Matthew Taylor

The Minnesota Twins have had some minor-league standouts this season, but they have also had some prospects who have been off to disappointing starts in 2023. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints Baseball prospects can be some of the most volatile players to follow in all of sports. As young players moving up through various levels of competition in a short period of time, it can be expected to see extreme peaks and valleys, even for some of the most highly-touted prospects. While the Twins have certainly seen some promising starts for some of their top prospects (article coming soon…), there have been some disappointing starts as well. These three prospects have been off to the most disappointing starts of the 2023 season: Jose Salas, Cedar Rapids Kernels (A+) .154/.229/.214, 1 HR, 11 RBI, 36 K, 8 BB Twins Daily Prospect Rank: 12 Jose Salas was a borderline top-100 prospect that the Minnesota Twins picked up this offseason in the Pablo López/Luis Arraez swap after posting a .723 OPS across Low-A and High-A last in 2022 as a 19-year-old. While many were optimistic about the infielders bat, and his potential to turn into a top-notch prospect, the start to the 2023 season has been disastrous for the switch-hitter. In 135 plate appearances to start the season, Salas has posted an OPS of just .438 with just five extra base hits and a lowly 36/8 K/BB ratio. For these reasons, Twins Daily has dropped Salas from the eighth ranked prospect coming into the season down to 12. Salas has always excelled at getting on base throughout his young career as a prospect, but this season he has done anything but get on base with just a .230 on-base percentage through his first 34 games. Salas is still just 20 years old and has plenty of time to adjust to the pitching at the High-A level, but it’s been a disappointing start to the season to say the least. Simeon Woods Richardson, St. Paul Saints (AAA) 30 1/3 IP, 7.12 ERA, 1.78 WHIP, 8.0 K/9 Twins Daily Prospect Rank: 7 Simeon Woods Richardson came into the season as one of the likeliest prospects to join the Minnesota Twins rotation with an injury and, depending on his performance, stay up with the rotation as a key piece moving forward. After posting a 2.21 ERA in seven starts with the Saints in 2022, SWR appeared ready to take the next step in 2023. Things haven’t quite gone according to plan for Woods Richardson this season, though. Other than a spot start with the Twins in April (it didn’t go well), SWR has spent his entire season in St. Paul where he has posted a 7.12 ERA in seven starts with a 1.93 K/BB ratio. One big reason for the poor performance for SWR this season has been a lack of control. After walking just three batters per nine innings across multiple levels of the minor leagues in 2022, he has been walking 4.2 batters per nine innings this season. If Woods Richardson can get his control back in order and start throwing like he did last season, he could still get another chance up with the Twins later this season. If not, the Twins might be looking at a bullpen role for the right hander down the road. Emmanuel Rodriguez, Cedar Rapids Kernels (A+) .171/.326/.408, 5 HR, 15 RBI, 40 K, 17 BB Twins Daily Prospect Rank: 3 Coming into the season, some considered Emmanuel Rodriguez to be the Minnesota Twins prospect with the highest ceiling and that he might just be the Twins’ top prospect by the end of the 2023 season. While both of those statements might still be true, it hasn’t been an awesome start to the 2023 season for the left-handed prospect. After posting a .870 and 1.044 OPS in 2021 and 2022, respectively, Rodriguez has posted just a .734 OPS through his first 21 games with the Cedar Rapids Kernels this season. While Rodriguez still has shown similar power numbers to each of the last two seasons (five home runs in 95 plate appearances after posting nine home runs in 199 plate appearances in 2022), his eye at the plate has been extremely discouraging thus far. This season, Rodriguez has 41 strikeouts compared to just 18 walks. By comparison, last year the left hander struck out 52 times compared to 57 walks. It’s possible that injury has something to do with E-Rod’s struggles in 2023. Since coming off of the injured list with an abdominal strain on May 6, Rodriguez has just a .582 OPS with 24 strikeouts and 13 walks. Do you have confidence that the players listed above will turn things around? What other prospects have been off to disappointing starts? Leave a comment below and start the conversation! View full article

