I bet a lot of Twins fans were hoping Rocco would pitch hit Jeffries for Vazquez to lead off the bottom of the 9th inning. Clearly there was no need to. 😉 Rocco is a genius!!!
What a fun series. Now let’s go dominate in chi-town!
Someone gave Vasquez a Gatorade bath after he crossed the plate. The grounds crew was NOT happy about 3-4 gallons of liquid dumped in the batters box.
The #9 hitter drove in all three runs. 😃
Someone gave Vasquez a Gatorade bath after he crossed the plate. The grounds crew was NOT happy about 3-4 gallons of liquid dumped in the batters box.
they have two weeks to sort it out. 😉
What are the pairs of white dots down the back of Buxton’s neck?
https://twitter.com/Audra_Martin/status/1809408986677977259
I might need me some of those!
With Austin Martin going on IL the Twins should have called up Audra Martin. Replace one A. Martin with another A. Martin.
Castro, Jeffries, Buxton, Miranda, Jax, and Ryan are all having great seasons especially when compared to players at their positions. The best AL team (record wise) over the past 2.5 months gets one All-Star.
I bet a lot of Twins fan were hoping Rocco would pitch hit Jeffries for Vazquez to lead off the bottom of the 9th inning. Clearly there was no need to. 😉 Rocco is a genius!!!
Big credit to Vazquez for toughing it out just staying in the game after getting crossed up on a pitch earlier and taking a nasty one to the arm! That’s a ball player
The bat righty thing, I don't count. It's all the WAR, GRIT, IOUTIEW+ whatever stuff they come up with...
No managers in baseball are making in-game decisions based on WAR, OPS+, FIP, xFIP, etc. Knowing what they mean and using them to shape roster moves in the offseason? Sure. But he's not pinch-hitting Guy A for Guy B because Guy B has a higher WAR. He's not bringing in a different pitcher because the new pitcher has a lower xFIP.
A lot of these "analytics" that people love to complain about ruining the game aren't used in game-management decisions. They're used by talking heads and award voting and player comparisons by fans arguing about which guy is better.
In game decisions are largely based on hard stats: righty/lefty splits, 3rd time through the order stats (which goes hand in hand with pitch counts often), OBP/OPS, and recent performances (in no particular order).
Then let pitchers that are on a roll keep rolling. That is a RARE occurrence. Why? Analytics. CGs and No-nos are probably dead, for the most part b/c ZOMG 100 pitches.
When you tell somebody somethin', it depends on what part of the United States you're standin' in... as to just how dumb you are.
A lot of pitchers aren’t rolling the third time through a lineup anymore. Hitting has caught up a bit.
She has most definitely earned it congrats to her
Then let pitchers that are on a roll keep rolling. That is a RARE occurrence. Why? Analytics. CGs and No-nos are probably dead, for the most part b/c ZOMG 100 pitches.
I get it and don’t disagree, but now it’s how they throw the 100 pitches compared to 10-20 years ago. They’re throwing everything with more velocity and feel like they need to. Arms aren’t built for the long haul anymore from a young age on and hitters (overall) in today’s game create more foul balls running up pitch counts. I think it was glen perkins talking about how he would pitch to Joe Mauer if he had to once and he said he’d just throw it where he would get a hit and just be done with it. Watching baseball 20 years ago I never heard of an oblique strain once, it’s become a more violent at bat for both pitcher and hitter now. Pitchers are protected because their arms are worth a fortune and need to get through the season and possibly a longer post season. I feel like the game is so micro managed now, going to the bullpen can be as risky as letting a guy stay in, he might have half his pitches under command that day or he might have his stuff working. Hitters who are red hot getting a day off to rest? I get some of it but there’s the armchair manager in me that doesn’t and that’s fine too.
Then let pitchers that are on a roll keep rolling. That is a RARE occurrence. Why? Analytics. CGs and No-nos are probably dead, for the most part b/c ZOMG 100 pitches.
