Tom Froemming

Rocco Baldelli is the first millennial manager in baseball. It shows. He’s soft. Well, at least in terms of the pro sports world. He bends to the will of his team and goes out of his way to be accommodating. I’m not sure if he would chastise a player publicly if his job depended on it. He also might be the best manager in baseball.The victories keep piling up, the lead in the American League Central keeps increasing, World Series odds keep improving and you’d better believe other teams across baseball are taking notice. If the Twins’ success continues, don’t be surprised if Millennialball becomes the new Moneyball. Baldelli eats avocado toast, talks about empathy and has allowed a nap room to be created at Target Field. He’s gone out of his way to be inclusive and encourages an atmosphere in which players are comfortable to be themselves. He’s given everyone on the roster their own trophy for making the team, and before each game the team holds hands and talks about their feelings. OK, that last sentence isn’t true. Well, as far as I know. You probably read the headline of this article and expected it to paint Baldelli in a negative light. That’s because for most people both “coddle” and “millennial” are loaded terms with a lot of negative connotation. Well guess what? Baldelli’s job is to manage a bunch of millennials. Well, everyone except Nelson Cruz, one of the last active Gen Xers in baseball. But even Cruz is a big proponent of rest, as the nap room was his idea. Anyway, if you’re going to be a manager in 2019, you’d better have some strategies on how to deal with people from the millennial generation. Being associated with that term should not be viewed as a negative. As far as coddling, the definition of that word is “to treat with extreme or excessive care or kindness.” That doesn’t sound so bad, though I could see where that could be viewed in a negative way in the sports world. Call me crazy, but by that definition I kinda want my team’s manager to coddle his players to some degree. Paul Molitor probably could have afforded to coddle a few guys over his tenure as manager. People have been trying to find explanations to why the Twins have gotten off to such a great start. In reality, it’s more than likely a blend of several different things, but I believe this all stems from Baldelli and the clubhouse environment he has cultivated. The exciting thing is how they’ve got to this point. We’re less than two months into Baldelli’s tenure as manager of the Twins, so a lot can change, but if there’s one thing that’s special about him I think it’s his focus on the long haul. The number of scheduled off days for the position players has been staggering and workload among the relievers has been pretty spread out. He almost seems obsessed with keeping people fresh. Think about that for a second. The Twins are one of the best teams in baseball despite setting out to create both a less mentally and physically stressful atmosphere. They’ve put an emphasis on long-term health and performance and yet they’ve still managed to thrive in the short term. They’ve let up on the gas pedal and yet are somehow increasing acceleration. But here’s the thing about Baldelli: I don’t actually think he’s anything special as an in-game manager. I don’t care for his lineups. There’s really nothing that appears particularly unique about his bullpen management. The one thing he’s doing much more than the average manager is shifting the infield, and even that’s just surrendering to the numbers. I’m not saying I think he’s a bad in-game manager, I just don’t believe this team’s success has much of a correlation to any buttons he’s pushing between the National Anthem and the final out. If I were to describe Baldelli’s management style, I’d say he’s hands off. He’s the ultimate macro manager. Baldelli doesn’t pinch hit a whole lot, and when he does, it’s typically in very low-leverage situations. The Twins have attempted just six sacrifice bunts and 19 stolen bases all season. They have the third-fewest relief appearances in baseball and the pitching staff’s percentage of plate appearances with the platoon advantage is right at league average. Baldelli seems to be motivated to simply stay out of the way. Baldelli treats his players both as grown men capable of policing themselves and as professional baseball players who can be trusted to execute. Weird. When you think of it in those terms, it’s no wonder why this Twins team appears to be so comfortable and confident. Is it possible that what’s done during the game is among the least important aspects of a manager’s influence on his team’s success? Perhaps being a tactical taskmaster is overrated, I’m not sure, but I do think it’s maybe time to re-evaluate how we perceive the manager’s role. There’s a lot that they do outside of filing out lineup cards and making pitching changes. It might also be a good idea to change the way the terms “coddle" and "millennial” are viewed. The Twins sure are making them look like positive things so far this spring. Click here to view the article

