Nice breakdown Tom.  Thank for the info!

"Logan Morrison has to be one of the easiest hitters in baseball to pitch against. Throw high heat and low outside junk and he'll swing at everything."

 

It sounds good but it isn't really a thing. 

In terms of sequencing, opponents have stacked fastballs with breaking/offspeed pitches outside (not even low) just 25 times this season. He's 0-for-4 with 3 walks on those. If we include the outer-third of the zone, pitchers have hit that spot another 21 times, which he's 3-for-10 on (.300). 

The first part is absolutely true: He's seeing more fastballs up than ever before and because he has an uppercut swing, it's his kryptonite. Teams have recognized this and adjusted. Just 27% of the fastballs seen this season have been in the lower third where he typically runs his barrel into the ball. 

The fastballs in the upper-half of the zone, Morrison is batting .132 with a 90% out rate when facing them. (He's hitting .083 on fastball in the upper third alone.) To his credit, he's not chasing them or swinging through them, he's just making extremely poor contact (27% of the balls he does put into play are pop-ups). 

I wrote about this in April when it became clear that Morrison was approaching things differently this year than last. He was a bit more squat -- telling FSN he was doing so in order to "get into his legs more" -- as well as overstriding. Both moves would make catching up to higher fastballs more difficult on top of the already hindering uppercut. 

Also toss in the notion that he's playing through some injuries (the back) which would also keep him from swinging at 100%. He had some time off but while Mauer was on the DL, Morrison mostly had to play through it. 

As far as solutions go, Morrison either has to return to his previous approach (more upright, less stride) or spit on as many fastballs up as possible. 

He's entered or is entering Rondell White territory.    As with most of the lineup outside of the Ed's, they seem to be sleepwalking through the season.   Which is a shame, as the pitching has been much improved.

I'm on a roll today. Dump Morrison, too.

Guys, Morrison isn't going to turn things around unless we consider a .700-.735 OPS a "turnaround". That's what he was before last year in the seasons he played regularly with one exception. We took a chance on him when he was available and it turns out he just isn't very good. Now we know why he was available. He's 30 and not likely to get any better than his track record. I would vote for a DFA and call up except I don't think we have anyone in the Minors that's any better - certainly not Vargas who stinks at AAA. Maybe Carter could at least hit a few HRs? 

Vargas can't be worse than that I believe. He must be bored playing in AAA all season.

Too bad Morrison can't be sent to Fort Myers and get fabulously readjusted, too.

Vargas can't be worse than that I believe. He must be bored playing in AAA all season.

Totally agree 100%. Vargas has never been this bad, in fact he was pretty solid during his time on the team last year. Ditching Vargas for Morrison was a terrible decision, but it can be fixed. Demote Lomo, bring up Kennys.

It is interesting had all but 2 maybe 3 Twins hitters have looked lost or just plain bad this year. Hope not,but maybe last year was an aberration. Maybe new hitting theories being incorporated into the system that players are having a tough time adjusting to.

Col weather start? DIsappointed in what he ended up taking in a contract? Not playing enough at first?

Perhaps the Twins have no line-up construction and you can pitch hard and fast to him and he will swing and probably miss more often than not. How many pitches does he take? How many ball heavy counts has he had?

Yes, the Twins have Vargas in reserve. He can't be as bad. Even though players stumble at AAA, sometimes they just need to try their hand at major league ball again, get excited to be receiving the meal money. ALso, can give Carter a chance, but doubt you'll see him on tap in 2019.

But would almost like to see Vargas given one more shot, if someone grabs Logan Morrison as a bench bat. We already went thru Stassi and Buss in the minors.

Again, line-up construction, lack of threats batting before or after you, can work into the equation. Look, even today...the Twins only got a half-dozen or so hits to go with their six runs. Offense is just terrible and is breeding a lack of offense.