Matthew Lenz

Yes, thank you!! Fixed.

The Twins beat Cleveland taking the rubber match of what turned into a three game series and improving to 7-3 in their last 10 games. J.A. Was dealing and the offense was bombing…that and more in today’s recap! Box Score J.A. Happ: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K (65.7% strikes) Homeruns: Simmons (3), Donaldson (11), Cruz (17) Top 3 WPA: Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs) Happ First Quality Start Since April 28th It’s been an up and (mostly) down year for Happ but the lefty was dealing today en route to his fourth victory on the season. Originally slated to face the White Sox on Monday, who slaughter left-handed pitching, he was bumped up a day to face a much less powerful Cleveland team. Turned out to be a smart move as Happ struck out his second most batters of the season by living on the edge of the strike zone. His lone mistake was to former Twins Catcher, Rene Rivera, when he left a 91 mile per hour fastball middle-middle on an 0-2 count. Whether you still believe in the 2021 Twins or believe them to be sellers, Happ will need more strong outings like the one he had today to be of value to the Club. Speaking of, one way or another, providing value to the Club...Tyler Duffey came in and pitched a scoreless seventh inning lowering his June ERA to 2.00 but has yet to have the strikeout numbers he boasted over the last two seasons. Hey, if you're getting outs then who cares how you do it but worth noting his strikeout numbers remain down despite a significant improvement from May to June. Finally, Caleb Thielbar came on in the 8th to pitch two scoreless, hitless innings to seal the victory for the Twins. Twins Offense Blasts Off Andrelton Simmons ignited the Bomba Squad with a two-run homerun to the left field bleachers in the second, which was followed up with Donaldson and Cruz second deck, no-doubters in the third and fourth, respectively. Homeruns accounted for three of the seven hits and six of the eight runs on the day, while the Cleveland pitching staff helped the Twins by walking eight base runners. Of those eight walks, you might be surprised that Miguel Sańo had two free passes on the day AND didn’t strike out! In all, rookie outfielder Gilbert Celestino, was the only Twins batter to not reach base today while Cruz and Arraez were the only other Twins to not reach base twice. Bullpen Usage Chart MON TUE WED THU FRI SUN TOT Jax 0 0 0 0 75 0 75 Coulombe 0 16 0 0 32 0 48 Colomé 7 30 0 0 7 0 44 Shoemaker 32 0 0 11 0 0 43 Thielbar 19 12 0 4 0 30 35 Rogers 16 0 0 8 9 0 33 Robles 0 21 0 0 10 0 31 Alcalá 20 0 0 10 0 0 30 Duffey 0 11 0 0 0 23 11 The Twins will continue facing AL Central foes for their next 14 games heading into the All-Star Break on Monday, July 12th. If there are still those of you out there that believe in this club, the Twins likely need to go at least 10-4 to while getting within single digits of the division lead. View full article

