Parker Hageman

Every player lies to themselves to some degree—it’s a necessary deception to survive in a sport where failure is the norm. Image courtesy of Matt Marton-Imagn Images A year ago, Edouard Julien stood in the Hammond Stadium clubhouse, trying to convince me he was ready for anything opposing teams might throw at him following a strong rookie season. But for those who live in the numbers, there were signs that he may have overperformed, and teams would soon have a blueprint to counter him. Yet, the French-Canadian infielder, by way of Auburn, confidently assured me he’d worked to shore up any weaknesses. Besides, he argued, sophomore slumps don’t exist anymore—the game moves too fast, with too much data. Whatever strategies opponents might deploy, they had likely already tested at some point in 2023. Furthermore, the Twins’ hitting coaches had just as much information as anyone in the league, and any potential vulnerabilities had been identified and addressed. Fair enough. Behind the scenes, however, Julien was focused on improving against left-handed pitchers. As a left-handed hitter on a team that prioritizes platoon advantages, he knew better performance against lefties would earn him more playing time. “After my first year in the big leagues, I was really focused on getting better against lefties,” Julien told Twins Daily. “But obviously here, lefties don’t get a chance to face lefties, so I kind of messed my swing up. I was more rotated just to be able to hit lefties, and I didn’t get a chance to hit them. So I was better against lefties last year. I was worse against righties, where I only faced righties, so it wasn’t a good combo.” Julien adjusted his setup, rotating his shoulders to stay on left-handed pitching, but that change also impacted his approach against righties. As a result, his ability to drive right-handed pitching suffered. In 2023, he posted a .392 wOBA against right-handers. By 2024, that number plummeted to .274. Baseball is a delicate balancing act—fix one flaw, create another. Despite his best efforts to convince himself he was ready, the 2024 season spiraled. Opposing pitchers attacked him with breaking balls in the zone, and he struggled, batting just .120 against them—the second-worst mark among hitters who saw 400 or more breaking pitches. “I was uphill, and everything that was thrown—sliders, curveballs, anything going down in the zone—I wasn’t able to connect with,” Julien explained. “I was always over it, and I knew that was a problem. But during the season, it’s hard, because you don’t really want to make big changes.” Julien had an attack angle problem. His steep swing plane created an easy target for pitchers to exploit. When the offseason arrived, he and new hitting coach Matt Borgschulte set to work correcting it. copy_48014080-BEAE-4A14-B049-1CE0A39A9C72.mp4 Julien identified another issue—he was too heavy on his back leg, which made it difficult to react to in-zone pitches. That led to one of the highest strikeout-looking rates in baseball—38 times in two-strike counts in 2024. And that doesn’t even account for the hittable strikes he let go by in earlier counts. “I was so stuck last year on my backside, I couldn’t react or anything. So I was taking a lot because it was too quick.” Baseball Savant’s new stance data backs up his adjustments. Julien has widened his stance, increasing the distance between his feet from 33 inches to 36 inches, which allows him to be more balanced instead of overly relying on his back leg. “I’m able to hit more towards the front of the plate instead of always catching it deep and going oppo,” Julien said. Early returns from 2025 suggest the adjustments are working—his tracking data shows he’s making contact slightly farther out in front than last season, and he’s using the middle of the field more rather than pulling the ball. As seen in the video, Julien has also squared his shoulders more toward the plate. In theory, this should allow him to stay on righties better than he did last season. “This year I just focused on the righty angle—lefty or righty curveball, righty slider—so I feel good, and I’m sure it’s going to help me against lefties too. So I’m positive about it.” It remains to be seen if he’ll fully rebound, but the early results are promising. He’s already collected two hits off breaking balls—he had just five all of last season. We saw two of those knocks against the White Sox. The improvement could be due to his mechanical adjustments, the Twins’ renewed emphasis on going the other way in batting practice, or a combination of both. The one red flag? His bat speed is down. After averaging over 71 MPH in the past two seasons, it’s dipped to 69 MPH this year. That could be part of the transition to his new stance, or it might be the result of seeing a high percentage of non-fastballs (57% in 2025), limiting his ability to take his best swings. Regardless, Julien is keeping his approach simple. “I think this year, with the adjustment I’ve made, I just go out there and try to swing at strikes. I do a good job controlling the zone, and I just trust that I’m going to swing.” View full article

I also thought there was an error in the press release so I messaged Dustin Morse but there is actually a SECOND Tucker Frawley now taking the role that a different Tucker Frawley vacated.