The Minnesota Twins are the clear favorites in the American League Central right now. Might the Detroit Tigers be the biggest threat for the division crown? Image courtesy of © Lon Horwedel-USA TODAY Sports Coming into the 2023 season, the American League Central was a clear two-team race between the Minnesota Twins and the Cleveland Guardians. In their preseason odds, Fangraphs had the Twins as the division favorites with a 38.7% chance of winning the division with the Guardians as a close second with a 33.9% chance, and the Chicago White Sox as the third most likely. We’re more than one quarter of the way through the season and the landscape of the American League Central has changed. While the Minnesota Twins have played about how well everyone projected they would (an 84-win pace) the rest of the division has been turned on its head. First of all, the Chicago White Sox have completely taken themselves out of the playoff picture. The White Sox are 11 games below .500, and that’s after a weekend sweep of the lowly Kansas City Royals. Additionally, the presumed division-favorite Cleveland Guardians have significantly underperformed. After Monday's games, the Cleveland Guardians stand at 21-26 with a -31 run differential and being freshly swept by the New York Mets. While the Guardians have suffered mostly because of their bats (they own a league-worst wRC+ of 77), they only have a league-average starting rotation and their all-world closer Emmanuel Clase leads the league in blown saves. Enter the Detroit Tigers. Coming out of the weekend, the second place team in the American League Central is the team that was originally projected to have the worst record in the division. The Detroit Tigers currently lead the Guardians by a game in the Central, and are just two and a half games back of the Minnesota Twins for the division lead. Similar to the Guardians, the Detroit Tigers have been terrible at the plate ranking just above Cleveland with a wRC+ of 82. On the pitching side, though, the Tigers have made real strides this year, ranking 12th in baseball in wOBA after finishing 26th in the same metric in 2022. A big reason for that has been Eduardo Rodriguez, who owns a 2.06 ERA, fourth best in the American League. Additionally, the return of the rising-star pitchers, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning, appear to be on the horizon. What the Tigers really need in order to solidify themselves as the main competitor to the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central is for their star batting prospects, Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene, to start meeting the lofty expectations that were set out for them and make the Detroit lineup a real threat. One area that the Detroit Tigers have an advantage over the Cleveland Guardians is in their potential for making mid-season additions. The Cleveland Guardians have repeatedly shown that they are not willing to spend money, and not likely to make much noise at the trade deadline. The Detroit Tigers, however, have shown that when they have a team with the potential to compete, they will make the necessary moves to put themselves in a position to do just that. The Twins don’t have much of a threat at all when it comes to the competition in the American League Central, but it will be interesting to see whether it’s the Cleveland Guardians who hit their stride and become the threat that we all expected them to be, or if it’s the Detroit Tigers who turn out to be the main competitor to the Minnesota Twins in 2023. View full article

On Wednesday morning, MLB.com released their latest Cy Young poll which featured two Minnesota Twins starters in the top five for the American League. Image courtesy of William Parmeter The Minnesota Twins have one of the best rotations in all of baseball through the first quarter of the MLB season. Twins starters rank second in the American League in ERA and first in strikeout rate. With a rotation as successful as the Minnesota Twins rotation has been, it’s unsurprising to see that they have two starting pitchers in the latest American League Cy Young Award poll that was released on Wednesday. Sonny Gray and Joe Ryan have both been having elite starts to the 2023 season. Through nine starts, Sonny Gray owns a 1.64 ERA which is best in the American League. Gray has yet to allow more than three earned runs in a start all season and his 10.9 K/9 is the best of his career. Arguably the most impressive part about Gray’s statistics through his first nine starts is that he has put up those numbers against some of the best teams in baseball, going against the likes of the Houston Astros, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. Joe Ryan has been having nearly just as good of a year as his right-handed rotation counterpart. Through eight starts, Ryan owns a 2.16 ERA, with a career-high K/9 of 10.3 and a WHIP of 0.84. Similar to Gray, Ryan has dominated elite offensive competition in the Astros, Yankees (x2) and Red Sox. Over his last four starts, Ryan has allowed just three earned runs with a 28/3 K/BB ratio. As shown in the latest Cy Young poll from MLB.com, the biggest competition to the Twins’ right handers for the award are Gerrit Cole, Shane McClanahan and Shohei Ohtani. Let’s take a look at how the pitchers stack up against each other. Of the starting pitchers in top 5 from MLB’s Cy Young poll, Sonny Gray and Joe Ryan rank first and third, respectively, in fWAR. Additionally, Sonny Gray ranks first in ERA while Joe Ryan ranks first in WHIP and K/BB ratio. Looking just at