The Twins sweep the Texas Rangers, their first sweep since May 24th - 26th against Baltimore, winning 4-2 on Sunday and improving to 30-41 on the season. Read about Maeda regaining his 2019 form, Buxton still bombing, and more in today’s recap. Box Score Kenta Maeda: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (64% strike percentage) Homeruns: Buxton (11) Top 3 WPA: Kepler (.143), Buxton (.127), Duffey (.123) Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs) Maeda Regaining 2019 Form, Bullpen Locks Down the Win Maeda battled through command issues early on to provide the Twins with five-and-a-third innings of three hit, zero run baseball on just 66 pitches while facing 19 batters. This was following his first start since returning from the Injured List where he went four innings giving up one run and striking out seven. Although today’s start was a step in the right direction, after getting his 16th out of the game he was set to face Aldonis García and Joey Gallo who I had thought might not get the opportunity to face them a third time… That lead to back-to-back homeruns and the end of the day for Maeda. Tyler Duffey relieved Maeda and continued his stellar June needing just 21 pitches to record the next five outs allowing just a walk as his lone flaw. Jorge Alcala came in to pitch the 8th inning against the middle of the Rangers line up and was able to shut them down allowing one hit and getting a big strikeout of Joey Gallo with the tying run on base. Hansel Robles came on in the 9th to earn his sixth save of the season in eight chances. Newly Healthy Twins Lead the Offense Luis Arraez and Byron Buxton got the Twins out to a 2-0 lead before Rangers righty, Dane Dunning, could even record an out. Trevor Larnach and Nelson Cruz would follow up the 426 foot bomb with singles of their own before Alex Kirilloff would roll into a double play and Jorge Polanco would end the inning. Despite coming out on top, not taking advantage of base runners would be a theme of the day as they had 13 hits and left 21on-base going 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. In the third, the Twins took advantage of a Gallo error as a Max Kepler single, turned double, drove in Trevor Larnach and Polanco to give the Twins a 4-0 lead. Arraez, Larnach, and Andrelton Simmons had three hits apiece, five of which were singles, upping their averages to .286, .267 and .249, respectively. Larnach continues to add to his Rookie of the Year resume, which our own Nash Walker laid out on Saturday Polanco And Cruz added to the hit parade with a hit apiece, but just as the Twins get multiple starters back Cruz was pulled in lieu of Sanó after striking out in the top of third. Hopefully it’ll be just a minor absence for Cruz as he is in the midst of a hot streak. The Twins will come back home with a four-game winning streak, their longest of the season, and will host the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland for a six-game homestand starting tomorrow. View full article

Look at the bullpen spreadsheet. It was not burned up. Regardless, to not even go out to the mound and give them a breather was just odd.

I'm sorry but this just isn't factual. Over his last 47 at-bats he has an OPS of .418. We are not very good and he is one of our worst. Rortvedt hasn't been great at the plate either but he has been defensively. Until Garver is healthy, I'll take Jeffers and Rortvedt as my catchers.

Although he doesn't deserve it, I think the swap is probably Arraez for Gordon. I would like to see Rortvedt stay on the roster over Astudillo though.

The Twins fell in a blowout to the Astros 14-3, losing the series two games to one, and falling to 26-39 on the season. Read about the game in today’s recap. Box Score Michael Pineda: 4 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K (60.9% strikes) Homeruns: Jeffers (3), Cruz (13) Bottom 3 WPA: Dobnak (-.161), Pineda (-.117), Larnach (-.074) Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs) Twins too Aggressive Early, Never Put Together a Threat Framber Valdez is a very good pitcher for the Astros, but shouldn’t have been as effective as his box score looked over his seven innings. The first indication is the three walks he surrendered in just three-and-a-third innings when he averages less than two walks per nine innings, but look a little closer and it’s clear the Twins were really helping him out. He’d follow up the first two innings with a four pitch walk of Andrelton Simmons which lowered his strike percentage to just 37% on the day, but really settled in after that with the only real scathe on his record being an absolute moon shot from Ryan Jeffers in the fifth inning. In all, Jeffers had a good day at the plate hitting all three of his balls-in-play harder than 96 miles per hour and having a .510 xBA despite only one hit. In continued good news, Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz also continued stinging the ball today, including Cruz hitting his 13th home run of the season in the 8th inning with the game far out of reach. Twins Pitching Staff Gets Rocked from Start to Finish In short, this might be all you need to know about today’s team pitching performance for your favorite boys of summer… In length, after allowing back-to-back hits to start the game, Pineda was able to sit down 11 consecutive Astros hitters although the metrics behind those at-bats may suggest that the fourth inning two-out rally was inevitable. The Astros had been tagging balls off of Pineda all afternoon and sported an xBA of .281 heading into the fourth inning. Regardless, Pineda was one Donaldson diving grab from a 1-2-3 fourth inning, even still had only given up three earned runs, and thrown just 64 pitches before being pulled for the “bullpen”. I put that in quotes because in his place, Rocco Baldelli went with starter, turned reliever, turned starter, turned reliever Randy Dobnak who had started just four days prior. It didn’t take long for the Astros to assert their dominance over Dobnak, including 41st percentile sprint speedster Yordan Alvarez swiping his first Major League base and hitting a no-doubt 425 foot shot in the next inning. In just two innings of work, Dobnak was responsible for eight baserunners and six earned runs which has increased his season ERA to 8.38. What was really interesting, and maybe telling, to me (and Ted) was how Baldelli and/or Wes Anderson handled Dobnak getting shelled Pineda and Dobnak weren’t the only two to get stung by the Astros. Alex Colomé came on in the 7th and gave up two runs, Shoemaker entered in the 8th giving up two runs including a 420 foot blast to Chas McCormick on his third pitch of the inning and an additional run in the 9th. TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Shoemaker 0 0 0 35 0 43 78 Jax 23 51 0 0 0 0 74 Colomé 9 25 0 0 0 24 58 Alcalá 21 0 7 15 0 0 43 Duffey 0 0 20 22 0 0 42 Farrell 19 0 23 0 0 0 42 Rogers 20 0 0 3 9 0 32 Robles 0 0 11 0 15 0 26 Dobnak 0 87 0 0 0 40 I don’t know how much to read into the bullpen usage in this game. All three relievers have struggled mightily this year, but specifically using Dobnak and Shoemakers as relievers and leaving them out there when they were clearly struggling to get outs was interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a move or two before the Twins leave for their six-game road trip against Seattle and Texas. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email3b View full article

