The Twins' Pinch-Hitting Problem

Adding Arcia will guarantee that a corner player is on the bench and available to pinch hit every game. I think that brings more value than Robinson.

I'm not surprised at those stats: the Twins believe in having bench players that are happy to be bench players- fringe major leaguers that-

a) are happy to be drawing major league salaries

are happy to play once a week (or less)

and c) have the capabilities to play several positions defensively

If you consider the lineup that Mollie appears to prefer, these are your late inning options-

Fryer, Escobar, Robinson, and Nunez-absolutely pathetic. If by some chance the Twins make the playoffs, I could see all 4 gone, and if they don't change a couple of guys soon, they will not make the playoffs!!

The bench is not an impressive lot. But even at that why did Nunez not bat for Suzuki late last night. Either Molitor does not trust his bench at all, or he has an aversion to PH. I think it might be the latter, as he has passed on some seemingly pretty obvious opportunities.

Nunez is having a "bench bat" type of season. I'm not sure why he's been overlooked. 

Important article. Molitor clearly has something against pinch hitting. Otherwise, what?

Anyway, Arcia would be nice. After Buxton comes back in a month or whatever, the Twins could have two good bench bats and Eduardo Nunez still. Imagine that.

While the Twins #s are pretty bad, it's not like the league avg stats here are much to shoot for either. PH is a hard game with a small sample size for stats. How many PH appearances does the avg AL team make in a year?

How do AL stats compare to NL?

Twins rarely use pinch hitters, why bother? I think the priority now is to fix the bullpen ASAP.

The Twins are tied for 2nd to last in pinch hit at bats with 35 (Royals 16) and last in pinch hitter batting average at .086.

Molitor plays his starters most of the time. His bench players typically play once a week. He therefore has his best hitters in the lineup already when possible pinch hit opportunities arise.

The Twins are tied for 2nd to last in pinch hit at bats with 35 (Royals 16) and last in pinch hitter batting average at .086.

 

Molitor plays his starters most of the time. His bench players typically play once a week. He therefore has his best hitters in the lineup already when possible pinch hit opportunities arise.

Danny Santana is definitely not one of his best hitters.

 Guess we need to go out and find a Jose Offerman type.

Someone to chase after the other team's pitchers with a bat?

Your BEST hitters are not necessarily in a game. Maybe a starters day off? Or a hit first, glove second guy. And why the aversion to using a bench guy to pinch hit? Its what a bench guy should be there for. Not just a place to store 4 players contented to give high 5's, smile, and collect MLB meal money. When you have 13 pitchers and an unused bench, it seems that you are tying one hand behind your own back.

I believe the reason to pinch hit is to bring in a better bat than what you have going to the plate. This would eliminate most pinch hitting opportunities based on who is on the bench. Do you bring in someone to hit .200 when you have a .240 up to bat?

That brings us to Nunez for Suzuki. While Suzuki has shown an overall weak bat, I thought I remembered reading somewhere on TD that his BA with runners on was dramatically higher and therefore a person to NOT pinch hit for late in the game with runners on in an important spot.

No runners on, down by one 8th-9th inning, catcher on the bench? Maybe pinch hit for Suzuki with Nunez. Maybe pinch hit for Santana with Nunez but other than that I'd be rolling with the guys I have out there based on our current bench. Yeah, it needs improvement.

Robinson is a pinch runner, not a pinch hitter and you also need one of those.

The Twins are tied for 2nd to last in pinch hit at bats with 35 (Royals 16) and last in pinch hitter batting average at .086.

 

Molitor plays his starters most of the time. His bench players typically play once a week. He therefore has his best hitters in the lineup already when possible pinch hit opportunities arise.

I think it's too early to tell on this. Across the full 4+ year sample I pulled, the Twins were actually in the middle of the pack in the AL when it comes to how often they pinch-hit. Certainly possible it's a philosophy thing for Molitor, or just a sign of a fairly new manager, but hard to tell with only a half-season of Molitor at the helm.

Batters perform significantly worse when pinch hitting than when starting. The drop off is startling. It is so large in fact that pinch hitting Nunez for Suzuki would probably decrease the teams chances of scoring a run.

This article is a little dated ('05) but I can't see why the conclusion would have changed.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5404

Batters perform significantly worse when pinch hitting than when starting. The drop off is startling. It is so large in fact that pinch hitting Nunez for Suzuki would probably decrease the teams chances of scoring a run. This article is a little dated ('05) but I can't see why the conclusion would have changed. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5404

I was looking for something like this! Thanks for posting.