The Twins' Collection of Lefty Bats Has Reached the Breaking Point

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, Cody Pirkl said:

I don't understand this takeaway at all. The Twins aren't "turning the platoon advantage on it's head". You say that like they've made some kind of unprecedented breakthrough. They're better against RHP because they can't fill out a lineup with capable RHHs against LHP. They haven't been able to all year because of how they built the roster.

Their best hitters are RH so they play everyday. All of their switch hitters are worse against LHP. Most LHHs are much worst against LHP and they've chosen to overinvest in LHHs or switch hitters who are better left-handed. 

 

It's OK... Most people don't understand. I know that I'm against the wind on this. All teams platoon and I believe that roster decisions are being made on left right instead of talent or the development of talent.  

In order to understand... you have to at least momentarily let go of any left or right reasoning.  

When I say "turning the platoon advantage on its head". I'm not saying that it was some unprecedented breakthrough or even suggesting that this was intentionally done by the front office.  

I'm saying that we have 7 Right handed hitters, 3 switch hitters and 3 left handed hitters on the current 26 man roster and I'm saying that is the roster composition for the majority of the season. I'm saying we are not even close to over stuffed with left handed hitters to the point where we need to find an 8th right handed hitter.   

I'm saying that Derek Shelton just like Rocco Baldelli before him are setting the starting lineup primarily based on the splits of the pitcher.

I'm saying that we are typically stuffing 8 or 9 hitters into the right handed batters box against left handed pitching and typically stuffing 6 hitters into the left handed batters box against right handed pitching. Despite this consistent disparity... the Twins have been weak against left handed pitching despite 8 or 9 guys in the opposite batters box. And the Twins have been successful against right handed pitching with less batters in the opposite batters box. That disparity... that success with less and failure with more should make everyone question exactly how much the platoon is helping this team right now. And if it's not helping us right now... I'm pretty sure it isn't helping us in the future. I'm saying talent should be the reason for a call up and not what batters box they stand in. 

You talk about the switch hitters. I want to be clear that I have no problem with Brooks Lee getting AB's against left handed hitting because Brooks Lee is still developing. However... if the platoon split matters... why is Brooks Lee second in AB's against left handed pitching with a .587 OPS over 150 AB's. Yeah I know injuries to others and defense is always consideration in the amount of playing time. If Caratini is struggling against left handed pitching... why is he frequently used against left handed pitching? 

And here is another point. If it is so important that we try to math our offensive lineup together using the platoon advantage as a primary reason for lineups. If we are so concerned about a lefty facing a lefty. Why don't we have more left handed pitchers if we are so afraid of them offensively why don't we get more of these weapons for our ourselves. If you look at the historical splits. Left handed pitchers have a collective 3.84 ERA. Right Handed pitching has a 4.16 collective ERA.

Get more left handed pitchers if the left handed batter is concerning you. Give other teams the problem you are fighting. 

I'm saying don't fight it. Find Talent!!!  

[Cody Pirkl]

38 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

It's OK... Most people don't understand. I know that I'm against the wind on this. All teams platoon and I believe that roster decisions are being made on left right instead of talent or the development of talent.  

In order to understand... you have to at least momentarily let go of any left or right reasoning.  

When I say "turning the platoon advantage on its head". I'm not saying that it was some unprecedented breakthrough or even suggesting that this was intentionally done by the front office.  

I'm saying that we have 7 Right handed hitters, 3 switch hitters and 3 left handed hitters on the current 26 man roster and I'm saying that is the roster composition for the majority of the season. I'm saying we are not even close to over stuffed with left handed hitters to the point where we need to find an 8th right handed hitter.   

I'm saying that Derek Shelton just like Rocco Baldelli before him are setting the starting lineup primarily based on the splits of the pitcher.

I'm saying that we are typically stuffing 8 or 9 hitters into the right handed batters box against left handed pitching and typically stuffing 6 hitters into the left handed batters box against right handed pitching. Despite this consistent disparity... the Twins have been weak against left handed pitching despite 8 or 9 guys in the opposite batters box. And the Twins have been successful against right handed pitching with less batters in the opposite batters box. That disparity... that success with less and failure with more should make everyone question exactly how much the platoon is helping this team right now. And if it's not helping us right now... I'm pretty sure it isn't helping us in the future. I'm saying talent should be the reason for a call up and not what batters box they stand in. 

