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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Who says those days are gone?
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    Honorable mention to Aussies Ryan Rowland-Smith, once selected by the Twins in the Rule 5 draft but returned during spring training, and Trent Oeltjen, a Twins minor leaguer who went on to play in MLB for other teams: https://www.baseball-reference.com/bio/Australia_born.shtml
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    I was just adding to the OP's list!
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    Career .452 hitter Glenn Williams! I think LHP Brad Thomas and 1B Justin Huber round out the Australian contingent of Twins MLB players.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    No, I think that must be artifact of a previous list. As far as I know, Canterino is still active and in line to start again in a few days.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    I am pleasantly surprised to see they decided to move on from Vincent so quickly -- I guess he really just was a very temporary fill-in. Perhaps Jovani Moran will take Vincent's 40-man spot soon.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Confirmed, thanks! Topic updated.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    As mentioned in Parker's video, MC Hammer actually used to be a batboy for the Oakland Athletics. And he got his nickname "Hammer" from Hank Aaron:
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Found a GIF of Puckett from the video too -- a bunch of athletes appeared like this, as a black-and-white background to a dancing MC Hammer:
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Kirby Puckett made a cameo in the star-studded "2 Legit 2 Quit" music video too, at the 12:20 mark:
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    Graterol was a reliever, though. We may still need a centerfielder, after 2022 or perhaps sooner, and third base is a question too. I think Lewis would stick around for 2022 to see if he can re-establish value, either as a future contributor at those other positions or as a trade chip.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Lewis Thorpe will be recalled to start Wednesday August 18 vs Cleveland. Thorpe made 3 spot starts for the Twins earlier this season. He then spent over 2 months on the AAA injured list with a shoulder strain, but recently returned to make a 5.2 IP start for St. Paul, allowing only 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and 5 K's on 78 pitches. EDIT TO ADD: The corresponding roster move is that reliever Nick Vincent has been designated for assignment. This also opens a 40-man roster spot, which could be filled by someone else in the near future.
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Who's your TV provider?
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Nick Burdi actually got a minor league deal for this season, so he's rehabbing as an official member of the Padres organization. Haven't heard anything about how that is going, though, but I'd guess the Padres will have the inside track on giving him a minor league deal for 2022, if they want to.
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    That's fair, but it is Arraez who has been playing 3B the most the past 2 weeks, and in Donaldson's other absences from the position this season. I don't think Donaldson is blocking Miranda directly any more than others are blocking him indirectly at the moment.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    No. Notice that Arraez is playing 3B. If you didn't have Simmons at SS, you could put Polanco there and Arraez at 2B. Then Miranda and Donaldson could take 3B and DH.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    I'd say it is as much Simmons at SS blocking Miranda at this point. They can't bench Polanco or Arraez.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Batting near the top is the best to way to maximize PAs, and Rooker is RH so he can bat between two lefties.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Could a faster player have been able to get to it without a fully-extended dive just to get it into his glove? Or a player with a quicker reaction off the bat? For that matter, could a better defender have been positioned a little closer to the line, because they'd have the speed and quickness to still equal or exceed Rooker's range to left-center? Don't get me wrong, the catch looked great and I enjoyed it. The allusion to Allison is great. But I'm not sure what it indicates about Rooker's defensive abilities. Not that we have great alternatives in LF at the moment -- I certainly don't object to Rooker getting these reps.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    Let the battle for the division begin! With 10 games remaining vs Cleveland, and 4 vs Detroit, the Twins pretty much control their own destiny: W L GB CLE 57 59 -- DET 58 62 1 MIN 52 66 6 KCR 49 67 8 Wait -- what's that? You say there is a team above Cleveland in the division standings? And their record is? Oh. Let the battle for *second place* in the division begin! CLE Lineup 1. Myles Straw (R) CF 2. Amed Rosario (R) SS 3. Jose Ramirez (S) 3B 4. Franmil Reyes (R) DH 5. Bradley Zimmer (L) RF 6. Oscar Mercado (R) LF 7. Owen Miller (R) 1B 8. Andres Gimenez (L) 2B 9. Austin Hedges (R) C Starting Pitcher: Cal Quantrill, RHP, 3-2, 3.13 ERA MIN Lineup 1. Max Kepler (L) RF 2. Brent Rooker (R) LF 3. Jorge Polanco (S) 2B 4. Josh Donaldson (R) DH 5. Luis Arraez (L) 3B 6. Miguel Sano (R) 1B 7. Jake Cave (L) CF 8. Ryan Jeffers (R) C 9. Andrelton Simmons (R) SS Starting Pitcher: Griffin Jax, RHP, 3-1, 5.45 ERA
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    After last month, the front office probably knows something about the feasibility of moving Donaldson. If it can't happen without us eating a ton of cash and taking little or no talent in return, then there's no real rush to seeing Miranda right now -- Donaldson's not going anywhere. Might be good to get the debut out of the way, in case Donaldson gets hurt in the first game again next year, but there's still 7 weeks and a 28-man roster on the horizon. Playing Gordon could still inform us whether we need to sign a veteran backup infielder this offseason, for example. Of course, we actually need to play Gordon to figure that out.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    I suspect they wouldn't have added Vincent at this late date without the expectation that he will finish the season. Minaya has been on a roll lately -- 5 games, 0 runs, 2 inherited runners stranded, 13 Ks in 6.2 IP. Garcia and Garza can be optioned, so I'd guess we could see them sent down at some point if necessary. St. Paul's season runs later than ours now, into October, so they can keep playing at that level.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    I should have included Gant, although it doesn't look like the Twins have been stretching him out in the 2 weeks since acquiring him.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    Diving catches, while they look impressive, generally aren't a good measure of defensive ability. It's quite possible a faster, quicker-reacting, or better-positioned defender would have gotten to the ball without the need of making as splashy of a play. Statcast xBA (Expected Batting Average, formerly Hit Probability) doesn't take direction or positioning into account, so it's not perfect, but a ball hit at that speed and trajectory is overwhelming an out most of the time -- .060 xBA. Here's the video again, for reference: https://mlb-cuts-diamond.mlb.com/FORGE/2021/2021-08/14/39e72e2f-c7f58a4b-4d772208-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    At least Gordon is making the most of his time on the bench, with character studies like this:
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