As we near the final quarter of the MLB season, it’s a good time to take stock of Twins hitters’ performance this season.
To gauge which Twins hitters are having good seasons, I will compare each hitter’s 2022 numbers to their "average" season, then calculate how each player needs to perform for the remainder of 2022 to reach their average statline. In other words, what would it take for each player to have their average season? This approach has its flaws and doesn’t work for rookies, but
Twins fans recently suffered through the offense’s 0-19 stretch with runners in scoring position (RISP) during the team’s road trip to Los Angeles. Such struggles have plagued Twins hitters all season, as their .712 OPS with RISP rank 22nd in MLB and their .249 batting average with RISP ranks 20th.
Carlos Correa has been the primary underperformer in these big moments this year. His .618 OPS with RISP ranks 11th among Twins hitters with 30+ at-bats with RISP. This lack of production has co
In another sparkling outing last night, Jhoan Duran showcased everything that makes him special. Most notably, his triple-digits fastball. Duran threw only ten pitches last night, including five fastballs. All five exceeded 100 MPH.
It’s becoming easy to take Duran’s electric fastball for granted. His delivery looks effortless, yet his average fastball velocity leads the majors at 100.6 MPH. Here are a few charts to remind us exactly how extraordinary Duran’s velocity is.
First, Duran
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?
At this point in the pre-season, I’m just so happy to be seeing games again, I don’t care about the Twins record in 2023. I think they’ll win it all, unrealistically speaking 🙂