I am curious how or why do you think the Twins hit 141 more homers than last? A couple players were not even Homerun hitters. Cruz was, but, is now old so a good signing.

 

Playing 40+ games against teams that lost 100 had to factor in for sure.

Advanced analytics, better coaching, player growth, and a bit of luck.

 

I'm curious why you think some Twins aren't home run hitters. Their lineup was littered with guys who were either power hitters in previous years or were breakout players who always had the capacity to hit a lot of home runs and finally did so.

 

And then there is Luis Arraez, the only guy no one expected to hit home runs and didn't hit home runs.

The juiced baseball.

The ball was juiced, pitchers pitch up in the zone more, change in hitting philosophy, better PEDS and a little luck.

 

I think the Twins got some career years out of a few guys but they nucleus of talent was always highly regarded. Sano was expected to win HR titles, for instance. 

Since numerous teams hit more home runs than usual the most obvious reason is the Titleist 3 that replaced the normal MLB baseball. It's true that the odd part is that the Twins hit the most. There is no doubt the maturation of some younger players also contributed. And, there is no doubt that there are players who hit HR's way above their pay scale this year. I didn't do the math, but I think Garver, for example, would extrapolate into a 50 HR hitter given a full season of AB's. I can't really believe anyone thinks he is that level power hitter. Castro and Kepler were over their heads also.Edit: I just did the math. Garver hit .33 HR per game, which in a full season = 54. This year he played in 93 games and hit 31 Bombas. Last year he played in 102 games and hit SEVEN. While he actually had 24 fewer plate appearances in 2018, that doe not account for the difference whatsoever.

Edited October 29, 20197 yr by Platoon