There are better days ahead for Gilberto Celestino. I'm not sure he's ever experienced weather like this before in his life. You'd hope that type of thing wouldn't impact a guy too much, it certainly didn't seem to bother Arraez back in '16, but it happens. Some guys also take some time to adjust to a new level. I bet he takes off in June. It's been a rough 38 games for Gilberto, but Arraez himself only had a .564 OPS through his first 38 games last season. Different situations (Luis was at a higher level and knocking off some rust), as is always the case, but my point is you wouldn't want to rush to judgement. Just take a look at what Lewin Diaz is doing in his second trip around the FSL (.933 OPS vs. a .598 OPS last year). Everybody slid him down their lists a ton and it's looking like that was a mistake. Prospect rankings are weird, difficult and this is a deep system. I personally didn't feel there was a huge gap between my personal No. 5 prospect and No. 15 prospect, or my No. 16 prospect and my No. 36 prospect. There are guys outside of my top 50 I could see carving out jobs as MLB role players if everything breaks right.

I think Arraez could hit .600 and still go back down because, to your point, he needs to play. He's still only 22 and has around 90 total games above A-ball. Allowing him to continue to develop is a lot more important than having him as a bench option on the big club, especially since it could turn out that he has a chance to be the regular 2B in 2020. You'd hope Schoop, Polanco, Sano and Marwin are in the lineup more often than not anyways. I love watching him pitch. He's often the first guy out of the bullpen, which puts him in a position to potentially sink a lot of games. If you think about it, there are a lot more games that are decided in the sixth or seventh innings than there are in the ninth. Harper is currently holding opposing batters to a .189/.228/.257 line. That .485 OPS is the 12th lowest among pitchers with at least 20 innings this season. Pretty cool.

Even a really great meal goes stale eventually. I desperately wanted the Twins to do more to upgrade the bullpen this offseason, and was supportive of the idea of them pursuing Craig Kimbrel at one point, but I'm out now. I don't really want anything to do with him. My frustration with the bullpen inactivity was never tied to any one particular reliever. Things have boiled own to that, since Kimbrel is the last man standing, but there were several attractive free agent bullpen pieces out there this winter. The Twins didn't sign any of them. I'm over it. I'm not saying this bullpen is fine as it's currently constructed. While Ryne Harper has been a pleasant surprise and the backed trio of Blake Parker, Taylor Rogers and Trevor May has mostly looked good, there are some legit concerns about the depth. But bringing in a project isn't the answer. Kimbrel is one of the greatest closers of all time. There's also a reason why he's still unemployed. Here are a few: -He has to be rusty. This is item No. 1 with a bullet. There's no way he can possibly be sharp, I don't care what kind of simulated games he may be throwing. -He had a 4.57 ERA in the second half and a 5.91 ERA in the postseason last year. -His fastball velocity dropped from 98.72 mph in 2017 to 97.63 mph last year. -It actually took him awhile to work up to that velocity last season, sitting below 97 mph through April. Yes, he's been working out, but I'd still be concerned it would take him some time to get up to full speed. -His ground ball rate dropped from 37.0% to 28.2% last year. -His line drive rate went up from 19.4% to 24.8% last year. -He had a worse first-pitch strike rate (56.3%) than Fernando Rodney last year. -He had the eighth-lowest rate of pitches in the zone (36.6%) of the 151 qualified relievers last year. -He walked 12.6% of the batters he faced last year. That is horrible. It was the 20th-worst rate among 336 pitchers who logged more than 50 innings last year. In nearly every single positive mention of the Twins I see, there is somebody in the comments who calls for Kimbrel. I get it, I just think the idea of Kimbrel doesn't even accurately reflect who he actually is at this point. If the Twins seek to improve the bullpen, they should be looking for guys who are trending upward. Or at least, you know, active. Maybe Kimbrel will be great, I don't know, but I am comfortable with another team taking on that project. There are other ways to boost the bullpen.

