The Minnesota Twins Pitching Revolution Will Be Televised

[Whammy]

1 hour ago, MeleMouth said:

It does seem that Falvey was ahead of the game on finding these less-covered pitchers and boosting their velocity, but other teams have caught on and have figured out how to add velocity. Also, starting with Falvey's first draft, where he finagled the first pick to get Landon Leach and Blayne Enlow, the strategy really wasn't that successful: very few of these pitchers have succeeded past AA with the Twins. 

His first draft when he snagged Bailey Ober and his 10.9 career bWAR in the 12th round?

[Cody Schoenmann]

2 hours ago, ashbury said:

Others have already sufficiently opined on the importance of getting ahead in the count.  I just want to add that it's hardly unquantifiable.  They keep track of all kinds of things these days.  b-r.com has a very nice page of "league splits" and for 2026 batters sported an OPS of .810 after the count started at 1-0, while the OPS was .606 if the pitcher got a strike first.

On plate appearances that were decided on the first pitch itself, OPS was a scalding .911.  And since OPS is affected positively by bases on balls, which obviously can't happen on that pitch, the damage may be even worse than it first appears.

Perhaps the real tension is between trying to get that first strike, versus if the batter is ready for it and swings away.  To paraphrase another poster in this thread, Walter Johnson was probably aware of this too.

Anyway, I stopped reading after this banger of a sentence.  😁

i fixed it; thanks for letting me know. 

[ashbury]

28 minutes ago, Cody Schoenmann said:

My sources tell me your grammar was just fine.

But I appreciate your going back to choose a better word.

[MeleMouth]

4 minutes ago, Whammy said:

His first draft when he snagged Bailey Ober and his 10.9 career bWAR in the 12th round?

Getting Ober was great, but he didn't follow the theme of finding more velocity for a pitcher with good secondaries. He was about 90-91 when he was drafted, but was over 92 only in his rookie year, and his secondaries weren't as important initially as the deception he developed by using his height and release point. For example, his change-up has been a good pitch, and he threw it more than his 4-seamer this year, but going back to 2021, for example, he threw his 4-seamer almost 60% of the time and his change-up only about 15%. Since 2021, usage has gone in opposite directions.

[saviking]

4 hours ago, Linus said:

I certainly am. You can have it if you like 😀

I'm 74 so I think I will take you up on it .. 

[Linus]

10 minutes ago, saviking said:

I'm 74 so I think I will take you up on it .. 

I’ve been outsmarted again!

[jmlease1]

4 hours ago, Whammy said:

The market inefficiency was not dudes with average fastballs that can become elite fastballs.

The market inefficiency was identifying pitchers with desirable traits (and probably below average college coaching), and understanding the opportunity and strategy for increasing their velocity to league average, because at a league average velocity, those other traits would play up more than with their previously below average velocity. 

right. it was partly about adding velocity, but also just about looking at prospects from smaller schools, or northern schools that weren't considered elite programs and what could happen if they were given better facilities, more individualized coaching and training. Find guys with frames that could add weight and leverage. Take a pitcher that had developed a quality pitch to build around and see if they could refine other things. They found upside in those taller college pitchers in the late rounds and spent the time on development with them.

[TNtwins85]

11 hours ago, Linus said:

I’m going to unsuccessfully try not to be snarky but the new secret sauce is getting ahead in the count? I don’t know the man personally but I’m guessing Walter Johnson had that figured out. He better bring more to the table than this article suggests. Or, maybe the secret sauce is to have better pitchers. 

I was told in little league the most important pitch was strike one. Maybe all my coaches from little league to college should have been major league pitching coaches. Somehow the entire Twins staff forgot this or never learned that in their baseball upbringing? I think having better pitchers like you said is a better avenue through scouting, drafting and development than relying on the major league pitching coach to magically change the staff into something it is not. Can he change things? Sure, but more around the edges rather than a full scale organizational change. 

[TheLeviathan]

If nothing else @Cody SchoenmannI appreciate the DCC reference.

[Omardog]

A new pitching coach won't make a bit of difference as long as the grifting silver spoon Pohlads own the team.  Pro tip to the Pohlads:  GET OUT ASAP.

[MinnInPa]

22 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Disagree: Twins pitchers do have the stuff to make hitters chase, but too often they're uncompetitive on those pitches, missing the zone by too much. Think about the number of times we see Taj spike a split 3 feet in front of the plate or Connor making the catcher lunge to keep a slider from reaching the backstop. No one is chasing that pitch, not even Lewis.

Twins were dead average in homers yielded last season. Pretty reasonable there.

The walks were a bigger issue, the defense behind the pitchers (especially early in the season) the biggest issue. If the new guy can trim the walks (and reducing/eliminating uncompetitive pitches should help there), there's opportunity for another step up.

well..we'll have to agree to disagree.. the games i get to watch yield Twins hitters swinging at pitching way off the plate...and Twins pitches not being chased. i do agree a new pitching coach ..some news eyes on the staff may help..lets hope so..especially the relief corp