Is that including pitchers or not?

Among pitchers, I just read about Jon Lester's 0-for-66 streak, which is apparently the longest hitless streak to start a career. Although no article seems to mention what pitcher might have had a longer streak mid-career...

Among pitchers, I just read about Jon Lester's 0-for-66 streak, which is apparently the longest hitless streak to start a career. Although no article seems to mention what pitcher might have had a longer streak mid-career...

I seem to recall it being a very good pitcher, but can’t remember either.

Baltimore with 12 runs on 15 hits tonight. Chris Davis was 0-5. I kind of feel for the guy.

For anybody curious, the Twins play against Chris Davis and Baltimore coming up on April 19-21 and again on April 26-28.

 

It was April 26-28, in 1988, when the Twins swept Baltimore in three games and pushed the Orioles to a record winless 0-21 to start that season.

 

First time I have seen a negative OPS+.     He is -53 through 8 games so is on pace for a -1073 for the year.

 

Close your eyes if you happen across Jason Castro's OPS+ this year.

 

He's not in Davis territory, but it ain't positive.

Sunday's announced crowd of 14774 was the lowest in Target Field history.

 

Until Monday night, when the announced crowd was 11727.

Close your eyes if you happen across Jason Castro's OPS+ this year.

 

He's not in Davis territory, but it ain't positive.

Negative OPS+ numbers are actually pretty common early in the season.

 

When you posted this, Castro had all of 10 PAs on the season. That’s basically 2+ games, not even a full series.

Sunday's announced crowd of 14774 was the lowest in Target Field history.

 

Until Monday night, when the announced crowd was 11727.

Hmm, if only there were exciting free agents available last winter to generate additional ticket sales for the team...

Is it still early enough to call this Small Sample Size? As of April 16, the Twins could post a legitimate starting lineup where no one has worse than an .800 OPS:

 

0.898 Kepler 1B

1.344 Polanco SS

0.984 Cruz DH

0.966 Rosario LF

1.000 Tortuga 3B

0.873 Cave RF

0.824 Schoop 2B

1.560 Garver C  (Ideal #8 hitter)

1.026 Buxton CF

 

So I had to put one of our 4 centerfielders at first base, but Max has done time at 1B in the minors.

 

That lineup covers over 360 PA.

 

Other fun bits about this lineup: Only Schoop is a free agent next year, and only Cruz is older than 28.

 

That is what is known as a core.

 

Pretty amazing stat I saw on Facebook...

 

Joey Votto popped out to the 1B yesterday for the first time in his MLB career.

 

It took him 6,828 plate appearances to get this result.

Pretty amazing stat I saw on Facebook...

 

Joey Votto popped out to the 1B yesterday for the first time in his MLB career.

 

It took him 6,828 plate appearances to get this result.

Was the Shift on, and the first baseman was positioned at the RF warning track?

Was the Shift on, and the first baseman was positioned at the RF warning track?

I know your post is tongue in cheek, but it got me thinking... Do they shift Votto? I think he may be one of the few out there where opponents play him straight up.

Astudillo has a very healthy .835 OPS.

 

That is a lower OPS than Garver, Polanco, Cruz, Rosario, Schoop, and Buxton.

Detroit Tigers have ten wins, 10-10 record.

 

Shane Greene has 10 saves.

The Twins catchers (as Catchers) have a triple slash of 373/443/806.

 

That's just silly silly good. 

Posted this on Twitter:

 

League-wide Catcher OPS
1. Cubs 1.279
2. Twins 1.249
3. M’s 0.988
4. Brewers 0.967
5. D-backs 0.824
.
.
Avg 0.726
.
.
26. Jays 0.551
27. Mets 0.549
28. Rangers 0.539
29. Pirates 0.450
30. Royals 0.425

 

2018 Leader - LAD 0.786

 

The Twins catchers (as Catchers) have a triple slash of 373/443/806.

 

That's just silly silly good. 

 

Yeah, I've been down on Castro still getting about 1/3rd of the playing time and even he made me shut my mouth last night!

