Matthew Lenz

Alex Kirillof has been hitting well since returning from AAA-St. Paul, but has only one homerun to his name. Where are the homers and should you be concerned? I address those questions in the most recent episode of From Lee to Limestone. View full video

Hindsight 20/20 the Twins trade for Paddack and Pagan looks bad, but I'm here to die on the hill that the thought process was sound. My research from 2021 in this article shows that getting peak value from a reliever is always the right play. https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/why-you-shouldn39t-be-mad-about-quotlosing-outquot-on-insert-top-reliever-here-r10239/ View full video

Alex Kirilloff is tearing up AAA-St. Paul right now and has earned a promotion to the Minnesota Twins. But with everyone healthy and producing at a league average level or better, where does Kirilloff get daily playing time and at-bats? View full video

Recently, Topps released their series 2 checklist for their 2022 Flagship product. This checklist gives us an idea of what rookies we might be in the Update release later this year and which rookie we might have to wait until 2023 to collect. View full video

The Twins Daily crew had the unique opportunity to go on an archives tour with Twins curator, Clyde “The Guide” Doepner. The only team curator in all of Major League Baseball, Doepner has been with the team for 56 years and has more than 17,000 items. Here are some of the highlights of the tour. I had the opportunity to interview The Guide a few years ago in 2018 which you can revisit here, and what’s great about the archives tour is, with a Legends Club ticket, it can be a self-guided tour. That said, what you’ll be missing are the countless stories that Doepner has to go with each piece of memorabilia that is displayed at Target Field. Not just a curator, Doepner is a former United States history teacher which, explains why he’s such a phenomenal storyteller making the memorabilia come to life through anecdotes that he keeps on an imaginary rolodex in his brain. Before sharing stories of the memorabilia, you learn of how he came into his role with the Twins which is also told in the interview linked above. In short, it started with a “thank you” and a cheap Twins owner, and then Doepner starts the tour. The tour starts at Hrbek’s Pub right behind home plate. As you can imagine, or maybe have seen, the pub is full of memorabilia from Kent Hrbek’s career, including a bobblehead of the “wrestling move” in the 1991 World Series as The Guide put it, that you might have heard about once or twice. The picture below is from my personal bobblehead collection. He goes on to point out each of Hrbek’s jerseys from his professional career from the Elizabethton Twins to the Minnesota Twins before pointing out that he was also able to grab Hrbek’s high school uniform from his time at Bloomington Kennedy. After coming up empty when he reached out to Hrbek and his former varsity coach, he was able to acquire the jersey from the former Athletic Director who was hesitant to hand over the piece of history. You’ll notice that all of the jerseys are hung high enough in the bar it would require a ladder to get them down, and when the former AD asked about the placement of the uniform Doepner told him “it’s so you can never take it back” with a chuckle. It was getting busy and our group was in the way so I couldn't get a picture of the jersey, but you can see it in the header photo on the bars website. After you finish your drink at Hrbek’s, you can head up to the Legends Club (again, you’ll need a ticket to access the rest of the tour) and find the wood burned mural of Kirby Puckett behind the bar named after the Twins Hall-of-Famer and make your away to the display case near the back of the bar. Doepner shares countless stories about the former third overall pick but what I find most interesting is the willingness of the family to “loan” the memorabilia to Target Field for all fans to see. In fact, even when Kirby’s children turned 18 and became the legal owners of Kirby’s estate, they agreed with their Mom that it belonged at Target Field. Every so often, Doepner will rotate things in and out of the case and had just done so at the start of the 2022 season. As you’re making your way around the same case, you’ll come across one display dedicated to the three All-Star Games that the Minnesota Twins have hosted…1965 at Met Stadium, 1985 at the HHH Metrodome, and of course 2014 at Target Field. Doepner has the 2014 All-Star game as the second greatest event that Target Field has hosted only behind the stadiums first game in 2010. Once you’ve reminisced over your favorite All-Star Game memories, head across the hall and find two cases dedicated to another hometown kid, Joe Mauer. Doepner hopes to double the size of this display sometime in the near future and is quick to point out Joe’s first uniform as a member of the Minnesota Twins organization is number 71…not number 1 like is the practice now when you’re a first round pick. Doepner recounts living near the ballfield that Mauer grew up on and watching him as a little kid, not being the biggest kid on the diamond but being the best hitter he’s ever seen. It’s hard not to get the same chills you got on September 30th, 2018 when Doepner highlights the catcher’s gear that Mauer wore in the final game, final inning, and final pitch of his career. Despite hesitation from his doctors and his wife due to the number of concussions he’s had, Mauer sat behind home plate one more with the promise from the White Sox that Yoan Moncada would not swing at the final pitch Mauer would catch. I like to think of it as an ode to a player who was infamous for not swinging at the first pitch of an at-bat. The Guide finishes the tour down the hall from Mauer’s display case by recounting memories from Hammerin’ Harmon Killebrew. In the display case, you’ll see a lot of non-baseball or Twins memorabilia that helps tell the story of Harmon’s life. From his days as an eight-year-old basketball player when he donned the number 3 which is now a retired number within the Minnesota Twins organization to when he was a senior in high school choosing his next path in life. Despite being known as one of the most prolific home run hitters in Major League Baseball history, The Killer had offers to play football from the cream of the crop of football powerhouses at the college level. Fortunately for the Minnesota Twins franchise and baseball fans alike, he chose to sign a 3-year, $10,000 contract with the Washington Senators because he wanted to provide financial support for his family. From there the rest is history, with Killebrew hammerin’ 573 home runs…the final one fittingly coming as a member of the Kansas City Royals at Met Stadium and you can see the exact bat used in the display case. This article (and surely the pictures...see the note below) doesn’t do the tour or Clyde “The Guide” Doepner justice. If you’re ever given the opportunity, please say “hi” to Clyde if you see him in the halls. He’s always around. If you’re lucky, you can pluck his brain on anything and everything related to the Minnesota Twins. Note: I apologize for the picture quality. I’m not a photographer by any stretch and I did the best I could with the lighting! Even more reason to go on the self-guided tour yourself! View full article