the numbers above, a strong case could be made that either Sonny Gray or Joe Ryan could be considered the front-runner for the award right now, with the obvious caveat that there is a ton of baseball left to be played. If either Sonny Gray or Joe Ryan do come away with the Cy Young hardware, they would be the first Minnesota Twins pitcher to do so since Johan Santana, who won the award in 2004 and 2006. (He should have won in 2005 as well. Thanks, Bartolo Colon…) Before Santana, the last Minnesota Twins pitcher to win the Cy Young Award was Frank “Sweet Music” Viola who won the award in 1988 with a 2.64 ERA and a league-leading 24 wins. Do you think that Joe Ryan or Sonny Gray have a real shot at winning the Cy Young Award this season? Leave a comment below and start the conversation! View full article

We are one quarter of the way through the 2023 season, which presents a good time to look at the bullpen hierarchy. How do the Twins bullpen arms stack up against each other? Who is at the top of the power rankings, and who is at the bottom? Image courtesy of Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports The nature of the reliever position is that things can change extremely quickly. Relief pitchers are notoriously up-and-down and the heirarchy can change very quickly. Now that we are one fourth through the season, let's take a look at how the bullpen stands right now. 1. Jhoan Duran As has been the case for over a year now, Jhoan Duran tops the list of Minnesota Twins relievers when it comes to confidence level. After posting a 1.86 ERA in a magnificent rookie season in 2022, Duran has an even lower ERA through 16 appearances in 2023 at 1.62. Though Duran has a lower ERA than last year, the underlying statistics say that Duran has had luck on his side to start the year. In fact, according to FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) his ERA should be closer to 4.00 than to 2.00, likely because of his BB/9 which is more than twice as high as it was last year. Nitpicks aside, Duran is in the middle of another unbelievable season at the back of the Minnesota Twins bullpen and has repeatedly saved them from many late game, sticky situations. The right hander figures to remain atop this list for a long time. 2. Jorge López After a shaky first impression after being traded to the Minnesota Twins, Jorge López has been off to a great start in 2023, boasting a 1.37 ERA and 0.92 WHIP across 19 2/3 innings. López has cut down his walk numbers from last season and ticked up his strikeout numbers from where they were in 2022. López has pitched in the 8th inning or later in 15 out of his 20 appearances this season and should continue to be relied upon in high leverage roles all year. 3. Caleb Thielbar One of the most underrated players on the Minnesota Twins after rejoining the team in 2020, Caleb Thielbar picked up right where he left off in 2022, with yet another great start to the 2023 season. In 10 innings this season, Thielbar has a 1.80 ERA with a miniscule 1.8 BB/9. Because of his track record for consistency, Thielbar would have a good case for being second on this list if it weren’t for the oblique strain that has him on the injured list at the moment. The Twins are missing Thielbar’s left arm, and when he returns to health he should be expected to join the back of the bullpen with Duran and López. 4. Griffin Jax Coming into the 2023 season, Jax was assumed to be number two or three on this list after his breakout season in 2022 in which he acted primarily as the Twins’ setup man and posted a 3.36 ERA with a 9.7 K/9 in 72 1/3 innings. This season, though, Jax has been unable to keep base runners at bay, as evidenced by his 5.09 ERA. The underlying stats tell a different story for Jax, though, his FIP is an impressive 2.63 and his Statcast profile is as red as can be. 5. Brock Stewart Coming in at number six is Brock Stewart, who was signed by the Minnesota Twins to a minor-league deal last season as he worked his way back from Tommy John surgery. Stewart has been great for the Twins in limited action in 2023, pitching nine scoreless innings on the year thus far. Even as a minor-league call-up, the Twins have relied on Stewart in some key spots, as he has come into a tie game or one-run game in four of his eight appearances. Stewart has good stuff with a 96 MPH fastball and a 10.0 K/9. 6. Emilio Pagán Many Twins fans were surprised when the Twins offered Emilio Pagán arbitration this Winter, but the Twins believed in the reliever's stuff and identified him as a bounce-back candidate for 2023. Prior to Wednesday's loss to the Dodgers in which he gave up a grand slam, that seemed to be working reasonably well. While Pagán has shown some brief stints of good results in 2023, that was partly because the Twins limited the right-hander from facing high-leverage situations. As of Wednesday morning, among relievers, the right hander ranked sixth on the Twins in Leverage Index. The biggest development for Pagán this season had been that he has thus far avoided the long ball; after allowing over 1.5 HR/9 last season, he had yet to allow a home run prior to Wednesday's disastrous outing. 