This is one of the areas of data that I am very excited for people smarter than me to dig into. Right now, there is not a direct correlation between bat speed and launch angle. One stat that is not available publicly is Vertical Attack Angle (not to be confused with VAA on the pitching side) and that is a measurement of the bat angle through the zone. Think of this like the old Ted Williams bat path graphic. Zero degrees is flat. Positive is the upstroke and negative down through the zone. This metric correlates strongly to launch angle. We haven't had too many in-depth studies using MLB's bat speed data (at least, not that I am currently aware of) but Driveline's internal study in 2022 suggests that there isn't a relationship between the attack angles and bat speed (although you could contend that an individual's optimal swing would have a higher bat speed based on one path or the other based on how they move, specifically). The other element that needs more parsing is location and pitch type, which dictates a lot of the swing path. I think the better hitters know their zones extremely well and hit those pitches hard. Then there are hitters like Arraez and Kwan who can cover more of the zone and pitch types because they don't sell out for bat speed (both had the lowest average bat speed in MLB last year). On the other end of the spectrum you have Stanton who is going to swing hard at everything, nuke anything he touches, and miss a ton of pitches as well. How this pertains to player development, ultimately, is that most orgs will choose to build the engine to swing hard and fast with some positive attack angle resulting in more optimal contact (sweet spot%). The next layer they want to teach is swing decisions, which, as this interview with Dillon Lawson at Fangraphs shows, is a very big piece of the training puzzle. If a player can conquer both, watch out. Sorry for hijacking the Byron Buxton comment section. Go Buck. Go Twins.