I feel like you contradict yourself a bit here when you say "every game is different..." and then complain about the changing batting orders. I personally have no issue with how he rotates players in and out and around the batting order. It makes sense to me to have Garlick in the lineup when there is a lefty on the hill...he's damn near a hall-of-fame hitter against lefties. I do think that sometimes Baldelli and Co are more focused on the "long term plan" than ever prioritizing winning any single game. How they handled Winder and Lewis are prime examples of that IMO.

Recently, reporters questioned Rocco's decision to pull starter Devin Smeltzer after 80 pitches and 7 innings of scoreless baseball. Despite the success over the first 2 months of the season, that response is worrisome for his long-term outlook for the Minnesota Twins and just confirms what the Rocco doubters have been saying since 2019. View full video

Recently, Byron Buxton said he was trying to play 100 games which people took as him being on a games limit. Putting opinions aside, his game played don't align with that interpretation and it wouldn't make sense for the Twins to play him more in April & May than in August & September. Do you agree? View full video

You won’t find Brent Headrick on any prospect lists (for now) but it's time to start noticing and appreciating what he's doing at high-A Cedar Rapids. Consider this your introduction to the up-and-coming Twins prospect. Headrick was drafted by the Twins in the 9th round of the 2019 draft out of Illinois State. Coming out of college, the southpaw had a 3.47 ERA striking out 115 batters over 96 innings pitched earning him Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year honors. The college Junior signed with the Twins just a few days later and was assigned to the Elizabethton Twins for his first cup of coffee in Minor League Baseball. Like many, he was a victim to the canceled Minor League season in 2020 but had a strong 2021 campaign with low-A Fort Myers striking out 86 batters over 61 1/3 innings and sporting a 3.82 ERA. Entering the 2022 season he was promoted to high-A Cedar Rapids and has started turning heads on one of the best pitching staffs across all of Minor League Baseball. When asked what he wants to continue improving on, Headrick spoke of building on what he's done in the two years he's been part of the Twins organization. Things like tinkering with his repertoire, adding velocity to his fastball, and staying healthy over the long minor league season. And for Headrick, part of staying healthy both physically and mentally is getting away from the ballpark with his teammates and hitting up the links for a round of golf. There’s no doubt that if Brent Headrick continues dominating the Midwest League, he’ll start showing up on some prospect lists. After all, what’s not to like about a 6’ 6” left-handed pitcher who can miss bats and limit walks? The future is bright for the former Redbird and it's time for Twins fans to start noticing. View full article