7. Jovani Moran After dominating in the Minors and recording a breakout season in the Majors in 2022, Jovani Moran has failed to build on that in 2023. In 16 1/3 innings, Moran has posted a 5.51 ERA with a WHIP of 1.59. In addition to his command struggles, Moran has been getting crushed by right-handed batters, an area of strength for him in the past. 8. Cole Sands Once a starting pitching prospect, Cole Sands has since moved to the bullpen as a long-relief arm. Sands lacks the elite stuff to become a back-end bullpen arm, but has shown some signs of success as a long man. 9. Jorge Alcala A once-promising prospect, Jorge Alcala has quickly seen his stock crater in the Twins’ bullpen over the past couple of years. In 2022, Alcala was injured nearly all season. In 2023, Alcala was seemingly healthy coming into the season, but has struggled mightily, allowing four home runs in just 15 1/3 innings. After being optioned to Triple-A for poor performance and recalled to the Majors, on Tuesday, Alcala was sent to the injured list with a right forearm strain. Do you agree with the bullpen power rankings? Leave a comment below and start the conversation! View full article

The Minnesota Twins didn’t exactly find their stride at the plate on Wednesday night against the San Diego Padres, but they came through when it mattered and gave the Twins a much needed win. Image courtesy of Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports Box Score SP: Pablo López 6 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K (98 pitches, 56 strikes (57%)) Home Runs: Max Kepler (6) Top 3 WPA: Solano .616, P. López .246, Correa .223 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs): The Minnesota Twins came into Wednesday night’s game against the Padres with lots of questions surrounding their offense. Questions were swirling about whether the Twins should regret the Luis Arraez trade or even if they would consider firing their hitting coach. The Twins started off the game as though the offense might turn things around when Max Kepler crushed a solo home run in the first inning off of Padres starter Seth Lugo. After hitting just nine home runs in 446 plate appearances in 2022, Kepler has already hit six blasts in 2023 in 107 plate appearances. The home run gave the Twins an early 1-0 lead, with the Twins soon ready to tack on another. Just one night after getting booed at his home stadium, Carlos Correa gave fans something to cheer about when he crushed a double to the tune of a 108 MPH exit velocity that plated Max Kepler and gave the Twins a 2-0 lead. The Twins offense went quiet after the two early runs, though, and the story quickly flipped from the bats to the mound as Pablo López was special on the bump for the Minnesota Twins tonight. Against a top-tier lineup like the San Diego Padres, López pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing just one run on two hits while striking out eight batters. Perhaps what was the most impressive part of López’s outing, though, was that he didn’t have his best command tonight. López only threw 57% of his pitches for strikes and walked a season-high four batters, but was able to avoid any major damage until the seventh inning when Juan Soto crushed a solo shot off of López to get the Padres on the board. After Jorge López allowed the Padres to tie the game in a messy 8th inning, the Twins and Padres headed to extra innings to settle the score. In the 10th inning, the Twins traded a pair of runs when the Padres successfully plated a suicide squeeze and "Donny Barrels" responded with an RBI single to tie the game once again. In the 11th inning, Griffin Jax was able to hold the Padres offense scoreless and give the Minnesota Twins’ offense a chance to come through in the bottom half of the inning, and come through they did. After the Padres intentionally walked Carlos Correa, Alex Kirilloff made them pay when he pulled a base hit right past the diving first baseman to plate Max Kepler from second base and win the game for the Minnesota Twins, snapping their three-game losing streak and moving the Twins’ record in extra innings to 4-2. After the Guardians lost to Tigers earlier today, the Twins are now three games ahead of Cleveland in the division, however, their closest competition right now is Detroit who is currently two-and-a-half games back of the Twins. Other Notes One of the most notable plays from Wednesday night’s victory for the Twins was the bizarre catch from Joey Gallo in the top of the first inning when he made a juggling catch in left field and doubled up Jake Cronenworth at first base. One of those plays that you have to see to believe. What’s Next? Tomorrow afternoon, the Minnesota Twins will bring Bailey Ober to the mound to face off against long-time ace Yu Darvish in a rubber match before the Chicago Cubs come to Target Field for a weekend series. Postgame Interviews Bullpen Usage Chart SAT SUN MON TUE WED TOT Alcala 29 0 0 23 0 52 Pagán 0 12 0 24 0 36 Jax 0 0 0 18 17 35 Stewart 0 11 0 0 9 20 Durán 0 0 0 0 17 17 Lopez 0 0 0 0 17 17 Morán 12 0 0 0 0 12 Rodriguez 0 0 0 0 0 0 View full article