You talk about the switch hitters. I want to be clear that I have no problem with Brooks Lee getting AB's against left handed hitting because Brooks Lee is still developing. However... if the platoon split matters... why is Brooks Lee second in AB's against left handed pitching with a .587 OPS over 150 AB's. Yeah I know injuries to others and defense is always consideration in the amount of playing time. If Caratini is struggling against left handed pitching... why is he frequently used against left handed pitching? 

And here is another point. If it is so important that we try to math our offensive lineup together using the platoon advantage as a primary reason for lineups. If we are so concerned about a lefty facing a lefty. Why don't we have more left handed pitchers if we are so afraid of them offensively why don't we get more of these weapons for our ourselves. If you look at the historical splits. Left handed pitchers have a collective 3.84 ERA. Right Handed pitching has a 4.16 collective ERA.

Get more left handed pitchers if the left handed batter is concerning you. Give other teams the problem you are fighting. 

I'm saying don't fight it. Find Talent!!!  

My point on the LHHs they target goes beyond the MLB roster. I agree that they should target talent, but it's gotten to a point where LHH talent should situationally be worth less to them, as it should've been for some time. 

We saw how this works out with Roden. I have no doubt they were targeting talent when they acquired him. It was easy to question how he was ever going to find playing time though, and that's exactly how it's played out. They targeted a 25 year old, and he'll probably be 27 before they can potentially find regular playing time for him if he's on the roster at all in 2027. 

They could've called Jenkins up a long time ago, but they invested in Roden, who has been behind Wallner, Larnach, and Outman at various points throughout the season. So they had to get a look at Roden or risk getting nothing from him a year after trading for him. They aren't setting themselves up to successfully choose the best players for the future because they aren't building a top of the system that affords LHHs enough opportunity. Hendry Mendez started the season at Double-A despite him dominating there last season because there wasn't room in St. Paul for him. Just another example.

[DJL44]

39 minutes ago, Cody Pirkl said:

My point on the LHHs they target goes beyond the MLB roster. I agree that they should target talent, but it's gotten to a point where LHH talent should situationally be worth less to them, as it should've been for some time. 

We saw how this works out with Roden. I have no doubt they were targeting talent when they acquired him. It was easy to question how he was ever going to find playing time though, and that's exactly how it's played out. They targeted a 25 year old, and he'll probably be 27 before they can potentially find regular playing time for him if he's on the roster at all in 2027. 

They could've called Jenkins up a long time ago, but they invested in Roden, who has been behind Wallner, Larnach, and Outman at various points throughout the season. So they had to get a look at Roden or risk getting nothing from him a year after trading for him. They aren't setting themselves up to successfully choose the best players for the future because they aren't building a top of the system that affords LHHs enough opportunity. Hendry Mendez started the season at Double-A despite him dominating there last season because there wasn't room in St. Paul for him. Just another example.

They are so focused on depth that they’re wasting some player’s careers in AAA.

[MapleGroveTwinsFan]

50 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

They are so focused on depth that they’re wasting some player’s careers in AAA.

They got with their pants down a few years back (2022) with no depth and they have decided that won't happen again at the cost of developing players. IMO

[Cris E]

2 hours ago, Cody Pirkl said:

I thought that writing about a team having too many LHHs and being in the bottom 1/3 of the league against LHPs and being on no hitter watch whenever they face LHPs was relevant. Especially when everyone is clamoring for Walker Jenkins. My bad!

You say the roster has been mostly sorted as the season has gone one. Go look at yesterday's lineup against a LHP and say that they've rounded into form. I don't get it. 

Also, I don't know why you read this as the whole piece coming down to complaining about the Varland trade. I mention the three LHHs they acquired at the deadline as well as other moves for LHHs they made after that were problems. Seems like a pretty disingenuous way to minimize an entire article in my opinion. If I wanted to write about how terrible that trade looks, I'd just do it, and it would probably be longer than this one!

