Article: Game Day Notes After a Win

[Seth Stohs]

On Thursday, the Twins got a 7-6 wins over the Miami Marlins at Hammond Stadium. Brian Dozier homered. Mike Pelfrey pitched well. Chris Herrmann delivered a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 8^th to give the Twins a lead. Mark Hamburger came in and looked great in the ninth for the save. Below, find many notes from Thursday at Hammond Stadium and the Lee County Sports Complex. Some notes are regarding the game. Others regarding the first minor league practice. Enjoy!Before the game, I chatted with a couple of players. This afternoon, I posted an article on the very interesting story of Tyler Grimes.

 

JR GRAHAM

 

I also spent some time chatting with Rule 5 pick JR Graham. He says he’s really enjoyed his spring with the Twins, but he pointed out that it is quite a bit different from what he was accustomed to with the Braves. He knows he’ll get his innings this spring. With the Braves, he said that they had the spring pitching scale mapped out for the entire six weeks of games. Down to the inning.

 

He said that he has a few friends with the Braves yet, but some of his best friends have been traded. Atlanta’s roster for 2015 is completely different from last year. Two members of the bullpen were traded to the Rockies. Two others were traded elsewhere. Justin Upton and Graham’s good friend Jason Heyward were traded. If he were to go back to the Braves, he’d be going back to a team full of change.

 

Graham experienced shoulder pain in 2013. He said the pain was in the back of his shoulder. “There were times when I couldn’t raise my arm. I’d not pick up a ball for three weeks and just rehab, and when I tried to throw, I just couldn’t.”

Graham spent the first half of 2014 as a starter with a strict pitch count, generally five innings or 50 pitches, whichever came first. In the season’s second half, he pitched out of the bullpen. The Braves’ goal for him in 2014 was to get him through the season healthy.

 

He said, “I just wanted to pitch, but I struggled with consistency. I would hit 98 one pitch, and then I couldn’t get it again.”

 

Watching Graham pitch out of the bullpen is interesting. He doesn’t bring the ball way back, but when he lets the ball go, he gets great velocity. He’s certainly someone that I would think the Twins would want to keep around if at all possible. As you know, as a Rule 5 pick, if he does not remain on the Twins active roster (or DL) throughout the 2015 season, he will need to be offered back to the Braves.

 

KYLE GIBSON

 

Kyle Gibson was really happy with his outing on Wednesday in Dunedin. He was hitting 94, but he was happiest that his sinker was working well.

 

Last spring training, Gibson had a lot on his mind. The Gibson family celebrated their daughter's first birthday last week. He also was in a competition for the fifth starter job with Vance Worley, Sam Deduno and Scott Diamond, each out of options. Gibson won that competition and remained in the Twins rotation throughout the 2014 season.

 

Asked if his mindset was any different this spring, he said, “It is in some ways. I always feel like I need to prove myself and have to pitch well to earn the position. At the same time, it’s nice to be able to work on some things.”

 

He does want to pick up more strikeouts, but with his sinker, he will always be a groundball pitcher. His goal for the season is to be more consistent than 2014. It isn’t about the statistics. He said, “At the end of the year, I hope to have made 33 starts and given my teammates a chance to win each one of them.”

 

PHIL HUGHES

 

Phil Hughes had an interesting game. In the first inning, he struck out the side in order. He then didn’t get out of the second inning. He issued a (GASP!) walk and later allowed a three-run homer. In all, he gave up four runs in the inning, and Jason Wheeler had to get the final out.

 

Hughes said the innings were “like night and day.”

 

In the second inning, he felt that he was trying to do a little too much, be a little too perfect and then he got upset.

 

“To lead off the second, I made some good pitches and then I tried to be too fine as the at-bat progressed. I felt like I could do no wrong in the first, locating cutters to my arm side. Then I missed on a couple and I started getting frustrated and tried to throw the pitch over and over again until I got it right. That ended up working against me.” He continued, “I felt good overall with my stuff. I felt like I was locating my fastball really well. It was there, I just got into my own head there in the second trying to make a perfect pitch instead of just going down and away with fastballs and getting outs.”

 

MIKE PELFREY

 

Mike Pelfrey threw well, working three scoreless innings and giving up just two hits. However, the story of his performance was a wild play. Adeiny Hechavarria hit a fast one-hopper back toward Pelfrey. The ball went in his glove and stuck. He ran toward first base and underhanded the glove to Joe Mauer for an interesting out (video).

 

Let’s let Pelfrey tell you what happened.

“He hit the ball back to me, and I thought I made a good play. I’m like ‘Sweet!’ I’m reaching, and I’m reaching, and it’s not coming. I looked at him. I guarantee, if you play this game, you’re faster than me. It’s going to be a foot race so I just took off. Luckily I got over there and beat him to it.”

 

He continued, “I know my actions were good. I think I did what I was supposed to. We got the guy out, so I’ll take it.”

 

Manager Paul Molitor has been around the game a long time, and he wasn’t sure what to think either. He called it “a little free entertainment” and joked that it may have to be part of the PFP package tomorrow.