Let’s look at the cases for each. Image courtesy of © Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports Kyle Farmer has only played in 11 games for the Minnesota Twins this season, but he has certainly been missed since going out with a facial injury on April 12. He brings a much needed right handed bat, as well as the positional flexibility to play all over the infield. With the Twins returning home from their road trip on Tuesday, it’s likely that Farmer will join the big league club, but who will be the odd man out on the roster? There are two likely options: Willi Castro and José Miranda. The first option for a demotion is star prospect José Miranda. Coming into the season, Miranda was thought to be a core member of the team following his breakout season in the Minor Leagues in 2021 and his strong showing as a rookie in 2022. His 2023 season has been a different story, though. In 32 games played thus far, Miranda has just a .589 OPS with just six extra base hits and a tough 21/9 K/BB ratio. His underlying statistics don’t provide much confidence either, with a barrel %, chase rate, BB% and xSLG all below the 25th percentile. I mean, just look at this Baseball Savant batter profile. This doesn’t look like someone who is demanding playing time at the Big League level, does it? The other reason for sending down Miranda is his defense. First of all, Miranda has been a negative in the field for the Minnesota Twins this year. According to Baseball Savant, Miranda has provided -2 outs above average this season, putting him in the 8th percentile in baseball. When the Twins bring back Kyle Farmer, they will likely slot him in as the new everyday starting third baseman. Farmer provides much better defense than Miranda and with the way Miranda is performing at the plate, he likely will provide better offense as well. Secondly, José Miranda doesn’t provide much of any defensive flexibility. Miranda could be a right handed platoon at first base for Joey Gallo/Alex Kirilloff, but he showed last year that he’s a bit of a butcher at first base, and keeping Miranda in the bigs as a platoon first baseman doesn’t make a lot of sense either. Whether it’s his shoulder injury that kept him out of the World Baseball Classic this winter, or simply a sophomore slump, there is a good argument to be made that Miranda should be the player to be sent down to St. Paul where he can regain his confidence and hopefully find the swing that made so many people confident in him heading into the season. The other option for being sent down to make room for Kyle Farmer is utilityman Willi Castro. Castro was a surprise addition to the Opening Day roster for the Minnesota Twins this season after signing a minor league contract in December. Castro hasn’t exactly been great for the Minnesota Twins during the first month of the season, posting an OPS of just .643 with three extra base hits over 44 plate appearances. In his four seasons prior to joining the Twins, Castro posted a cumulative OPS of .673 with an average of just six home runs per season, so expecting any offensive run from the utilityman isn’t wise. Castro does not provide the offensive ceiling that Miranda does, though as a switch hitter, Castro does provide the Twins with more lineup flexibility against pitchers of both right and left handedness. Defensively, Willi Castro provides about league average defense and can play all over the infield as well as the corner outfield. Castro provides more speed than Miranda, though isn’t necessarily a burner on the bases. With Nick Gordon on the roster as a right handed bat with plus-speed and a higher offensive ceiling coming off the bench, it’s not exactly clear how often Willi Castro would play if he stuck on the roster after Kyle Farmer gets called up. However, unlike José Miranda, the Twins would be okay with having Willi Castro stick on the bench most days, whereas with José Miranda, if he’s not playing almost everyday the Twins would prefer to have him playing in St. Paul where he can play every day. The ultimate question that would determine if José Miranda or Willi Castro gets sent down for Kyle Farmer is how often the Twins are comfortable playing Farmer. If Farmer is healthy enough to play everyday, it’s safe to reason that Farmer would take over the role as the everyday third baseman and there would be no at-bats left for Miranda. If the Twins don’t feel comfortable playing Kyle Farmer everyday, then Miranda might stick with club as he still provides upside at third base that Willi Castro simply doesn’t provide. Who do you think should get sent down for the Twins to make room for Kyle Farmer? Leave a comment below and start the conversation! View full article