That's not what you wrote about. You only mention two switch hitters in passing and no right handed hitters at all. You discuss at great length roster events from months ago and only one paragraph mentions hitting outcomes at all (and it only characterizes this terrible situation as "bottom third of the league against southpaws.")  That's the crisis? 

You didn't talk about today's roster until the comments, but let's go ahead and do that, spots 1 to 9.

• Keaschall is hotter than heck, his 107 ops+ against lefties is weighed down by his slow start. Bats right, hitting everything right now, not the problem.
• Buxton has been playing hurt, but bats right. Still above average against lefties, but not the problem you're addressing here. 
• DH Jeffers bats right, been having a good year, And look, .891 OPS against lefties. 
• Royce Lewis bats right, 116 OPS+ against lefties is miles above his performance against right siders. He's not the problem you're addressing.
• Clemons is in LF and betting left. Here you go, this is the problem: 106 OPS+ against lefties, rarely in the OF. We'll return to him below.
• KC? Bats right, plays SS well, hitting well against everything right now. Not the problem.
• Lee is another infielder, and a switch hitter, but he is well below average against lefties. Not an outfielder, but we're getting warmer.
• Caratini is another switch hitter who has been terrible against lefties. A legit problem, but not a left handed outfielder. 
• In the nine spot was Kreidler, a righty who really can't hit at all and should be in for defense only, but was here to allow Larnach to sit. Here is your article. 

Yesterday's lineup was a result of a couple things. First, when Buxton hits everything else is better. No one disputes this and it gets its own set of articles all the time.  But he's hurt again and they are going to have to make some moves to get through September. Why was he not mentioned in this entire article about outfielders? Why was this huge source of uncertainty not part of the calculus around roster construction? You keep crediting some fictitious intent when really they are being forced to work around the availability of their best player. In fact you managed to write about Jenkins ' plight without mentioning Byron at all, which takes some discipline.  

Second, there are some players with platoon holes that get benched to minimize their flaws. It's bad if your best player is one of these guys, but when it's just a guy then you take the good and work around the bad. If Larnach had about 15 more PA he'd qualify for awards and he'd be around 60th in MLB for AVG and 65th for OPS (right now his unadjusted .758 is the same as Alex Bregman hitting in Fenway.) But he's no good against lefties and doesn't field well so you sit him against Jump and hope Kreidler's improvement of 2B defense covers the gap between him and Larnach against LH. The other 3/4 of the time you let Trevor tear up RH pitching. (And by the way, if you want to be assigning intention in roster design then please give credit to them for having him wrapped and stamped Trevor for shipment to Houston before Jim Crane vetoed the trade. He's yet another name that should have been sorted by this point in the process.)

Third, I don't think they trust Roden and he has to play or go. We may agree here. Choosing to play Kreidler's terrible bat anywhere over a guy who is 5-11 against lefties this year (Roden is a career .695 OPS against lefties) and who you are ostensibly trying to evaluate makes zero sense. Clemons is not that good in the outfield, and he's not that much worse than Kreidler at 2B, and some of Roden's value is supposed to be a decent glove. Play him or send him out. You say it's because they fear looking dumb, but I think they place enough value on Rojas that Roden's fate can be decided by his play. Regardless, he's useless on this rost4er.

This piece was a nothing burger. If you want to talk rosters then talk about the whole thing and tell how you'd handle Buxton differently, talk about what they were trying to do with Larnach and where that would have put them now, and maybe try to guess what they are doing with the guys they kept. You chose to rehash and not add anything new, and now that Buxton has forced their hand it looks even more stale. This piece as a retrospective that went into the series of 2026 decisions could have been something, but it's too far after the events and too far before the story ends to be useful.

[Cris E]

Forgot to add: where was Martin last night? How was he not part of a lineup facing a good leftie? Caratini and Kreidler were chosen over him and it's the one thing he can really do well. If you're going to play platoons and you built your roster around them then use the ones you chose.

[Linus]

4 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

It's OK... Most people don't understand. I know that I'm against the wind on this. All teams platoon and I believe that roster decisions are being made on left right instead of talent or the development of talent.  

