They Are Who We Thought They Were!

The Twins have enjoyed a start to the season that even optimistic fans like myself may not have expected. With Jorge Polanco and Alex Kirilloff still on the shelf, this team has overwhelmed their opponents in the small sample size we have seen. Even in the close games, they haven’t felt that close.

In the immortal words of the late great Dennis Green, “They are who we thought they were.”

There were many question marks around this ball club coming into the season, but none of those questions were related to the sheer baseball ability of this team, at least offensively. Every player in the lineup appears to be as advertised or overperforming.

Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa operate on a different frequency than other players on the field. The game moves slower for them. Now, the reservations on these two don’t stop because they’ve played five games, obviously, but you can’t be anything but encouraged by what we’ve seen so far.

A player that I had the fortune or misfortune (he went deep twice against us) of playing against is Oregon State alum Trevor Larnach. The heavy hands paired with a strong frame and left-handed bat opened some eyes this spring, even of the people who drafted him in the first round. The song remains the same here with another potential all-star-level talent. How do we keep him on the field and keep this thing rollin’?

I am quickly falling in love with Pablo Lopez. He is a player I have liked, but his World Baseball Classic performance and Opening Day outing in Kansas City were impressive. His repertoire is much better than I thought. He also busted out a new pitch for his Twins debut, the sweeping slider. That pitch was nasty and will be a problem for right-handed batters all year. Lopez also showed a tick-up in velocity on his pitches that previously had data. The Opening Day nod was not justifying a trade; stuff-wise, Pablo Lopez is our best guy. 

I think it’s been a picture-perfect start to the year. Yes, I know. Bold statement saying that for a 4-1 team whose only loss came last night against the NL's reigning Cy Young winner, Sandy Alcantara). It’s not just the record, though. Every player has been as advertised right from the word go. The only player that has concerned me is Sonny Gray. His command was spotty, and he couldn’t get a below-average lineup to swing and miss. A veteran arm like Gray comes with less concern naturally, with guys being able “wave the veteran wand” and find ways to be solid. I don’t want to sound any alarms, but it’s something worth following.

Lastly, how can we not touch on Joey Barrels, or as I like to call him, ‘your dad’s least favorite player’. Gallo squeezed (by last year’s standards) a month's worth of production into two games. He’s always seemed to be a streaky hitter, so lets enjoy the good times, but a downturn will happen, and we have to remember these two games. He and every other player in this talented Twins lineup are always one swing away.

I’m not trying to crown them, but the Twins did seem to do the impossible and win some games without Luis Arraez. Seriously though, it was good to see him rope a couple of balls for hits on Monday night, and the Twins still got a convincing win. It was also great to see Kenta Maeda strike him out twice in Tuesday night's game.  

Regarding the Twins taking the next step with the offense, I hope we see some guys steal some bags in closer ball games. The team has decent speed, but with the rules limiting pickoff attempts and the inability of pitchers to hold the ball very long, look for the Twins to unlock that one last piece to the offense.

I’ve said it before, and I will dare to repeat it. The Twins are a good team, and they are better than they were last year. There are plenty of reasons to show up to Target Field this Friday for the home opener and throughout the weekend and watch two of the more exciting teams in baseball right now, the Twins and the Astros. 

Go, Twins!