Twins right-handed pitching prospect, Bailey Ober, made his Major League debut on May 18th against the Chicago White Sox. Unlike his rise to the majors as a 12th round pick, we were a little slow to this but, as they say...better late than never! Let’s take a look back at his rise to the Majors in his prospect retrospective. He was knocked around a bit in his debut going four innings, allowing six baserunners and four earned runs off of two homeruns while striking out four hitters. In his second start, against the Kansas City Royals on June 6th, he once again went four innings with four strikeouts but kept the ball in the ballpark and allowed just one run. Prep Career Ober attended Charlotte Chrisitan School in Charlotte, NC where he helped his team win state championships in his Junior (2012) and Senior (2013) years. His bio at the College of Charleston, where he would go on to played for three years, goes onto say that as a Senior he “posted [a] 10-0 record with 0.45 ERA and 99 strikeouts”, and actually played baseball with another local professional athlete: Ober started his college career strong as head coach Monte Lee, who is now at Clemson, said “Ober has been our guy. He really commands the strike zone well and doesn’t miss his spot...He spots his fastball well and his changeup is very good. The breaking ball, over time, has become a much better pitch, too” in an Mid Major Spotlight article by Perfect Game. He would go on to be selected as Freshman Pitcher of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association posting a 10-3 record, 1.52 ERA, and 85 strikeouts across 106.2 innings. Unfortunately, Ober was forced to take a redshirt for his true sophomore season as he required season-ending Tommy John surgery. Although he was not as dominant upon his return in his redshirt sophomore, he did well enough to get drafted by the Dodgers in the 23rd round of the MLB Draft but ultimately elected to return to Charleston for his redshirt Junior year where struck out more than one hitter per inning and more than six strikeouts to each walk across 10 starts. That lead to him getting drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 12th round of the 2017 MLB Draft Professional Career Despite striking out 11.7 batters per nine in his final collegiate season, Ober was drafted being known for his command of the strike zone and having a four-pitch arsenal with great movement. That said, in his first three professional seasons he continued to strikeout more than one batter per inning combined with an elite walk rate of around one per nine. His success lead to a quick ascension through the Minor League system starting the 2019 season with the GCL-Twins and ending the season at AA-Pensacola, where he posted a 0.69 ERA and 11.11 K/BB over 78.2 innings and 13 starts. In 2020, Ober was rated as the 30th best prospect in the organization and moved up to 23rd in 2021 despite losing a second season of competition in six years. Following the 2020 season, Ober was added to the 40-man roster and prior to making his 2021 debut, he had made four starts for AAA-St. Paul with a 2.81 ERA and a 4.20 K/BB. Ober was then called up on May 18th after the Twins moved Michael Pineda to the IL. Twins Daily Coverage READ: Get To Know Twins RHP Prospect Bailey Ober by Seth Stohs in January of 2018. READ: Bailey Ober on His 2019 Successes by Seth Stohs in September of 2019. READ & WATCH: Highlights: 4 Twins Prospects Off to Hot Starts by Tom Froemming in May of 2015. READ & WATCH: Twins Spotlight: Episode 9 (Bailey Ober) by Seth Stohs in November of 2020. READ: Twins Daily 2021 Top Prospects: 16-20 by Tom Froemming in February of 2021. READ: The Next Minnesota Twins by Steve Lein in April of 2021. READ: Time for a Changing of the Guard by Cody Pirkl in June of 2021. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