Back in 2006, Ozzie Guillen compared the Twins’ lineup to piranhas due to its ability to relentlessly small ball a team to death. This 2019 Twins lineup is more like a frenzy of sharks with their rows of razor-sharp teeth and incredibly powerful jaws. This lineup smelled blood in the water and devoured Seattle’s pitching staff tonight.Box Score Berrios: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 66.7% strikes (70 of 105 pitches) Home Runs: Cron 2 (12), Buxton (4), Sano (1), Schoop 2 (8) Multi-Hit Games: Schoop (3-for-5, 2 HR), Gonzalez (3-for-5, 2B), Rosario (3-for-6), Cron 3-for-6, 2B, 2 HR), Buxton (2-for-4, HR) WPA of +0.1: Buxton .194, Cron .144 WPA of -0.1: None Download attachment: Win518.png (chart via FanGraphs) I’ve run out of superlatives, so let’s cut the fluff and get right to the numbers. The Twins won their fifth straight game and are 30-15. They scored 18 runs. They hit six more home runs. No team in baseball has scored more or hit more home runs than the Twins. This is reality, right? I’m not dreaming, am I? Somebody pinch me. At this point, there really is no need to get cute about trying to analyze the Twins’ season so far. Just look at the standings. Just look at the leader boards. I honestly don’t even know what to say at this point. This team is insane. They are grinding Seattle into dust so far this series, outscoring them 36-11 through three games. They’ve done all this without Nelson Cruz or Mitch Garver. C.J. Cron and Jonathan Schoop each hit two home runs, Byron Buxton hit a grand slam and Miguel Sano hit his first homer of the season. The sharks combined for 19 hits, 10 of which went for extra bases. They also went 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position and drew six walks. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen518.png Next Three Games Sun at SEA, 3:10 pm CT (Gibson-Kikuchi) Mon at LAA, 9:07 pm CT (TBD) Tue at LAA, 9:07 pm CT (TBD) Last Game MIN 7, SEA 1: Venezuelan Night in Seattle Click here to view the article

And in case anybody's interested in seeing similar videos I've done on other Twins prospects, here are some links: Jaylin Davis Austin Schulfer Royce Lewis Lewis Thorpe Alex Kirilloff Jhoan Duran

The Twins announced earlier today that Luis Arraez, who was just recently promoted to Triple A, was being called up to the big leagues for the first time in his career. Arraez is a familiar name to regular readers of Twins Daily's minor league coverage, but let's take a quick look at some video to help bring this guy into 3D.The first thing that comes to mind with Luis Arraez is his hand-eye coordination. The thing that makes this guy special is his ability to square up the ball. In 354 career minor league games, Arraez has a .331 batting average. He's an incredibly tough out. Among a sample of 885 qualified minor league hitters, Arraez has the eighth-lowest strikeout rate (8.4%) and the sixth-lowest swinging strike rate (3.9%) this season. One big development this year has been that he's posting a career-high 10.6% walk rate. Tough to pitch to a guy who always makes contact and is becoming more stubborn about expanding the zone. There aren't any especially loud tools beyond his ability to hit for contact, but he's a well-rounded ballplayer and is a person who makes a big impact everywhere he goes. Arraez is an animated guy and seems like a bit of a character. People really seem to take a liking to him everywhere he goes.

