John Bonnes

Aaron and John discuss the impact of the pitch clock, encouraging debuts from the starting rotation, and various injuries that are popping up around Twins' spring training camp. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. View full article

FORT MYERS - It's spring training for everyone, even superstars. Twins fans got to see Carlos Correa in his first Grapefruit League action on Wednesday afternoon as he batted second and started at shortstop in the Twins 4-4 tie with the Philadelphia Phillies. He singled in his first at-bat and felt good even before that. On his first swing he pulled a ball foul and then stepped outside the batter's box to reflect on how good his swing was. Then he remembered the new pitch clock. John Bonnes got the rest of the story from Correa. ⬇️🙃 correaclock-landscape.mp4 View full article

FORT MYERS - It's noticeable. It's exciting. It's worrisome. What is going on with the velocity Twins pitchers are seeing? It's not uncommon to hear that a pitcher's velocity is up early in spring training - right up until we actually see in-game radar readings. But we are seeing those now, and the velocity is sticking around. What's going on, and it a positive sign for the future? John Bonnes reports from Twins spring training. export_1677674240147_landscape.mp4 View full article

FORT MYERS - Tyler Mahle is back, Edouard Julien goes yard (twice), but some injuries affect the lineup. The Twins triumphed over the Atlanta Braves, 10-7, in Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers on Tuesday afternoon. It was Tyler Mahle's first game since shoulder fatigue shut down his 2022 season, but his stuff looked great, with velocity exceeding last year's average fastball velocity. The Twins jumped on an early lead thanks to two infielders - Edouard Julien and Willi Castro - who are likely slated for St. Paul. But the postgame talk with manager Rocco Baldelli revealed some injuries that were reflected in the game's lineup. John Bonnes has the details from the game. twins-braves-landscape.mp4 View full article

FORT MYERS - How much Nick Gordon is too Much Nick Gordon? Nick Gordon got a lot of experience in the Twins injury-filled 2022, but he's also in line for a lot of time in 2023. John Bonnes explains why from spring training. nick-gordon-2023-landscape.mp4 View full article

FORT MYERS - What factors make spring training lineups so much different than those in the regular season? The form and factor of spring training lineups change throughout the Grapefruit League season, but there is a logic to them. Earlier, teams want to give the prospects and invitees a chance to show what they can do. For road games, they want to defer to veterans to avoid long bus trips. Finally, the best hitters want to face the best pitchers to gear up for the regular season. As a result of these, you can get a sense of what to expect from lineup of your favorite team at various points in the season. In this 2-minute video, I dive into some of the factors that you should anticipate as a fan when you see the starting lineup. spring_training_Lineups_landscape.mp4 View full article