The Twins come out on top against the Royals on Sunday afternoon after another game of struggling to push across runs. They were able to split the four-game series against the Royals improving to 23-35 on the season. That and more in today’s game recap. Box Score Bailey Ober: 4 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K (72.5% strikes) Homeruns: none Top 3 WPA: Rogers (.452), Larnach (.120), Duffey (.110) Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs) Ober Efficient in Second Career Start Like his first Major League start, Ober gave the Twins four strikeouts in four innings but this time he was able to keep hitters in the ballpark leading to just one run scored. Ober was looking good early after going six up-six down in the first two innings including three strikeouts, executing the scouting report on the Royals: The “Rocco pulls his pitchers too early” crowd will not be happy as Ober only needed 51 pitches to get through those four innings, but the Royals were hitting the ball hard and had an xBA of .342 going into the top of the fifth. Moreover, in the third the Royals had runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out before Miguel Sanó was involved in his third triple play in as many years and the fifteenth in franchise history: Even in the fourth inning, Royals hitters were starting to get to Ober after Alex Kirilloff misplayed a lead-off Whit Merrifield single, turning it into a standup triple. Fortunately, Andrelton Simmons was shifted behind second base to snare a Carlos Santana line drive that helped limit the damage of the inning to just one run on three hits. Twins Load the Bases but Struggle to Score I mean that both figuratively and literally. Brady Singer needed 106 pitches to get through five and two-thirds innings where he allowed eight hits and three walks, yet the Twins were only able to manage two runs scored going 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position. But literally in the fifth, Polanco placed a bunt perfectly down the third baseline which loaded the bases with nobody out. After back-to-back strikeouts from Kirilloff and Sanó, the Twins were able to scrape together a run thanks to a Trevor Larnach hit-by-pitch. On the day the Twins finished going 2-for-11 with 10 left on base. With all of that said, it’s hard to be totally negative when you are able to get on base 13 times like the Twins did today. Strikeouts aside, Miguel Sanó continued to hit the ball hard today with an RBI double that gave the Twins their first lead in the third, as well as hitting a shot to centerfied in the 6th that had an exit velocity of 96.5 miles per hour and an xBA of .390. More encouraging is the continued hitting of Nick Gordon who went 2-for-4 upping his OPS to .979 while swiping his third base on the season, as the Twins organization continues to develop middle infield talent after seeing Luis Arraez and Jorge Polanco experience success in recent years. Bullpen Turns in Solid Series A Taylor Rogers high leverage save was a great way to cap off a tremendous weekend by the Twins bullpen. After a taxing six and two-thirds inning on Friday night, the Twins relief pitchers were able to shut down the Royals for three innings on Saturday and five innings on Sunday, not to mention three innings of one (unearned) run ball on Thursday night. Although it may be too little too late for 2021, the Twins will likely be seeking to get some value out of one-year rentals Alex Colomé and Hansel Robles via trades while also giving pitchers like Jorge Alcala and Luke Farrell an opportunity to showcase their talents for 2022 and beyond. WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Anderson 0 0 62 0 0 62 Farrell 0 11 0 0 13 24 Colomé 21 0 0 0 0 21 Robles 0 20 0 10 15 45 Duffey 0 12 0 7 14 33 Alcala 3 0 7 0 10 20 Rogers 0 0 0 12 0 12 A lot of fans were hoping that 13 games against the Orioles and Royals would ignite this team into the playoff contender they were projected to be. Unfortunately, the Twins end up going 6-7 over that stretch and now face Yankees and Astros for six games at home after an off-day on Monday. I’d imagine these last two weeks were the figurative “nail in the coffin” for even the most optimistic fans. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