Residents of the West Metro are likely familiar with this area of St. Louis Park. Just south of Interstate 394 along Park Place, there’s the West End shopping and entertainment district, a Costco, a Home Depot, Yangzte restaurant, the KFAN studios, Life Time Fitness, and more. Nestled in under the sea of asphalt and commerce are the remnants of what could have been a thriving ballpark district. Image courtesy of © Tony Tomsic-Imagn Images If you look closely enough, while no beams, seats, or foul lines ever existed in this location, there are still ghosts of what could have been. There is a very small lake, technically a pond, in front of St. Louis Park’s DoubleTree Hotel. The walking trail that surrounds it, dotted with park benches, seems to elevate the status of this pond above nearby retention basins. In fact, this humble body of water is a city park with an official name: Candlestick Pond. Like any good place name, it tells us a little bit about its history. For those unaware, this is significant because this was the site of the proposed ballpark to be the home of the Minneapolis Millers and, eventually, the New York Giants, whose owner was looking to move west for more lucrative opportunities. As Patrick Reusse penned in his book, “Minnesota Twins: A Complete Illustrated History,” then-Giants owner Horace Stoneham had purchased “[f]orty acres just west of Highway 100 on the south side of what is now Highway 394” and by the mid-1950s Stoneham was publicly telling people that he “intended to move his team to Minneapolis.” The St. Louis Park Historical Society added an article from December 1948 from the St. Louis Park Dispatch describing how Stoneham had purchased a 20-acre tract that required approval from the city zoning department to allow for the 1.5 million dollar, 17,500-seat stadium construction on the site. The Giants planned on using the stadium for multiple activities, including local high school sports, but drew the line at circuses. “There’ll be no circuses, anyway there have been times when I’ve seen our ball club give a pretty good imitation of one,” Minneapolis Millers general manager Rosy Ryan told the press to assuage residents’ fears that circus animals would be paraded into the community. This newly proposed stadium would replace Nicollet Park, a 4,000-seat bandbox in the city where off-street parking was non-existent, and owners could not line their pockets with those fees. The Minneapolis Baseball & Athletic Association, owned by Stoneham, purchased the St. Louis Park land. By 1950, Stoneham and Millers GM Rosy Ryan were vocal about construction beginning on their new location. In January 1950, Stoneham was in town and made a sweeping proclamation: “We expect to start work on the new ball park by the middle of the summer. It should be ready no later than the 1952 season. We definitely are going to go ahead and build. We have had architects working on the plans for some time. We plan to get started as soon as all the preliminaries can be straightened out.” During the site inspection process, several concerns came to light, including the old adjacent sand pit which had yet to be filled. According to the Dispatch, “[o]ne construction possibility that will be probed is that of sinking the stadium below the present ground level of the site. If this proves feasible, it will reduce construction costs.” Beyond that, increased parking needs and the notion that St. Louis Park was “too far” for the residents of St. Paul became a growing concern. The land issues are one reason why, in 1954, Stoneham threw his support behind the Metropolitan Sports Area Commission, composed of leaders from Minneapolis, Richfield, and Bloomington, for their proposed stadium site in Bloomington. St. Paul had completed their own AAA stadium, Midway, in 1957 after Mayor Joseph Dillon said that the city would “under no circumstances” support the Bloomington stadium and was still eager to land one of the shopping teams. But Bloomington’s proximity to St. Paul was much better than St. Louis Park, and St. Paul was tied to the Dodgers. The Millers moved into their new 20,000-seat Metropolitan Stadium in 1956 and Stoneham would join Dodgers’ owner Walter O’Malley in California instead. So the St. Louis Park ballpark concept died on the vine. The Giants, however, still owned the land. As development pushed westward and Highway 12 got ready to give way to Interstate 394, the area became much more of a lucrative prospect. In 1962, the Cooper Theater was built on the tract of land that was supposed to be a thriving ballpark. The theater was one of three “super-cinarama” theaters constructed in the US. The Cooper Theater resided on a road that sliced through the property, then named Yosemite Lane. In 1966, the Giants, still owners of the land and coming off a second-place finish in the National League, convinced the city of St. Louis Park to rename the road Candlestick Drive. The Giants’ real estate arm went belly up in the 1970s, and were forced to sell their holdings, including the St. Louis Park property. Kraus-Anderson acquired the land in the early 1980s, and the developer added several businesses, office buildings, and the future home of the DoubleTree. In that growth, Candlestick Drive was erased from maps and history. Still, one remnant from that era continues: the small pond that sits just southwest of the DoubleTree along what is now 16th Street. You might not have realized that this pond was named Candlestick. It’s not labeled on maps and has no signage on-site. Moreover, if you search Google Maps for “Candlestick Pond,” Google will take you to a lake in Newfoundland. If you add “St. Louis Park” to your query, you get thrown into Lamplighter Pond, a body of water just north of the St. Louis Park middle school. The only detail that exists is from the St. Louis Park Historical Society. The pond is likely a leftover from the long-forgotten sand pit – perhaps the original hole that required filling before a stadium could be constructed. It’s now a manicured office park pond with a small trail encircling in, perfect for workers in the nearby office buildings to get their steps in. Suppose you ever find yourself in St. Louis Park. In that case, you can locate one of the benches around Candlestick Pond, close your eyes, and think about a universe in which Willie Mays continued his career in St. Louis Park, playing for the Minneapolis Giants. Of course, we wouldn’t have the Minnesota Twins nor Twins Daily for that timeline to exist. View full article

Not to get into the minutia here but I have yet to see a write-up saying how many stands these are going into — they do say “the $2 menu is available at concession locations throughout Footprint Center” which isn’t specific. Should there be more locations in Target Field with the family-friendly pricing? Sure. Maybe. I still found the Twins’ menu to be a good offering and was fine walking to the outfield concourse. But let’s remember, this whole gambit started by the Falcons 8 years ago and they found that while they initially expected to lose about $4 million on sales, they actually made more money because people wound up buying more. So, yes, lowering the prices is a fan-friendly gesture but the owners now know the economics of it entice people to spend more.

