Notebook: Saucy Offense, Berrios Rolls

[Jamie Cameron]

The Minnesota Twins continued their 2021 Spring Training slate with 14-6 demolition at the hands of the Red Sox. Notes on that game and more in today’s Twins Daily Notebook,Red Sox 14, Twins 6 (7 innings)

Box Score | Baseball Savant

 

Twins Takeaways

Standout pitcher: José Berríos (2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K).

Standout hitter: Nelson Cruz (1-3, 3 R HR in first spring game)

Fastest pitch: Ian Hamilton 95.5 mph

Max exit velo: Nelson Cruz 108.6 mph

 

After some early FSN mishaps, the Twins finally had their first televised Spring Training game of 2021.

 

 

Matthew Trueblood wrote up some of what to watch for in Bérríos’ first spring start, and indeed, his season for the Twins. Bérríos was effective and efficient, striking out 3 over 2 innings of work, which included using his changeup 20% of the time. Bérríos hit 95.1 mph on the gun.

 

 

Other Twins pitching performances were less impressive. Alex Colomé served up a succession of meatballs over the heart of the plate. Colomé gave up six hard hit balls and four earned runs on five hits.

 

Glenn Sparkman, Chandler Shepard, and Andrew Albers all gave up multiple runs. Early Sire of Fort Myers frontrunner Ian Hamilton pitched his second scoreless inning of spring, striking out two to continue his impressive start to Spring Training.

 

The offense was a saucy affair, with Mitch Garver hitting an opposite field home run which Statcast missed, while Kyle Garlick hit his second home run of Spring.

 

 

Then Nelson Cruz came to the plate in the bottom of the fifth, and did this.

 

 

Cruz launched a 390 foot rocket to left center in his first game of the pre-season. In a world full of change, Cruz remains the source of constancy Twins fans need.

 

Tomorrow: Rays at Twins, 12:05 CST, Yarbrough VS Maeda.

 

Other News

Dan Hayes of the Athletic mentioned Tuesday that the Twins had checked in on Danny Santana and Eric Sogard as additional infield depth. On Wednesday morning, Sogard signed a MiLB deal with the Cubs

 

 

Hayes also noted the primary challenge of reconnecting with Santana would be not wanting to guarantee a MLB contract.

 

 

Elsewhere 2021 fantasy baseball darling Framber Valdez was diagnosed with a fractured finger, Jon Lester will undergo surgery to remove his thyroid gland, and Aaron Boone will take a medical leave of absence from the Yankees in order to have a pacemaker implanted.

 

More From Twins Daily

Report from the Fort: Spring Training Live

Who Will Lead the Twins in Home Runs?

The Immigration Challenges Ballplayers Face

 

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[h2oface]

Colome just didn't give a .........

just throw it down the middle and get some tosses in. 

[Dman]

 

Colome just didn't give a .........

just throw it down the middle and get some tosses in. 

 

Yeah he didn't appear that interested his first time out.  Lots of fairly straight stuff right down the middle.  The surprising thing to me though was the absolute rock solid contact that was made.  Yeah I know it is his first time out this spring but getting hit that hard in general puts a little fear in your heart even when it is only spring training.

 

Speaking of down the middle despite his three walks every time Sparkman got ahead he seemed to throw it straight down the middle as well.  I didn't see a lot of movement on his stuff either.  Unless he has another gear in there I don't see him helping the Twins this year.

 

Shepard looked better to me, and was to a degree but he also seemed to lack a true out pitch.  It didn't look like he had enough deception to trip guys up.  Granted Rocco gave both of those guys chances against Boston's better hitters but they really, really struggled as Boston managed solid contact on those two as well as Colome.  I know it is early spring but Sparkman and Shepard aren't going to get many chances so they need to shine when they get the chance.  Felt bad for both of them.

 

It was fun to watch Hamilton but he wasn't quite as efficient as I thought he might be.  Still he looks like he has the pitches to possibly be a callup at some point this season.

 

Rooker and Garlick are really battling for that last outfield spot.  Both have looked good early this spring.  Looks like Garlick will most definitely stay on the 40 man now as the way he is playing there is no way he passes through waivers especially since Tampa would have a shot to grab him.  Nice to have some righty outfielders with thump just wish they were a tad better defensively.

[Doctor Gast]

Danny Santana was my mom's favorite Twin. Sorry to see him leave, the Twins could've used him as a true super utility.

[Ben Noble]

Danny Santana was my mom's favorite Twin. Sorry to see him leave, the Twins could've used him as a true super utility.

 

We’ll see, he still might be coming back, I suspect he’ll have to settle for a MiLB/split contract. Twins could be a fit for that second utility role, at least to start the season.