In order to understand... you have to at least momentarily let go of any left or right reasoning.  

When I say "turning the platoon advantage on its head". I'm not saying that it was some unprecedented breakthrough or even suggesting that this was intentionally done by the front office.  

I'm saying that we have 7 Right handed hitters, 3 switch hitters and 3 left handed hitters on the current 26 man roster and I'm saying that is the roster composition for the majority of the season. I'm saying we are not even close to over stuffed with left handed hitters to the point where we need to find an 8th right handed hitter.   

I'm saying that Derek Shelton just like Rocco Baldelli before him are setting the starting lineup primarily based on the splits of the pitcher.

I'm saying that we are typically stuffing 8 or 9 hitters into the right handed batters box against left handed pitching and typically stuffing 6 hitters into the left handed batters box against right handed pitching. Despite this consistent disparity... the Twins have been weak against left handed pitching despite 8 or 9 guys in the opposite batters box. And the Twins have been successful against right handed pitching with less batters in the opposite batters box. That disparity... that success with less and failure with more should make everyone question exactly how much the platoon is helping this team right now. And if it's not helping us right now... I'm pretty sure it isn't helping us in the future. I'm saying talent should be the reason for a call up and not what batters box they stand in. 

You talk about the switch hitters. I want to be clear that I have no problem with Brooks Lee getting AB's against left handed hitting because Brooks Lee is still developing. However... if the platoon split matters... why is Brooks Lee second in AB's against left handed pitching with a .587 OPS over 150 AB's. Yeah I know injuries to others and defense is always consideration in the amount of playing time. If Caratini is struggling against left handed pitching... why is he frequently used against left handed pitching? 

And here is another point. If it is so important that we try to math our offensive lineup together using the platoon advantage as a primary reason for lineups. If we are so concerned about a lefty facing a lefty. Why don't we have more left handed pitchers if we are so afraid of them offensively why don't we get more of these weapons for our ourselves. If you look at the historical splits. Left handed pitchers have a collective 3.84 ERA. Right Handed pitching has a 4.16 collective ERA.

Get more left handed pitchers if the left handed batter is concerning you. Give other teams the problem you are fighting. 

I'm saying don't fight it. Find Talent!!!  

I e got a simpler way to state your argument. They are wedging in Caratini at first base against lefties. It’s ridiculous. 

[Cody Pirkl]

1 hour ago, Cris E said:

That's not what you wrote about. You only mention two switch hitters in passing and no right handed hitters at all. You discuss at great length roster events from months ago and only one paragraph mentions hitting outcomes at all (and it only characterizes this terrible situation as "bottom third of the league against southpaws.")  That's the crisis? 

You didn't talk about today's roster until the comments, but let's go ahead and do that, spots 1 to 9.

• Keaschall is hotter than heck, his 107 ops+ against lefties is weighed down by his slow start. Bats right, hitting everything right now, not the problem.
• Buxton has been playing hurt, but bats right. Still above average against lefties, but not the problem you're addressing here. 
• DH Jeffers bats right, been having a good year, And look, .891 OPS against lefties. 
• Royce Lewis bats right, 116 OPS+ against lefties is miles above his performance against right siders. He's not the problem you're addressing.
• Clemons is in LF and betting left. Here you go, this is the problem: 106 OPS+ against lefties, rarely in the OF. We'll return to him below.
• KC? Bats right, plays SS well, hitting well against everything right now. Not the problem.
• Lee is another infielder, and a switch hitter, but he is well below average against lefties. Not an outfielder, but we're getting warmer.
• Caratini is another switch hitter who has been terrible against lefties. A legit problem, but not a left handed outfielder. 
• In the nine spot was Kreidler, a righty who really can't hit at all and should be in for defense only, but was here to allow Larnach to sit. Here is your article. 

Yesterday's lineup was a result of a couple things. First, when Buxton hits everything else is better. No one disputes this and it gets its own set of articles all the time.  But he's hurt again and they are going to have to make some moves to get through September. Why was he not mentioned in this entire article about outfielders? Why was this huge source of uncertainty not part of the calculus around roster construction? You keep crediting some fictitious intent when really they are being forced to work around the availability of their best player. In fact you managed to write about Jenkins ' plight without mentioning Byron at all, which takes some discipline.  