Twins outfield prospect, Gilberto Celestino, made his Major League debut on June 2nd against the Baltimore Orioles going 0-for-2 with a strikeout before being lifted in the top of the 8th by a pinch hitter. Let’s take a look back at his rise to the Majors in his prospect retrospective. Amateur Career Coming out of the Dominican Republic, there isn’t really any statistical data on his amateur career before being signed as an international free agent in July of 2015. At the time he was considered the #11 international prospect and MLB.com’s scouting report read as follows: “Known for his athletic ability and instincts in the outfield, Celestino is projected to start in center field and likely stay there as he develops because of his speed, arm and his ability to get good jumps in the outfield. He's lean but is expected to fill out as he matures. Scouts like his makeup and expect him to reach his potential once he signs with a team and receives daily instruction. One of the most polished players in the class, Celestino is known as a "gamer" because he has a track record of success in tournaments in the Dominican Republic. He's gained a reputation as one of the better game players in the class, despite varying opinions on his some of his tools.” Professional Career After signing with the Astros for a total of $2.5 million, including a $2.25 million signing bonus, Celestino played 56 games between the Dominican Summer League and Gulf Coast League with two home runs, 15 stolen bases, and an OPS of .758. Over two and a half seasons and 152 games, Celestino sported an OPS of .753 with 10 homeruns and 39 stolen bases reaching as high as AA for the Astros. Just nine days before he was traded to the Twins, The Runners Sports published this article comparing him to the 6th overall pick from the 2012 MLB draft. On July 29th, 2018 the Twins received Celestino and right-handed pitcher Jorge Alcala in a package that sent Ryan Pressly to the Astros. At the time, Celestino was their 15th rated prospect in a farm system that ranked 10th best in baseball according to Sam Dykstra of MiLB.com. In his one-and-a-half seasons prior to losing the 2020 Minor League season to COVID, he hit 11 homeruns, stole 22 bases, and had an OPS of____. The Twins thought highly enough of the speedy centerfield to add him to the 40-man roster following the 2019 season and added him to the 60-man player pool in 2020. After many injuries at the Major League level and a solid start at AA-Wichita he was called up on June 2nd. Twins Daily Coverage WATCH: Highlight Reel created by Tom Froemming in February of 2020. Consider this his HYPE video. READ: Trade Retrospective: How Did the Twins Do in the Ryan Presley Trade? by Cody Christie in August of 2020. I don’t know that we are any closer to a clear answer right now, but it’s encouraging that both pieces from that trade have made it to Minneapolis. READ: Twins Daily 2021 Top Prospects: 11-15 by Nick Nelson in February of 2021. He came in as Twins Daily 11th ranked prospect in 2021, one spot ahead of Brent Rooker, which is one spot higher than he was in 2020. READ: Celestino Looking to Impress this Spring, Debut this Summer(?) by Seth Stohs in March of 2021. Is there anyone more in tune with the Twins farm system than Seth? My vote: “nay”. READ: One Twins Prospect to Watch at Each Minor League Level by Cody Christie in May of 2021. Celestino was Cody’s prospect to watch heading into this season...who knew we’d get to do it at Target Field or on Bally Sports North?! Oh yeah, Seth had a feeling. READ: Examining Minnesota's Center Field Depth by Cody Christie in June of 2021. This was written days ago amid the Twins throwing Rob Refsnyder and Kyle Garlick in centerfield. Welcome to the bigs, Gilberto! MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

Would love to see an extension that is no more than 3 years, preferably 2, and at an AAV in the mid to low teens.

