jimbo92107

Best part is, now Buxton will be getting a lot more individual attention. If he can learn just a little of what Ricky Henderson knew about stealing bases... look out!

This is why Bryce Harper was shifted to the outfield. He could have been a great catcher, but this way, he'll last a lot longer. 20/20 hindsight for the Twins.

It's interesting how Buxton's speed affected the game yesterday. First time up, he struck out. On the other hand, he did show patience at the plate before his last flail. Second time up, hot grounder to third. Easy out...oh, wait. He almost beat out the throw. Ominous. Nothing much in the outfield. He scooped up a ball off the wall, watched a couple home runs soar over his head. Top of the ninth, Escobar on second, Buxton lays down a not-good bunt in front of the pitcher, who pounces and fires to third, getting Escobar, who for some reason had a terribly short lead off second and got a really late start. What we may not have noticed was that the pitcher didn't have much choice where to throw. He probably couldn't get Buxton at first because the kid was too fast. BTW, that was Escobar's second mental mistake of the inning after missing a bunt sign with Robinson on third. Buxton on first. His mere presence clearly upset the pitcher, who rushed his delivery and threw to first for no reason. Buxton never did take a big lead, twitch, bluff or anything. Just stood there. Dozier popped up. Rosario up, same deal. Pitcher was clearly bothered by Buxton's threat of speed. Pitcher leaves a ball hanging in the middle, Rosario pounds it to right center. Buxton is rounding third by the time the ball is in the outfielder's glove. Buxton scores game-winning run. Moral: Pressure. Buxton puts pressure on the other team, just by the threat of his extreme speed. It makes pitchers and fielders rush. It makes fans stand up to see what's next. What other tools does he have? He's supposed to be a talented hitter, and he's got a rifle arm. We'll be seeing that over the next week or so. The stories about Byron Buxton aren't hype. His physical talent is all measurable, and his performance in the minors is on record. Obviously he won't hit a home run every time up, but over the course of a season this guy will put a lot of pressure on the other team, and it will show up in various ways, including more wins. The best part is, he could get a lot better. His base stealing technique is practically non-existent, it's just speed. He didn't even take a long lead, drop his lead foot back, etc. If he improves his technique and reads, he could steal a base on every pitch.

I like Tom Brunansky, but I think he may have blundered in his approach to trying to get Joe Mauer's power game amped up. Mauer perfected his inside-out slashing stroke and used it for years, letting the ball get deep in the zone and hitting curved drives to left field. There's a big difference between Mauer's most grooved stroke and the one he and Bruno have been trying to develop. If you look at a premiere power hitter like Toronto's Jose Bautista, he meets the ball a full two feet farther in front than Mauer does. But the most important thing is the weight shift. Bautista takes a pronounced stride forward into the ball, where Mauer keeps his weight back, just pivoting his front foot. The result is, when Mauer tries to meet the ball farther in front to pull it, his bat head rises too much, topping it, where Bautista's bat is carrying smoothly forward through the zone, catching the ball flush. In other words, for Mauer to pull the ball consistently with power, he'd have to develop a pronounced forward stride, a completely different thing for him. I'm not saying he can't do it, but right now clearly it's not working. Also it appears that Mauer reverts to his normal approach when runners are in scoring position. In "RISP mode," Joe looks remarkably like his former self, albeit with a bit less power. Could be that Mauer's problem isn't so much concussion related as it is a mistake in training. He simply needs to learn a different swing than he's used to, and that includes a definite forward stride. Otherwise, he'll just keep topping balls to the second baseman when he tries to pull it. I remember how coaches like to say, "Keep your weight back, kid." Yeah, keep your weight back, if you don't want to hit home runs like Jose Bautista. Big home run hitters all have a very pronounced weight shift into the ball. They also know how to keep the bat cocked until the last instant, then snap their wrists really hard.

Taylor Rogers may be an okay leftie, but how are we supposed to think that he would displace Tommy Milone, another soft-tossing leftie that completely dominated AAA, but can't dominate at the mlb level? "Soft-tossing" may be unfair on my part. Rogers's profile says his fastball is "average...or a tick above." Would a few more mph on his fastball do the job for Rogers? He's also 6'3", so he's taller than Milone, with more of a downward plane. Maybe that would translate into more wins as a 4th or 5th starter.

