Twins Daily 2021 Awards: Most Improved

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

On Wednesday, Twins Daily unveiled Baily Ober as our Minnesota Twins Rookie of the Year. 

Today, we extend our congratulations to Jorge Polanco for claiming the Most Improved honor.

But before we get to Polanco, let's discuss those athletes who finished just short.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Byron Buxton, CF: 61 G, .306/.358/.647, 23 2B, 19 HR, 9 SB, 4.2 fWAR, 169 wRC+
Jorge Alcala, RHP: 59 2/3 IP, 3.92 ERA, 61 K, 14 BB, 10 HR allowed, 90 ERA-

Byron Buxton would have undoubtedly landed in the top spot on this list had he stayed healthy, but even still, one could argue that he should have placed in the top three. (Full discloser: Buxton received my top vote.) 

No one in the history of the Minnesota Twins has ever performed better overall than Buxton did throughout his 61 games. His 4.2 fWAR and 169 wRC+ led the team by a significant margin, with only Jorge Polanco's and arguably Mitch Garver's advanced metrics able to hold a candle to what he put forth (*hint hint*). 

Alcala, on the other hand, finished the season strongly after getting off to a slow start. He allowed only eight earned runs in 25 innings following the All-Star break while striking out 30 and walking five. His performance in September and October was particularly encouraging as he surrendered only a single run and struck out 15 of the 44 batters he faced.

Had his first half of the season not been a relative stinker (4.67 ERA, 3.9 K:BB ratio), he maybe would have squeezed into the top three.

Show: Caleb Thielbar, LHP
64 IP, 3.23 ERA, 77 K, 21 BB, 8 HR allowed, 75 ERA-, 0.9 fWAR

It would be difficult to find a better story among the 2021 Twins roster than that of Caleb Thielbar. An 18th-round pick out of South Dakota State in the 2009 draft by the Milwaukee Brewers, Thielbar posted career-highs in virtually every statistical category en route to putting together the best season of his career at age 34.



Thielbar was arguably the team's top performer overall out of the pen, placing third in ERA- (Tyler Duffey, 73; Juan Minaya, 57) and second in fWAR (Taylor Rogers, 1.6) among the relievers who threw at least 40 innings. He was able to accomplish the feats due in large part to possessing one of the best fastball-slider combinations in the game.

While he is arguably more well-known for his borderline-eephus curveball, which sits in the upper-60s, Thielbar's fastball and slider accounted for most of his outs this past summer. The four-seam fastball has always been his most utilized pitch — it accounted for 49% of the offerings to batters in 2021 — Thielbar more than doubled the use of his slider compared to 2020 while cutting his curveball usage nearly in half, according to Baseball Savant.

Opposing batters could not figure out his slider as they slugged a meager .296 and struck out 19 times. It registered an average of 14.4 inches of horizontal break in 2021, which was a whopping 5.4 inches above average.

Similarly, they couldn't touch his fastball with regularity despite it sitting in the low-90s. Thielbar's heater was worth a Run Value of -12, meaning it theoretically allowed 12 fewer runs over the course of the season compared to an average fastball.

Thielbar's 2021 performance showed that his 2020 season wasn't a fluke and cemented himself a prominent role during 2022.

Runner-Up: Mitch Garver, C
68 G, .256/.358/.517, 15 2B, 13 HR, 2.1 fWAR, 137 wRC+

2021 Mitch Garver was a facsimile of 2019 Mitch Garver, which should be encouraging to Twins fans; the only blemish on his otherwise great season was a plethora of injuries that limited him to only 68 games. The reason for Garver's turnaround from a disastrous 2020 that saw him slash .167/.247/.264 in 23 games? He remembered how to hit fastballs. 



Not only did Garver hit fastballs in 2021, he destroyed them to the tune of a .688 slugging percentage with 10 home runs and 10 doubles. These numbers approximate his .829, 25, and 12 rates from the juiced-ball 2019 season, re-establishing him as one of the most powerful catchers in MLB

Garver will likely enter the 2022 season as the team's primary catcher and will once again split time with Ryan Jeffers, barring an offseason trade. There's little reason to doubt that he can't put forth a similarly strong season if he can remain healthy, and doing so would make the Twins' offense that much scarier. 

Winner: Jorge Polanco, 2B
152 G, .269/.323/.503, 35 2B, 33 HR, 11 SB, 3.9 fWAR, 122 wRC+

Jorge Polanco was the Twins' best player, and he put together arguably his best season one year after ankle injuries debilitated him to the degree that many wondered if he'd be long for the team. 

Polanco became the first Twins' second baseman not named Brian Dozier to eclipse the 30 homer mark in a season, and his 35 doubles were the most on the team by nearly double-digits; Josh Donaldson's 26 came in second.



His numbers would have looked even better had he not hit .237 with a near 7:1 K:BB ratio during the final month of the season. 

Polanco's meteoric rise from light-hitting albeit promising prospect to an All-Star-caliber, 30-home run middle infielder has been a joyous surprise to watch. His 2021 season reinvigorated his status in the fans' minds and likely the front office as well, as he figures to again be a staple of the Twins' lineup for years to come.

Others receiving votes: Rob Refsnyder, Juan Minaya, Danny Coulombe, Miguel Sano, Nick Gordon, Taylor Rogers, Bailey Ober

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[roger]

And to think that when he was signed Polo was touted as a glove first shortstop.

thanks for the excellent info on Thielbar.  Not seeing the games this year, didn’t realize how dominant he was.

[Mill1634]

Hard for me to give the MIP award to a player who didn't even have the best season of his career. Polo was great, but we've seen (slightly) better version of this in 2019. Thielbar is the easy winner on my ballot. 

[DocBauer]

My only quibble is the "improved" part of the conversation. IMO, Polanco was a "rebound" winner, with Garver finishing 2nd, because we've already seen what he can do when healthy. Yes, I'm splitting hairs, but I think he's always been awfully good when healthy and ready to go.

I think I would have voted Buxton, despite the time he missed. He's been growing and developing each of the past couple of years...despite the missed time...until he just turned in to a DOMINATE presence in 2021. IF he's still around in 2022...and I sure hope he is....(I think he will be)...and if he's healthy enough for 120-140 games....(knock on wood or anything hard)....he might just be the Twins #3 or #4 hitter. 

Ahh, but to dream.....

[roger]

11 hours ago, DocBauer said:

My only quibble is the "improved" part of the conversation. IMO, Polanco was a "rebound" winner, with Garver finishing 2nd, because we've already seen what he can do when healthy. Yes, I'm splitting hairs, but I think he's always been awfully good when healthy and ready to go.

I think I would have voted Buxton, despite the time he missed. He's been growing and developing each of the past couple of years...despite the missed time...until he just turned in to a DOMINATE presence in 2021. IF he's still around in 2022...and I sure hope he is....(I think he will be)...and if he's healthy enough for 120-140 games....(knock on wood or anything hard)....he might just be the Twins #3 or #4 hitter. 

Ahh, but to dream.....

If Buxton is around in 2022, and I also pray he will be, and healthy for 120+ games he will be one of the two or three best players in the game.  Personally, I don't care where he is in the lineup as long as Arraez is one or two spots ahead of him.