Apparently, those pushups paid off. A day after causing some controversy when he did pushups on the field after hitting a double, Royce Lewis muscled his first home run of the season. Come see what else happened across the system Friday night.TRANSACTIONS -Luis Arraez was recalled by the Twins, filling a roster spot opened up when Nelson Cruz was placed on the IL. -Kody Funderburk was activated from extended spring training and assigned to Fort Myers. -Albee Weiss was activated from extended spring and assigned to Cedar Rapids. The Kernels placed Gabe Snyder on the temporary inactive list. RED WINGS REPORT Durham 9, Rochester 5 Box Score Devin Smeltzer: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 65.3% strikes (49 of 75 pitches) HR: Drew Maggi (3), Jake Cave (1) Multi-hit games: LaMonte Wade (2-for-4), Cave (2-for-4, 2B, HR), Wilin Rosario (2-for-4) So Devin Smeltzer is human after all. He came into this start having given up just two earned runs over 45 innings between Pensacola and Rochester, but gave up four in this start. Trevor Hildenberger made his first minor league appearance since June 21, 2017. It did not go well. He gave up four runs on three hits, a walk and a wild pitch in his inning of work. All the scoring for the Red Wings came via the long ball. Jake Cave hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning and Drew Maggi hit a three-run shot in the seventh. BLUE WAHOO BITES Mobile 8, Pensacola 2 Box Score Sean Poppen: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 68.3% (56 of 82 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: None How often does a team get assists from all three of its outfielders? That was an oddity that occured in tonight’s game, as left fielder Travis Blankenhorn and center fielder Jaylin Davis both cut down runners at the plate and right fielder Alex Kirilloff nailed a runner at third. The Pensacola lineup couldn’t make the most of their opportunities tonight. Despite drawing eight walks, the Blue Wahoos scored just two runs. They were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Alex Kirilloff had the team’s lone extra-base hit, his second double of the season. He also drew two of those walks. Sean Poppen held the BayBears to three runs over the first 5 2/3 innings, but things got a little sloppy in the final three innings. Three runs scored while Sam Clay was on the mound, though just one was earned, and Cody Stashak surrendered a pair of runs in his two innings of work. MIRACLE MATTERS St. Lucie 2, Fort Myers 1 (10 innings) Box Score Tyler Watson: 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 63.2% strikes (55 of 87 pitches) HR: Royce Lewis (1) Multi-hit games: Lewin Diaz (2-for-4) In his 38th game of the season, Royce Lewis finally has a home run. That has to be a relief. The Florida State League can very tough on hitters, and No. 1 overall picks are no exception. Lewis, who was the DH today, hit a 1-1 pitch grooved right over the middle of the plate over the left field wall to put Fort Myers up in the top of the first inning. Unfortunately, that was the only run the Miracle scored all game. Tyler Watson pitched great, giving up just one run over 7 1/3 innings. Hector Lujan held on through the ninth, but he allowed the bonus runner to score on a double in the top of the 10th inning. The Fort Myers bats were retired in order in the bottom of the inning to end the game. Speaking of how the FSL can be tough on a hitter, how about that Lewin Diaz!? He followed up a monster game in which he went 4-for-5 with three homers by collecting a couple of singles. He’s 18-for-50 so far in May (.360). KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Clinton 5 (11 innings) Box Score Tyler Palm: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 64.9% strikes (61 of 94 pitches) HR: Jared Akins (3) Multi-hit games: The Kernels just wouldn’t go away in this one. Trailing 3-0 with two outs in the top of the eighth inning, Jared Akins hit a game-tying homer. He fell behind 1-2 in that at bat, battled back to work the count full and then unleashed on a pitch left over the plate. Cedar Rapids managed to scratch across a run in the top of the 10th. Clinton answered, but they were unable to finish things off despite having the bases loaded with one out. Zach Neff got the second out on a strikeout and induced a grounder to end the threat. Akins scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th on a wild pitch and Yeltsin Encarnacion plated what ended up being a massive insurance run with a single. Neff went back out for his third inning of work to try to secure a well-fought Kernels victory. Neff struck out the first batter he faced but allowed the bonus runner to score on a double. With Cedar Rapids now clinging to a one-run lead, Neff struck out the next two batters he faced to finish things off. He had seven strikeouts in his three innings of about the highest-leverage work you could imagine. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Zach Neff, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Jared Akins, Cedar Rapids TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 1-for-4, HR 2. Alex Kirilloff (PNS): 1-for-3, 2B, 2 BB, OF assist 4. Trevor Larnach (FM): 0-for-3, BB, 2 K 13. Ryan Jeffers (FM): 0-for-4, K 14. Ben Rortvedt (PNS): 1-for-4, R 16. Gilberto Celestino (CR): 1-for-6, 2 K 18. LaMonte Wade (ROC): 2-for-4, R 20. Jose Miranda (FM): 1-for-4, K SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Durham, 5:35 pm CT (Lewis Thorpe) Pensacola vs. Mobile, 6:05 pm CT (Jorge Alcala) Fort Myers vs. St. Lucie, 5:00 pm CT (Melvi Acosta) Cedar Rapids at Clinton, 6:30 pm CT (Cole Sands) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

I thought he was great last night too, helped keep a blowout interesting. He was so excited about one of the pitch sequences from Pineda to record a third out that they actually had to cut him off heading into the commercial.