Matthew Lenz chats with Cedar Rapids Kernels lefty Brent Headrick about his improvement early in the 2022 season. View full video

Matt Wallner was a 1st round pick for the Minnesota Twins in the 2019 First Year Player Draft. Since joining the organization, the left-handed hitting outfielder keeps hitting. With an improved hard hit rate and walk rate in 2022, is he being overlooked by Twins fans? View full video

The Twins had their second-best start to a season in franchise history at 12-9. It was a month of surprises that saw them finishing 7-1, atop of the AL Central, and a myriad of unexpected performances from players at the plate and on the bump. View full video

The Twins pitching staff as a whole had a solid first month of the season, but the starting rotation really shined. Check out who the Twins Daily writers voted as the Twins Daily Minnesota Twins Pitcher of the Month. Every starter, aside from maybe Sonny Gray, had some question marks heading into the season. Could Bailey Ober and Joe Ryan at least maintain, if not build off, their successful campaigns in 2021? Can Dylan Bundy return to his 2020 form, or was that just the exception to his otherwise Mediocre career? What will we get out of Chris Archer, and who will get innings when he inevitably misses time? We don't have the answer to all of those questions, but we can start to get the answers to some of them, which is reflected in the voting. And all those questions existed before the Twins traded for Chris Paddack the day before the season started, which opened up questions about the bullpen. We undoubtedly need more time to answer all of those questions, but all that considered, I think we can be happy about the first month of the season. Without further ado, let's see how Twins Daily writers voted. Honorable Mention #2: Joe Smith Joe Smith had quietly been a great addition to the Twins bullpen. Raise your hand if you knew that Smith had a 0.00 ERA over 7 2/3 innings across nine outings. [Embarrassingly keeps hands at his side]... yeah, either did I. The bullpen took its lumps early, but the elder statesmen has been the model of consistency for the first month of the season, and his veteran presence could prove to benefit some of the younger arms in the bullpen. The 38-year-old knows what a playoff team looks like when he sees one. He's pitched in the postseason over five different seasons, including 2017-2019 with the Indians and Astros, where he appeared in the ALCS (2018) and World Series (2019). That experience can be invaluable to a pitching staff that lacks a postseason resume. Honorable Mention #1: Dylan Bundy Are we getting the 2020 version of Dylan Bundy? Of course, It's too early to say for sure, and he was roughed up in his final start of the month but otherwise was brilliant for the Twins in April. The key for him, well, really any pitcher but especially Bundy, will be to limit the free bases and home runs. He did just that in April with a 1.27 BB/9 and 0.84 HR/9 supplemented with an 8.02 K/9, and his 2.95 ERA ended up being 0.68 runs higher than his xERA. The early results are promising, but we need a more significant simple to see if the bing, the bang, and the boom are here to stay. Pitcher of the Month: Joe Ryan Can Joe Ryan build off his cup of coffee from 2021? Uh, yeah. The rookie right-hander fooled hitters all month to the tune of a 25:6 K: BB ratio and a 1.17 ERA over 23 innings across four starts. His 2.65 xERA suggests that regression is likely, but that's not surprising, and I think he would still be the winner if that were his actual ERA for April. But that’s not just a great month for a rookie; that's a great month for any starting pitcher, no matter how long they've been doing it. He accrued 0.6 fWAR, which was good enough for 19th in all of baseball among starters. It's been a fantastic start to the 25-year-olds Major League Baseball career. He’ll look to continue improving in the month of May, starting with an outing against the lowly Baltimore Orioles. If you were to rank your top 3 for the month of April, are these the three you would have ranked? In the same order? View full article