Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Brock Beauchamp

Site Manager
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    32,298

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    328

 Content Type 

Profiles

News

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by Brock Beauchamp

  1. Brock Beauchamp
    True, I misread that statement a bit. But that doesn't really change the story much. Hughes was working on a new pitch and it's the middle of March.
  2. Brock Beauchamp
    That's fair and I guess I don't really care that much either way... what I care most about right now is that Buxton is nowhere near the top of the lineup. I want to see his OBP get well over .300 before I put him anywhere near the top of the lineup.
  3. Brock Beauchamp
    No one is doubting Buxton's speed but if Byron can leg out a triple on a hit, Polanco should be able to score. Not only does Polanco get a 10 foot headstart (6-7 feet on the basepath, 2 feet more from Buxton starting from the RH batter's box), he starts out running (not coming out of a swing), and the distance to throw to home is usually a bit farther than a throw to third. If Buxton can catch up to Polanco on the bases, that means Jorge is a lot slower than what I've seen from him thus far.
  4. Brock Beauchamp
    Yes, exactly. Polanco isn't going to get in anyone's way. He's fast enough to stay ahead of Buxton given a one base headstart.
  5. Brock Beauchamp
    Kepler, if he pans out, looks more like a three hitter to me. He has the OBP and power and everything to succeed in that role. Whereas Polanco doesn't have the power, which makes him a better candidate for the top of the lineup.
  6. Brock Beauchamp
    Hey, I'm as skeptical as anyone about Hughes being in the Opening Day rotation but I'm not going to use a stat line to make a decision. It's almost impossible for me to care less about the homers. What matters to me is that velocity. If the Hammond Stadium gun is accurate (and many reports suggest it is not), that's an encouraging sign... no, that's an understatement. That's an extremely positive sign and one that should get Hughes into the rotation on its own. If Hughes is throwing 92mph, he's one of the five best starters in the organization (maybe even the best starter in the org). End of story. If he's throwing 92mph and turns his change into an average pitch, he could be a well above average starter again. But I'm skeptical any of that will happen, especially based on a single game in mid-March.
  7. Brock Beauchamp
    The guy is learning to throw a new (better) pitch. That's literally one of the main reasons Spring Training exists in the first place. Looking at a Spring Training stat line is how we get Aaron Hicks' 2013 season. How much success do you expect Hughes to have when batters see he's leaning heavily on a new pitch and throwing it far more often than he would in a regular season game so he can get a feel for it? As Nick mentioned, two of the three homers were off Hughes' changeup. How many homers does Hughes allow if he doesn't throw that pitch? One? Zero? Seven? That's why Spring Training stat lines don't matter... because pitchers often aren't playing the way they would in a regular season game.
  8. Brock Beauchamp
    That's not really fair, as I didn't watch the game and Nick's write-up was the only thing I read about it... yet I gleaned all of those points from Nick's article.
  9. Brock Beauchamp
    What's wrong with that assessment? Nick noted three things: 1. The wind was blowing out in the stadium. 2. Hughes is returning from a serious injury and hit 92mph (though the gun may be generous). 3. Hughes was throwing a pitch with which he's not fully comfortable, which led to the homers. Spring Training isn't (or at least shouldn't be) entirely about results, especially for veterans.
  10. Brock Beauchamp
    Yep, I've been flogging that point for awhile. Framing isn't so much about tricking the ump, it's about getting your pitcher the strike he threw.
  11. Brock Beauchamp
    300 episodes! Good God! And to think I've listened to almost every one of them...
  12. Brock Beauchamp
    The irony of people who don't play baseball professionally but spend their days on a baseball forum complaining about professional baseball players having non-baseball hobbies is pretty spectacular.
  13. Brock Beauchamp