This is in no means a defense of the current ownership but the reaction to Ishbia's post from Twins twitter yesterday was odd: The Twins had 3 sections that offered affordable concession options. Not all of it was as cheap as the $2 menu but the choices were aplenty (more items than what the Suns have presented), the food was not miniature or tainted (as far as I know), and the self-service part was great when going to the game with small children (no need to wait in line). https://x.com/HagemanParker/status/1869570446758379816 Understandably, Mat Ishbia did a much better job with the messaging. And given the state the current ownership has left the fan base, it makes sense that people would embrace a new option as saviors. But the affordable concession pricing is already a thing at Target Field. Now if they buy the Twins AND bring back Dollar Dome Dog night, sonofabitch I'm in.

I don't believe his issues in the second half stemmed from the timing of his front side mechanics. In all instances, Lewis makes his first move when the pitcher does. Now a pitcher's lift timing, cadence, and pitch selection can and does throw off that next sequence. To me, more of this adds up to issues related to his rear leg, specifically the adductor injury from July. We can see that the sprint speed is down. The average bat speed dropped during the year. The fast swing rate drops (from 46% to 33%). As mentioned in the article, his ability to separate fastballs and changeups took a drastic turn (less exit velo, more grounders, popups, and weak contact). The rear leg holds a lot of the tension in the swing. It can create power and hold your weight shift when you get a pitch you were not expecting. If a hitter can't control it effectively, you will see more instances of lunging or getting beat more frequently. To me, the positive takeaway is that if he is able to get healthy this offseason, he should be able to return to a somewhat comparable output as his first half (although I would argue that teams will and have adjusted).