It's less to do with 100 pitches (though there is data showing that higher pitch counts is a direct correlation to arm injuries so obviously teams are aware of that) and more to do with a lot of pitchers getting hit harder the third time through the order. This data is harder to quantify league-wide because it's very much more on the individual pitcher (IIRC in 2019, Jacob deGrom's numbers the 2nd and 3rd time through the order were actually better than his first time through the order which is insane but he's also a freak). The top of the top of the pitchers, even if they're statistically worse the third time through the order, may still be significantly better options than bullpen replacements. Your middle of the rotation and back end rotation guys that see a performance dropoff the third time through are likely going to be worse than your bullpen options.
Obviously the deeper into games guys go, the more pitches they are going to throw and the more likely they are to get inured. That increased injury risk + the decrease in performance for most guys as they go through the order again and again makes managerial sense to bring in a reliever in a close game. I guess if you want to argue that injury prevention and statistical evidence of pitchers becoming less effective going through the order 3-4 times is analytics I'll let you have that.
Rocco showed last year that he was very willing to ride his horses deeper into games. Lopez last season averaged 6.1 IP/start. Joe Ryan currently is averaging 6.1 IP/start for the 2024 season. 6.1 IP/start is well above the league average and right in line with the best pitchers in the game.
Again, the Twins were 3rd in baseball last year in innings pitched/start (0.1 innings behind the two teams tied for first). This year they are 6th in innings pitched/start, 0.1 IP/S lower than last season currently, despite Pablo having a really rough start to the season.
Hell yesterday's game was about as anti-analytics as it gets for the way the "analytics crowd" would advise about handling things. He let SWR go 6 innings and face the heart of the Astros order a 3rd time, despite all the data saying he shouldn't, because he was pitching extremely well after a rough 2nd inning where he walked 2 and gave up 2 hits. He had retired 9 straight on 34 pitches, including a 5 pitch 5th inning.
It was a tie game going to the top of the 6th inning and a young SP in just his 16th start with basically all of the bullpen horses fresh (Alcala threw 24 on Friday and pitched again Saturday so he was probably out, Staumont, Jax, and Duran had not pitched over the weekend at all). Rather than turn the ball over to Staumont for the 6th,Rocco sent SWR out for the 6th inning. SWR got another 1-2-3 inning. Then Staumont took the 7th, Jax took the 8th, and Duran took the 9th.
Are no hitters fading? IDK, maybe? I'm too lazy to find the rate of no hitters right now. But that has more to do with arm care and injury prevention than analytics. Teams are investing lots of money into these guys. Preventing injuries to them is important.
Beauner, watching Brooks Lee he seems to be more comfortable batting from the right side than the left. At what point, if ever, do players consider dropping the switch hitting option? I don't know his stats from the left vs right and I saw a comment that he is a "gifted" switch hitter. But I am curious if switch hitting is ever problematic vs just hitting from your most natural side.
I am not saying we need to mess with Lee's swing at all. It just brought up the question for switch hitters in general.
Brooks Lee in his main minor league season (2023) hit much better vs. righties so when he was batting left.
In 2022 he was pretty much the same from both sides over limited minor league at bats after being drafted in June when his college season was over.
In 2024 minor league games he was better vs. righties so when he was batting left. Limited at bats due to missing 2 months with a back injury.
https://www.milb.com/player/brooks-lee-686797?stats=splits-r-hitting-mlb&year=2023
Beauner, watching Brooks Lee he seems to be more comfortable batting from the right side than the left. At what point, if ever, do players consider dropping the switch hitting option? I don't know his stats from the left vs right and I saw a comment that he is a "gifted" switch hitter. But I am curious if switch hitting is ever problematic vs just hitting from your most natural side.
I am not saying we need to mess with Lee's swing at all. It just brought up the question for switch hitters in general.
Honestly I've wondered this for a long time. There are definitely some hitters who seem to be much better from one side or the other and never just go to one side full time. Other hitters do if the slump is prolonged enough. But I'm not really sure if the decision to stop is ever the same for everybody.