FORT MYERS - Kenta's back! Image courtesy of Nick Wosika-USA TODAY Sports The Twins faced an early split-squad set of games on Saturday afternoon to kick off the start of their 2023 Grapefruit League season. In the home game, Kenta Maeda returned to the mound after missing the 2022 season following Tommy John surgery and pitched a scoreless first inning. Lineup The Twins only had two anticipated regular position players in their home lineup: Joey Gallo led off and Max Kepler batted cleanup. However, they also had three other players practically guaranteed (health permitting, knock on wood) to make the 26-man roster: Ryan Jeffers at catcher, Kyle Farmer at shortstop and Michael A Taylor patrolled center field. The lineup also included Twins’ top prospects Edouard Julien (Twins Daily’s #5 prospect) and Brooks Lee (Twins Daily’s #1 prospect), who joined the lineup late when catcher Christian Vazquez was pulled from the lineup due to illness. Maeda’s Return But the most anticipated Twins player was Maeda. Twins fans had hoped to see him last September, perhaps in a relief role. But as team injuries and the season jointly spun out of control, all parties decided to wait until this spring for his return. Maeda was greeted rudely by Rays outfield prospect Josh Lowe with a double into the gap that went off of Joey Gallo’s glove. The good news? It was on a 90.8 mph fastball by Maeda showing velocity already near to what he threw pre-surgery. Lowe was slo unable to advance from second base, as Maeda escaped the inning on two ground balls and a strikeout, throwing 13 pitches, ten for strikes. That was the end of his day, as planned. "He was happy with his stuff", Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said after the game. "I was happy with his stuff. [Twins pitching coach] Pete [Maki] was happy with his stuff. So a very successful day and one we've been waiting a very long time for," The Shift Ban Both regulars in the lineup for the Twins, Gallo and Kepler, could be positively impacted by MLB’s limitation of “the shift” this year. In the first inning, we got a taste of what we might see. It’s not totally clear the results would have been any different, but both plays likely were completed differently than they would have been. The new limitation has two parts that could affect left-handed hitters. First, the shortstop can no longer play on the other side (the first base side) of second base. Second, second baseman can no longer play in short right field. He must remain on the infield dirt. For left-handed pull-hitters, the theory is this could mean more ground balls scooting through the right side of the infield for hits. Alas, that was not the case for Kepler, whose ground ball was fielded by the second baseman to the right of the bag and neatly flipped to the shortstop for a double-play to end the inning. It likely would have been fielded by the shortstop last year, but the double play might not have been as automatic. On the other hand, Gallo hit a soft line drive to right field over the first baseman’s head for a single. It’s not clear if that result would have been any different had the second baseman been deeper and on the grass – he would have had to range far to his left to get there – but it’s possible. It certainly seem like it would have been fielded by him instead of by the right-fielder. The next inning, we saw another impact of the new rule. Rays second baseman Vidal Brujan lined up too far over to the left side of the infield. It was called by the umpire, and as a result, the batter – Farmer – was awarded a ball. But with the umpires, players and coaches still working out the communication of the call, it was originally thought that a balk had been called, which would have scored Gallo from third base. After a discussion at home plate with the umpire, he returned to third base and was driven home on a sacrifice fly. Facing Southpaws We also got a taste of what we might see when the Twins face left-handed pitching this year. With the exception of Nick Gordon, the Twins entire “bench” is right-handed, and it sounds like Rocco intends to play matchups with them frequently, including in the starting lineup. It certainly worked on Saturday. The bottom of the lineup featured two non-roster invitees signed as minor league free agents. Switch-hitter Willi Castro is a 25-year-old infielder from the Tigers organization who started at third base. Tyler White, a 32-year-old, who has spent the last couple years in Triple-A, started at first base. But they looked like All-stars against Rays left-handed reliever Josh Fleming. Castro tripled to deep center and White homered. It blew the game open soon after it started, contributing to a 6-0 lead after just two innings. The Other Game Meanwhile, the Twins had another game going on in Sarasota vs the Orioles, with Louie Varland starting. Varland, Twins Daily's #9 prospect, threw two scoreless innings, but things turned sour in the second half of the game and the Twins fell 10-5. Mark Contreras and prospect Kala'i Rosario each homered for the Twins. Nick Gordon started the game with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Austin Martin. It was interesting to note that the Twins had Gordon start at shortstop with Martin at second base. Martin (Twins Daily's #10 prospect) was hit by a pitch in his next plate appearance, but he must have been OK because he stole second base on the next pitch. Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner (Twins Daily's #11 prospect) went a combined 0-for-5 with a walk and five strikeouts. Aaron Sabato walked three times, and one of the newest Twins prospects, Jose Salas (Twins Daily's #8 prospect) walked twice. Randy Dobnak gave up one run despite two hits and two walks in his two innings of work. For the Orioles, Terrin Vavra - the youngest son of former Twins hitting coach and bench coach Joe Vavra - went 2-for-3 with a ground-rule double and a long home run. Curtis Terry, who spent last spring with the Twins, hit a three-run homer off of Brock Stewart. One of Baltimore's top prospects, Heston Kjerstad hit two home runs. Chris Vallimont gave up one run over two innings. Sauk Rapids native Anthony Bemboom started behind the plate for the O's and went 0-for-2. Next Up The team makes a long trek up to Clearwater to play the Phillies on Sunday. Joe Ryan will be starting for the Twins. The plan is for Jose Miranda to make the trip and hit third as the designated hitter. Edouard Julien and Brooks Lee should be in the lineup again, too. View full article

One thing that might make this year a little less critical, is that he’s pretty unlikely to be taken in a rule five draft. A bat-only guy is rarely taken in the rule five. There’s no place to stash them on the 26-man roster.