A relatively new institution opened in Blaine called The Ball Park—Twin Cities. For several years, I've seen a similar model on social media from an outfit in Texas named Home Run Dugout. In simplest terms, it's an indoor baseball simulator with food. It's for socializing, not training. Seeing as Blaine is slightly closer than Houston, I figured I would drag my family against their will to The Ball Park to check it out and provide a detailed report to other baseball enthusiasts. Here's the bit: The Ball Park is like the baseball version of Top Golf. You reserve a hitting bay for 30- or 60-minute increments (for $35 or $60) and take turns swinging at foam baseballs flipped out of a pitching machine. The Hittrax-powered technology determines the outcome of the batted ball in various gameplay. [You can watch my video breakdown of the venue here.] Similar to TopGolf, each bay has a lounge area with a high-top table and couch. There's a full bar plus an extensive self-pour beer wall with a catalog of foamy goodness that would require multiple visits to complete the circuit. The menu is gussied-up ballpark fare. They serve local favorites like Kramarczuk's and even Dome Dogs (it has yet to be verified if they are authentic Hormel Dome Dogs). There are TVs everywhere and plenty of tables and seating if you want to watch a game or have dinner. Gameplay: The Ball Park provided an attendant to walk us through the Hittrax setup and give us an overview of what to expect. There are four basic modes — batting practice, home run derby, versus challenge, and game simulator. You can toggle through any Major League ballpark and choose your digital team in the game sim mode. My kids had as much fun selecting our computer-generated home field as they did ripping dingers into the projection screen. The overall setup is geared toward anyone with a modicum of hand-eye coordination. You can easily adjust the speed of the flips from a light toss to something with a bit of mustard on it. They have their own custom Pillbox bats to use, but you can also bring your own (my kids brought theirs). The foam balls don't have the same satisfying feel as connecting with a real baseball, but they are acceptable substitutes. The program tracks exit velocity, launch angle, and projected distance for all the stat nerds. With a vast skill chasm between our first grader and me, the Hittrax program allows you to change the level of defensive difficulty for each player and "boost" the power output of the younger players. This evens the playing field when competing in the derby or gameplay. The kids go nuts when they clear the Green Monster with contact that probably wouldn't reach the rubber on the mound, and at that moment, I refrain from explaining expected batting average to them. After all, the world runs on children's smiles. The four of us spent most of our time in gameplay mode. It took some adjustment to determine the right balance for difficulty and boost mode (in our first five-inning game, everything I hit was turned into an out by superhuman defenders while my fourth grader launched what would probably be a record 15 home runs in one game). Once we had that dialed in, we hammered out four more games, and everyone felt like they contributed. The one downside of the process is that the balls are not automatically gathered or funneled back into the machine. After 50 or so swings, you must flag the attendant down so they can collect the balls and put them back into the machine. While it's not an eternity, the 5-to-10 minutes lost in the reloading process adds up, especially for kids jonesing for more. Food: Once we had it, the food was good. More on that in a moment. My wife and I split the Ball Park Cheese Burger and Hand Cut Fries, both of which were delicious. The kids rifled through a burger and chicken tenders, respectively. Seeing that I am a Dad, I did my fatherly duty and finished the few bites my kids left on their plates. I will say the tenders were of higher quality than you find at most comparable venues—so much so that I had a moment of post-glut clarity, regretting not ordering the tenders for myself. The menu has a lot more options. We stayed in the shallow end, but there were intriguing items that would be compelling to try on a subsequent visit. After all, what Twins fan wouldn't want the nostalgia of eating a Dome Dog? Service: And here lies my one issue. After our attendant introduced us, we were told that a server would come to take our order. Almost a half-hour went by before someone asked what we wanted to drink. Before I go any further, I want to set some expectations. You may think that Parker seems like the kind of person who complains that the napkins are too sharp or that not enough rose petals cover the floor to walk on. I am not high maintenance, and neither is my wife, full stop. I am so thoroughly Minnesotan that I would stoically eat a sandwich made of shoe meat if it meant avoiding hurting anyone's feelings in the preparation or delivery process. We couldn't hand over money if we tried. There were upwards of a dozen employees in the restaurant, which was doing modest business following the end of the Vikings game, and no one seemed interested in trading food and beverage for legal tender from us. Our server eventually returned to take the food order. We were nearly through our hitting time allotment when that server returned to inform us that the order was not placed correctly in their system, so that supper would be delayed a bit longer. My only thought was that I was wearing my Twins Daily hoodie, and maybe they only hired Guardian fans. I chalk the experience up to being a newly opened business, working through some hiccups as they find their footing. In retrospect, a simple Google review search found several entries with people experiencing the same problem. For the most part, I can overlook that since our main focus for the visit was not necessarily on eating. Both the attendant and server were great people. The food was good. The gameplay was fun. As a #BallGuy and parent, I want places like this to succeed. It can help grow the game or mildly reinvigorate one's interest in hitting sloppy taters. Overall: Even with the weird service issues, The Ball Park was worth the visit. As we finished our food, the restaurant area filled with Loons fans for a MLS watch party. The customers had a positive, supercharged vibe. This venue would be a good place to spend the winter months with the family, have a date night, or hang out with friends. Probably great for a team-building outing or to see which Twins Daily writer can generate the highest exit velo. Our 4th grader was already thinking about organizing his next birthday there. The one last tip I would submit is that if you are going with a group larger than 4, consider renting 2 hitting bays or adding more time. So, even with the hiccups and the 40-minute drive to Blaine, what The Ball Park provided was well worth the time and money. *** The Ball Park - Twin Cities 10650 Baltimore St NE Suite 100 Blaine, MN 55449

Of course the Braves fire Seitzer. https://x.com/DOBrienATL/status/1844464174363181398

Cody Stavenhagen wrote a great piece at The Athletic on the state of hitting coaches back in 2023. The trend has been to hire younger coaches to relate to the players more. The Braves' hitting coach Kevin Seitzer has been in his role for 10 years now, which is a huge anomaly considering how volitile the role is: When the Braves added players midseason this year, Seitzer said that the support he had from the front office allowed him to help players make quick adjustments once they came into the team: It makes me wonder if the Twins' front office was able to give Popkins, et al the same support as the Braves did for Seitzer. Did they feel that they equipped their hitting staff with the right information handing into games/series that should be sufficient game planning? If the Twins can say that they provided all the information that coaches needed and more, and the staff struggled to communicate it effectively, then it makes sense to move on and not just because players underperformed.