I remember Shane Victorino stopped switch hitting and went exclusively to right handed hitting toward the back end of his career and IIRC JT Snow dumped switch hitting to be lefty-only when he signed with the Giants. Cedric Mullins is the one like super-recent example that comes to mind. He's still in the league and dropped batting from the right hand side because he couldn't hit MLB pitching right handed. Former Twin Aaron Hicks was going to stop switch hitting, stopped it (IIRC he went lefty exclusively) and then a year later went back to switch hitting.
I always felt like if the splits were so extreme for an extended period of time that the hitter should just drop switch hitting and go to one side all the time.
As far as Lee goes, I know he's worked really hard over the last couple seasons to get both sides to a point where they are more or less mirror images of each other with regard to stance/swing path and performance.
Beauner, watching Brooks Lee he seems to be more comfortable batting from the right side than the left. At what point, if ever, do players consider dropping the switch hitting option? I don't know his stats from the left vs right and I saw a comment that he is a "gifted" switch hitter. But I am curious if switch hitting is ever problematic vs just hitting from your most natural side.
I am not saying we need to mess with Lee's swing at all. It just brought up the question for switch hitters in general.
Honestly I've wondered this for a long time. There are definitely some hitters who seem to be much better from one side or the other and never just go to one side full time. Other hitters do if the slump is prolonged enough. But I'm not really sure if the decision to stop is ever the same for everybody.
I remember Shane Victorino stopped switch hitting and went exclusively to right handed hitting toward the back end of his career and IIRC JT Snow dumped switch hitting to be lefty-only when he signed with the Giants. Cedric Mullins is the one like super-recent example that comes to mind. He's still in the league and dropped batting from the right hand side because he couldn't hit MLB pitching right handed. Former Twin Aaron Hicks was going to stop switch hitting, stopped it (IIRC he went lefty exclusively) and then a year later went back to switch hitting.
I always felt like if the splits were so extreme for an extended period of time that the hitter should just drop switch hitting and go to one side all the time.
As far as Lee goes, I know he's worked really hard over the last couple seasons to get both sides to a point where they are more or less mirror images of each other with regard to stance/swing path and performance.
Gleeman and Bonnes have discussed this on their podcast before. From what I recall they noted that its a bigger deal to drop switch hitting than it may first appear. If you have always been a switch hitter (lefty vs RHPs and Righty vs LHPs) then that is all you are accustom to seeing. If, for example, you go to a full time righty then seeing RHP's pitches while you are on the righty side is going to be a major adjustment for pitch recognition. I didn't go past little league so I am no expert but I think pitch recognition takes a lot to build up and abandoning switch hitting is almost like starting from square one for those ABs where you are no longer switching to the other side.
Beauner, watching Brooks Lee he seems to be more comfortable batting from the right side than the left. At what point, if ever, do players consider dropping the switch hitting option? I don't know his stats from the left vs right and I saw a comment that he is a "gifted" switch hitter. But I am curious if switch hitting is ever problematic vs just hitting from your most natural side.
I am not saying we need to mess with Lee's swing at all. It just brought up the question for switch hitters in general.
Honestly I've wondered this for a long time. There are definitely some hitters who seem to be much better from one side or the other and never just go to one side full time. Other hitters do if the slump is prolonged enough. But I'm not really sure if the decision to stop is ever the same for everybody.
I remember Shane Victorino stopped switch hitting and went exclusively to right handed hitting toward the back end of his career and IIRC JT Snow dumped switch hitting to be lefty-only when he signed with the Giants. Cedric Mullins is the one like super-recent example that comes to mind. He's still in the league and dropped batting from the right hand side because he couldn't hit MLB pitching right handed. Former Twin Aaron Hicks was going to stop switch hitting, stopped it (IIRC he went lefty exclusively) and then a year later went back to switch hitting.
I always felt like if the splits were so extreme for an extended period of time that the hitter should just drop switch hitting and go to one side all the time.
As far as Lee goes, I know he's worked really hard over the last couple seasons to get both sides to a point where they are more or less mirror images of each other with regard to stance/swing path and performance.