Second, there are some players with platoon holes that get benched to minimize their flaws. It's bad if your best player is one of these guys, but when it's just a guy then you take the good and work around the bad. If Larnach had about 15 more PA he'd qualify for awards and he'd be around 60th in MLB for AVG and 65th for OPS (right now his unadjusted .758 is the same as Alex Bregman hitting in Fenway.) But he's no good against lefties and doesn't field well so you sit him against Jump and hope Kreidler's improvement of 2B defense covers the gap between him and Larnach against LH. The other 3/4 of the time you let Trevor tear up RH pitching. (And by the way, if you want to be assigning intention in roster design then please give credit to them for having him wrapped and stamped Trevor for shipment to Houston before Jim Crane vetoed the trade. He's yet another name that should have been sorted by this point in the process.)

Third, I don't think they trust Roden and he has to play or go. We may agree here. Choosing to play Kreidler's terrible bat anywhere over a guy who is 5-11 against lefties this year (Roden is a career .695 OPS against lefties) and who you are ostensibly trying to evaluate makes zero sense. Clemons is not that good in the outfield, and he's not that much worse than Kreidler at 2B, and some of Roden's value is supposed to be a decent glove. Play him or send him out. You say it's because they fear looking dumb, but I think they place enough value on Rojas that Roden's fate can be decided by his play. Regardless, he's useless on this rost4er.

This piece was a nothing burger. If you want to talk rosters then talk about the whole thing and tell how you'd handle Buxton differently, talk about what they were trying to do with Larnach and where that would have put them now, and maybe try to guess what they are doing with the guys they kept. You chose to rehash and not add anything new, and now that Buxton has forced their hand it looks even more stale. This piece as a retrospective that went into the series of 2026 decisions could have been something, but it's too far after the events and too far before the story ends to be useful.

"You didn't talk about today's roster until the comments" 

The very first paragraph I mention how they can't or don't want to make room on the roster for Jenkins. I then discuss how the decisions they've made over the last year have led to their inflexibility and lack of opportinity for players like Roden in the currently constructed roster. I just wrote this yesterday, and the words are right above the comment section in case I forget, so not really sure what you're trying to accomplish by claiming that. 

If you disagree that the Twins have a logjam affecting the roster and keeping players from getting opportunities they need, that's fine. I don't think that's the common opinion though, and you're not going to make any meaningful argument opening your disagreement by calling it "pointless trash"

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, Cris E said:

Forgot to add: where was Martin last night? How was he not part of a lineup facing a good leftie? 

League rules forbid it.

[Cris E]

3 minutes ago, Cody Pirkl said:

The very first paragraph I mention how they can't or don't want to make room on the roster for Jenkins. I then discuss how the decisions they've made over the last year have led to their inflexibility and lack of opportinity for players like Roden in the currently constructed roster. I just wrote this yesterday, and the words are right above the comment section in case I forget, so not really sure what you're trying to accomplish by claiming that. 

Mention. You can't talk about making room on the roster without talking about other people on the roster, either the 26, the 40 or just names under contract.  Who did they keep? What makes this guy different from those guys? Are those guys doing better? Are there other measures that might indicate decisions were made other than hitting against lefties? Are there 40 man considerations? Were there any injuries? Who is blocking who? Any discussion of roles and who was in them? Any examples of too much platooning or not enough (other than empty assertions like "lacking right-handed hitting complements" when Martin's whole thing is hitting righties (.808 OPS) and acting as a platoon partner.)  