 

He was a little worried though. “I’ve seen replay, but I’ve never seen it live. I’m sure we’ve all seen it see it happen on replays, but that was entertaining. I don’t know who was more panicked about it, Joe (Mauer) or Mike. When he started flipping it, I envisioned the ball coming out. I couldn’t tell how well it was in there from my angle.”

 

The strange play may have overshadowed Pelfrey’s strong performance. He felt very good about it.

 

Pelfrey was happy at the conclusion of his outing. “I did a better job of getting ahead and throwing strikes. I got good movement, and good sink on it. I think obviously by the ground balls. I did a good job of locating it. I think when you do that everything gets a little bit better, your split or slider or curve. But fastball command is where it all started. I thought it was pretty good today.”

 

Pelfrey is in a fight for a starting rotation spot for the first time in six or seven years. He’s put in the work. “I busted my tail this offseason for the kind of position I’m in. I owe it to the Twins and I also owe it to myself to go out there and give it everything I have. I busted my tail. The best thing for me is that I’m healthy. When I’m healthy, I feel like I can get people out and I can be successful.”

 

Paul Molitor certainly took notice. “Strong outing for him. The first three hitters hit the ball straight in the dirt. It tells you he’s getting his movement back.”

 

Following yesterday’s strong performance by Tommy Milone, another fifth starter candidate, “We’d much rather, as we’ve said with some other spots around here, you want hard decisions. That’s a good thing. Sometimes they work themselves out and sometimes they make it tough. I’ll choose tough. That means people are performing.”

 

BRIAN DOZIER

 

Brian Dozier got things started with a bang. On the ninth pitch of his first at-bat, Dozier lined a homer over the left field fence off of Marlins right-hander Jarred Cosart.

 

“Cosart. That guy is nasty, man. I saw every pitch. Saw the breaking ball he tried to throw me a couple of times. Fouled off a couple of good pitches I thought I could hit, and then he made another mistake right over the middle. I put good wood on it.”

 

EDDIE ROSARIO

 

The outfielder entered the game late, but he had a big impact. He went 2-2 during his time in the game. Molitor has played him more in left field than centerfield. The manager talked about his performance following the game starting with who those hits came against.

 

“Off two lefties, in two big situations. He had good at-bats the other day in Dunedin. We’ve always said this guy is going to hit wherever he’s at. I like how he’s gone about his work. I’ve been around him enough to know that it wasn’t one of his strong suits when he was coming through the system. The ability to hit. I think a lot of people believed that would come up and hit eventually. He stays in there against lefties really well.

 

Molitor also recalled Rosario’s ability in the minor leagues to play up in big spots. “If you saw him play in the minor leagues, he liked the big situations. We sometimes had to challenge him to take all of his at-bats seriously, but you knew if it was a big situation, he was going to bring his A game. Today he stepped up with a couple of big hits for us. The first time he got a hit to go ahead. The second time, he got the three-hole, so I think he’s got a plan.”

 

MARK HAMBURGER

 

Mark Hamburger has big league service. He has a big-time arm. He needs an opportunity. He pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to record the save, and frankly, he made it look pretty easy. I asked the manager if he’s shown enough to enter the race for a big league bullpen spot.

 

“I would have to say he’s in the race. He’s had three outings, and he’s been effective. He’s different. He’s got different release points. He’s got pitches. He’s a confident young man. He’s done a lot of things to put himself in this position. Yeah, we’re somewhat opened-minded, and I think we’d be foolish not to give certain people an opportunity to get looks throughout the spring.”

 

GORDON FAMILY REUNION

 

On Wednesday morning, the Twins minor leaguers had their first official workout. With the Marlins being in town to play the Twins, it was very neat to see All-Star Dee Gordon make the trip. Even more, he came over to the minor league area just to watch his younger brother, Twins first-round pick Nick Gordon.

 

Dee Gordon stood outside the practice field with his father, Tom Gordon, watching Nick go through some base-running drills and take a lot of ground balls.

 

Dee went 1-3 with an RBI in the big league game.

 

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[curt1965]

I'm headed to Illinois for 4-5 days, so I'm hoping Seth's reporting will give me all the Twins' news! Fantastic job as always, Seth!

[GMinTraining]

Was there a link to the minor league 1st practice.

 

I'm enjoying learning about so many lower profile players on the Twins. Makes you become an underdog fan of some of these guys (Hamburger and Graham). Good reading Seth.

[highlander]

I love that Molitor is open minded about non-name players. If they perform the best they earn the privilege of being in MLB. All these players competing hard is raising everybodies game! The more tough decisions the better.