Gleeman and Bonnes have discussed this on their podcast before. From what I recall they noted that its a bigger deal to drop switch hitting than it may first appear. If you have always been a switch hitter (lefty vs RHPs and Righty vs LHPs) then that is all you are accustom to seeing. If, for example, you go to a full time righty then seeing RHP's pitches while you are on the righty side is going to be a major adjustment for pitch recognition. I didn't go past little league so I am no expert but I think pitch recognition takes a lot to build up and abandoning switch hitting is almost like starting from square one for those ABs where you are no longer switching to the other side.
It would definitely take some work but if you were dropping batting left handed to go righty exclusively I'd think an offseason of cage time would go a long way to getting that worked on and there are certainly no shortage of RHPs that would go throw bullpens I wouldn't think. Would probably be a little more difficult if trying to go lefty full time in that respect.
Finally a couple of dingers to get us on top on the scoreboard against the crappiest team in the league!
This.Beauner, watching Brooks Lee he seems to be more comfortable batting from the right side than the left. At what point, if ever, do players consider dropping the switch hitting option? I don't know his stats from the left vs right and I saw a comment that he is a "gifted" switch hitter. But I am curious if switch hitting is ever problematic vs just hitting from your most natural side.
I am not saying we need to mess with Lee's swing at all. It just brought up the question for switch hitters in general.
Honestly I've wondered this for a long time. There are definitely some hitters who seem to be much better from one side or the other and never just go to one side full time. Other hitters do if the slump is prolonged enough. But I'm not really sure if the decision to stop is ever the same for everybody.
I remember Shane Victorino stopped switch hitting and went exclusively to right handed hitting toward the back end of his career and IIRC JT Snow dumped switch hitting to be lefty-only when he signed with the Giants. Cedric Mullins is the one like super-recent example that comes to mind. He's still in the league and dropped batting from the right hand side because he couldn't hit MLB pitching right handed. Former Twin Aaron Hicks was going to stop switch hitting, stopped it (IIRC he went lefty exclusively) and then a year later went back to switch hitting.
I always felt like if the splits were so extreme for an extended period of time that the hitter should just drop switch hitting and go to one side all the time.
As far as Lee goes, I know he's worked really hard over the last couple seasons to get both sides to a point where they are more or less mirror images of each other with regard to stance/swing path and performance.
Gleeman and Bonnes have discussed this on their podcast before. From what I recall they noted that its a bigger deal to drop switch hitting than it may first appear. If you have always been a switch hitter (lefty vs RHPs and Righty vs LHPs) then that is all you are accustom to seeing. If, for example, you go to a full time righty then seeing RHP's pitches while you are on the righty side is going to be a major adjustment for pitch recognition. I didn't go past little league so I am no expert but I think pitch recognition takes a lot to build up and abandoning switch hitting is almost like starting from square one for those ABs where you are no longer switching to the other side.
When you tell somebody somethin', it depends on what part of the United States you're standin' in... as to just how dumb you are.
And it goes to 11…
I hope the fans in the outfield brought gloves or were ducking. 117 mph 😯
This reminds me of the time I was at Fenway Park for a Twins game. During pre game batting practice I was near the left field/3rd base foul line and a batter hit a line drive into the stands. A couple of guys saw the ball coming got out of the way and the woman they were with didn't see it coming and got hit in the head. She was taken away. The look on everybody's face including the guys she was with was like should they/we have done something to warn her the ball was coming? It happened so fast.
Thankfully she must have checked out fine because she was able to come back for the start of the game.
She had a VERY noticeable bump on her forehead.
Buxton with a 3 hit game. Wallner with 2 hits including a game tying two run homer in the 7th. Brooks Lee with two hits and two RBIs including the game winning RBI.
Lee is 11 for 24 (.458) with 8 RBIs in his first 6 games. He has at least one RBI in 5 of the 6 games. He has hits in all 6 games with at least two hits in 4 of the 6 games.
Alcala (7th), Thielbar (9th), Duran (10th), and Funderburk (11th) each pitch a key shut out inning.
Lee looks comfortable against MLB pitching. And the other day he played both 3rd and SS. I hope he stays up!