The Twins trounced Seattle starter Erik Swanson, saddling him with eight earned runs in his start that lasted just three innings, and the Mariners made a few embarrassing missed-catch errors in the outfield. It was a performance that gave me flashbacks to the 2016 Twins. You could almost feel bad for those Mariners fans in attendance. Almost.Box Score Pineda: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 70.3% strikes (64 of 91 pitches) Home Runs: Castro (7), Kepler (9), Cron (10), Buxton (3) Multi-Hit Games: Cron (4-for-5, HR), Rosario (3-for-5), Polanco (2-for-5), Sano (2-for-5, 2 2B), Buxton (2-for-5, HR) WPA of +0.1: Castro .151, Cron .129 WPA of -0.1: None Download attachment: Win516.png (chart via FanGraphs) Seattle was one of just two teams who have hit more home runs that the Twins so far this season. Both teams lived up to their early-season reputations. Jason Castro opened the scoring in the third inning with a solo home run. That gave him seven homers in his first 62 plate appearances on the year at that point. Insane. I pointed out on Twitter before the game how Max Kepler had been struggling and suggested it may be time to slide him down in the order. He had a .476 OPS in May entering this game. So, of course, he hit his ninth home run in the third inning, another solo shot. In the fourth inning, C.J. Cron hit what should be counted as something more than just a home run. He obliterated a fastball 453 feet into the upper deck. The exit velocity was 114.3 mph. This was already his 10th home run, and while so many others have been low laser beams, this one was a tall, majestic blast. So the final line for Sano was 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles, an RBI and a strikeout. He also looked good on his lone defensive chance of the evening. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen516.png Next Three Games Fri at SEA, 9:10 pm CT (Perez-Gonsales) Sat at SEA, 9:10 pm CT (Berrios-LeBlanc) Sun at SEA, 3:10 pm CT (Gibson-Kikuchi) Last Game MIN 8, LAA 7: Twins Squeak Out Victory Click here to view the article

Move him up already! I don't think he's comfortable because he's hitting ninth, I think he's comfortable because he knows he's going to be in the lineup nearly everyday and he just needs to be a guy on this team, not the guy. That won't change regardless of where he's batting. I think he deserves more plate appearances right now.

On a beautiful Wednesday day game, the Minnesota Twins were able to pick up another series win, this time against the Los Angeles Angels, as the bats came back to life to help Jake Odorizzi pick up his sixth win of the season. The Twins came into this game on a little offensive slump in the past three games, scoring only 10 runs in those games. However, today, they were able to string together 10 hits and eight runs as they won 8-7 and improve to 27-15.Box Score Odorizzi: 5.1 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 64.3% strikes Home Runs: Buxton (2), Castro (6) Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (2-for-4, 3B), Schoop (2-for-4), Adrianza (2-for-3, 2B, BB) WPA of +0.1: Adrianza .121, Buxton .109 WPA of -0.1: None Download attachment: Win515.png (chart via FanGraphs) Pitching Jake Odorizzi has been one of the Twins best pitchers recently, and entered this game with 20 straight scoreless innings. He was able to extend his streak to 22 before giving up a one-out home run in the third inning. Odorizzi didn’t have his cleanest start of the season, giving up a season-high nine hits, but was able to hold the Angels to only three runs. The bullpen was a little shaky today, and in the seventh when Matt Magill gave up a sac fly to Goodwin, which was the first run given up by a bullpen pitcher, who isn’t Trevor Hildenberger, in 12 games. Magill wasn’t charged a run on this as May had given up back-to-back singles right before he was taken out. Trevor Hildenberger continued to struggle on the mound today as he gave up three runs on three hits. He has given up runs in five of his last six outings and it hasn’t been just one run each time either. He has given up two runs four of those outings and three in today’s. It might be time to send Hildenberger down to Triple-A to hopefully get his confidence back up. UPDATE: Hildenberger was optioned to Triple-A after the game. The Angels put together a ninth inning rally, after Hildenberger retired the first batter. The Angles put together four straight hits to get the game to 8-6. Mike Morin came in and surrendered a hit on his first batter, struck out the next batter, but then hit Mike Trout with the bases loaded to bring the game to 8-7. Morin was able to strand three runners as he got Ohtani to ground out to pick up the save. Errors Early Both teams were a little off in the field at the beginning and it ended up turning into runs for the Twins. In the second inning, C.J. Cron was able to reach off a dropped third strike, and two batters later, Schoop reached on an infield single, and thanks to an error by Cahill, he advanced to second while Cron moved to third. Ehire Adrianza was able to make the Angels pay with a 2-RBI double for the first runs of the game. On the Twins side, the error occurred on one of the weirdest plays. It happened with Odorizzi and Cron, after Ohtani hit a weak comeback that Odorizzi was able to collect. However, Cron was looking for Jonathan Schoop to field the ball, and didn’t even realize Odorizzi had it. This led to Odorizzi throwing to an unprepared Cron, which allowed Ohtani to reach second base. Luckily the Twins were able to make it nothing as Simmons grounded out the next at-bat. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen515.png Next Three Games Thu at SEA, 9:10 pm CT (Pineda-Swanson) Fri at SEA, 9:10 pm CT (Perez-Gonzales) Sat at SEA, 9:10 pm CT (Berrios-LeBlanc) Last Game MIN 4, LAA 3: Throw Down Click here to view the article

