On Friday at the Twins media luncheon, Derek Falvey discussed scouting and hitting summits that the Twins held recently in Ft. Myers. Mike Berardino talked to several players about what happened and what the goals of the summit were. 

 

http://www.twincities.com/2017/01/29/inside-the-minnesota-twins-two-day-hitting-summit/

 

 

“The hitting summit was fantastic,” said Twins amateur scouting director Sean Johnson, who joined the organization in 2002. “It was everybody putting their heads together and communicating at a level I haven’t seen in the past. It was kind of a rolling discussion that was not present before.”

 

 

“As an industry sometimes we talk about, ‘What does this team do for a hitting philosophy?’ ” Falvey said. “And the reality is Joe Mauer and Jorge Polanco shouldn’t have the same hitting plan. It should be individualized and we should be creative.”

 

Blanket statements are as dangerous in the hitting realm as trying to use a cookie-cutter approach on swings and drills and approaches.

 

 

I liked this one.

 

I'm not saying the old crew did believe in a one-size-fits-all approach , but I guess Falvey thought it was important enough to address.

 

I'm not saying the old crew did believed in a one-size-fits-all approach , but I guess Falvey thought it was important enough to address.

 

If you ask a few people, they would say exactly that... 

It will be nice to get everyone on the same page as much as possible. Wasn't Buxton confused last year with conflicting instructions from the major and minor league staffs regarding the leg kick?

 

If you ask a few people, they would say exactly that... 

 

I'm not surprised, that's how it appeared except for a couple of RH outliers who were allowed to only take aim at the left field seats. I wouldn't want to make blanket assumptions though since I'm not in the know.

 

I'm not surprised, that's how it appeared except for a couple of RH outliers who were allowed to only take aim at the left field seats. I wouldn't want to make blanket assumptions though since I'm not in the know.

 

that's kind of a mature, and nuanced, take for an internet post, Nick.

 

that's kind of a mature, and nuanced, take for an internet post, Nick.

 

Yeah, getting drunk in the AM can impact your posts in unpredictable ways!

I think this is pretty awesome. But part if me is going "Duh! Nobody thought to do this before?"

I think this is pretty awesome. But part if me is going "Duh! Nobody thought to do this before?"

this is exactly why new blood was needed. Track man or pitch fx or whatever the tool is: it doesn't really matter if you dont manage its use.

 

Of course when you've been doing your same job for 18 years it's really hard to break the cycle

One thing I'll be watching for are strikeout trends. Sano, Buxton, Park, Vargas, and Castro all struckout at clips north of 30% in 2016. Nunez and Suzuki, two guys who didn't strikeout, are gone. Polanco seems to have good contact ability, but Castro is going to add to the strikeout total. Would be huge to see fewer strikeouts, esp. from Buxton, Rosario, and Sano.

 

One thing I'll be watching for are strikeout trends. Sano, Buxton, Park, Vargas, and Castro all struckout at clips north of 30% in 2016. Nunez and Suzuki, two guys who didn't strikeout, are gone. Polanco seems to have good contact ability, but Castro is going to add to the strikeout total. Would be huge to see fewer strikeouts, esp. from Buxton, Rosario, and Sano.

 

Might be a little off topic, but this made me look at league-wide strikeout trends. I knew it had been increasing, but I thought this was amazing:

 

year     k%

2008    17.5%

2009    18.0%

2010    18.5%

2011    18.6%

2012    19.8%

2013    19.9%

2014    20.4%

2015    20.4%

2016    21.1%

The Twins are starting a trend!