wornsmooth

I think some of the problems the Twins have had with both their team defense and their inability to develop hitters is their constant tinkering with the positions that the players are expected to master. Today you play shortstop. Ok, tomorrow second day base. And so on. How can you concentrate oIn hitting when you are also trying to learn a different position? How can you ever master one fielding position when you are constantly being moved around? Management acts like the players are interchangeable.

He seems to work hard. He has stayed healthy. Lots of criticism of his defense. When Tony Olivia broke into the majors, other than a cannon arm, he was a sub par right fielder. Other than a brief disastrous attempt to make him a centerfielder, they left him in right field until his knees were destroyed. He worked at it and became a gold glover. He learned to position himself as the pitch count changed, and do the little mental things that make a ball player go from good to great. Todays Twinsvcould learn a lot by reviewing Tony O's career. Lee turned 2 pretty nifty plays last night. He seems to now believe he can hit major league pitching. A more aggressive, hard bat swing. It looks like he will ne as good as they hoped when drafting him.

Could not agree more regarding playing out of position. Play one position. Concentrate on that and hitting.

Allegedly, when Tony Oliva was just arriving in the majors, Calvin Griffith said he would fire anybody that tried to change his way of hitting.

Was it Jim Kaat who said that one has to be at least 30 years of age before they actually learn how to pitch?

1. It has been cold out. 2. It has been cold out. 3. Ryan can bring attitude. I love his in your face " dude, hit this if you can" demeanor. 4. Give him some run support and he will be a year in and year out 20 game winner.

First, a disclaimer. My only knowledge about hitting comes from watching people who can hit. IOW, not much. That said, am I correct that a lot of his swings the past year or so ended with his right hand off the bat, finishing off an arcing swing with just the left hand? Leaving the sense that the bat is being waved at the ball, rather than driven at the ball with the right hand and wrist making the bat slash. Or is my comment display how little I actually know.

Wasn't he hit in the face/head by a pitch? Is anyone able to look at his hitting stats from pre-beaning and post beaning?

I said it two years ago. Joe Ryan reminds me of Bob Gibson. So, if he stays healthy, he is likely a future Hall of Famer. A smart organization does everything they can to keep such players. Why not keep them, pay them and WORK at making them WANT to play for the Twins? You don’t dump potentiaIl Hall of Famers, or let them get away. Why is that so hard to understand?

At some point when I followed baseball closely I conclude the two most important ( non fielding) stats for rating a player was RBI's and runs scored. After going many years of not following the sport I came back post retirement to a host of statistics I hadn't heard of. While each stat has its place, and each stat has context, I have slowly come back to my conclusions of 55+ years ago. The point, when not in the field, is to score runs. Smart baserunning is a huge part of that. That said, the manager has some influence. Why does the teams leading homerun hitter bat leadoff? (Yeah, I know he's fast) Coupling the next question to the question of what ever happened to the hit and run....why does the teams best bat contact man not bat immediately following the guy with speed most likely to get on base? (Lee should hit right behind Keaschal) Aggressive and smart baserunning scores runs. Ok. Enough for now. Gotta go yell at some clouds or something.

As to hit by pitch, does anyone remember Jimmy Hall and his beaning by Bo Bolinski? He was coming off his rookie year setting homerun record for rookies(33). He was never the same. Stood as far out in batters box as could. His performance steadily declined. (Remember this is when pitchers still had to bat and hence "brushback" pitches were part of the game) I always wondered what kind of level Jimmy Hall could have reached without that pitch to the head. I find the theory of Miranda and the hit in helmet incident very plausible as to his downward hitting slide.

I quit reading when it turned to Lee bashing. Where has the author been this year? It has been obvious that Lee's confidence and bat speed have crossed a threshold. He has started to drive the ball as he seems to now believe he can hit big league pitching. The guy is only going to get better and better. One of my questions on how the Twins are managed is the constant position shuffling. How do they expect a guy to concentrate on his hitting when they are making them spend time learning multiple positions? There are very few players who thrive when they are constantly playing a different position. Lee, if they leave him be and stays healthy will be a decent shortstop while becoming the hitter that had been hoped for from Correa.

Not to mention Royce. He smoked a liner about 400 ft for an out. This guy is not a .250 hitter.

If he could stay healthy Lewis could be a 900 plus OPS, possible triple crown winner and MVP. Buxton could have also, had he stayed healthy during his prime. A pleasure to see him having a great year. Both men deserve a tip of the hat for their perseverance through adversity. The emotional wear of their injuries takes a toll.

I am old enough to remember reading Calvin Griffith said he would fire anyone who tried to change how Tony Oliva hits. Very Tao of old Cal.