If the Twins falter badly post All Star, that's when TR might trade Plouffe to a contender and bring up Sano. Otherwise, if the team is still in contention for a division title, I don't see them rocking the boat that much. Plouffe has been so solid fielding, and before this team slump was hitting quite well. Maybe September for Sano, if he's on a tear at the plate... I agree that Aaron Hicks is now competing with Max Kepler and possibly AB Walker for the future RF spot. Hicks better learn to wave that bat better pretty soon, or he'll be platooning with younger guys, then be out of time. Arcia is gone. He doesn't fit this team, which absolutely requires good hitters that can field above average. As a mediocre fielder, Arcia would need to hit at an All Star pace to stick around. He doesn't. Rosario is a keeper. Great bat, good OF. Vargas needs to figure out situational hitting better. He looks smart enough to do it, so crossing fingers. My idea for Joe Mauer is too radical, so I figure I'm just rationalizing. I'd like him to voluntarily go down to AA and spend a month mashing lesser pitching into the stands. Maybe he could develop that power stroke he's been looking for. Stupid, huh? Sadly, it ain't working at the mlb level. He's just not a power hitter, and that's what they need at 1B. This team actually has some pretty good starters. Pelfrey, Gibson and May are good, and Hughes should be. Santana looked great in spring, and should be right up there with the rest. Milone I don't know about. Berrios might be better. The relievers could change a lot if the team starts losing. Meyer might take Fien's place. You could get real value for Perkins, then bring up Burdi. Naw, probably not.

I'm so disappointed... All Byron Buxton did in his first major league game was score the winning run. ;-)

Hey you know what? The new Buxton kid seems okay, but more important, the team won. Maybe he's good luck. Let's keep him around for a while!

Every day Eddie! Buxton scores his first run, rounding third by the time the ball bounced up in the air...fast.

Wow, what a play by Brian Dozier. Leaped to snag a line drive, then lands and throws to second in one beautiful, fluid motion. All Star!

Too soon for a nickname? How about Byron "Big Whiff" Buxton? /snark

Look, I don't expect Buxton to hit the first pitch out of the park, like Rosario did. Any pitch in that first at bat will do. But really, what I'm looking for is his first steal of second. This kid has Ricky Henderson speed. He's gonna drive pitchers nuts knowing there's nothing they can do to stop him from taking bases. Having such a disruptive force on base will do wonders for whoever is behind Buxton in the lineup. That's why I want Buxton to bat ahead of Joe Mauer. I can practically see it now: Buxton on first, Mauer at bat. After two pitches, Buxton's on second. After four pitches, Buxton's on third. Mauer laces an easy line drive to the outfield, Buxton scores. We'll be seeing that so many times... 8-)

I'm not worried about Kohl Stewart. He's just spent the last couple years developing better control and technique for his pitches. Now comes the hardest part - learning the art of deception. Now he's got to learn to mask his delivery, release every pitch from the same release point, and change speeds without tipping off the batter. All that, plus he's got to hit the catcher's mitt wherever it is around the zone. It may take Stewart a couple more years to hone his stuff, but that's okay - he's still just 20 years old. If we see him in a Twins uniform by 2017 or 2018, that would be perfect. Hopefully he can join Berrios and Meyer in one of the best starting rotations in baseball.

That card will be worth a ton of money, not just for Buxton, but because the card is a mistake. Too bad you can't see "Lookouts" spelled out on Buxton's jersey...old photo.

I just wanna see his first at-bat, his first steal, and his first catch in center. We've been waiting a long time for this day. I don't really care about the stat line after the game. Buxton's got many years to show us what he's got. I also want to see Rosario, Buxton and Hicks in the outfield, left to right. I also want to see Alex Meyer on the mound, with Berrios and Wu in the rotation, and Nick Burdi ready to throw flames from the pen. I want to see Polanco at short, Sano at third, Max Kepler as 4th OF and 1B. I want to see AB Walker as DH and utility OF, and rumors of Nick Gordon and Kohl Stewart getting an early call... Sigh...

It's a hockey thing. Like pulling the goalie at the start of a game! 8-O

Alex Wimmers! Talk about a guy that's had to fight back from adversity. Wouldn't it be cool if he got back onto the prospect list!

Maybe they saw what I saw. By the 5th inning, Buxton in CF would have saved the team at least 2 runs, just with his defense. Add offense to that, and you might just have a playah!

