Josh Donaldson Helps Exorcise Ghosts of Twins' Failures with ... Chris Colabello?

[Matthew Trueblood]

As a new book illustrates, the Twins' failure to get anything out of Chris Colabello had much to do with the organization's broader shortcomings. Josh Donaldson's arrival speaks to their evolution since.Josh Donaldson has a lot in common with the Twins. He’s as dedicated to hitting the ball hard in the air to his pull field as they are, and thus, he’s a perfect philosophical fit for the team. Several years ago, however, the team muffed its chance to get the best out of Chris Colabello, the first player ever to thrive under the tutelage of the hitting coach who would similarly help Donaldson. A new book on the baseball industry’s changing understanding of the swing makes clear that, while Colabello could never have become the player Donaldson is, it’s not a coincidence that he broke out only in the season after he departed Minnesota and joined Donaldson on the Blue Jays.

 

Out Tuesday, “Swing Kings” is a book by Jared Diamond, the Wall Street Journal baseball writer. It chronicles the influential roles of several independent hitting coaches who, from outside the structure of organized baseball, changed the way the game is played at the MLB level by bringing a new offensive philosophy to the fore. Among those coaches is Bobby Tewksbary, a former player who topped out in the independent Canadian-American Association. He was a teammate of Colabello, there, and the two are the same age. They became friends, and when (after giving up on playing himself) Tewksbary discovered some counterintuitive and highly valuable things about the nature of the swing, he made Colabello his first guinea pig.

 

Colabello began smashing the Can-Am Association to bits, finally drawing the Twins’ interest. As the book explains, however, neither Colabello nor Tewksbary considered the team a perfect fit for Colabello’s newfound, power-centric swing and approach. Tewksbary called the team, then run by the old guard that surrounded Terry Ryan and the rest of his front office, “anti-progressive.” No sooner was Colabello brought into the ranks of affiliated ball, than the Twins’ minor-league coaches were trying to change him.

 

One number helps tell the story of Colabello’s frustrating failure with the Twins, and his subsequent success in Toronto. With Minnesota in 2013 and 2014, Colabello swung at the first pitch just 28.6 percent of the time. With his overall contact rate (just over 65 percent of his swings resulted in contact during his Twins tenure), being that selective early in the count spelled disaster. He struck out 30.9 percent of the time while he was a Twin, which torpedoed his overall performance.

 

In 2015, when Colabello hit .321/.367/.520 for the Blue Jays, he swung at the first pitch in 43.5 percent of his plate appearances. That early aggressiveness not only allowed him to avoid strikeouts better, but removed the danger that he might let the most hittable pitch he would see go by. He pushed his ground-ball rate down and consistently drove the ball for the first (and last) time during his big-league career, because the Blue Jays allowed him to take the aggressive approach that suited his swing.

 

At the time, the Twins were not only behind the analytical curve, but strikingly rigid in their approach to advising players and building in-game strategies. They were wrong about how to best approach big-league pitching, but more damningly, they were highly confident that they were right, and they allowed no quarter to players who wanted to do things a different way.

 

All of that has changed. Tellingly, the Twins not only sit on the cutting edge of the industry’s advancements in understanding all phases and facets of the game, but treat every player as a unique case. They permit, and even encourage, different approaches from different players, rather than applying any single principle with a broad brush.

 

Donaldson’s arrival is the payoff for that evolution. Another, unheralded Tewksbary client (who initially heard about him because of Colabello) introduced Donaldson to Tewksbary prior to 2013, and Tewksbary so helped Donaldson emerge as an MVP-caliber slugger that, in 2015, Donaldson brought Tewksbary along as his pitcher when he competed in the Home Run Derby.

 

A player of Donaldson’s personality, with his drive and his confidence in the way he does things, would not have signed with the Ryan-era Twins, even if they had made him the most substantial offer. He’d have seen their unreceptive attitude toward unusual approaches, their inflexibility, and their lack of imagination as disqualifying. Diamond’s book stands as a reminder that the Twins have moved from the back of the pack to the front, or very nearly so, where analytical savvy is concerned, but also that they paid a price for taking so long to get here.

 

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[DocBauer]

Very interesting!

 

No offense to him, but Colabello should not be a benchmark for the Twins, or anyone else. Fact is, his career was something few ever achieve, but it was limited and short lived. Plenty of other teams passed on the guy before the Twins and after the Jays.

