Article: MIN 9, DET 3: Vive La Tortuga

[Tom Froemming]

Willians Astudillo has been a brilliant ray of sunshine. In what was expected to be a gloomy final two months of baseball for the Twins, he’s not only provided plenty of light-hearted moments, but he’s also been a pretty damn good player, too.

 

La Tortuga was at it again tonight, going 2-for-4 with a double and four RBIs. He's now hitting .357 with an .896 OPS.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)

Gonsalves: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 56.6% strikes (43 of 76 pitches)

Home Runs: None

Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (3-for-5, 2B), Austin (2-for-4, 2 2B), Astudillo (2-for-4, 2B)

WPA of 0.1 or higher: Austin .250, Astudillo .189, Magill .129

WPA of -0.1 or lower: None

Download attachment: WinChart927.png

The Twins currently have a better record since the trade deadline (25-27, .481 WP) than they did before they sent away all their “good pieces,” as Ervin Santana put it (49-57, 476 WP).

 

Along with Astudillo, Tyler Austin — another guy who’s provided some post-deadline intrigue — also had it going tonight. He was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three RBIs.

 

Gabriel Moya served as the opener tonight and gave up a run on two hits. Stephen Gonsalves came in for the second inning and walked the first two batters he faced. Both those runners eventually came around to score.

 

The Twins strung together a five-run rally in the third inning, as Joe Mauer hit an RBI double, Austin had a two-run double and Astudillo drove in two on a single.

 

Despite gaining the lead, Gonsalves didn’t last long. He continued to struggle to hit his spots, walking a total of four batters, and threw only 56.6 percent of his pitches for strikes.

 

From there, the bullpen was great. Matt Magill wiggled out of Gonsalves’ jam and pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Alan Busenitz was perfect in the seventh, Zack Littell pitched a scoreless eighth and John Curtiss followed suit in the ninth.

 

Postgame With Astudillo

Next Three Games

Fri vs. CHW, 1:10 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Reynaldo Lopez

Fri vs. CHW, 7:10 pm CT: Chase De Jong vs. Lucas Giolito

Sat vs. CHW, 6:10 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. Carlos Rodon

 

Last Three Games

MIN 11, DET 4: Bats Bust Out, Bullpen Shuts Out Detroit

DET 4, MIN 2: Mauer Reaches Milestone, Hildenberger Flops

MIN 5, OAK 1: Gibby’s Arm, Cave’s Bat and Adrianza’s Glove Lift Twins to Victory

 

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[scottz]

Points of interest in tonight's game for me include that Gonsalves was awarded the win, apparently because he threw the most innings. I know it is scorekeeper's choice, but I'm not sure why the choice was Gonsalves other than the team was ahead when he exited. Magill should have been honored with the random W.

 

Also, boy I find the opener strategy to be less interesting baseball. So I guess that is a point of non-interest.

 

Astudillo for President. Wait, he's from Venezuela and he's only 26. How about Astudillo for a 2019 Roster Spot?

 

It's nice to see Polanco having another solid bunch of statistics with his OBP approaching 35% and his OPS at .783. His suspension at the start of the year was a big bruise for the lineup. Stay off the juice, Jorge.

 

Finally, that Vikings defense looked like Pro Bowlers out there tonight. Or rather, played like the defense at a Pro Bowl.

[rghrbek]

How crazy is this?  I am more skeptical of Austin than I am of La Tortuga.  I believe that Austin is a supreme power threat, which is great, we gave up on Palka, and that is still up for debate.  I am glad to have Austin next year where we can figure out the K vs. HR theory.

 

However, the way the interviews with MOY and others the last few months have downplayed a kid who the hole team rallies around, and with few at bats, seems like at least worth a shot is fantastic.  I hope he keeps befuddling the experts with his put the ball in play performance.  

 

These are the type of players, whether they are starters or not that teams rally around.  I hope they take him seriously next year.

I continue to hope he makes decisions hard.

 

 

[h2oface]

Busenitz, Littell (sort of), Curtiss, and Magill (1.2, sort of) all had clean innings.

Call me amazed.

 

I can't see how Gonsalves arm will play in the show. 

[bighat]

 

I hope they take him seriously next year.