#TheNewBombaSquad
https://twitter.com/betsyhelfand/status/1810468250188153210
Miranda hitting >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Miranda sliding.
I can't stop laughing this is such a bad slide. 🤣
https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1810491161829585095
When you tell somebody somethin', it depends on what part of the United States you're standin' in... as to just how dumb you are.
Miranda hitting >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Miranda sliding.
I can't stop laughing this is such a bad slide. 🤣
https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1810491161829585095
And there wasn’t even anyone at second base!
To accomplish the following with your best hitter only playing 24 games out of the first 96 games (maybe more if Royce Lewis isn't available right after the All Star break) is really impressive.
Other teams just can't match the Twins line up. 😉
Guards and tigers are 7-7 in the ninth
Twins at Chicago today reminded me a lot of the movie “a league of their own” when nobody was showing up in the stands and you could hear a pin drop. I was wondering if their catcher would pull a Dottie Henson for the camera.
Twins at Chicago today reminded me a lot of the movie “a league of their own” when nobody was showing up in the stands and you could hear a pin drop. I was wondering if their catcher would pull a Dottie Henson for the camera.
Your post reminded of a day in my youth. Went to a late season game at the old Met Stadium when the Twins were well out of the standings. Sat in the left field pavilion with probably no more than 40 people. Vida Blue was pitching for the “A’s” and was on a good roll. After striking a couple Twins consecutively with the almost nonexistent crowd noise we all heard the center fielder yell to the left fielder “they can’t touch that mother 🤬-ing heat.”
In the first game yesterday the Twins had bases loaded with zero outs and score zero runs only to lose the game 1-3.
ouch.
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
Rocco bringing in All-Stars
Really cool honor for Castro. He went from a non-roster invitee to an All Star in 18 months. The Twins coaching staff deserves a lot of credit for the adjustments he's made at the plate after basically hitting his way out of Detroit in 2022. He's been great defensively basically all over the field and now his bat is catching up to his glove.
Castro has played all 93 games this season. His versatility really helps the team. It's not unusual for him to play more than one position in a game. This season Willi has played 20 or more games at 5 different positions.
29 games at 2B
22 games at SS
21 games at 3B
23 games at LF
20 games at CF
He has more gloves than a medical supply company. 😉
Will Royce Lewis be back for the playoffs? How long will he milk this one..
Castro has played all 93 games this season. His versatility really helps the team. It's not unusual for him to play more than one position in a game. This season Willi has played 20 or more games at 5 different positions.
29 games at 2B
22 games at SS
21 games at 3B
23 games at LF
20 games at CF
He has more gloves than a medical supply company. 😉
Very impressive. Easy player to root for
Will Royce Lewis be back for the playoffs? How long will he milk this one..
You honestly think he’s “milking” his injuries?
Will Royce Lewis be back for the playoffs? How long will he milk this one..
You honestly think he’s “milking” his injuries?
No, I don’t. But the best ability is availability, and I think people should start criticizing him a little more. Buxton has gotten raked over the coals for injury issues. Just my opinion.
Will Royce Lewis be back for the playoffs? How long will he milk this one..
You honestly think he’s “milking” his injuries?
No, I don’t. But the best ability is availability, and I think people should start criticizing him a little more. Buxton has gotten raked over the coals for injury issues. Just my opinion.
At the same time in his career as you're doing with Lewis?
I know the best way to extend a career and earn another contract is to 'milk' injuries.
Players don't get to choose to avoid getting injured.
Buxton lost millions of dollars because of injuries/missing games. His last contract was considerably less than what it would have been if he wasn't hurt so much.
Lewis wants to play, increase his value and therefore his next contract. Unfortunately, injuries are part of sports. Yes some guys are injured more then others but it doesn't mean they don't want to play.
Unfortunately, some injuries can lead to other injuries plus some of it is just the luck of the draw.
I find life to be much more enjoyable when I avoid getting worked up about things I have no control over. I try not to sweat about things like players getting hurt. It sucks but it happens.
Brooks Lee in his first major league game in his home state gets screwed by the designers of Oracle Park. 😛