Twins

When the 2020 season started, the one thing we knew with certainty about the Minnesota Twins is that their offense would be fantastic. Just 14 games into the 60-game season, the offense has not looked great, but has it been as bad as we think?

When the Twins hired Wes Johnson last November, it was a rare move in which a Major League Baseball team tapped a college coach to join the big league staff. Outside of the industry, the hiring was a curiosity considering the lack of experience in handling professional pitchers but those following closely knew that Johnson was viewed as one of the sharpest teachers anywhere in the game. We're far from anointing the decision as an all-out success but everything is trending in the right direction.

The Yankees, who parted ways with pitching coach Larry Rothschild last week, are now trying to follow the Twins down the collegiate path.

When rebuilding a broken pitching staff, it's necessary to seek out solutions on all fronts. These include free agency, trades, draft, international, and... independent leagues?

That last one isn't necessarily a conventional avenue for adding legitimate talent, but the Minnesota Twins have had some success there, and may have more yet to come.

When people talked about the Minnesota Twins top prospects in recent years, the names Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, Max Kepler and Jose Berrios. All the while, Jorge Polanco continued to rise and succeed (and often found his name in the bottom quarter of national Top 100 prospect rankings). In fact, he was the first of the group to get to the big leagues when he was promoted to the big leagues from Ft. Myers in 2014.

That was a cup of coffee, and the same thing happened in 2015. It wasn’t until Eduardo Nunez was traded in July that Polanco came up and was handed the keys to a starting job. After coming through the system playing both shortstop and second base, his struggles at shortstop caused the team to move him to second base last year in spring training. However, his opportunity with the Twins came at shortstop. He struggled, so that will be a big story for Polanco and the Twins in 2017.

When Paul Molitor joined the Minnesota Twins’ coaching staff in 2014, one of his biggest initiatives was to add a robust shift program for the defense. With experience at all the infield positions over his career, Molitor recognized the advantage gained by stacking his fielders.

“He’s really big on shifts,” Brian Dozier said when asked about Molitor's penchant to play the odds. “He loves shifting. And it’s a part of the game now, you see it more than ever in the history of the game. I don’t know if a lot of people like it, dislike it, whatever it is, but Molly loves shifting and we’ve bought into that and especially this so you’re going to see a lot of different shifts.”

When one of the best hitters in baseball history writes about their craft, it's worth revisiting every so often to mine for wisdom.

When news came out that Joe Mauer was retiring and there would be a Monday morning press conference (11:00 central time), many took to social media to pay tribute to Joe Mauer's career. Fans weren't the only to do so, but several current and former teammates shared their well wishes for Mauer. Many simply retweeted the Twins tribute to Mauer.

Below you will find many of these tributes. If you have seen others, please share in the comments below.

When news broke that lights-out lefty Antonio Bastardo had signed with the New York Mets, Twins faithful were understandably disappointed.

After all, the 30-year-old Antonio Bastardo represented everything that the Twins could want: a reliever with a proven successful track record and also just happen to throw with his left hand. As fate would have it, the Twins were in the market for a set-up left-hander to complement the consortium of righties in the bullpen.

Nevertheless, they missed out on Bastardo.

When Miguel Sano was named to the home run derby, I imagined an event with a handful of young stars. Right now, major league baseball is being paced by that type of talent in the long-ball department. The field has some interesting inclusions, Sano, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, and Cody Bellinger, making the event must-watch television. The question is, can the fifth-seeded Sano take home the prize?

When Miguel Sano first arrived in Minnesota in 2015, Twins team president Dave St. Peter said that fans “don't want to miss a Miguel Sano at-bat because you just never know what might happen, and at any given moment, he may hit a home run 500-plus feet. That's a trait very few players have.”

In August 2015 during the Summer of Sano, the rookie bashed nine home runs, one dinger every 10.78 at bats. He also struck out in 38 percent of his plate appearances. Four seasons later, Sano still has that massive power. He has hit a home run in one out of every 11.67 at bats in 2019. He also has struck out in 42 percent of his plate appearances. From day one it’s an all-or-nothing approach for Sano but the narrative feels like it is trending more to the nothing.

It does not have to be this way. Sano doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing hitter. Here's how he can move toward being a complete hitter.

When major league baseball will resume is anybody’s guess. But assuming baseball does have some semblance of a season during the 2020 calendar year, how will it impact the health of MLBers, however stunted it may be?

When major league baseball returns this summer, we’re going to have a very different look to the game. Sure, the action on the field will remain the same, but that’s largely where the similarities end. For three Twins prospects, this perfect storm could expedite their debuts.