Royce Lewis told reporters earlier this year that he doesn’t do that slump thing. That’s cap. Image courtesy of © Brad Rempel-Imagn Images On Jun. 18, Royce Lewis went 0-for-5 with a pair of strikeouts against Tampa Bay. The very next day, he went 3-for-4 with a home run. Afterward, he told reporters that “I don’t do that slump thing,” and proceeded to launch two more home runs in each of the next two games for good measure. To paraphrase Arrested Development, players somehow delude themselves into thinking they’ll never slump, but it never works… but it might just work for Royce. [Narrator: It did not.] Before we get too deep into this, we must acknowledge that Lewis is likely playing through some sort of injury, and the most notable indicator is his decline in sprint speed. According to Baseball Savant, Lewis has lost two feet per second in his overall sprint speed compared to the previous two seasons (26.3 feet per second, compared to 28.4 in 2022 and 28.2 in 2023). This season, Edouard Julien, Alex Kirilloff, and Max Kepler have better sprint speeds. For someone whose speed was very much a touted tool coming up, it has eroded fairly quickly for Lewis, leading one to conclude that a lower-half injury is a significant factor in his overall play. And it’s not just about speed: The movements that help a player run fast are vital in the hitting process, creating ground force to generate bat speed and power. Offensively, he’s seen a decline in his average exit velocity, percentage of balls hit 95 mph or harder, and fly-ball distance--all key metrics for power production. There may be some underlying physical issues that are causing a lot of slippage in his output. When players are trying to play through discomfort, there exists the potential that they will alter something mechanical or in their process that will cause issues downstream. For instance, hitters who might not feel they have their usual power output might try swinging harder or unintentionally pulling the ball, to make up for not quite moving as their best selves. Layered on top of that is the fact that players are human, and can fall into the trap of forcing things when the going is not so good. Hitters will expand their zones, swinging at everything and anything to get themselves out of a slump. These are probably two elements of Royce Lewis's current state, and teams have begun to take advantage of that. View full article

Official official.

Guess who's back? Tell a friend. Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images We're getting the band back together. On Friday night, Byron Buxton made his return to the Twins lineup, punctuated with a game-tying solo blast. Following that game, the Twins announced that shortstop Carlos Correa will be activated for Saturday's game. It's a big turnaround for the All-Star, who just a few days ago was not expected to be activated during the current homestand. He switched treatments, and, while painful to the point of bringing him near tears, the results showed rapid signs of improvement and manager Rocco Baldelli hinted recently that his return might come sooner than expected. Outside of the leadership and offensive production (Correa was hitting .308/.377/.520 at the time of the injury), the Twins' defense could potentially use his presence the most. After a month of August in which the team posted an Outs Above Average mark of -7 (27th out of 30 teams), they are currently matching that number this month. If nothing else, the pitching staff should be happy to see Buxton and Correa in vital up-the-middle defense again. If you are looking for a little optimism, this is it. View full article

The Twins have incorporated the vault lead with some of their runners: You can see Andrew Stevenson here trying to time it with the A's last year. Essentially, it's about timing the landing and going when the pitcher delivers. I wish the broadcast showed more of the player's jumps for those bases in the examples from the article above. A few years ago I was interviewing Terry Ryan for Twins Daily's offseason handbook. We were talking about Dozier's 21 steals and how he wasn't fast while Escobar was thrown out in both his attempts and was verifiably faster than Dozier. Ryan's point was that there was definitely a learning curve on how to take bases.

I'm definitely gonna need your definition of a "love fest article" because, brother, that's not what I do.