I continue to hope he makes decisions hard.

 

I agree, but I have to admit I'm skeptical. I think the Twins want Castro/Garvsauce to split the duties and I fear that no matter how much better Astudillo plays, he won't make the team out of Spring Training.

 

La Tortuga brings fire, passion, and motivates his teammates. He's a solid backstop who can fill in at 3b or OF while hitting .350. And he never strikes out! Isn't that what every team wants????

 

Vikings...my goodness. If I have to see another replay of Anthony Barr getting beat by a WR or RB in space I might have a seizure. Cousins fumbling, offensive line crappy...running game disappeared...when do we play Detroit for crying out loud!?!

[MABB1959]

I don't think Dozier is playing much anymore.  His numbers are sad.  What does this mean for his free agency?  Will he even get a job?  This is so sad.

[Ebby Calvin Laloosh]

I sure don't like the Opener. Anyone have some stats on how our Openers have done this year? Sure seems like they give up a lot of runs. Maybe I just notice it more because I think it is such a dumb idea...

[Dantes929]

 

Busenitz, Littell (sort of), Curtiss, and Magill (1.2, sort of) all had clean innings.

Call me amazed.

 

I can't see how Gonsalves arm will play in the show. 

    8 BB/9    Sandy Koufax couldn't overcome that stat.   There is no way this is how he pitched in the minors.     Good to get it out of the way now.    I think there have been worse arms that have had good careers.   There is no one that has had worse control that has had a good career.   He needs to get that walk rate down to 3.

[mikelink45]

The talk for September has been primarily Astudillo.  Is the FO listening. Sometimes you have do something for the fans - Astudillo deserves a spot next year - even if he gets sent down later.  He has done everything on the field that they have asked and he has carried fan interest to the end of the season too. 

[yarnivek1972]

Busenitz, Littell (sort of), Curtiss, and Magill (1.2, sort of) all had clean innings.

Call me amazed.

 

I can't see how Gonsalves arm will play in the show.

Worth remembering: Yes, Detroit IS THIS bad.

[jmlease1]

Astudillo has earned the right to compete for a roster spot, but he's not a guy I'm prepared to count on at this point. Might be a useful utility guy if we can keep the pitching staff down to a reasonable number. But until he hits like this outside of september, I'm holding judgement after being fooled by the september exploits of Parmelee, Chris and Buxton, Byron...

 

Gonsalves clearly needs more work. The walks are going to get him killed, even more so than for Stewart (whose groundball % can at least erase some of those mistakes with a double play). It's hard to find excuses for him: this was his same problem at AAA.

[Wyorev]

, the way the interviews with MOY and others the last few months have downplayed a kid who the whole team rallies around, and with few at bats, seems like at least worth a shot is fantastic.  I hope he keeps befuddling the experts with his put the ball in play performance.  

...

I continue to hope he makes decisions hard.

Part of what adds to the mystery of MOY’s lukewarm response to Astudillo is the fact that this is what he wants (needs) from guys like Buxton and Sano. They need to put the ball in play. I think he’s even said as much.

[bobs]

Fan favorite?  Yes.  Can he hit?  Yes.  The real question about Astudillo is can he be a platoon/#2 catcher.  From what I've seen, the answer is yes, with the possible exception of his throwing.  Seems like he calls a good game.  Guess here is he'll be in AAA next year to start, with Castro/Garver back as the top two on the 25-man.

[LimestoneBaggy]

 

Fan favorite?  Yes.  Can he hit?  Yes.  The real question about Astudillo is can he be a platoon/#2 catcher.  

I don't think he has to be a catcher, per se. He's okay-enough to play in a few other places, and he can actually hit.....this is why you have a bench/utility spot on the roster. He's tailor-made for it

 

 

Edited September 28, 2018 by LimestoneBaggy

[ashbury]

Gonsalves clearly needs more work.

He may need more than that. A complete tear-down and build-up of his mechanics may be in order. Now, I'm no expert on mechanics - I'm only going by the lack of command he shows, and guessing that he needs to sacrifice something in exchange for it. Something's not repeatable in his delivery, so that too many of his pitches are a complete waste of time, such as the fastballs that sail up and outside, causing no shadow of doubt in a batter's mind. It's possible that more control will come at the expense of the already weak sauce that his fastball is, in which case it may be a no-win situation. But the status quo isn't going to work for him, and at his age he's got basically a couple of years to straighten up before he gets buried in the depth charts for any team. He's got passable stuff, so there's at least something to work with.

