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  • Twins Daily Minnesota Twins Hitter of the Month - May 2021

    Matthew Lenz

    By Matthew Lenz

    Along with being the Twins most improved position player, Mitch Garver runs away with the first ever Twins Daily Minnesota Twins Hitter of the Month. Although it’s been a mostly miserable season and month for the Twins, let's look at some other positives at the plate.

    Image courtesy of Jesse Johnson, USA Today

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    Before we dive into one of Mitch Garver’s best months as a Twins catcher, let's look at a few Twins hitters who had a good month of May but ultimately missed the cut.

    Honorable Mention #3: Miguel Sano

    I know, I know….he struck out A LOT, including three more times on Monday against the Orioles but throughout the entirety of the month it was actually right around his career norm. The hot streak was short lived as he finished the month 3-for-36 with all singles but he also led the team and home runs with seven and a solid .331 wOBA. It will be really, really interesting to see how long Rocco Baldelli can justify playing Sano on a daily basis, especially when Kirilloff comes back. You might have been looking for Rob Refsnyder here but he played in just half the games throughout the month, which disqualified him in my mind, and he also finished with just two hits in his last 21 at-bats.

    Honorable Mention #2: Jorge Polanco

    It’s good to see Polanco start to hit a bit as he’s been mostly a liability at the plate since September of 2019 and had one of the worst hitting months of his career in March/April of this season. It wasn’t quite on par with his 2019 season but maybe it’s the start of getting back on track, and his Savant metrics seem to concur that his month might not be a fluke.

    1683867524_ScreenShot2021-05-31at8_08_11PM.png.0ea8045dfc675f6381861dd3add670aa.png

    The move over to 2nd hasn’t gone as well as many had hoped and with Luis Arraez, Nick Gordon, and Royce Lewis all looking to compete for a starting spot over the next few years Polanco will need to get back to his 2019 ways to stick in the line up. He had the highest walk percentage he’s had in a month in five seasons and the highest hard hit rate in a month of his career can be attributed to the successful month, but I think a little negative regression is likely as a 50.8-percent hard hit rate is not sustainable and is 18 points higher than his carer norm.

    Honorable Mention #1: Trevor Larnach

    For a long time now, Larnach has been overshadowed by Alex Kirilloff when in fact his .857 OPS in 641 Minor League at-bats is just 12 points lower than Kirilloff and he can play just as well in the outfield. He played all the part of a top prospect in his first month with an OPS of .845, a wRC+ of 142, and he ranked 28th in all of baseball with a 9.7-percent barrel per plate appearance of batters with at least 25 batted ball events. Furthermore, our own Parker Hagemen provided this little tidbit after smoking a double on May 17th.

    At one point, I thought that maybe Larnach would be expendable because of Kirilloff but the first two months of this season have shown that both players belong in the starting lineup on a daily basis.

    Hitter of the Month: Mitch Garver

    At the end of the 2019 season, Garver looked like he might be the best complete catcher in the game showing marked improvement at and behind the plate. Unfortunately, extremely poor play possibly due to injury subsided those thoughts in 2020, and it was even more worrisome when that continued into the first month of this season. There were signs at the end of April that Garver was turning a corner as he was hitting the ball hard and had a criminally low BABIP, and that positive regression hit hard in May as he boasted the 6th highest wRC+ and 8th highest OPS of all players who had at least 60 plate appearances. Moreover, nine of his 16 hits in the month went for extra bases including this shot from Friday night against the Royals:

    Garver is in his 30-year-old season with two-years left of arbitration and, unless he continues hitting like this, will likely start splitting time with catcher-in-waiting Ryan Jeffers over the next two years. The Twins lousy record aside, Garver bouncing back from a down year could be great signs for the future similar to the tandem of him and Jason Castro from 2017-2019.

    Congrats to Garv Sauce for being the first Twins Daily Minnesota Twins Hitter of the Month!