Byron Buxton made a beautiful defensive play — this time with his arm — but it ended with Mitch Garver being assisted off the field, not putting any weight on his left leg. It was the loudest Target Field has been all year, immediately followed by concern for Garver, who hit his ninth home run earlier in the game.Box Score Gibson: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 56.8% strikes (50 of 88 pitches) Home Runs: Garver (9) Multi-Hit Games: None WPA of +0.1: Parker .229 WPA of -0.1: None Download attachment: Win514.png (chart via FanGraphs) With the Twins clinging to a one-run lead, Brian Goodwin sent a solid single into center field. Buxton corralled the in-between hop, set himself and fired a bullet to home plate, right on the money, to nail Shohei Ohtani trying to score the game-tying run. This play … wow. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen514.png Next Three Games Wed vs. LAA, 12:10 pm CT (Odorizzi-Cahill) Thu at SEA, 9:10 pm CT (TBD-Swanson) Fri at SEA, 9:10 pm CT (TBD) Last Game LAA 5, MIN 4: More Missed Opportunities Click here to view the article

Not sure where to dig up the numbers specifically on shifting, but I know the Twins are inside the top five in shifts and have allowed the 11th-lowest BABIP in baseball, .284. Last season they ranked 25th with a .302 BABIP. I'm not saying those stats make it an open and close case, there's a lot of other factors to consider about why that BABIP is so much lower, and there was quite a bit of turnover in terms of personnel, but they're doing something right. That's a pretty significant increase in balls in play they're turning into outs. But when the shift doesn't work it most definitely stands out a lot more than when it does.

Had a few minutes to scan the updated numbers this morning. The issue is quality of contact. In two out, RISP situations the Twins have a 15.5 LD% and a 16.3 IFFB%. Those are both quite a bit worse than their overall numbers. That being the case, of course their BABIP in those situations is going to be horrible (.220). Something that's worked out really well for this lineup is being aggressive early in the count. They haven't done that quite as much in these two out, RISP situations. Here's a look at their average pitches per plate appearance: 2 out, RISP PPA: 4.00 (656/164) All other situations: 3.76 (4,949/1,316) That may not seem like a huge difference, but keep in mind the team with the lowest overall pitches per plate appearance (the Twins) is at 3.79 and the highest (Texas) is at 4.10.

I would certainly expect things to even out, but sometimes they don't. The Dodgers had the third-best OPS in baseball last year (.774) but somehow maintained the third-worst OPS with two outs and RISP (.640). They also still won 92 games and went to the World Series, so ya know, things worked out OK for them. Still, what a weird thing to happen.

