Three Ways that the 2020 Minnesota Twins are Embodying a Process Over Results Mindset

i am slowly coming to realize some of the really smart internal moves they have made. This off season has been quite successful in my opinion. Let us not forget the jury is still out. We all can see the rather rapid improvements. I still think it was a bonehead move to tank the season at the trade deadline in 2018. Thats not to say they would have won it's just that nobody can convince me that you hat was fair to the fans and especially the STH's. I hope they realize what great fans we are and now that they have their "stamp" on the organization, that they never forget that.

oh yeah one more thing. BRING BACK THE HOME PINSTRIPES!!!

oh yeah one more thing. BRING BACK THE HOME PINSTRIPES!!!

Yes, this is the big takeaway from the article!  Hahaha 

I do like the pinstripes, though.

Seriously, the whole reason why you bring in the “old dudes” is because they aren’t worried about making the team, firstly, and then you just avoid the guys who want to “get theirs”.  The Twins have done an excellent job of getting the right old guys to help the young guys relax a bit.  Secondly, these guys are helping to bring a swagger to the Twins that I’ve not seen before, and is really exciting.  Gardy’s best teams were filled predominantly with “team first” good guys who generally did their jobs and didn’t make a fuss, but honestly weren’t the most savvy or intelligent....well, because they followed the lead of their manager.  Gardy was a good guy, but would he have brought in new systems and ideas to break guys out of moulds and challenge them to be better than they were?  Of course not.

It’s a great time to be a Twins fan....especially given the state of the Wolves, Wild and, arguably, the Vikings.

Some of this isn't really new: people have been talking about not swinging at bad pitches forever, and the idea of crushing the pitch you want is pretty old school too. the difference is we're tracking and quantifying all of it now. Instead of having a feeling about whether a guy is going after too many sliders in the dirt, we have the numbers.

Where process over results really helps is with things like exit velocity and barrel rate, two metrics that if you're killing it in there but not getting hits/home runs/extra base hits etc we can tell someone to not screw with their approach and know that the hits are almost certainly going to come. It's a long season and sometimes guys are going to be unlucky.

I think the Twins are being smart in their integration of advanced statistics and new technologies, because they seem to be measured in it. They're not demanding that all players follow the same regimen or track 14 different stat profiles. Guys who want more, get more. Coaches (with the analytics team) are the ones who are getting the burden of interpreting & translating the statistical analysis for the players so that it can translate to positive action, not analysis paralysis.

It's nice to move into the modern world.

I'm always a little baffled by the anti-stats crowd. baseball has always been the most statistically driven major sport. The only thing that's changed is what numbers are looked at and how much importance they have.

For example, think about the classic "Triple Crown" stats: Batting Average, Home Runs, and RBIs.

Batting Average is still an important stat! It's not valued as highly right now across baseball, but being able to hit for a high average is still a great skill (thank you, Luis Arraez) to have. (and probably an underrated one right now)

Home Runs are still the straw that stirs the drink in baseball. More guys are hitting them, but the guys who hit the most are still the guys who get the biggest bucks (for position players).

RBIs are still an interesting stat, it's just that we now know they're not a great determinative stat about the player who collects them. If a guy collects 150 RBIs you still know they had a heck of a season and now we know that it can tell you things about how good the lineup in front of that player was. There's still value in being able to look at one stat and immediately knowing those things.

I think the most important thing is to get players that agree with sticking with the process.  Baseball in the last decade has been in a transition of "old school" into analytics and advanced stats.  I love the fact the new group uses things like spray charts, tendencies, and willing to buck the trend of the "old school" norms.  How many times I would get furious with Gardy and his "old school" comments about oppisite handed pitchers, despite many times that pitcher having reverse splits, but the "old school" book says have opposite hitters.  The classic, he is our guy or he is due against him, only to have the pitcher give up a HR to a guy that has owned him.  At least now the people making those calls look at things like that and not just plug and play. 

This reminds me of Simon Sinek's Finite vs Infinite mindset. If you haven't heard it I suggest you look up his YouTube videos, it's quite amazing

I totally agree! I'm reading Sinek's Infinite Game book now and am looking forward to his talk in March.

The Twins are trusting the process.

Hopefully they will continue being successful enough doing this that they will be allowed to continue to do so.

Is Royce Lewis in that shot with Donaldson?

If I were Lewis, I'd be trying to shadow Donaldson as much as possible...