Twins Video
When I got to Perfect Game Field at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium on Sunday, hours before the Kernels home opener, I went to the press box and overlooked the field. The grass was perfectly green. The lines were chalked. The gigantic scoreboard in right centerfield looked amazing. The Kernels players were down the right field line, and the Kernels coaches were near the dugout, fungoes in hand, clearly eager to start their new season.
I went down to the field and was greeted by the manager Jake Mauer and hitting coach Tommy Watkins. I recognized the Kernels’ new pitching coach, Henry Bonilla. However, there was another young man in uniform, holding a fungo and fitting in with the coaches.
I asked Tommy Watkins who it was. He replied, “That’s Chris Glynn, Gene’s son. He’s going to be interning with us this summer. He’ll be in charge of video, but he also wanted to help hit fungoes and is willing to throw some batting practice.”
The Low-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins had never really had a person responsible for video. From time to time, you would see one of the starting pitchers in the stands taking video of the team’s hitters or the pitcher, but it wasn’t really a formal process.
Talking with Chris following one of the Kernels games, he said he loves what he’s doing. For that game, he had to upload and sync five cameras. He did the video for the Rochester Red Wings a year ago. He played college baseball and loves that he can stay in the game and be a valuable part of the team and the players’ development. He just enjoys being at the ballpark every day. He said that the players are already taking advantage of the video.
That the Twins were encouraging it, even at their lowest full-season affiliate was encouraging. I thought I would ask Mauer about video but also about how the team is using other advanced statistics and methods.
Regarding how Mauer envisions his players utilizing the video, he said, “We’re going to try to monitor it a little bit. You don’t want guys in there just looking at their home runs. Also, you don’t want guys to get overloaded with info or they turn robotic. You still have to go out and play. It’s a useful tool where we can look at different things and look at tendencies and be able to make adjustments.”
The use of defensive shifts has overtaken major league baseball. However, Mauer said that you won’t see much of it with the Kernels, and for good reasons.
“We’ll move guys somewhat. We don’t throw the ball where we want to enough to do an all-out shift. You do it to a point, but nothing to the point you would see a big league club do.”
That fact was on display on Tuesday night. Left-handed hitting Zach Granite came to bat for the Kernels. For some reason, the Beloit Snappers – now an affiliate of the Oakland A’s – had the third baseman playing up to protect against a possible bunt, but then they had the shortstop play right behind second base. That led to a huge opening on the left-side of the infield. First, Granite typically uses the whole field. As important, and to Mauer’s point, all four pitches in the at-bat were on or off the outside corner. As you would expect, Granite lined a single to left field, right about where the shortstop would normally position himself.
In the Midwest League, there typically will not be much advanced scouting and the sample size used for shifting is very small. However, I think that Mauer’s point about the pitchers not always having the control to pitch to the shift is the bigger issue.
What about platoons? How much will matchups come into play at this level?
“It depends on the guy. It depends on the situation,” Mauer said, “Rookie ball, here, even Ft. Myers, they’re still so young. They’ve got to get at-bats. They’ve got to get experience. You’re not going to worry about matchups. Nick Gordon is going to play pretty much whether it’s a left-handed or right-handed starter. We’re not going to worry about it. Zach Granite the same way. We hit two lefties first and second. They’re going to bring a lefty in. That’s fine, but they’re going to have to see lefties. They’re going to have to play and get that experience.”
In talking with both Jake Mauer and Tommy Watkins, they are all ears when it comes to statistical analysis, video and the like. There’s a sense that it is there and we want to use every piece of information that we can. However, there is a line there. How do you translate all the data? How much is too much.
The key is not getting overwhelmed by it all. “We’re exposed to a lot more statistical information. Video and things that we have access to that we never did, even in AA, AAA, we didn’t have it. It’s starting to work its way down which I think is good too because a lot of these guys get exposed to it here. There’s a right and a wrong way to look at it. You can get overwhelmed by the information. You can look at it, but it’s not necessarily a Bible. It’s a tendency. Sometimes these young guys take it as a Bible. They go out there. This guy throws 60% breaking ball and he’s throwing all fastballs“
That’s where Glen Perkins and his dream-job-of-the-future (shaping statistical analysis to help players) comes in, right?
It is encouraging to see that these things are being discussed and some are being implemented even at the Low-A level.
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