We’re under a week from opening day, so let’s take a look at the American League Central and who figures to be the best at each position, starting with the batters. Image courtesy of Peter Aiken-USA TODAY Sports Catcher: Salvador Perez, KCR ZiPS projection: .267/.310/.499, 28 HR, 84 RBI, 3.2 fWAR After a dominant season in 2021, Salvador Perez struggled with a thumb injury in 2022 and saw his OPS drop by over 100 points. Even still, Perez enjoyed a 110 OPS+ season with 23 bombs. Now fully healthy heading into 2023 there’s no reason not to think that Salvy will maintain his reign as the best catcher in the American League Central. Honorable mention: Yasmani Grandal, CWS First Base: Vinnie Pasquantino, KCR ZiPS projection: .275/.352/.474, 21 HR, 77 RBI, 2.4 fWAR Although he wasn’t a highly touted prospect coming out of Old Dominion, Pasquantino mashed his way through the Minor Leagues and earned a call up to the Royals last season and his play didn’t skip a beat. In 72 games in Kansas City in 2022, Vinnie posted an .832 OPS thanks to his average exit velocity of 91.2 MPH. The projections systems don’t think that Pasquantino’s 2022 was a fluke and he figures to be the top first baseman in the Central in 2023. Honorable mention: Josh Bell, CLE Second Base: Andrés Giménez, CLE ZiPS projection: .266/.336/.416, 15 HR, 73 RBI, 4.7 fWAR If it weren’t for the unknown extent of his injury, this spot would likely belong to Jorge Polanco. Polanco is starting the season on the injured list, though, and details of the severity have been pretty vague. In his spot is Andrés Giménez who is one of the more underrated players in the American League Central. The Venezuelan earned his first all-star birth in 2022 and finished top-10 in MVP voting. At 24-years-old, Giménez could occupy the spot as best second baseman in the division for a while. Honorable mention: Jorge Polanco, MIN Third Base: Jose Ramírez, CLE ZiPS projection: .272/.353/.516, 30 HR, 108 RBI, 6.1 fWAR One of the few true superstars in all of baseball, Ramírez was an easy selection for the third base spot on the All-AL Central team. The switch hitter has posted a >.800 OPS in each of the past seven seasons. J-Ram is the straw that stirs the Guardians’ drink and if the Guardians want to make a deep playoff run in 2023, he will be the one leading the charge. Honorable mention: Jose Miranda, MIN Shortstop: Carlos Correa, MIN ZiPS projection: .276/.355/.472, 24 HR, 79 RBI, 5.9 fWAR The first Minnesota Twin to make an appearance on the All-AL Central list is Carlos Correa. The star shortstop and biggest free agent in Minnesota Twins history is not only the best shortstop in the AL Central, but in the running for best shortstop in Major League Baseball. On top of being a perennial Gold Glove candidate, Correa is an on-base master with 25 homer power. Correa finished 2022 as a 4.4 fWAR player, and if all goes well he’ll exceed that in 2023. Honorable mention: Bobby Witt Jr., KCR Outfield: Byron Buxton, MINZiPS projection: .256/.323/.544, 22 HR, 51 RBI, 4.1 fWAR When healthy, Byron Buxton has the upside to be an MVP winner. 2022 was another difficult health season for the center fielder as he failed to eclipse 100 games played for the fifth consecutive season. Even playing in just 92 games, Buxton chipped in 4 fWAR for the Minnesota Twins and is the top outfielder in the American League Central. Outfield: Luis Robert, CWS ZiPS projection: .273/.319/.464, 18 HR, 68 RBI, 3.4 fWAR Similar to Byron Buxton, Luis Robert has MVP-type upside but also has been bit majorly by the injury bug in his short Major League career. Lou Bob is your prototypical 5-tool player who does it all on both sides of the ball. Should he stay healthy in 2023, Robert will affirm this spot on the All-AL Central team and the White Sox should find themselves in the mix for the division. Outfield: Steven Kwan, CLE ZiPS projection: .274/.350/.377, 7 HR, 53 RBI, 3.5 fWAR Coming out of nowhere in 2022, Steven Kwan burst onto the scene for the Guardians in 2022 and nearly grabbed the American League Rookie of the Year award, thanks to his .772 OPS and his incredible glove in the outfield. At the young age of 25, Kwan’s arrow is pointing up and figures to improve in 2023. Honorable mention: Riley Greene, DET Total appearances on All-AL Central Team: Hitters Guardians: 3 Twins: 2 Royals: 2 White Sox: 1 Tigers: 0 Do you agree with the All-AL Central team? Who was the biggest snub? Leave a comment and start the conversation! View full article

On Friday afternoon, the Minnesota Twins agreed to trade all-star first baseman, Luis Arraez to the Miami Marlins in exchange for right-handed starting pitcher Pablo López and two prospects. While it’s sad to see Arraez go, the Twins’ front office deserves credit for making an excellent deal. Image courtesy of Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports After the Minnesota Twins signed Carlos Correa last week, it quickly became apparent that there was a logjam in the infield and that a move would have to be made. Logically the name that made the most sense for a trade was Luis Arraez. After rumors swirled for weeks about the mutual interest between the Twins and Marlins, the two teams finally came to an agreement. Luis Arraez is no-doubt an elite contact