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    Matt is a connoisseur of all things baseball, true crime, and food. Also a fan of the Timberwolves and Gophers Sports. Check out my socials #LenzysLots.
    Follow Matthew Lenz on Twitter: Lenzy2108

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    mikelink45

    mikelink45 10,958

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Refsnyder wins for me, Larnach second, Garver third, but you lost me with Sano right away.  Maybe my list is a reflection on why this season has not gone so well.  If I list the most disappointing batters of the month I have too many candidates.  Donaldson leads the way despite his last day giving him 3 hits and making his stats much better - too many disappointing big ABs without delivering.  Cruz is second because we also expect so much from him and this was his worst month as a Twin.  Sano comes in third because my first thought when he comes to the plate with a runner on is strikeout and he does deliver.  Yes he has a few games where we all watch in awe, but they are not enough despite the fact that they influence his overall numbers.  I would like to judge him on a game by game basis - good game, bad game.  Then there is Simmons who did not his well at all and his fielding mistakes often do not show up in the error column, but are too many for a player paid for his glove.  

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    Matthew Lenz

    Matthew Lenz 687

  • Twins Daily Contributor

    • Posted

    1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

    Refsnyder wins for me, Larnach second, Garver third, but you lost me with Sano right away.  Maybe my list is a reflection on why this season has not gone so well.  If I list the most disappointing batters of the month I have too many candidates.  Donaldson leads the way despite his last day giving him 3 hits and making his stats much better - too many disappointing big ABs without delivering.  Cruz is second because we also expect so much from him and this was his worst month as a Twin.  Sano comes in third because my first thought when he comes to the plate with a runner on is strikeout and he does deliver.  Yes he has a few games where we all watch in awe, but they are not enough despite the fact that they influence his overall numbers.  I would like to judge him on a game by game basis - good game, bad game.  Then there is Simmons who did not his well at all and his fielding mistakes often do not show up in the error column, but are too many for a player paid for his glove.  

    I really wanted to stop my list at 2 honorable mentions but was following the lede of the Minor League pieces that uses three honorable mentions for that exact reason. It didn't feel great writing Sano's name there but it also didn't feel great writing the name of someone who played in half the games and ended the month so poorly. You're right though...that's a reflection of how this season has gone.

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    mikelink45

    mikelink45 10,958

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    4 minutes ago, Matthew Lenz said:

    I really wanted to stop my list at 2 honorable mentions but was following the lede of the Minor League pieces that uses three honorable mentions for that exact reason. It didn't feel great writing Sano's name there but it also didn't feel great writing the name of someone who played in half the games and ended the month so poorly. You're right though...that's a reflection of how this season has gone.

    Thanks for the response - this exchange is what makes TD so valuable and enjoyable.  I would not have wanted your assignment. 

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    Matthew Lenz

    Matthew Lenz 687

  • Twins Daily Contributor

    • Posted

    4 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

    Thanks for the response - this exchange is what makes TD so valuable and enjoyable.  I would not have wanted your assignment. 

    Likewise, we appreciate your readership and engagement. At the end of the day, we all just like talking Twins baseball...even when they're not very good :)

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    umterp23

    umterp23 484

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Sano is boom or bust but to be considered for the monthly hitter award shows you how little of options you have.  Refsnyder more deserving than Sano, regardless of the amount of games played.  He brought energy to a position of need and Sano really should be backup 1st basemen and not in everyday lineup.  Tough article to write but Sano would be easy choice to leave off.  When his K rate comment of it being or par for his normal stat line, doesn't make it a warm and fuzzy okay to K so much feeling to overlook

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    Dman

    Dman 7,149

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Dang that is a sad list.  No Cruz, no Buxton, no Kepler, no 23 million dollar man Donaldson.  You can see why this club has fallen so far this year just based on the lack of elite bats on the team.  Sano's 2 good games and a couple other dingers won Honorable mention at #3 for the month that is just laugh out loud stuff or a crying shame not sure which.  I think we need some more young blood to get this team moving.  The older players don't look capable.

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    Whitey333

    Whitey333 1,472

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    I don't understand these Sano lovers.  His stats speak for themselves.  He's terrible.  Twins problems as a whole are simple:. No offense, no defense, and no pitching.  Add in no enthusiasm, and lack of effort makes for boring baseball.

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