Twins Minor League Report (6/2): Kaelen Culpepper Hits a Leadoff Homer, Royce Lewis Homers Twice; Rinse and Repeat

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

23 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

I have not seen all of Royce Lewis' plate appearances but have watched a bunch. For those who have actually watched the times Lewis hits or fields ... What do you see? I see him getting better at getting his feet firm, although there are plenty of dance moves with either or both feet moving still. Lewis does still buckle at the waist on breaking pitches at times and flail harmlessly at outside stuff. He has seen quite a few fastballs middle, middle. Barco is a pretty good pitching prospect but he was feeding quite a few pitches right down the chute. Lewis fouled one off down the right field line and was ready for the same pitch right after that .... boom, HR.

I have missed more than half of Wallner's trips to the plate. In what can only be call luck of when I see him, I have not seen Wallner's hits in live action, only as highlight videos. My Wallner viewing has shown a player descending badly, so it is good to read he is doing better. One thing that has remained troublesome is that virtually every game I see a catchable fly ball elude the lumbering right fielder and sometimes two outs turn into base hits. Wallner should be shifted to DH. It has to be very difficult for pitchers to live through the experience of Big Matt in the outfield.

A number of people bring up using this player and that player at first base and note that it is at the bottom of the defensive spectrum. The Twins have been working Gabriel Gonzalez in at first base. Gabby is working hard at learning the position. Last night there were two plays that in some ways symbolize the difficulty of learning first base. One was a hot shot that Gonzalez miraculously stabbed and threw to the pitcher for a 3-1 out. Gabby has quick hands, which were useful on that play. The other, later in the game, displayed the difficulty of catching throws from an infielder. Culpepper charged in to field a ball and thew quickly. The ball was totally catchable by an experienced first baseman, about six feet off the ground and about a foot to the left of Gonzalez. Gabby was fooled by the speed of the throw from a close distance and the ball glanced off of his glove. I'm pretty sure an error was given to Culpepper but it is a play made 100% of the time by an experienced first baseman. I include the plays to give examples of the difficulty of learning to play a position at the professional level. If you have never played catch with someone throwing 90 mph you might be surprised.

Great insights. Thank you for this analysis. I don't watch those games, to this is very helpful.