-TWINS]

4 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Not at all understanding the continued concern with Prielipp's "injury history" which really amounts to 1 injury. UCL replacement in 2021, and the surgery failed, but it wasn't discovered the surgery failed until 2023. He underwent a UCL brace to strengthen the ligament. That's about it. There is no storied injury history. It was a common injury and the surgery didn't take so it had to be revisited.

There's also no reason to be concerned about him throwing 80-90 pitches. He ended last year with a 6.0 inning start as I recall.

I don't see a reason to be concerned for Prielipp going 140 innings this year.

He’s only got about 120 innings left ………. if 140 is the mythical ceiling. ….. 5 starts per month (minimum) at 5 innings each is another 125 innings. He’s going to have to be monitored pretty closely to get through September.

Innings pitched per year:

’20 - 21

‘21 - 7

‘22 - 0

‘23 - 6.2

‘24 - 23.1

‘25 - 82.2

6 seasons and a total of 140.2 innings and 59% were just 2025. To me, he’s the Poster Boy for potential arm issues!

 

[JD-TWINS]

3 hours ago, JADBP said:

At what point do you give up on Outman and/or Wallner. Pathetic is right !!!  I am absolutely sick and tired of all the RISP opportunities left behind by Wallner.  I wonder if the Twins are afraid of swapping Wallner for Emma because if they do, Wallner might never play another game in Minneapolis?  Buy throwing him out there every day over and over just hoping he breaks out is just insanity.  Maybe even stupidity.  

It’s a Professional Sports Team………. why does anyone care if Matt Wallner plays another game in Minneapolis? ……. Matt should care - his agent & his family and friends, that’s understood. The organization needs to put players on the roster that actually help win games - not guys that helped win games a couple years ago. In ‘24, same time of year, Wallner got sent down - came back in July and was solid. …….. similar approach in ‘23. He’s got an option left - let him go find himself, with some help provided. Or, move on.

[JD-TWINS]

Should Gray get more playing time - at least v. RH pitching? 

Luke Keaschall - 119 PA’s - 13 RBI - .269 OBP - .282 Slug%
 

Royce Lewis - 65 PA’s - 10 RBI - .308 OBP - .393 Slug%
 

Tristan Gray - 54 PA’s - 13 RBI - .340 OBP - .500 Slug%

Pretty sure he should play more!

[Nshore]

I feel bad for Wallner.  As Morneau pointed out last night, he's missing pitches that are right in the zone, which is a bad sign.  Plus ML pitchers have found holes in his swing and will exploit them all day long until he figures it out.  It might be a blow to his ego, but he really needs a trip to the Saints.

[jorgenswest]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

I will never understand thinking pricing in AAA is less stressful. Or why he'd want not want MLB money. Or why you'd waste pitches in the minors if you think he has limited pitches in his arm. 

Pitching in AAA is less stress in the arm. There will be more rest between starts with Mondays routinely off. I doubt Prielipp has ever pitched on 4 days rest. The batters are not as good so there will be fewer high pitch innings and fewer at bats where he needs to bring his best stuff,  You can see it in the pitch mix. While in AAA he threw 26% sliders in the majors he has thrown 47% sliders. It is his best pitch and he needs to use it to get major league hitters out. He is throwing slightly less fastballs in the majors with 35.7% to 33.1%. These are probably the most stressful pitch in the arm and combined he had to use them much more often in the majors.

Is pitching in the majors going to be more stressful on his arm? I think most would say yes. Is that a reason to keep him in the minors? No.

[jorgenswest]

50 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

It’s a Professional Sports Team………. why does anyone care if Matt Wallner plays another game in Minneapolis?

I care. I follow these guys as they get drafted and as they progress up the minor league ladder. I look forward to their debuts and by then I have learned some of their story. I care that Wallner does well and hope to see that happen in a Twins uniform. I am ready to be patient with Wallner and Keaschall and I would add Clemens to that list also. The front office needs to put emotions to the side. I don’t. It was great to see all three making key plays in yesterday’s win. This human part helps to make baseball a great game for me.

[Nshore]

I know this has been repeated ad nauseum, but I can't help it:  Watching balls continue to leak through the shortstop hole that should be outs, it's impossible to comprehend how the Twins draft decision makers saw Brooks Lee and his obvious lack of speed and range and said "there's a number one draft choice ML shortstop".

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

I care. I follow these guys as they get drafted and as they progress up the minor league ladder. I look forward to their debuts and by then I have learned some of their story. I care that Wallner does well and hope to see that happen in a Twins uniform. I am ready to be patient with Wallner and Keaschall and I would add Clemens to that list also. The front office needs to put emotions to the side. I don’t. It was great to see all three making key plays in yesterday’s win. This human part helps to make baseball a great game for me.

To each his own - this is Matt’s FOURTH season I’m tired of being frustrated by watching Matt Wallner - he’s had numerous extended periods of poor performance.

I can’t expect any fans to like what I said - it’s targeted toward the guys running the Team, responsible for trying to generate Team Wins.

I don’t dislike Matt Wallner. I’d love to see him succeed. I’ve been calling here for him to be sent down to re-set, as he was in ‘23 & ‘24, successfully.

He had a bad year last year but was injured a couple times, at least twice, so that makes things difficult. Granted!

His value is power - it’s not his arm in RF…….it’s certainly not clutch hitting….. arm that’s fun to watch, but it only plays into the game 2-3 times per month. He’s borderline leading the A.L. in strikeouts all year - his Slug% is .290. Weak hitting Luke Keaschall has a Slug% of .282.

In my opinion, the organization should not keep playing guys that continually do not add to the offensive goals. …….. everyone can have a high point every 2-3 weeks but that’s not enough for winning baseball.

Guardians fans (opposing pitchers) have to be giddy when they see a line-up card with Wallner - Keaschall - Clemens penciled in for that day’s game.