[shs_59]

My inside track on the 7 members of the 'pen

 

1) Perkins (Fien 2nd option)

2) Fien   (Meyer 2nd option)

3) Duensing (Thielbar 2nd option)

4) Tonkin    (want to see him pick up some K's)

5) Stauffer  ( Pressly 2nd option)

6) Hamburger or Aaron Thompson   (as of now, i think its between these 2)

7) Pelfrey     (assuming Milone or May wins the 5th starter Job)

 

that leaves one HECK of a bullpen down in AAA:

 

Oliveros, Achter, Pressly, Thielbar, Pryor,  & O"Rourke or Salcedo

 

rotation:

 

May or Meyer , Darnell , Hamburger or Wimmers, Wheeler , Rogers  

 

(I think Duffey in AA with Berrios to start)

 

ITs early yet.

[shs_59]

At this point , though, I'd seriously be looking At Rafael Soriano to pitch in the 8th and maybe sometimes 7th or 9th innings.

 

on a 1 year deal for $4.5-6.0 Million

 

His slider left him last year, but if he can find it again he's a servicable reliever , up in age, but with his slider even somewhat effective immediately or 2nd best reliever.

It provides some securty for guys like Fien and Duensing so they don't have to be sooo strained and can allow Duesning to face 80-90% LH batters instead of 50-50 or 60-40

[AlwaysinModeration]

Good reporting, Seth. Here's a request: with the official start of the minors camp, can you give a big picture view? How many players total, where are they assigned to the (7?) different fields, how many games, how long are people there, etc? I'm interested in the overall logistics of it; how many staff are there to manage the whole operation?

 

Then a snapshot of the calendar; when typically are the big cuts, and any other major milestones through the month?

 

Really like the quotes from the players and Molitor.

 

Lastly, I like the visual of Dee and Tom checking in on Nick. Baseball is always about families; they have spent years and years attending each other's games.

[Blackjack]

Great report Seth!!!

[whosafraidofluigirussolo]

Hey Seth, fun to read your report, but one little thing - if you want people reading this to know what actually happened on that Pelfrey play, you may want to describe it a bit more - nowhere is it actually mentioned that he threw his glove. Fortunately the video was on mlb.com, but I had no idea what was going on from the description above (which isn't just on you, but has a lot to do with Pelfrey and Molitor giving talk-a-lot-say-nothing quotes.)

[Seth Stohs]

 

My inside track on the 7 members of the 'pen

 

1) Perkins (Fien 2nd option)

2) Fien   (Meyer 2nd option)

3) Duensing (Thielbar 2nd option)

4) Tonkin    (want to see him pick up some K's)

5) Stauffer  ( Pressly 2nd option)

6) Hamburger or Aaron Thompson   (as of now, i think its between these 2)

7) Pelfrey     (assuming Milone or May wins the 5th starter Job)

 

that leaves one HECK of a bullpen down in AAA:

 

Oliveros, Achter, Pressly, Thielbar, Pryor,  & O"Rourke or Salcedo

 

rotation:

 

May or Meyer , Darnell , Hamburger or Wimmers, Wheeler , Rogers  

 

(I think Duffey in AA with Berrios to start)

 

ITs early yet.

 

Thielbar's a given. Tonkin isn't yet. There aren't a lot of spots open out there.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Hey Seth, fun to read your report, but one little thing - if you want people reading this to know what actually happened on that Pelfrey play, you may want to describe it a bit more - nowhere is it actually mentioned that he threw his glove. Fortunately the video was on mlb.com, but I had no idea what was going on from the description above (which isn't just on you, but has a lot to do with Pelfrey and Molitor giving talk-a-lot-say-nothing quotes.)

 

Great point... thank you. I updated it a bit. 

[Lazarus]

It feels like this has been going on for months already, but it's still way too early to be making roster decisions or reading too much into performances - especially for veterans. The Hughes comments are a great example - just decided to work on his cutter when he got dissatisfied rather than go to another pitch. Once the minor leaguers are sent to the other side of camp and we get to the last 10 days of camp, then we'll see who will emerge. Not ready to get excited yet about either Milone or Pelfrey - but I admit it feels better than waiting for them to straighten out a lousy start of camp too.

[nater79a]

My inside track on the 7 members of the 'pen

 

1) Perkins (Fien 2nd option)

2) Fien   (Meyer 2nd option)

3) Duensing (Thielbar 2nd option)

4) Tonkin    (want to see him pick up some K's)

5) Stauffer  ( Pressly 2nd option)

6) Hamburger or Aaron Thompson   (as of now, i think its between these 2)

7) Pelfrey     (assuming Milone or May wins the 5th starter Job)

 

that leaves one HECK of a bullpen down in AAA:

 

Oliveros, Achter, Pressly, Thielbar, Pryor,  & O"Rourke or Salcedo

 

rotation:

 

May or Meyer , Darnell , Hamburger or Wimmers, Wheeler , Rogers  

 

(I think Duffey in AA with Berrios to start)

 

ITs early yet.

 

I think there'll be another lefty in the major league 'pen for sure...besides Duensing.

 

Wimmers will most likely be in the Chatty rotation.  If both Meyer and May start in the Red Wings rotation, then either Rogers or Duffey will also start with the Lookouts. Agree that Wheeler is with Rochester.