The Twins have been getting plenty of big flies, but the big hits have been tough to come by. Despite having one of the best lineups in baseball so far in 2019, the Twins actually rank near the bottom both in hitting with two outs and runners in scoring position and hitting with the bases loaded. They left six more men in scoring position today, leaving a total of 11 runners on, and it cost them.Box Score Perez: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 63.4% strikes (59 of 93 pitches) Home Runs: Adrianza (2) Multi-Hit Games: Buxton (3-for-3, 2B, BB), Gonzalez (2-for-4, BB), Adrianza (2-for-3, HR, BB), Cave (2-for-4, 2B) WPA of +0.1: Buxton .189, Gonzalez .115 WPA of -0.1: Perez -.116, Astudillo -.160, Polanco -.215, Cron -.252 Download attachment: Win512.png (chart via FanGraphs) The Twins entered this afternoon’s game with an impressive .831 OPS, nearly 100 points above the league average. With two outs and runners in scoring position, however, they’ve been pretty putrid. In 158 plate appearances in those situations, the Twins had a .185/.304/.296 line (.600 OPS) coming into today, 140 points below league average. They’ve also been dreadful with the bases loaded. Here’s a look at some of the numbers: Download attachment: Chart.png I’ll stop short of saying the Twins are hitting too many home runs, but this is becoming a cause for concern. You’d expect things to start evening out, but we’re nearly a month and a half into the season now. The Twins had a difficult time getting anything going against Detroit’s Daniel Norris this afternoon, but they threatened to score in the fifth inning. Ehire Adrianza and Jake Cave hit back-to-back two-out singles. Byron Buxton did a nice job of drawing a walk to load the bases, but Willians Astudillo popped out to squander the rally. The Twins finally got on the board in the seventh when Adrianza hit a solo home run and Buxton drove in Cave on a single. Astudillo followed with a double, putting runners at second and third base. Jorge Polanco popped out, creating another two out, runners in scoring position opportunity. Pinch hitter Mitch Garver nearly hit a three-run homer, but it sailed foul. He drew a walk to load the bases, then Marwin Gonzalez drew another free pass to drive in a run. That brought the Twins within two runs of Detroit. A base hit to the outfield would have tied it up, but C.J. Cron struck out. In the bottom of the eighth, Adrianza walked and Buxton hit a two-out double to put runners at second and third. Astudillo popped out to end the inning. The Twins left three men in scoring position Friday night, six Saturday afternoon, seven more Saturday evening and another six today. That makes a grand total of 22 runners they stranded in scoring position in this four-game series against the Tigers. I’m not usually one to nitpick lineup construction, but the way Rocco Baldelli filled things out had me scratching my head. This was Astudillo’s first game since April 27, but he was the leadoff man. He ended up leaving six men on base today. I get that Buxton has looked very comfortable in the No. 9 spot, but having him behind Adrianza and Cave against a left-handed starter was odd to see. It seems silly to gripe about anything in regard to this team’s offense, especially the way Baldelli has gone about his business, but I do feel like this is an element to keep an eye on going forward. The players have to execute, obviously, but that big gap between overall production and performance with two outs and runners in scoring position seems to be something that may be corrected by an adjustment to the batting order. Back to this game, Martin Perez gave up a two-run home run to Nicholas Castellanos in the first inning and then a solo shot to Brandon Dixon in the second. He got rolling from there forward, but was removed in the sixth inning after the leadoff batter hit a single off his ankle. Perez was at 93 pitches and Trevor May was already warming in the bullpen, so it was probably an appropriate time to bring out the hook regardless. May pitched a scoreless sixth inning before Trevor Hildenberger came in and sunk this game for the Twins. He gave up two runs on three hits and also hit a batter. He’s up to 10 earned runs over his last six innings pitched. That put the Tigers up 5-0, and while the Twins had their chances at coming back, it would have been really nice to have those two runs back. Blake Parker held Detroit scoreless over the final two innings. Taylor Rogers hasn’t pitched since May 7. Nelson Cruz exited this game with a left wrist injury. Perez was diagnosed with a left foot contusion. Postgame With Baldelli Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen512.png Next Three Games Mon vs. LAA, 6:40 pm (Berrios-Skaggs) Tue vs. LAA, 6:40 pm (Gibson-Pena) Wed vs. LAA, 12:10 pm (Odorizzi-Cahill) Last Game MIN 8, DET 3: Now Witness the Firepower Click here to view the article

This Twins lineup is a thing of destructive beauty. The scary part: Even a couple of the guys who got off to slow starts are starting to catch fire. C.J. Cron hit a big three-run home run tonight. He also homered this afternoon, giving him nine round trippers in his last 25 games. Marwin Gonzalez added a dinger of his own.Game 2 Box Score Stewart: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 63.3% strikes (57 of 90 pitches) Home Runs: Cron (9), Gonzalez (3) Multi-Hit Games: Cron (4-for-5, 2B, HR), Rosario (3-for-5), Gonzalez (2-for-4, HR, BB), Buxton (2-for-4, 2B) WPA of +0.1: Cron .243 WPA of -0.1: None Download attachment: Win511g2.png (chart via FanGraphs) Through his first 10 games with Minnesota, Cron had just a .508 OPS and Twins fans were starting to compare him to the other former Tampa Bay first baseman who flopped with the team. After a big day at the plate, Cron’s OPS is all the way up to .839. He’s been on an absolute tear. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen511g2.png Next Three Games Sun vs. DET, 1:10 pm CT (Perez-Norris) Mon vs. LAA, 6:40 pm CT (TBD) Tue vs. LAA, 6:40 pm CT (TBD) Last Game DET 5, MIN 3: Tigers Out-Tater Twins, Gardy Gets Tossed Click here to view the article