Here's the BRef link (mostly so I don't have to wade through BRef again to find it....

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/team_compare.cgi?request=1&year=2019&lg=MLB&stat=OPS

 

Twins Ranks by position:

C - 2nd

1B - 18th

2B - 7th

3B - 27th

SS - 1st

LF - 12th

CF - 3rd

RF - 21st

DH - 3rd

 

Overall - 2nd

I believe tonight will be the first LH starter the Twins have faced in 2019.

 

The Twins catchers (as Catchers) have a triple slash of 373/443/806.

 

That's just silly silly good. 

 

 

Posted this on Twitter:

 

League-wide Catcher OPS
1. Cubs 1.279
2. Twins 1.249
3. M’s 0.988
4. Brewers 0.967
5. D-backs 0.824
.
.
Avg 0.726
.
.
26. Jays 0.551
27. Mets 0.549
28. Rangers 0.539
29. Pirates 0.450
30. Royals 0.425

 

2018 Leader - LAD 0.786

 

This is especially curious, when you consider our biggest FA contract offer this past offseason was to catcher Yasmani Grandal (reportedly 3 years, $39-45 mil or so).

Twins currently have an OPS+ of 126 per Baseball-reference.  The best in their 58 year history is 1988 when they had an OPS+ of 111 (2nd highest in baseball that year).  In the previous 58 years, they've only been better than average (OPS+ of 101 or more 21 times).  Their worst year was 1981 with a 78 OPS+.

 

Twins currently have an OPS+ of 126 per Baseball-reference.  The best in their 58 year history is 1988 when they had an OPS+ of 111 (2nd highest in baseball that year).  In the previous 58 years, they've only been better than average (OPS+ of 101 or more 21 times).  Their worst year was 1981 with a 78 OPS+.

Also worth noting the MLB record full season OPS+ during this time frame is 123.

 

And Seattle is still the team leader for 2019, at 133 OPS+. How the heck did that happen?

The Twins sit 3rd overall in home runs so far this season, depsite playing 5 less games than Seattle (#1) and 4 less than Milwaukee (#2).  

 

They are on pace to hit 311 home runs. 

 

The Twins ...

 ... are on pace to hit 311 home runs. 

Don't panic, Give it time. When the weather warms, they'll pick up the pace.

 

The Twins sit 3rd overall in home runs so far this season, depsite playing 5 less games than Seattle (#1) and 4 less than Milwaukee (#2).  

 

They are on pace to hit 311 home runs. 

A little context: "MLB seeing continued surge in home runs"

 

https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2019/04/29/mlb-seeing-continued-surge-in-home-runs/

 

Still impressive that the Twins are at/near the top right now.

 

Here's the BRef link (mostly so I don't have to wade through BRef again to find it....

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/team_compare.cgi?request=1&year=2019&lg=MLB&stat=OPS

 

Twins Ranks by position:

 

 

Update, 1 week later...

 

OPS by position, MLB Ranking (last week)

 

C - 1st (2)

1B - 21st (18)

2B - 8th (7)

3B - 26th (27)

SS - 6th (1)

LF - 12th (12)

CF - 11th (3)

RF - 6th (21)

DH - 6th (3)

 

Overall - 1st

 

Interesting that in general, our positional rankings dropped, but our overall ranking moved up to 1st.

 

The Twins sit 3rd overall in home runs so far this season, depsite playing 5 less games than Seattle (#1) and 4 less than Milwaukee (#2).  

 

They are on pace to hit 311 home runs. 

 

When I did the math yesterday, the Twins were ahead in HR/Game

The only hitter in tonight’s Twins lineup with an ISO under .200 is Ehire Adrianza.

In other unsustainable trends, the Tigers have 13 wins so far, 12 of them successfully closed out by Shane Greene.

Jake Odorizzi is the 19th best SP in baseball by WAR. 12th best by ERA despite posting a 26.2% GB.

 

He's successful so far b/c of a miniscule HR/FB ratio... 6th best in the majors.