[Battle ur tail off]

If they don't give that guy a spot next year it's a tragedy. He's a damn winner, can't they see that?

 

I'll take him at the very least as a backup/bench player. The other 2 catchers are boring and not that great  anyway. Garver can hit, but is not very good behind the dish and Castro is a terrible hitter and doubt he comes back to do anything worth a snort anyway after his injury. 

 

Why not give this guy a chance?

[jimbo92107]

Willans Astudillo deserves a roster spot just for his bat. His whiff rate is something like 1 in 20, which is unbelievable. How the heck do you make contact with 19 of 20 major league pitches you swing at? Not only that, but he puts balls in play with a some pop. 

 

Defensively, he's not showy, but he appears to be effective. He makes the right plays at 3rd, and as a catcher his glove is okay and he gets rid of the ball quickly. 

 

Astudillo isn't a fan favorite just because of his cute, chubby cheeks. The guy is a very sound baseball player, and his hitting is outstanding. 

[Brandon]

I would like for us to sign Bartolo Colon to pitch to Astudillo next year.  That would be fun to watch for sure.  (note: the video above called Astudillo little sexy).

[Riverbrian]

What else does Astudillo have to do? 

 

At the minimum... He has options and can be placed in AAA and brought up when needed. All you got to do is give him a 40 man roster spot that he has clearly earned. 

 

I'm not predicting a future for him but if the Twins talk themselves out of giving him a 40 man spot next year, it will be tough for me to understand. 

 

I have no defensive concerns with him at all and a catcher who puts the ball in play... forget all the launch angle stuff... just a catcher who can put the ball in play as frequently as he does... has real value in comparison with his catching peers around the league who are usually in that .600 OPS range with high strikeout rates.  

 

Small Sample Size of course but he's coming up on 100 AB's and he has the highest OPS on the team despite walks not being part of the math. 

 

I don't care who #1 and #2 are next year but Astudillo better be at least #3.  

[yarnivek1972]

Part of what adds to the mystery of MOY’s lukewarm response to Astudillo is the fact that this is what he wants (needs) from guys like Buxton and Sano. They need to put the ball in play. I think he’s even said as much.

Wouldn’t that be true of pretty much every hitter? You make contact, you have a chance. If you don’t, you’re out, unless you walk - which has value too of course. But there are very few Twins players (and all thru MLB for that matter) that wouldn’t benefit from more contact.

 

I know the “3 true outcomes” is part of the new analytics but IMO it’s just a period that MLB is going through. Contact was valued before, it will be again.

[David HK]

Ahhhh, September.

 

It was tough that Castro went down as early as he did.  But having that injury begin the MoY-BWilson love affair was even tougher.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, we needed a solid receiver, etc etc etc.  But this season was over as far as competing long ago.  The FO didn't even trust Astudillo in the minors, constantly bringing in these cuppa-coffee-in-the-majors guys to man the dish at Rochester.  The way MoY used (more like didn't use...) Astudillo the first time he was up was a disgrace.

 

We didn't need months of BWilson to be competitive.  We weren't.  We wouldn't have caught Cleveland this year anyway, but by Gum, this team sure would have been more interesting to watch, and no doubt we'd have won more games with the infusion of offensive and team-building energy with Stu in there instead of Bobby.

 

That was a regime failure- from Falvine to MoY.

[BJames]

Why can't Astudillo be the DH next year.  We don't have one and Molly's love of Grossman is sick (batting him 4th everyday).  I'd like to see Garver get some playing time at DH and 1B if he's not catching next year.

[Battle ur tail off]

 

Why can't Astudillo be the DH next year.  We don't have one and Molly's love of Grossman is sick (batting him 4th everyday).  I'd like to see Garver get some playing time at DH and 1B if he's not catching next year.

Because they should bring in a DH that's gonna mash or put Sano there and find a 3B. DH is the one position you don't have to be any good at anything else but hitting for power. Shouldn't be too hard to find one.