 

What is extremely poignant is the changes within the Twins system to date with this new FO. Frankly, I am tired of TR being vilified for being incompetant. He was a great scout of talent and did a lot of great things for the organization. There was a time and place for what the Twins did and taught. The same things and ways most teams did things.

 

The problem was the Twins were WAY LATE to adapt to change! And we've heard that from past players.

 

The good news, as pointed out, is the the new individual approach we've been hearing about. It's not just the universal approach to power and launch angle, but each and every player finding their comfort zone. An example is Buxton, despite his shortened 2019, going back to what felt comfortable and right and having the best season of his career.

 

Lest we forget Sano, Kepler, Polanco, etc. It wasn't just Rocco. It was his coaches and the new philosophy from the top on down.

 

The Twins might have been one of the last teams to adapt, but they might also be one of the most progressive organizations right now. Who would have thought that 3yrs ago?

[Nash Walker]

Love this and especially the last paragraph.

[etwink]

 

Very interesting!

No offense to him, but Colabello should not be a benchmark for the Twins, or anyone else. Fact is, his career was something few ever achieve, but it was limited and short lived. Plenty of other teams passed on the guy before the Twins and after the Jays.

What is extremely poignant is the changes within the Twins system to date with this new FO. Frankly, I am tired of TR being vilified for being incompetant. He was a great scout of talent and did a lot of great things for the organization. There was a time and place for what the Twins did and taught.  The same things and ways most teams did things.

 

I don’t see this as an indictment of TR per se, but as a view into how “the Twins Way” failed at the point where it could have fuelled a team that was sagging.  Good organisations find ways to pull out that last bit of talent out of flawed players; bad ones don’t.  Anyone can nail the development of a Joe Mauer, but the Chris Colabello’s of the world will always have a place on a good team.  TR’s organisation failed to cop on to the nuance of Colabello’s strengths and thus failed the team.

 

It doesn’t mean that TR was a bad guy.  But you can’t have it both ways; you can’t say that HE was a smart baseball person who found talent, but “those other guys” messed up the talent.  As the most powerful voice in the Twins org for years, he had the position to influence the entire system.  And if the author of the book is right, he did influence it (and the org was confident about the direction), but just in an archaic direction.

 

Smart guy...dumb behaviour.

[howieramone2]

Every other team did this, and we're the only team that did that. Let's not forget, it was only a few months ago we had members posting Falvey didn't deserve the credit because they were TR's players.

[ewen21]

 

What is extremely poignant is the changes within the Twins system to date with this new FO. Frankly, I am tired of TR being vilified for being incompetant. He was a great scout of talent and did a lot of great things for the organization. There was a time and place for what the Twins did and taught. The same things and ways most teams did things.

The problem was the Twins were WAY LATE to adapt to change! And we've heard that from past players.
 

I am sorry, but everyone outlives their usefulness and that is what happened with Ryan.  You can say he was a great scout of talent back in the day and that he did "a lot of great things for the organization", but to deny his incompetence in the end is a bit absurd to me.  YOU ARE CORRECT.  The Twins were WAY LATE to adapt to change.  What the heck is baseball without the dynamic nature of the game?  It changes and that is an absolute which must be understood and acknowledged.  Ryan refused to do so.

 

The fact is, no matter how unpleasant it is for you to hear, Ryan was fired because he was not fit for the job any longer and we all knew it the day he stepped down in 2007.  He even said so himself.   Nobody told Ryan to come back, but he did.  He stepped away when it was time to deal with Torii and Johan and then came back after Mauer was signed; BUT only when the team completely cratered.  It was your standard "low risk, high reward" move that defined Ryan.  I guess he figured....the team is already blown up, so how can I screw it up worse?

And he did!

 

Had Ryan simply walked away in 2007 and rode off into the sunset as a behind the scenes guy then maybe I can understand your dismay over how Ryan gets vilified.  However, he came back when we were safely in a nuclear winter and did even more damage after he came back.  Need I summarize his asinine moves of the second tenure?  

[wabene]

When you hear players such as Plouffe talk about their struggles with Twins coaching it is a testament to him that he doesn't come off as bitter. This team was rock bottom bad for 6 years. An alcoholic who's rock bottom lasts for 6 years is dead. There aren't too many places where an employee with a record like Mr Ryan's keep a job that long. With my limited knowledge at the time it was frustrating to follow. I'm glad I didn't know then what I know now because I might not still be a Twins fan. Alas it is over and I'm also not bitter. A beer tastes much better after a hard go at it and Twins fandom is all the sweeter now after those dark days!

