Weekly Review: Shooting on All Bottles – Minnesota Twins – Articles – Home Page

Image courtesy of Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Weekly snapshot: From Monday, June 5 to Sunday, December 5

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Record last week: 5-2 (total: 25-14)

Run differential last week: +26 (total: +51)

Permanent: 1st place in Central AL (4.0 GA)

Willians Watch: 1 for 5 last week (Season AVG: .315)

Willians Astudillo is back! He was activated Sunday on the disabled list and was eliminated on his return. Meanwhile, Tyler Duffey (called for Saturday's double program) and Fernando Romero were sent back to Triple-A over the weekend. It is unfortunate that both have shown good signs (including Romero, who has pitched four scoreless innings with a 15% swing rate in his last four appearances), but they will see more opportunities soon. .

STRONG POINTS

As we reach pole quarter of the MLB season, two players are creating legitimate noise as candidates for the most valuable player title.

The case for Jorge Polanco until here is easy to see. After another fantastic week (11 in 26 with two homers and three doubles), Polanco hit 0.324 / 0.393 / 0.607 second behind Mike Trout in AL with 2.1 WAR. Polanco's K / BB ratio is among the best in the league and he's hitting for incredible power. Best of all, it does it as a SHORTSTOP that defends itself.

It's a bit harder to argue an MVP-rhythm argument Mitch Garver, mainly because his playing time is not quite up to par. By splitting the representatives into a three-man selection committee, Garver has less than half the appearances on the Polanco plate. Yet at that time, he produced more circuits (8 to 7) and almost the same total points produced (16 to 17).

We are still waiting for his seemingly unsustainable beginning to slow down, but week after week, Garver remains on fire. The latter was no exception: he scored 6 out of 13 with two other circuits and six walks. Among the AHL players with 75 and over, no one has a higher OPS than Garver (1,214).

These backstops continue to partner with novice pitchers of the Twins to produce amazing results. Tuesday, Jose Berrios He returned seven shutouts to Toronto for his sixth win and seventh qualifier in eight corners. He completed six or more rounds on each outing. Freshly earned fees Player of the week in the honor, Jake Odorizzi extended his series of goals to 20 innings on Friday with seven almost perfect runs against the Tigers. Martin Perez was excellent in his first round (7 IP, 0 R vs TOR) and solid in his second round (5 IP, 3 R vs. DET). He has an ERA 2.13 in six starts for the Twins.

Even latecomers in rotation start to join the fun. Kyle Gibson He eliminated 11 and scored 19 decisive strikes in a dominant show against Toronto on Wednesday. Suddenly he got a total of 2.25 and 28 K / B / B in 24 innings in his last four starts, which sounds like the irresistible force that he has occupied a good deal of time. ;last year. Michael Pineda still does not look very keen, but he made a good start Saturday with three points allowed in six innings. In 39 frames, Pineda has scratched 35 and has gone nine. Aside from the rate of return home, there is a lot of underlying positivity in its early production that comes from Tommy John's surgery.

Some other good performances of the past week deserve to be highlighted:

• C.J. Cron, who had been one of the weakest producers of the training, reversed the situation decisively with two games with four strokes and three circuits. He now has nine bombs in the registers, which is more than his predecessor at first base (Joe Mauer), who has been run over the past two seasons.
• Ryne Harper More than three flawless outings, allowing only one shot in 3 2/3 with a walk and four strikeouts. The 30-year-old rookie made 15 appearances this year, and 14 were aimless. What a beautiful story.

lowlights

Last week, in this space, I expressed some concerns about Trevor Hildenberger and his sudden vulnerability, noting that his use had dissipated, his results having deteriorated. Seven days later, these concerns are only stronger. He had two runs on three hits in one inning against Detroit on Saturday, then did the same on Sunday, this time with a more expensive impact (his two points allowed was the difference of the match).

For most of the month of April, Hildenberger seems to be reinstated as one of Minnesota's most reliable weapons for the late run, but he has now fallen back into the rut that has tormented his second half of 2018. Hildy has played his last seven appearances 10 earned runs on 14 hits in six frames. It's a complete mess, and Twins can not afford to stay with him much longer at this rate. The 28-year-old still has options, so we go to Triple-A.

The bright side is that there is really no mediocre performance worthy of mention last week – a huge credit for the high quality game we continue to see in this training.