When you talk about Roden and guys like him you have to talk about what playing time is available. To do that you must discuss who is holding the full-time spots and who is involved in platoons, and how Roden (or whoever) may be better or worse suited than any of those folks. You wantd to have a discussion about the roster without talking about the roster. How?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cody Pirkl]

21 hours ago, Wedman13 said:

Every article twists back to the Varland trade.  Fairly sure Louis is doing the writing.  We get it.  Ya like homegrown guys.  Folks were advocating  for Wallner a year ago.  Win some, lose some.  Roden is not 1/2 of the value we got.  Hes not great.
 

our record is better than last year..our system is stronger .and Toronto' sucks ..(I think) 

but nice job getting me to click 🤣🤣

Are the players we got back in that trade barred from ever being mentioned again? I think the fact that they got Roden back in that trade plays at least a small factor in them not simply allowing Jenkins to pass him over for playing time. 

[Paul Walerius]

On 8/25/2026 at 4:02 PM, Riverbrian said:

I don't know about most but 8 of the top 10 in OPS are left handed hitters.  

I am not sure what you are saying. Clemens is the only lefty that is in the top 10.  

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, Paul Walerius said:

I am not sure what you are saying. Clemens is the only lefty that is in the top 10.  

Maybe he meant St Paul.  😄

[Riverbrian]

8 hours ago, Cody Pirkl said:

My point on the LHHs they target goes beyond the MLB roster. I agree that they should target talent, but it's gotten to a point where LHH talent should situationally be worth less to them, as it should've been for some time. 

We saw how this works out with Roden. I have no doubt they were targeting talent when they acquired him. It was easy to question how he was ever going to find playing time though, and that's exactly how it's played out. They targeted a 25 year old, and he'll probably be 27 before they can potentially find regular playing time for him if he's on the roster at all in 2027. 

They could've called Jenkins up a long time ago, but they invested in Roden, who has been behind Wallner, Larnach, and Outman at various points throughout the season. So they had to get a look at Roden or risk getting nothing from him a year after trading for him. They aren't setting themselves up to successfully choose the best players for the future because they aren't building a top of the system that affords LHHs enough opportunity. Hendry Mendez started the season at Double-A despite him dominating there last season because there wasn't room in St. Paul for him. Just another example.

I agree... it's a problem if it results in spillage. I don't believe it has to result in spillage but yeah... it will with our current methods. Situational Value? I don't want situational value. I want value. Everybody should be able to agree that it's talent we need but how are you ever going to get maximum value on your players when purposely limiting them and the Twins are limiting them. 

Let's take talent out of the discussion for a bit. Don't get me wrong... talent is the discussion but let's remove it entirely for a bit. Left handed hitters should be worth more... a lot more. 

Take the talent out of the discussion and here are the league average OPS numbers produced from all MLB hitters in 2026. 

Left Handed Hitter vs Right Handed Pitcher: .743

Right Handed Hitter vs Left Handed Pitcher: .730

Right Hander Hitter vs Right Handed Pitcher: .697

Left Handed Hitter vs Left Handed Pitcher: .671

There are slight variations from year to year but the numbers are consistent. The platoon split is real. The question is... How does anyone become so focused on the .671 that you ignore the .743? In order to focus on avoiding the .671 which occurs 28% of the time and you have to ignore the .743 72%. of the time. Why are we not focusing on the .743 and ignoring the .671. 

Still keeping talent out of the discussion. If you do the math on this. The optimum roster construction would be 9 left handed hitters and 4 right handed hitters. You would stuff the left handed batters box with 9 players and be on the plus side of the platoon advantage 72% of the time. You would suffer 28% of the time with only 4 right handed hitters. I invite everyone to do the math on this... it checks out.  

Is it reasonable to staff your team with 9 left handed hitters? Probably not because there is a left handed hitter shortage. Only 25% are left handed and only 10% are switch hitters. You have to let go of situational value? We all need to focus on value... We all need to focus on that .743 OPS... 72% of the time out of 35% of players who swing from the left handed batters box. The left handed hitter value compared to the right handed hitter value should be more than 3 to 1. 

And what is baseball doing to the 25% out of the 35% that holds the platoon advantage 72% of the time? Platooning it. Protecting it from exposure to the .671... not even trying to grow it. Therefore limiting the development of the potentially most valuable. The Twins have been the worst practitioner of this out of all 30 teams. No team has compromised every single developing left handed hitting prospect in this fashion. We have done it to every single one of them. Larnach, Wallner, Julien, Kirilloff and now Roden and we have no reason to assume that Jenkins or Erod will escape this same fate. Every single left handed hitter the Twins have developed has been compromised in this manner. Compromise here today... pay the bill later when you are trying to trade Larnach for maximum trade value. It's not Larnach's fault... the fault belongs to the Twins front office because they capped his trade value. We have had regime change and this policy toward developing left handed hitters is still alive, executed to a higher degree than any of the other 29 teams. 

