Who's Hot and Who's Not: Minnesota Twins Hitter Edition

[Matthew Taylor]

During a baseball season, it’s easy to get so wrapped up in each individual game that one can miss larger trends in player performance. Let’s take a step back and look at who on the Minnesota Twins has been hot, and who has not.
 

In looking at our hot or not list we will be looking at player performance since July 1. This is a long enough timespan to give a decent sample size of plate appearances and show an actual trend of performance. We’ll look at two Twins hitters who have been “hot” and two who have “not”.

HOT:
José Miranda
.329/.400/.529 (95 plate appearances)
168 wRC+
5 HR, 25 RBI

Jose Miranda has been an absolute stud for the Minnesota Twins since his slow start immediately following his call up. Since the calendar turned to July, Miranda has easily been the best hitter on the Twins and has shown up in the clutch, too, delivering walk off hits on two separate occasions. One area in which Miranda has especially excelled is in limiting strikeouts. Since July 1, Miranda has had a K% of just 15.8, good for second best on the Twins during that span.

Nick Gordon
.333/.387/.561 (75 plate appearances)
165 wRC+
2 HR, 9 RBI

If you thought Jose Miranda’s hot streak was surprising, then you’re going to need to sit down for this one, because Nick Gordon has been on an absolute scorcher for the Minnesota Twins since July 1, with a team-best OPS of .947 in that span. The slim Gordon may look like a scrappy singles-hitting ballplayer, but he has been demolishing the ball with a high exit velocity and has delivered 11 extra base hits since July 1.

NOT:
Gary Sanchéz
.155/.246/.224 (65 plate appearances)
38 wRC+
1 HR, 6 RBI

After posting a strong month of May, Sanchez had a terrible month of June and has been even worse since the calendar turned to July. To make matters worse, Ryan Jeffers has since hit the injured list, forcing Sanchez to become an everyday player for the Twins. Sanchez has been striking out at a 30% clip and has shown absolutely no power, owning a slugging percentage even lower than his on-base percentage.

Carlos Correa
.194/.292/.347 (113 plate appearances)
82 wRC+
4 HR, 13 RBI

Going under the radar has been just how pedestrian Carlos Correa has been at the plate over the past five weeks. Since the calendar turned to July, Correa owns the second-lowest OPS on the Minnesota Twins at .639 along with the second-lowest average exit velocity of 87.9 MPH. With a player option following the season, could Correa possibly opt in to return to the Land of 10,000 lakes in 2023?

What are your thoughts on the hot/not list above? Do you think the players listed will stick in the same category over the last two months of the season? Leave a comment below and start the conversation!

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[ashbury]

Arraez is another who could be included in someone's Not Hot list.  OPS of .522 in 77 PA since July 10 (cherry picking) though he doesn't meet your July 1 threshold.

Correa is obviously a disappointment lately, and I always figured Sanchez would at least hit if not defend.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

51 minutes ago, ashbury said:

I always figured Sanchez would at least hit if not defend.

Tougher since Jeffers has been out. Try being a full-time catcher and hitting.

[Whitey333]

Great article!  I agree with your listings.  On the not hot list Byron Buxton must be close.  But being a pert time player for 7 years is hard to classify him as a regular.  Sanchez is awful, Jeffers when he isn't injured is just ok.  Not great.  The great Correa has been a major disappointment to me this year.  Maybe I expected too much from a superstar.  Maybe I expected too much from a 35 million per year player.  Maybe it's realizing we could have had several quality pitchers on the team that we are paying him for.  I thought he would carry this team.  He should be carrying this team.  Instead this team is carrying him.  Our young players have greatly outperformed Correa.

[ashbury]

16 hours ago, ashbury said:

Arraez is another who could be included in someone's Not Hot list. 

Just like the image below, my post aged so very, very well.

[mnfireman]

Granted he's a part time player, but Celestino has crashed into the wall since July 1 - .188/.235/.219 for an OPS of .454. He's a little young to just be considered defense-only, but he is definitely trending that way.

[USAFChief]

55 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Just like the image below, my post aged so very, very well.

Haha, I showed THAT idiot. 

I'm typing rn on that very model!!

[joefish]

Correa looks to just be going through the motions too often. He is underperforming. 

[ashbury]

2 hours ago, mnfireman said:

Granted he's a part time player, but Celestino has crashed into the wall since July 1 - .188/.235/.219 for an OPS of .454. He's a little young to just be considered defense-only, but he is definitely trending that way.

Back when his batting average topped out at .359, his BA on balls in play was an unsustainable .479 (league average normally around .300).  During the cold stretch you mentioned, BABIP has been .240.  Getting the bat on the ball and putting it in play is definitely a skill, but the knack for dropping base hits at will when putting the ball in play isn't, or at least few have demonstrated it over the long haul; I don't like the word luck, but let's just say neither trend away from .300 is generally sustainable.  He's neither as good as he seemed during his hot stretch, nor as bad as he seems now.  Overall he's a work in progress and is marginal as a major league contributor today, but he's still only 23 and stands to improve in seasons to come if we are patient.  His up-the-middle skills mean patience is called for.

[bean5302]

On 8/6/2022 at 7:04 PM, VivaBomboRivera! said:

Tougher since Jeffers has been out. Try being a full-time catcher and hitting.

It's what Sanchez has done his entire career and it's what is expected of starting catchers in MLB. Sanchez is going through a rough period. Hopefully, luck will swing back his way and he'll get the numbers back up. His track record suggests it's just a matter of time.