Report From The Fort: Saturday In The Park

** Ervin Santana, the Twins’ first pitcher to crack the three inning mark this spring, said he was working on his changeup, trying to get comfortable throwing it to both lefties and righties. In his outing, he said he threw about ten changeups.

Santana’s slider is his out pitch but the changeup helps keep hitters off-balance and off his slider. In 2016, he threw his changeup as 8 percent of his mix while opponents hit .352 off of it.

Since it is a feel pitch, however, it takes some time to get it down. Santana said he doesn’t shy away from opening up his entire arsenal during spring training games, something that he said some pitchers avoid at times. In the third, he threw several changeups up-and-away but continued to dispatch that pitch.

“There are some people who go out there and pitch and they don’t have the feel for one type of pitch so they don’t throw it anymore,” Santana said. “I don’t. I just keep throwing it.”

Molitor agreed with that mindset. “What I liked is that even though he didn’t quite have a good feel for it, he kept throwing it.”

** Miguel Sano hit a rocket of a home run to left center field. Sano had been struggling this spring simply to make contact. On Friday, Molitor said that the Twins’ third baseman was having some troubles picking up the spin of the baseball and had been fooled on breaking stuff. On the other hand, Sano was just a tick off of the fastball in his swing, Molitor believed.

With a 3-0 count in the third, the Twins gave Sano the green light and he pounded a fastball over the left-center field fence to put the team up by three. After relaying the green light sign to third base coach Gene Glynn, Molitor said he turned to Joe Mauer before the 3-0 pitch and asked if Mauer thought Blue Jays pitcher Mark Bolsinger would throw a slider in that situation. Sano hit the home run on the fastball and Mauer replied “He should have.”

“He likes to swing 3-0, he tells me all the time,” Molitor said. “He’s in scoring position in the box.”

Molitor said that he enjoyed that Sano flashed a short, compact swing on the ball rather than some of his more wild, pull-heavy ones.

** Molitor was asked if that was the first time this spring he’s given the green light on 3-0. Molitor said that he has given the sign several times but he felt that only a few of the hitters have taken the opportunity to swing.

“It’s one of those things that you hopefully find out who is fearlessly there,” Molitor said. “You can’t worry about the time where you pop it up or roll it over, you just try to have a plan and execute it.”

The Twins haven’t shown much of a tendency to swing during 3-0 counts in the past. Last season they had 115 plate appearances with 3-0 counts. They swung at just 4.9 percent of pitches seen. Only Texas and Colorado watched more pitches go by.

** Max Kepler’s spring has been slow but Molitor was happy to see the two doubles in his first two at-bats.

“He got a little feedback today,” said Molitor. “He smoked the ball, a couple of balls to right field.”

** Catcher Mitch Garver -- Twins Daily’s 11th ranked prospect -- put on an impressive display during batting practice prior to Saturday’s game. The right-handed hitter deposited multiple balls onto Hammond Stadium’s berm in left field. In the sixth inning, he smacked a hard grounder which hit the third base bag giving him an easy double and later walked and scored on Drew Stubbs’ double in the eighth.

In over 500 at-bats in 2015, Garver hit just four home runs. Last season he hit 12 home runs split between Chattanooga and Rochester. It was with the Lookouts that Garver was able to turn on the power.

“Working with Doug Mientkiewicz last summer really did me well,” said Garver. “He and I clicked instantly and we worked together on the same page all season. He gave me a few tips and some pointers. He was really trusting and patient guy, so he understands what it takes to improve your numbers in the minors.”

Garver has been praised for his offensive side of the game but one Twins official said the organization was very happy with the work Garver had put into his defensive side. According to their Trackman data, Garver made noticeable improvements in his receiving game after working with new first base coach Jeff Smith.

** Ryan Pressly finished off the game in the ninth, using a mix of fastball, slider and big curve. While the radar gun at Hammond showed him sitting 94 and 95, when he was in a 3-2 count to the Blue Jays’ Reese McGuire, Pressly reached back and blew a 97 mile per hour fastball past the swinging Jay.