Development isn’t linear. Image courtesy of © Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports This offseason at Driveline, Christian Vázquez went through many strength assessments and had his ample figure loaded with electrodes, to determine how to optimize his swing. Driveline’s hitting program is not as vaunted as their pitching side, but they have had their fair share of clients who have had success. At its core, Driveline’s hitting philosophy focuses on two key aspects: bat speed and pulling the ball. The numbers show that increasing bat speed leads to more hits, and pulling the ball leads to more power. Combining the two should help players improve their productivity over the season. Of course, the peril of focusing on bat speed and pulling the ball can result in some bad habits. If a hitter tries to pull the ball, they may be susceptible to offspeed and breaking balls, or exposed on the outer third of the plate. Pull-focused hitters may also find themselves hooking the ball instead of driving through it, resulting in more foul balls or balls that don’t carry as well. Develop the approach correctly: pull balls with backspin that don’t hook or die. It’s a fine needle to thread, to be specific. In their offseason promos, Driveline also highlighted players like Lars Nootbaar (currently hitting .231/.322/.385), Paul Goldschmidt (.230/.290/.391), and JD Martinez (.257/.344/.432) using some of the same bat speed training techniques as Vázquez. For various reasons, none of those players have enjoyed career years or even improved results from their prior season. This isn’t to suggest that Driveline’s training is the issue, but it means that simply going to the facility in one offseason might not be a magical salve for hitting. Bat speed is essential, but how you use that tool in games is just as important. While his work at Driveline prepared him to pull the ball more – which he did 40% of the time in April and at the highest pace of his career – Vázquez was chewed up in the initial month. At the month’s end, he was hitting .231/.255/.288, while chasing 37% of out-of-zone pitches and posting a 15% swinging-strike rate. Those numbers continued to crater in May. Few expected Vázquez to contribute much offensively in a Twins uniform. Historically, outside of the juiced-ball 2019 season (wherein he hit an improbable 23 home runs), Vázquez has been a below-average hitter even for the catcher position. For the Twins, the bar to clear would be to hit enough to not erase his defensive contributions, not necessarily regaining his output from the aeroball era. Still, he had hit .223/.280/.318 in 355 plate appearances in 2023, lousy enough to make him trek to the Driveline facility in Seattle to undergo a transformation of sorts. Yet, as the 2024 season bled into mid-May, Vázquez’s stat line was a paltry .171/.195/.207 through his first 89 plate appearances. The lesson here is that development isn’t linear, and work done in the cages does not always translate in the field – at least not without some refinements and ongoing adjustments. For Vázquez, that adjustment was in the form of a timing mechanism. View full article

Keep in mind he has 8 home runs in that span as well. It definitely has an element of picking his spots with the defensive alignment and how a pitcher is pitching to him. He punched a 3-2 pitch the other way for a hit against the White Sox this series with the second baseman playing him up the middle. Teams will certain counter -- that's baseball, after all -- but Correa has been a good example of a headsy player who added a tool to his tool box trying to eliminate a weakness.

Carlos Correa’s recent surge has been refreshing, and it’s going against the modern trends of hitting. Image courtesy of © Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports Josh Donaldson is arguably the poster child for the new era of hitting. In an interview on MLB Network back in 2016, he explained his entire approach. “If you're ten years old and your coach tells you to get on top of the ball, tell him no,” Donaldson said emphatically, staring into the Studio 42 camera. “Because in the big leagues, these things that they call ‘ground balls’ are outs. They don’t pay you for ground balls.” Donaldson was coming off an MVP season with the Blue Jays, and he won the award by air raiding the entire league. He was second in the American League in slugging and third in home runs. He led the league in both runs scored and runs batted in. Elevating the baseball paid him handsomely. Most hitters and organizational philosophies agreed. In today’s game, we see fewer ground balls than ever before. Apparently, those 10-year-olds (along with everyone else) listened to Donaldson. In 2024, just 42.9% of all batted balls in play have been the ground-ball variety – the lowest rate in the last 30 years. While the league attempted to spice up the game by eradicating defensive shifts and biggie-sizing the bases, the results have mostly stayed the same in the new environment. In 2016, when teams could stack their infield to the pull side and gobble up any worm-burner ball headed their way, players had a batting average on ground balls in play of .246. All that maneuvering resulted in (or at least failed to prevent) an even lower batting average on ground balls: .242 this year. It would seem foolish for anyone to lean into this mess. But that’s exactly what Carlos Correa has done. Often, when you start to see players heat up, you’ll find a common trend of them elevating the baseball more, hitting the ball harder, or pulling the ball more frequently. Pulled, hard-hit line drives and fly balls result in more home runs and extra bases. It's the signature and symbol of the Twins' approach. That’s not what happened with Correa, however. View full article

Rerick is a really interesting prospect. He really hasn't done the thorough offseason development programs a lot of the elite prep pitchers do so you could say there's go to be some more in the tank. He's got a bit of the babyface yet so you could see him making another push. I scouted him in May and he was as advertised. He was still in the low 90s during his last inning of work. It's pretty solid.