[jud6312]

Colabello also got popped for a PED during his time in Toronto.

 

It's entirely possible that his performance was assisted by increased strength just as much, if not more, by that than by his new approach. 

[Trov]

First, is Bobby Tewksbary, the kid of Bob Tewksbary former Twins pitcher that threw the 60 MPH curve in late 90's?  Not a very common name.  Second, to defend TR a little bit, he was not the only GM in baseball that stuck to "old way" of doing things.  It happens time and again that a coach, or organization find something that worked and just keep trying it.  He brought the team from terrible few years, making some good drafts and trades to a team that won for several years.  It was really the Rays that and Joe Madden that started to turn baseball on its head and embrace doing things different.  The Twins were just very slow to change.

 

Thankfully they finally have changed.  Eventually, the old way will become the new again as players start to adjust.  I always got upset, and still do when you look at knocks on Royce Lewis, is the scouts saying he needs to change this before he gets to MLB or will not be successful.  My response is why?  Just because not many have been successful does not mean this guy cannot.  Until it is not successful, why change?  You know if it is not broke don't fix it kind of thing. 

 

For years, pitchers were told, keep the ball down in the zone keep it in the park ect.  Then some people started to challenge that, like any good analytical thinker should.  Not challenge that it was wrong, but actually test it against actual data.  What was learned, that high fastballs in the zone actually is more effective at getting outs.  The risk, if not high enough, may be in the sweet spot.  However, as pitchers were told to keep pitches down, hitters started to only look at low pitches as well.  So hitters adjusted, now pitchers adjust. 

 

Hitters were told to work the count, get pitch count up get into bullpen.  Now data shows not so much pitch count but trips through order that is the big deal.  Also, teams are building strong pens, so getting into the pen may not be best.  So, pitchers learned they could pump first pitch fastballs into zone as players would take them more often.  So what was learned, hitters started to swing at first pitches more often.  So what logically should happen?  More pitchers should start to throw off-speed first pitch, or try to hit corners more hoping hitter still looking to swing early. 

 

Baseball, as is all sports, is game of adjustments and trends.  The best teams continue to identify areas that can be exploited and work that.    

[Doctor Gast]

I agree that Ryan had a great eye for talent. The Twins had some good years w/ the Piranhas & the Twins had that mind set of that all their players had to adapt to that style which cost us the development of great talent that weren`t that type of players. I really liked Colabella & didn`t understand why he didn`t take off like I`d like him to. Now I see why (eventhough he got popped for PED, I believe he still had the talent to be better than what he showed at MN), thank you for clearing that up. I like the mentality of the coaching staff now of customizing their coaching to maximize the potential of each player. Like I`ve said before we need to capitalize on getting untapped talent from other teams  that haven`t adapted to new school

[howieramone2]

The Pohlads begged TR to come back and he immediately took us through a complete rebuild. I dare anyone to summarize his asinine moves during his second tenure without the benefit of hindsight.

[Parker Hageman]

My copy of Swing Kings arrived today so I'm really looking forward to tearing into it. 

 

A few years ago I was working on a Colabello story (which everyone can read here) and had some good conversations with him and Bobby about their experience. Tewks spent time in the Twins camp in 2013 and made some interesting observations about some of their prospect hitters, including Joe Benson, that were illuminating about how the organization was developing hitters. 

 

Matthew's story here inspired me to go back and review my conversation in March 2016 with then-hitting coach Tom Brunansky about hitters using leg kicks Colabello:

 

"We have other guys who have come up who are unorthodox as well. Colabello. I’m not going to start making changes to his swing until the league proves that you need to. That was the thing, everyone kind of came up and said change him, change him. I said, how do we know he can’t hit? That’s the approach I take with everybody." 

 

It's funny to me now that Colabello's swing was once regarded as unorthodox. 

 

I think the biggest change I've noticed in the system since Falvey/Levine overhauled the coaching staff/instructors is how much more of an emphasis is placed on individuality. How to identify how unique each individual moves and to create the best movements for them rather than reduce everything to one swing. 

 

Good article.