I'm trying to figure out where Buxton will bat in the lineup. Molitor might just bat him 1 right away, or he could let the kid watch the pitcher for a while, then bat 9th or something. Either way, I'd tell the kid to swing as hard has he can at the first round, white object that gets near the plate. Maybe pound one out like Rosario! 1. Buxton 2. Mauer (imagine Buxton on 1st. whoops, now he's on second. A single scores him, = Mauer in RISP mode) 3. Dozier 4. Plouffe 5. Vargas 6. Rosario 7. Nunez 8. Escobar 9. Hicks What will Buxton do? Oh, an average game... A home run, a couple triples, three run-saving, inning ending catches. three runs scored.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I feel pretty, pretty psychic.... ! ;-) Five minutes after my update, they call up the kid. Hugging self at this time.

Just saw the Rangers tie up a game, where a ball hit to deep left field was played off the wall by Edwardo Escobar, allowing a runner to score easily from third. Okay, that guy was going to score anyway, but a regular major league outfielder catches that ball. Fly ball pitchers like Mike Pelfrey need a good-fielding team in order to succeed. Consider the following during the Rangers big inning: Rosario LF, Buxton CF, Hicks RF. On the play where Texas scored its first run of the inning, ball was hit to Rosario in RF. Rosario assumed the run was going to score, takes an extra hop before throwing to Dozier. Hicks would have gunned it sooner and faster, stopping the run. On the subsequent deep fly to Escobar, Rosario would have caught the ball, at least getting an out from the play. In other words, simply pushing your second and third-best outfielders to the corners would have saved Pelfrey at least one run and at least one out, in a single inning. Over the course of a game, that kind of play can help a pitcher win, or as we are seeing, the lack of good outfield play can make it almost impossible for a pitcher like Pelfrey to survive. Call. Up. Buxton. #Whoyagotthatsbetter? Update: 5th inning, fly ball hit to left-center, deep. Robinson can't get there, two runs score. Buxton gets there, makes the catch easily for the third out.

I'm just a city boy, but even I know you don't cook eggs by setting fire to the hen house. I also know you don't trust some fast talker named Hay-man to not make hay for no reason. Skinny Willie sez, don't let no East Coast pundit who can't spell Hrbek tell you what your own home town team needs, much less what they're like 'nuff to do. Dear Terry, Don't sell the farm before the harvest. Love, Jimbo

That was Hicks's FIRST error of the season. How does that qualify as clown-like behavior in the outfield? Are you forgetting his run-saving catches? Nobody else on this team has nearly the range of Aaron Hicks. Or the arm. Clearly Hicks is not a "natural" hitter, but he's gradually figuring it out. The bat-waving thing is supposed to help with timing, finding the level of the pitch, and to loosen up the wrists so you can get more whip on the bat. It still looks artificial when Hicks does it, where a "natural" hitter like Rosario integrates the wave as if he's been doing it for years, which he has. I think Hicks is already a fine outfielder, and will continue to get better as a hitter. When Buxton comes up this summer, Hicks will become a steady force in right or left, with Rosario at the other corner. The defense alone will win some games for the Twins' fly ball pitchers.

It sounds like Stewart has a lot to learn, but he's made progress in building his repertoire of pitches. The next step, which could take years, is learning command and deception. That's when he'll start getting more whiffs...or not.

Seems like a silly question, where to put them on the prospect chart. A couple pundits said the Twins could toss Jay in the bullpen in September, then put him in A or AA next season to develop as a starter. Those pronouncements were pure TV baloney. Jay may wind up being a good pitcher, but you don't throw a kid who's been facing the equivalent of low-A competition up against vastly better hitters and expect him to succeed, not unless he's got something really unusual in his arsenal. Does Jay throw 100mph? Does he have a knuckler? A screwball? Any particular pitch that nobody can hit? No, he doesn't, and neither does Cody. That means they both go to A ball and work their way up, like every other good college pitcher. In fact, the whole prospect ranking chart seems kind of silly in light of all the stuff that goes right or wrong in a player's minor league career. Does Meyer still belong in the top ten? What about Lewis Thorpe, who just had TJ? Maybe the problem is the chart's format - a simple hollywood squares grid. A false sense of order. Maybe it would be better to show a bunch of balloons of different sizes and altitudes, pumped up or drained daily by each player's latest stats. Meyer's balloon would be near the bottom right now, while Wu's balloon would be up near the top... Oh, for better graphics.