Daily Twins Daily: August 4, 2017

First: Tom Froemming has the game breakdown.

Heading into this game, on paper, the Twins seemed like favorites. For starters, on fastballs under 90 MPH, they had the second highest average at .430 (only the Nationals did better versus weak sauce). So it stands to reason that Texas starter, AJ Griffin, who averages 87.7 MPH, would be meat the entire night, right? Wrong, because here is the other thing: The Twins offense is reeaaaallly bad against big, slow curveballs. As a unit they are hitting .212 against breaking balls that were 80 MPH or under -- the second lowest in MLB. Naturally, Griffin kept them at bay by flipping lollypop spinners and made his 88 mile poo hour fastball appear that much quicker.

Dillon Gee made his Twins debut in mopping up for Adalberto Mejia after Mejia threw way, way, way too many pitches (in four different at-bats, Mejia threw seven pitches). Sure, there were some plays his defense could have made behind him but Majia fired too many unnecessary bullets (more on Mejia below). Watching Gee, there was something I liked about his approach and the reaction the hitters had to his pitches. Gee was barely breaking 90 and yet hitters were over and under his offerings for the night. So I had to check on the data.

What’s the answer? Spin.

According to StatCast data, Gee is throwing his fastball at 88.7 MPH on average. This ranks him at 581st among all pitchers this season. However, his fastball’s spin rate (the number of times it rotates on the way to the plate) is at 2406 RPM -- 74th among all pitchers. The higher the spin rate, the harder it is for hitters to square the ball.

Second: Eric Pleiss has the minor league report.

Lots of tasty nuggets in there including solid pitching performances from Hector Santiago (9 K's in 5.2 innings), Felix Jorge, and there was even a Glen Perkins cameo. Dietrich Enns, who the Twins received in the Jaime Garcia trade, will get his first start in the system in tomorrow’s doubleheader with Rochester.

This play happened on Wednesday night but for those who have not seen it, you should take a gander.

In the top of the fourth with Rochester trailing the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs 3-0 and a runner on third, Lehigh Valley’s Herlis Rodriguez flies out to Wings’ left fielder Daniel Palka. Palka unloads a rainbow of a throw from the mid-left field as Lehigh Valley’s Brock Stassi tags, then Palka and turns away, presumably in disgust, not wanting to watch Stassi score. The throw has an arc, to be sure, but it lands neatly in Mitch Garver’s mitt in time for him to slap on a tag on the late sliding Stassi.

Did you catch that? Garver executed the decoy to perfection. The bit is to stand as nonchalant as possible to give the runner the impression that there won’t be a play or a close play at the plate. If sold properly, the runner will let his guard down, as Stassi did when he made a late adjustment.

Here is a better shot of the play at the plate.

The other thing to mention is how Garver quickly blocks the plate with his left foot/leg once he receives the ball. It is a quick turn and suddenly Stassi doesn’t have a plate to touch, just Garver’s giant leg.

Third: Not since Jorge Polanco was a 17-year-old in the Gulf Coast League when he hit .250 has the Dominican shortstop had a batting average this low in a professional season. The previous low after that was a respectable .276 in Rochester. While his power and on-base abilities may ebb and flow over the years, Polanco’s batting average has always been robust.

Which is what makes this season so confounding. Ted Schwerzler homes in on the issues and finds that he is struggling to match his launch angles and exit velocity from the previous years.

An interesting addendum: One of things that StatCast shows is that Polanco isn’t getting the base hits on balls that have the optimal exit velocity (over 85 mph) and launch angle (between 10 and 30 degrees) that he had in 2016.

Home: Be sure to sign up today at the Twins Daily Thank You Giveaway.

Extra Innings: LET’S TALK ABOUT ADALBERTO MEJIA.

In early June, the Twins and Mejia went about tinkering with his mechanics, particularly from the windup. The intent was to quiet his movement and redirected him to more of a north-south delivery.

PRE-CHANGE (April 14, 2017):

http://i.imgur.com/TnvB54G.gif

POST-CHANGE (July 23, 2017):

http://i.imgur.com/IES96zt.gif

Rather than stepping toward third base into the conventional windup, Mejia is now doing the modified stretch windup, simply making a slight inward turn and going home. Also, instead of raising his hands to eye level and then breaking at his chest, Mejia keeps the ball just above the belt where he breaks his hands. All very quiet and all very smooth. It certainly LOOKS better but how have the results been since the changes?

While the runs allowed and ERA are messy, Mejia has allowed fewer hits, fewer walks, and fewer home runs in the windup. Not to mention, more strikeouts and fewer well-hit balls.

Mejia is a work in progress but he clearly has talent and the pitches to potentially make this thing work.

Random: You should read this Deadspin story about the kid who didn’t die at Riverfront Stadium.