hitter, one of the best to ever put on a Twins uniform. Arraez’s elite contact skills helped to prop up a slumping offense all summer for the Twins in 2022. The Rod Carew comps, while lofty, are not exaggerated when it comes to Luis Arraez. He is a hitting savant who will always put together a good at-bat, and almost never strike out. Arraez isn’t without his flaws, though. While an elite contact hitter, Arraez lacks much of any power at all with his left-handed bat, which severely limits his overall upside as an elite player. Additionally, Arraez has consistently struggled with knee issues and has gone from an all-around utility player to a first baseman/designated hitter. Because of the flaws noted above, it has been a question of how much value Luis Arraez could bring back in a trade. Over the countless weeks of trade speculation between the Twins and Marlins, there was talk about López for Arraez being an even swap trade, or even that the Minnesota Twins might need to toss in prospects to make the deal work. As the trade details came in, though, the trade was much more favorable to the Twins than anyone imagined, with the Twins not throwing in prospects of their own, but instead receiving multiple prospects. Pablo López isn’t a perfect pitcher by any means. His stuff doesn’t look like the stuff of an ace, and he has tended to wear down in the second half of seasons, but at 26 years old, López will slot right into the top of the rotation with Sonny Gray and Tyler Mahle heading into 2023. A young (26 years old), affordable (set to earn $5.5M in 2023) and controllable (under team control through next season) starting pitcher is the exact kind of pitcher that Derek Falvey likes to go after (think Tyler Mahle). In addition to López, the Twins acquired a fringe top-100 prospect in José Salas and another prospect in Byron Chourio. (For more on Salas and Chourio, click here.) This trade was a slam dunk trade for the Twins’ front office for three reasons. First, they are doing what you always want to do in trades, selling high on their player. Luis Arraez just won the American League batting title, appeared in the most games in his career, and posted a career high in fWAR. There’s a good chance that Arraez’s value will never be higher than it is right now and cashing in on that value is really smart. Secondly, the Twins traded from a position of strength (infield bat) and acquired a position of need (starting pitcher). They managed to find a trade partner that had a weakness in the Twins’ area of strength and thus dealt from a position of power. With rumors swirling for weeks about the framework of an Arraez/López trade, it's easy to connect the dots and see that the Twins knew they were holding the better hand and could hold out for the Marlins to toss in more assets, like they ultimately ended up doing. Finally, the Twins made a slam dunk trade because they were able to recoup some of the value that they lost in 2022 when they traded away prospect depth in Chase Petty, Spencer Steer, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand, among others. With this deal, the Twins have added a B and C-level prospect to replenish the farm and give them more trade ammo for down the road. It’s impossible to write a Luis Arraez trade reaction piece without talking about how big of a bummer it is to lose Luis Arraez. While I write about baseball in an era of advanced metrics and numbers, it’s impossible for me to not get caught up in the emotion of baseball and no player on the Twins encompassed the emotion of baseball and love of the game quite like Luis Arraez. Luis was a true throwback player who was a joy to watch and had more fun than anyone and losing a player like that is hard. How would you assess the Arraez trade? Leave a comment and start the conversation! Be sure to keep coming back to Twins Daily for lots more trade reactions and content over the coming days. View full article

After looking back at some of the Twins longest long balls of 2022 yesterday, we go to the other side of the ball today and look at the best starts of the season by the Twins staff. Image courtesy of Brad Rempel - USA Today Sports Previously, we looked back on the five longest home runs by the Minnesota Twins in 2022. Now let’s count down the Twins’ top five pitching performances from the year. 5. Sonny Gray Game Score: 78 September 14 vs. Kansas City Royals 7 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 0 ER, 8 SO (W) data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== This September start from Sonny Gray was a big one as the Twins were still in the thick of a division race for the American League Central title. At the time of the game the Twins were five games back with a five game series against Cleveland yet to come, so this matchup against the Royals was a must-win. Gray took the rubber that day and from the jump wasn’t going to let the Twins lose. 4. Sonny Gray Game Score: 78 May 24 vs. Detroit Tigers 7 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 0 ER, 10 SO (W) data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== After a number of solid starts to begin the year with the Twins, Sonny Gray’s May 24 start against the Tigers was his first truly dominant start that validated the big offseason trade that brought Gray to the Twins. Gray showed stamina, control and putaway power in this start and gave the Twins the top-of-the-rotation presence that they lost when they traded away José Berríos in 2021. 