    I think this board suffers too often from "show me newness". Murphy is actually a few months younger than Garver. He had a comically bad 2016 but was a relatively productive player before that point. He's considered an acceptable defender. Really, Garver and Murphy aren't that different as players. And Murphy has already burned through options. It makes all the sense in the world to see what you have in the guy who's not going to stick around before you try the guy who has no choice but to stick around for close to a decade. And it's not as if I'm suggesting Murphy should get a season of play before making a decision. Give him two months to see if 2016 was an aberration or a trend.
  14. Brock Beauchamp
    Also a possibility down the road.
  15. Brock Beauchamp
    It's not that he can't hit, I'm just not convinced he'll be better than Castro overall in the next year or two. And service time isn't a big deal but if it makes sense to tack on a seventh year for a guy you hope is with the team for quite some time, may as well do so.
  16. Brock Beauchamp
    This is the timeline I'd aim for if I was the Twins: June-July 2017: Garver gets a call-up, potentially earlier if Murphy is struggling and Garver is playing well. 2018: Garver starts as the back-up catcher, may play more often based on both his and Castro's performance. 2019: Garver begins to take more playing time from Castro, again based on performance. Castro is elite defensively today and his offense is good enough to play as the full-time catcher. As that changes, Garver can begin taking playing time from him. There's no reason to cut Castro's playing time to a partial role before he's played a single regular season game for the team. Well, not for Mitch Garver, anyway. The guy looks to have an adequate bat for the position but it's far from overwhelming. As a 25 year old, he posted a .750 OPS in AA over 400 plate appearances. That isn't exactly lighting the world on fire. An added bonus for putting Murphy out there, finding what he looks like, and gaining an extra year of service time for Garver in the process.
  17. Brock Beauchamp
    Well, catching works on a slightly different timeline. And is it more important for Garver to get reps two out of three nights in Rochester or one out of three nights in Minnesota? Given the roster construction and the signing of Castro, I don't see a reason to push Garver... but I don't really like the idea of Gimenez getting those reps, either. Run with Murphy and then make a decision on Garver as the season unfolds.
  18. Brock Beauchamp
    Somewhere out there, Scott Baker is crying that his career was cut short by injury.
  19. Brock Beauchamp
    http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/pictures/180000/velka/bucket-of-baseballs.jpg
  20. Brock Beauchamp
    Hah, fair enough. Actually, Myers causes me a bit of worry about Kepler. Both players are pretty athletic (maybe Kepler a bit more than Myers) and both were considered outfield "tweeners". They're athletic enough to play center in a pinch but aren't great at any outfield position, which shouldn't be the case due to their athleticism. I hope Kepler figures it out in the field where Myers couldn't seem to do it. I mean, Myers swiped 28 bags last season. He's got wheels on him.
  21. Brock Beauchamp
    Myers' problem has been health. He finally had his first full season in 2016 and posted a .797 OPS. The last time he was healthy was 2013, when he posted an .831 OPS in a partial rookie season. Again, if Kepler turns into a healthy Wil Myers, I'll be quite happy with that result. Also, 2017 is only Myers' age 26 season.
  22. Brock Beauchamp
    Huh. This is really interesting. Thanks, Parker. It worries me whenever a player actively goes against current baseball trends but if Kepler can hit like a healthy Wil Myers, I'd be damned happy with that. Myers' batting average has dropped over the past few seasons but initially, he was a pretty contact-heavy rookie. I'd sacrifice a few points of slugging for lots of doubles and a higher batting average on this team. No one else on this team can hit for average anymore. It'd be nice to slot in a guy with a good average, high OBP, and decent slugging into the third spot of the lineup.
  23. Brock Beauchamp
    Nope, you should have received the email either last night or this morning.
  24. Brock Beauchamp
    During the steroid era, that was a pretty good pitcher. Radke finished his career with a 113 ERA+. He didn't only eat innings, he performed well while doing it.
  25. Brock Beauchamp
    And if Hughes suddenly developed a knee-buckling changeup out of nowhere, he could be pretty good, too. Hughes and Radke are very different pitchers. Hughes needs the velocity Radke didn't (never mind that pitchers, in general, have started throwing harder since Radke started his career 20 years ago).
×
×
  • Create New...