STORYLINE TREND

For the third week in a row, Miguel Sano draws attention. He was about to begin his rehab training, then he was officially on his way and he is now about to finish. After a brief stay in Pensacola, Sano joined the AAA Rochester class this weekend. He went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in his first game with the Red Wings, but bounced back with a 2-for-4 effort (plus a walk) on Sunday.

Unless setbacks, I guess Sano will be called back in the coming week. It will be interesting to see who moved to make room. The most likely candidate seems to be Ehire Adrianza, who has been terribly barren. Again, maybe the problem will resolve itself, since Nelson Cruz could go to the shelf with a wrist injury that made him fall from Sunday's game.

Right now, I am even more curious about another Triple-A rehabilitation relay. reliever Addison Reed is back on the road after missing the first month with a "left thumb injury" and looked terribly terrible in Triple-A, just as he had done during the spring training and as He did it for much of last summer. In three appearances for Rochester, he scored four runs on eight hits in three innings of work, eliminating two of 17 batters.

Where to go from here? There is no way for twins to add Reed to their list. Keeping him under IL for a month with a vague hand problem that did not kick was already a little exaggerated, but now they are running out of places to hide it. It's unfortunate, because a reed at the peak level would make such a difference for this Minnesota bullpen, but this player has clearly gone a long time. At this point, I think the Twins have no choice but to reduce their losses and designate him for an assignment, consuming millions of dollars in salary remaining. For the moment, Reed still has a few weeks in her rehab window.

DOWN IN THE FARM

On July 31st last year, the Twins exchanged strengths Brian Dozier to the Dodgers, in return for what seemed like a modest return. Dozier was going through a disappointing season, cutting only 0.27 / 0.307 / 0.405 for Minnesota, two months out of the free time. The Twins had no hope of attracting the best prospects, but they did get some intriguing pieces of LA in the championship. Luke Raley and left-handed Devin Smeltzer.

Well, Dozier's fights only made him worse in the bottom right while he beat .182 / .300 / .350 in 47 games and barely saw the least playoff time. During the winter, he signed a one-year contract with the Nationals, but in Washington, it's pretty much the same thing: the Dozier slash line is between .197 / .301 / .331 and 38 games. (His replacement to the second, Jonathan Schoop, is at .276 / .324 / .504.)

Meanwhile, Raley is crushing in Rochester, where he scored 14 goals for 33 in May and has a .299 / .364 / .542 overall line. He is still not on the list of top prospects but the 24-year-old leftist swinger solidifies as a viable depth and ready for the MLB. In Triple-A, he plays mostly on the right side with a small mixed center.

Smeltzer is an even more convincing case. There was no significant buzz around him as a mediocre south paw coming out of the Dodgers system, but since he joined the Twins organization, he has been completely extinguished. In 42 rounds at Double-A, between the end of last year and the start of the season, he recorded an average strength ratio of 1.29 and a ratio of 49: 5 K / BB. He moved to Rochester in early May and sort of improved, throwing 15 innings in white with just seven hits.

I do not know what to do with him. You watch the guy pitch and you're not impressed by his velocity, but the superlative results are impressive and he does it consistently at the highest level of minors. Smeltzer, 23, is not part of the 40-person lineup, but is lining up to try his luck when the need actually feels.

Another note of miners pitch: Brusdar Graterol was in the middle of another stellar exit Wednesday, with 5 1/3 innings without scoring points, when he was pulled out of the match due to an apparent injury. This naturally caused an instant panic that swept the territory of the Twins, but KSTP's Darren Wolfson burst in quickly with a relieving relationship:

• Game 33 | MIN 8, TOR 0: Perez impresses, Bats Stroman Early Bounce
• Thu 34 | MIN 3, TOR 0: Joy Berrios Hurls, the twins are entitled to a second game
• Thu 35 | MIN 9, TOR 1: Twins Steamroll Toronto
• Game 36 | MIN 6, DET 0: Odorizzi Deals (Again), Twins Wins Fourth Rank in a Row
• Game 37 | DET 5, MIN 3: Out-Tater Twins Tigers, Gardy gets thrown
• Game 38 | MIN 8, DET 3: Witness the firepower
• Game 39 | DET 5, MIN 3: We have a problem