OK... Now lets plug in the talent. This is after all... A talent discussion. 

The Twins lead all of baseball in the number of PA's from the Right Handed Batters Box against left handed pitching. I've said this for three years now. There is no team in baseball that fears the lefty lefty matchup in baseball as much as our Twins do. 1282 PA's in total which has resulted in being 22nd in baseball with a .701 OPS. Compare this to the league wide .730 and then consider the lower 28% of pitching that is left handed. 

Standing in the right handed batters box against right handed pitching. The Twins are 2nd ranked in all of baseball in Team OPS with a .753.... Compare this to the .697 League Wide and consider the 72%. 1521 total PA's and this ranks 15th in baseball. 

The Twins are ninth in total PA's (2803) from the Right Handed Batters Box with a combined .730 OPS and that ranks 8th. Led by RIGHT HANDED HITTERS. 

We are 21st ranked with 2260 PA's from the left handed batters box with a combined team .716 OPS that ranks 19th.

We have 264 PA's from the left handed batters box against left handed pitching. This ranks 28th. Surprisingly the Angels and Reds have less. You wouldn't think that was possible. For Comparison sake... the Yankees lead the league in PA's from the left handed batters box against left handed pitchers with 816. Our Team OPS is ranked 20th with a .645 in those miniscule 264 PA's.  

And finally... Standing in the left handed batters box against Right handed pitching. Which is statistically the most profitable platoon split historically at .743 and the most utilized platoon split in baseball despite only 35 of the league capable of actually standing in the left handed batters box. We are 15th in total PA's with 1999 of them and we rank 20th with a .726 team OPS.  

If You look at what is happening in the right handed batters box with our Twins in 2026 and how it compares to what is happening statistically around the league in 2026 which also match historical platoon split numbers. Hopefully turning the platoon advantage on it's head makes more sense. They have found success against the larger 72 percentage using the historically 2nd worst platoon split. 

How can anyone look at what is actually happening and say... we need to make decisions on what batters box they stand in. TALENT IS THE DISCUSSION. If Jenkins has talent... it shouldn't matter how many left handed hitters are in the OF and it needs to be pointed out that we only have 3 left handed hitters on the 26 man roster when the smart play is more of them. If the platoon matchup is influencing your decisions. YOU ARE SCREWING UP. 

Then I ask everyone... what is the actual statistical platoon advantage in a per AB basis? What is it in an actual per game basis. The leaguewide 2026 splits that I posted take a lot of players and a lot of time to show the separation that we see. What is the advantage of the 2026 platoon splits on per BA or Per Game basis. The time it takes to establish the advantage is also development time that we are sacrificing, compromising. 

This is why this subject is stuck in my craw. 

 

[Riverbrian]

12 hours ago, Paul Walerius said:

I am not sure what you are saying. Clemens is the only lefty that is in the top 10.  

I apologize for not being clear. The entire major leagues is what I was referring to. 8 of the top ten hitters in baseball is left handed. 

Clemens is the only possible player who could possibly join that list because he is the only Twins player who is allowed to have enough AB's to qualify. 

Why is it so left handed heavy at the top of the charts. The 72% may have something to do with that. 

How can the Twins acquire one of those guys. We certainly won't grow one because we compromise every single prospect coming through and we certainly won't outbid other teams for one developed by other teams.

We have to trip over one like we did with Clemens. Clemens is good but he isn't that good.

This is a development problem. 

[Riverbrian]

22 hours ago, Cody Pirkl said:

My point on the LHHs they target goes beyond the MLB roster. I agree that they should target talent, but it's gotten to a point where LHH talent should situationally be worth less to them, as it should've been for some time. 