After naming Mitch Garver the first Twins Daily Minnesota Twins Hitter of the Month, it is now time to look at the first pitcher who earned the distinguished honor of being recognized by Twins Daily. Come for the award announcement and stay for the debate in the comments! This race wasn’t as clear cut as the race for hitters was, and I found it a challenge trying to value starters versus relievers especially between the Pitcher of the Month and the 1st Honorable Mention. Honorable Mention #3: Alex Colomé This honorable mention feels a lot like writing Sano down in my last piece...not great….BUT I felt it was important to recognize Colomé for the marked improvement since March/April. After all, did you know… ...and on top of that he was statistically the worst reliever in all of baseball for the first month of the season. Woof. On the other hand, in the month of May he made 11 appearances only giving up two earned runs and striking out more than one hitter per inning. Unfortunately, some of his metrics (i.e. BB/9 and FIP) don’t really support the improvement so we’ll see how long it lasts. You could argue Michael Pineda or Randy Dobnak deserve a little recognition and that’s where I struggled valuing relievers versus starters, but ultimately neither of those made more than two appearances in the month. Honorable Mention #2: Hansel Robles Aside from the first couple sentences, I feel like I could copy and paste what I said about Colomé right here. Even down to the “I don’t know how long this will last” comment. With only two clean innings in the month, Tom provided us with a new, yet familiar moniker for his appearances. Honestly, you could use the same monker for Colomé and most of the bullpen, but it feels better fitting for Robles given how he ended the month against the Orioles on Monday. What’s worse about Robles is his penchant for walking people has been a career long issue aside from his career year in 2019, and even in the month of May his FIP is more than a run worse than his ERA. I think the best case scenario for Robles and Colomé is that they remain serviceable enough to provide value at the trade deadline, but I wouldn’t count on it. Honorable Mention #1: José Berríos Berríos made a strong case to win the pitcher of the month with his second best start of the year on Memorial Day against the Orioles, but he was pretty subpar in the first half of the month to take the cake. That said, it was great to see Berríos have an efficient and effective outing against one of the worst hitting teams against right handed pitchers. That’s not to diminish his start but to suggest that he did exactly what he needed to on Monday...attack the zone, let them put the ball in-play, and have the defense do the work for you. Consistency has been Berríos biggest issue throughout his career and this month was no different where he had three starts allowing three or more earned runs and three starts earning two or less earned runs. His next start will likely come against the Royals which he faced on May 2nd and got tagged for four runs over six innings. Pitcher of the Month: Taylor Rogers Take out his first two appearances in the first four days of the month and Rogers puts up a 2.53/1.81 ERA/FIP, a 15.2 K/9, and accruing four holds+saves over 10.1 innings pitched. Even considering those first two appearances where he gave up four earned runs in 2.1 innings, he still was my choice for the first Twins Daily Minnesota Twins Pitcher of the Month. Rogers has had a nice bounce back season in 2020 and that can be at least partially attributed to the location of his sinker. From the GIF above, you can see he has been locating his sinker on the edges of the plate and the results are noticeable. In 2020, batters slugged .561 against the pitch while in this season they are down to .400 and the putaway rate on the pitch has increased by 57% between the last two seasons. What’s more is that Rogers is currently at the 100th percentile in chase rate this year thanks to his command of the zone with that pitch despite his batted ball data being roughly similar over the last two seasons. The Twins still have another year of Rogers after this season, so him coming back to his pre-2020 form is good to see. Congrats to Taylor Rogers on winning the first Twins Daily Minnesota Twins Pitcher of the Month! MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

Likewise, we appreciate your readership and engagement. At the end of the day, we all just like talking Twins baseball...even when they're not very good

I really wanted to stop my list at 2 honorable mentions but was following the lede of the Minor League pieces that uses three honorable mentions for that exact reason. It didn't feel great writing Sano's name there but it also didn't feel great writing the name of someone who played in half the games and ended the month so poorly. You're right though...that's a reflection of how this season has gone.