3. Joe Ryan Game Score: 83 April 27 vs. Detroit Tigers 7 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 ER, 9 SO (W) data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== Everyone expected Joe Ryan to be a good pitcher for the Minnesota Twins in 2022, but this April 27 start from the right-hander showed that he has the ceiling to be a top-flight pitcher. Ryan was utterly dominant against the Detroit Tigers and rode that performance to a solid 2022 season in which he posted a 3.55 ERA across 27 starts. Ryan’s progression will be a big x-factor for the Twins in 2023. 2. Bailey Ober Game Score: 83 September 27 vs. Chicago White Sox 7 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 ER, 10 SO (W) data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== The best pitching performance in Bailey Ober’s young career, unfortunately, came in a meaningless September game between two teams that were already well out of the playoff picture. While the game was meaningless for the Twins and their playoff chances, a dominant start like Bailey Ober had in his penultimate appearance of the season is the type of outing that he can take into the offseason, build on, and hopefully use as a springboard for a great 2023 season. 1. Joe Ryan Game Score: 84 September 13 vs. Kansas City Royals 7 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 0 ER, 9 SO (W) data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== The most dominant pitching performance for the Minnesota Twins in 2022 will, oddly enough, not even be remembered for the pitching of Joe Ryan. Instead, the performance will be remembered for Rocco Baldelli deciding to pull Joe Ryan from the game in the 8th inning, rather than letting Ryan try to finish out the game. Heading into the 8th inning, Ryan was at 106 pitches. Many were frustrated that Ryan didn’t get a chance to accomplish history, but at such a high pitch count, Baldelli’s long-view motivations were certainly understandable. Which of these pitching performances will you most remember? Leave a comment below and start the conversation! View full article

While 2022 was not a year to remember for the Minnesota Twins, there were plenty of bombs that will be hard to forget. Let’s count down the five longest Minnesota Twins home runs of 2022. Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports 5. Byron Buxton 452 feet May 5, 2022 vs. Baltimore Orioles The number five entry on this list comes courtesy of the homegrown superstar, Byron Buxton. On a 3-0 count, Byron was given the green light with good reason, as he took Spenser Watkins deep to left center field to tie up the game against the Baltimore Orioles. The Twins loste the game, but by no fault of Byron Buxton. Teaser: this won’t be Byron Buxton’s only entry on this list. 4. Gary Sánchez 456 feet June 18 vs. Arizona Diamondbacks While Gary Sánchez had an underwhelming season overall, he proved that his calling hard of hitting missiles was spot-on. His first entry on this list came in Arizona when he took a 93-MPH fastball from Luke Weaver over the centerfield fence. The Sánchez home run was a part of a big 6-run inning for the Twins en route to a 11-1 thrashing of the Diamondbacks. 3. Carlos Correa 458 feet April 10 vs. Seattle Mariners Carlos Correa’s lone entry in our countdown was surely a memorable one, as it was his first home run in a Minnesota Twins uniform. The homer was a 113.4 MPH nuke that he took into the third deck. We’ll miss you, Carlos. (Editors note: Or maybe not?) 2. Byron Buxton 469 feet April 24 vs. Chicago White Sox While this home run from Buxton wasn’t the farthest home run of the year, it was definitely the most memorable. Down 4-3 in the bottom of the 10th inning against the rival White Sox, Buxton took superstar all-star closer Liam Hendriks deep to the left field home run porch to give the Minnesota Twins a walk-off 6-4 victory. On a 96-MPH fastball, Buxton turned on the pitch to the tune of a 111.8 MPH exit velocity and from the moment the ball hit the bat, everyone in Target Field knew the game was over. 1. Gary Sánchez 473 feet September 5 vs. New York Yankees Coming in first place for the longest home run for the Minnesota Twins in 2022 is Gary Sánchez, in his first ever game as a visitor in Yankee Stadium, when he took Jameson Taillon deep for an absolute bomb that tracked at 115.1 MPH and 473 (!!!) feet. Sánchez’s home run wasn’t only the longest for the Twins, but ranked as the eighth longest home run in all of baseball in 2022. Which of these home runs will stick with you as we turn the calendar from 2022 to 2023? Leave a comment below and start the conversation. View full article