We saw how this works out with Roden. I have no doubt they were targeting talent when they acquired him. It was easy to question how he was ever going to find playing time though, and that's exactly how it's played out. They targeted a 25 year old, and he'll probably be 27 before they can potentially find regular playing time for him if he's on the roster at all in 2027. 

They could've called Jenkins up a long time ago, but they invested in Roden, who has been behind Wallner, Larnach, and Outman at various points throughout the season. So they had to get a look at Roden or risk getting nothing from him a year after trading for him. They aren't setting themselves up to successfully choose the best players for the future because they aren't building a top of the system that affords LHHs enough opportunity. Hendry Mendez started the season at Double-A despite him dominating there last season because there wasn't room in St. Paul for him. Just another example.

I apologize for breaking this response up but my posts are already long enough. 

Your 2nd paragraph. About Roden.

I don't have a problem acquiring talent if they believe in that talent. I have a problem spilling talent or compromising talent like we have been doing with our left handed prospects. Roden is the latest of what is getting to be a long line of compromised left handed prospects. If they take the same course with Roden that we did with Larnach. Wallner, Kirilloff, Julien etc. Dipping them in cement by denying exposure and development with 6 years of potential service time in front of him.The best success we can hope for is that Roden becomes Larnach. I'm a fan of Larnach but by making him a specialist... it has lowered his trade value.  If you want to move him... he will bring back a reliever at most. This is compromised trade value at a point when his 3rd year of Arbitration salary could be cost prohibitive and if its cost prohibitive for us... it's cost prohibitive for others.

I don't want this to become a subjective opinion discussion on the abilities on Larnach, Wallner, Kirilloff or Julien.  I'm just saying that we purposely capped his value to us and his value to other teams so if you need to try and reload your system like other clubs in our financial situation do. It won't be there when the time comes. We've taken our prospects and strip mined them for parts at the beginning of their career and there is a bill to pay down the line for that and we are paying that bill by not producing trade value. We are paying that bill by needing a right handed handcuff every single year that Larnach is on the roster or Wallner is on the roster or Kirilloff or Julien. This comes at 4 million a pop or we have to take another developing prospect like Martin and make him become a short side solution to the problem you create with Larnach or Wallner or Kirilloff or Julien or Roden. 

The Twins have a development problem... How big a role does this play in this development problem. I don't know but my personal suspicion is... Yeah... It would play a pretty big role since the only players that we have allowed to develop fully are all right handed in Lewis, and Keaschall and switch hitter in Lee. 

Many here want Jenkins up now. I'm here to say that how many left handed outfielders on the team shouldn't matter. Talent is what matters. If the amount of left handed outfielders is holding him back then they are about to take the same approach with Jenkins as they are doing with Larnach, Wallner, Kirilloff, Julien and Roden. There is no hope for the Twins development in the future. Situational value? That's the problem. Value is the goal and it should be all prospects. 

And the final point. The Twins need more than just Jenkins. They need Jenkins plus others to develop. Because we can't compete with the Dodgers and sign Schwarber talent. We have to grow it. And we need Roden to develop fully so we don't have to trade for Margot or sign the players the Dodgers don't want at 4 to 8 million a pop. Jenkins leap frogging players whose clock is about to expire like Erod can result in spillage and all eggs in the Jenkins basket. 

Jenkins simply can't be a lefty/righty decision. He has to be a Talent decision.  

[Paul Walerius]

11 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

I apologize for not being clear. The entire major leagues is what I was referring to. 8 of the top ten hitters in baseball is left handed. 

Clemens is the only possible player who could possibly join that list because he is the only Twins player who is allowed to have enough AB's to qualify. 

Why is it so left handed heavy at the top of the charts. The 72% may have something to do with that. 

How can the Twins acquire one of those guys. We certainly won't grow one because we compromise every single prospect coming through and we certainly won't outbid other teams for one developed by other teams.

We have to trip over one like we did with Clemens. Clemens is good but he isn't that good.

This is a development problem. 

OK.  Hopefully Jenkins can join that list.  My point was none of our lefties can hit, roden, Wallner Outman (no longer with team) etc.   I did miss Larnach too, he was in the Twins top 10