Along with being the Twins most improved position player, Mitch Garver runs away with the first ever Twins Daily Minnesota Twins Hitter of the Month. Although it’s been a mostly miserable season and month for the Twins, let's look at some other positives at the plate. Before we dive into one of Mitch Garver’s best months as a Twins catcher, let's look at a few Twins hitters who had a good month of May but ultimately missed the cut. Honorable Mention #3: Miguel Sano I know, I know….he struck out A LOT, including three more times on Monday against the Orioles but throughout the entirety of the month it was actually right around his career norm. The hot streak was short lived as he finished the month 3-for-36 with all singles but he also led the team and home runs with seven and a solid .331 wOBA. It will be really, really interesting to see how long Rocco Baldelli can justify playing Sano on a daily basis, especially when Kirilloff comes back. You might have been looking for Rob Refsnyder here but he played in just half the games throughout the month, which disqualified him in my mind, and he also finished with just two hits in his last 21 at-bats. Honorable Mention #2: Jorge Polanco It’s good to see Polanco start to hit a bit as he’s been mostly a liability at the plate since September of 2019 and had one of the worst hitting months of his career in March/April of this season. It wasn’t quite on par with his 2019 season but maybe it’s the start of getting back on track, and his Savant metrics seem to concur that his month might not be a fluke. The move over to 2nd hasn’t gone as well as many had hoped and with Luis Arraez, Nick Gordon, and Royce Lewis all looking to compete for a starting spot over the next few years Polanco will need to get back to his 2019 ways to stick in the line up. He had the highest walk percentage he’s had in a month in five seasons and the highest hard hit rate in a month of his career can be attributed to the successful month, but I think a little negative regression is likely as a 50.8-percent hard hit rate is not sustainable and is 18 points higher than his carer norm. Honorable Mention #1: Trevor Larnach For a long time now, Larnach has been overshadowed by Alex Kirilloff when in fact his .857 OPS in 641 Minor League at-bats is just 12 points lower than Kirilloff and he can play just as well in the outfield. He played all the part of a top prospect in his first month with an OPS of .845, a wRC+ of 142, and he ranked 28th in all of baseball with a 9.7-percent barrel per plate appearance of batters with at least 25 batted ball events. Furthermore, our own Parker Hagemen provided this little tidbit after smoking a double on May 17th. At one point, I thought that maybe Larnach would be expendable because of Kirilloff but the first two months of this season have shown that both players belong in the starting lineup on a daily basis. Hitter of the Month: Mitch Garver At the end of the 2019 season, Garver looked like he might be the best complete catcher in the game showing marked improvement at and behind the plate. Unfortunately, extremely poor play possibly due to injury subsided those thoughts in 2020, and it was even more worrisome when that continued into the first month of this season. There were signs at the end of April that Garver was turning a corner as he was hitting the ball hard and had a criminally low BABIP, and that positive regression hit hard in May as he boasted the 6th highest wRC+ and 8th highest OPS of all players who had at least 60 plate appearances. Moreover, nine of his 16 hits in the month went for extra bases including this shot from Friday night against the Royals: Garver is in his 30-year-old season with two-years left of arbitration and, unless he continues hitting like this, will likely start splitting time with catcher-in-waiting Ryan Jeffers over the next two years. The Twins lousy record aside, Garver bouncing back from a down year could be great signs for the future similar to the tandem of him and Jason Castro from 2017-2019. Congrats to Garv Sauce for being the first Twins Daily Minnesota Twins Hitter of the Month! MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

Those numbers speak more to his durability than anything else as there have only been 53 pitchers to pitch 500+ innings since 2017. I understand that durability adds to his value but being 28th and 23rd in two categories puts him in the middle of the pack of that group. The players I came up with are based off of the recent trades in my previous article that showed a single pitcher doesn’t net you a top-100 guy without adding more to the deal.

Berríos is not a front line starter on a “****ty squad”, as you would say, what makes you think he’s a frontline starter on a non-“****ty squad”. His career era and FIP are near 4.00...thats “front line” to you???