MIN 8, TOR 0: Perez Impresses, Bats Bounce Stroman Early

Houston's lineup is great, and Toronto's offense is aldo very good. He is throwing very well right now.

Houston is definitely a good offense, but Toronto is 26th in wRC+ and 27th in OPS.

Meh, I'll definitely take the production but facing Baltimore and Toronto 3/4 games isn't enough to change what I thought and continue to think of the signing. 

Way to poke the bear, Kirby!  Your comment stirred up the masses as anticipated!

Nonetheless, Perez is 5-0 and pitching lights out.  What a terrific bonus!

me too. I’m still waiting for hitters to figure out the cutter, but I’m way more optimistic on Perez now, than I was 2 months ago. Of course two months ago I was pretty certain Perez’s arm was going fall off.

I like the combination of the 94-96 4 seam high, an 88-90 mph cutter with some run and downward action, and an 85-86 mph changeup with some downward and run action.  

3 different pitch speeds/movements all thrown out of the same arm angle.   If he can locate that and then mix in the curve as well to keep hitters honest...that's pretty dangerous and repeatable.

So the Houston game means nothing? The process and results are the same.

It doesn't mean nothing, but it certainly isn't going to change my mind about the 200+ innings he posted the previous two seasons. I still put more stock in those results rather than 8 innings in a single game during April. Like I said, enjoy the early production; the Twins don't have to give it back, but I'm nowhere near proclaiming Perez is a changed man. 

He has legitimately pitched extremely well, no matter who he faced. This isn't Alabama vs Slippery Rock. This is the major leagues. 

I haven't knocked the production.

It’s probably time to admit we were wrong, the front office was right.

This isn’t luck, this is change of approach. He’s throwing his fastball 2mph faster, basically ditched the slider, and added a cutter. Perez is a different guy now.

He’s likely not THIS good but he could be quite good going forward.

On top of helping fix Perez, this front office deserves extra kudos for having such faith in their ability to improve him that they added a second option year to the deal.

After another month+ of this I might be right there with you. 

I've never said he's been lucky, or that he hasn't made adjustments. Perez started the year in the pen and the results weren't great. Since moving to the rotation he's been lights out in 5 starts, 4 of which have come against Baltimore and Toronto. I'm happy with what he's been so far, but 40 IPs, the bulk of which are against bad lineups, is way too little to feel comfortable penciling him in as a solid arm for the rest of the season.

I'm happy with what he's been so far, but 40 IPs, the bulk of which are against bad lineups, is way too little to feel comfortable penciling him in as a solid arm for the rest of the season.

I'm fine with that . But like I posted earlier...I knew Perez would get chances to start against a weak team (or three...our division is full of them)...but I still never expected to see results that good in terms of being in control, avoiding hard contact, getting deep into the game, getting K's, etc. I'm in Brock's "he's probably not THIS good...but it looks like he's legitimately/materially better than the old Perez" camp.

Jason Castro is making some hard contact so far, he ranks 2nd on the team in exit velocity, 1st in barrel%, and 3rd in Launch Angle. This leaves him with an xSLG of .656 and xWOBA of .438 both 1st on team. His OPS of .965 is also ranked 4th.

As a team, our catchers rank 2nd in MLB in average, 3rd in OBP, 2nd in SLG, and 2nd in OPS.