Aaron and John talk about the Twins adding Donovan Solano to the infield mix and what it could mean for Alex Kirilloff and Trevor Larnach, plus updates on Jordan Balazovic, Kenta Maeda, Tyler Mahle, and Josh Winder. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. View full article

FORT MYERS — Twins fans: grab a stool, grab a pint, and come talk baseball in spring training. Twins Daily’s Beers with the Beat Writers returns Friday, February 27, at 7 PM at Palm City Brewing in Fort Myers. A quartet of spring training regulars will be on hand to chat Twins, answer questions, and break down what’s ahead after a long offseason: Twins Daily’s John Bonnes, The Athletic’s Dan Hayes, MLB.com’s Matthew Leach, and Star-Tribune’s Bobby Nightengale. We’ll also be unveiling their new pale ale Twins D-Ale-y, a New Zealand-styled pale ale that pairs perfectly with irrational optimism. And this year it’ll be canned, so you can take some home. Whether you’re looking for the latest camp buzz, roster and rotation guesses, or just a reason to hang out with other Twins fans in Fort Myers, this is the spot. Where: Palm City Brewing — 7887 Drew Circle, Suite 130, Fort Myers, FL 33967 When: Friday, Feb. 27 — 7:00–10:00 PM Come early, bring your best questions, and make a night of it. View full article

FORT MYERS - Wasn't the bench already full. Um, yeah, so that's bad news for some other guys. John Bonnes reports from The Fort. solano-signing-landscape.mp4 View full article

FORT MYERS - Byron Buxton, returning from last year's knee injury, has his first live at-bats versus a healthy and motivated Sonny Gray. buxton_gray_landscape_video.mp4 View full article

FORT MYERS - Max Kepler talks about the shift ban, Byron Buxton is ready to lead a team with Carlos Correa, and Michael A. Taylor is looking for the green light. Image courtesy of © Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports We're trying something new for Twins Daily's Caretakers: an audio report from John Bonnes on what he's seeing and hearing from players, coaches, and management inside Hammond Stadium. Today's report includes: Max Kepler discusses "the most challenging thing I physically had to play with in my career" Byron Buxton's bromance with Carlos Correa. Michael A Taylor wants to go back to stealing some bases (and Rocco is all for it.) If you're a Caretaker, click here for your exclusive content! And if you're not, maybe consider becoming a Caaretaker? You likely visit regularly, and that's going to become even more likely as the season gears up. Supporting something you value feels good, especially when it's been here feeding your baseball habit for over 10 years for free, right? We're in spring training reporting because we love this stuff, and we want to share it as much as we can, so you can find lot of free content from Fort Myers other places on the site. But unfortunately, spring training is expensive, and that's especially true this year after Hurricane Ian damaged a lot of the lodging options. Plus, there are lot of other benefits, like a free Winter Meltdown ticket and early access for guest, special callouts on the site, and lots more inside or in-depth content like this. So please consider joining our little club. The money is going to a site you love, to support coverage you love, and writers you value. Thank you so much. Join Here to support Twins Daily and get your exclusive content! View full article

THANK YOU for supporting Twins Daily! Please enjoy this exclusive content for Caretakers' ears only. Today's spring training diary includes Max Kepler's muted reaction to the shift ban, Byron Buxton's excitement over Carlos Correa's return, and Michael A Taylor wanting to steal bases again. This article continues exclusively for Twins Daily caretakers. To become a caretaker and read the rest of the piece, you can subscribe here. View full article