Seth Stohs

Days after the 2022 season came to an end, the Twins announced that their entire coaching staff would be returning in 2023. A couple of weeks later, they announced that Derek Shomon was being added to the roster as an assistant hitting coach. There have been several changes throughout the system, but the managers are all the same as they were a year ago. Triple-A: ST. PAUL SAINTS Toby Gardenhire returns for his third season as the Saints manager. The former Twins minor leaguer is now in his eighth season in the organization. He has a 141-138 record in his two Saints seasons. Cibney Bello joined the Twins organization eight years ago as a pitching coach. He has worked in the GCL, Low A, Double-A, and this is his third season with the Saints. Peter Larson was the Wichita pitching coach last year and joins the Saints this year. This is his fifth season in the organization. He has been a pitching coach in Low-A and also the minor-league rehab pitching coach in his time with the Twins. He joined the Twins from Fordham, but had spent a year each at the University of Albany, Siena College, and King University (TN). He pitched at Ferrum College and graduated in 2009. He spent one season pitching in the Can-Am League. Nate Spears comes to the organization from the Red Sox organization where he spent the past six years as a hitting coach. He was the High-A coach the past two seasons. He got eight at-bats with the Boston Red Sox between the 2011 and 2012 seasons. He was a teammate of Alex Hassan in 2012. He was born in Ft. Myers and went to high school in Punta Gorda. He was drafted in 2003 by the Orioles and also spent time in the Cubs, Cleveland and Phillies organizations through the 2014 season. He also spent two seasons in independent ball before retiring after the 2015 season. This will be Tyler Smarslok’s second season as the Saints defensive coach. He also filled in as manager when Toby Gardenhire missed time when his wife gave birth. Smarslok joined the Twins organization before the 2020 season (or non-season) after five years of coaching in college, including 2019 in 2019. Double-A: WICHITA WIND SURGE Ramon Borrego begins his 14th season as a manager in the Twins organization. After winning the 2018 Florida State League Championship, he moved up to Double-A and has been the Wind Surge manager that past two seasons. He signed with the Twins in 1995 and played in 405 games, all around the infield, for Twins affiliates for seven seasons. He spent part of 2002 at Triple-A Edmonton. Dan Urbina is one of the pitching coaches. He starts his fifth season in the Twins organization. This is his second season in Wichita. He had previously spent 18 seasons in the Pirates organization and three more with the Dodgers. He pitched in the Dodgers organization from 1995 through 1997, reaching Double-A. DJ Engle is another pitching coach. This is his third season with the organization but his first in Wichita. Last year, he coached in the Dominican Summer League. He came from McPherson College where he was the head coach. The hitting coach is Shawn Schlechter. Last year, he was in Cedar Rapids, and this is his fourth season with the Twins organization. He worked in the GCL in 2021. He is a Minnesota native who joined the organization in 2020 from North Iowa Area Community College. Takashi Miyoshi was the bench coach at Ft. Myers last season. This year, he’ll take that role with the Wind Surge. This is his sixth season in the Twins system. He’s worked all over including Elizabethton and time in the GCL as well. Before joining the Twins, he had been the manager of Sonoma in the independent Pacific Association. HIGH-A: CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS Former Twins utility man Brian Dinkelman returns for his fifth season as the Kernels manager, his eighth season with the Kernels. He was the Twins eighth round pick in 2006. In 2011, he hit .301 over 23 games with the Twins. Dinkelman has led the Kernels to the Midwest League playoffs in each of his seasons as manager and as a hitting coach. The rest of his coaching staff is pretty new to the organization. Jonas Lovin joined the organization recently and he will be one of the pitching coaches. He comes from Iowa Central Community College. He pitched for four seasons at Augustana before spending 2019, his final college season, at Nebraska-Omaha. The other pitching coach is former big-leaguer Carlos Hernandez. He is in his sixth year in the Twins organization. He spent the past couple of seasons with the Mighty Mussels. Hernandez made 33 starts for the Astros between 2001 and 2004. Corbin Day joins the organization this year. He is an eastern Iowa native and went to Cedar Rapids Prairie High School, Kirkwood Community College, and Mount Mercy University (Cedar Rapids) for two seasons. Former Twins catching prospect Yeison Perez is the second hitting coach. He has spent one season in the Dominican Summer League and last year in the FCL. Perez originally signed with the Mariners and spent two seasons with their DSL team. The Twins brought him on and he spent 2016 and 2017 with the Twins DSL team. In 2018, he hit .273 over 35 games with the GCL Twins. LOW-A: FT. MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS Brian Meyer returns for his second season as the Mighty Mussels manager. This is his third season in the organization. Meyer was a three-year starter at second base for Otterbein College, a Division 3 school. He remained at the school and earned his Master’s Degree while working with the baseball team as a hitting coach. He went on to coach at Tulane for five years before becoming an assistant coach at Butler. He joined the Twins before the 2020 (non) season. Rayden Sierra returns as the team’s hitting coach. He played at Broward College and then Cumberland University (TN) before playing for independent Schaumburg in 2019. He went on to coach at Volunteer State CC in Tennessee. Then he joined the Florida SouthWestern State College, a very new program in Florida. He joined the Twins organization in 2021 and has spent all three seasons with the Mighty Mussels. Joining the team as an assistant hitting coach is Luis Reyes. He comes to the Twins after one season at Texas A&M International. Before that, he had coached at the Division II level and the junior college level. He is from Venezuela but emigrated to the Stats in 2009 to play for Iowa Lakes Community College. Then his final two seasons were at Clarke University in Dubuque. Jared Gaynor returns for his second season as a Mussels’ pitching coach. He pitched two seasons at George Mason. He began coaching in 2015 at Coronado High School in Arizona. In 2016, he was hired by Arizona Christian University. In 2018, he became a coach at Richmond where he spent two years. Richard Salazar has held a variety of roles in his six seasons in the organization. The last two seasons, he was a pitching coach in Cedar Rapids. He is from Venezuela, but he went to Miami Dade College and the Orioles drafted him in 2001. He pitched for 17 seasons in Baltimore’s system, in Venezuela, and then ten years in independent ball all over the country. In 2013, he pitched in the WBC for Spain. Rookie League: FLORIDA COMPLEX LEAGUE TWINS Seth Feldman returns for his fifth season in the organization and second as the FCL Twins manager. He was the DSL manager in 2019 and 2021. The team will have three hitting coaches. They are Emilio Guerrero, Humberto Miranda, and Collin McBride. There will also be four pitching coaches. They are Anders Dzurak, Calvin Maduro, Kevin Rodriguez, and Argenis Angulo who pitched for Wichita in 2022. In addition, Andrew DiTullio will be the rehab hitting coach. Josh Tols will be the rehab pitching coach. They will work in the same facilities with their focus on players who are out for an extended IL stint. Rookie League: DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE TWINS The manager of the DSL Twins will be Rafael Martinez for the second straight season. Jairo Rodriguez played 10 seasons in the Twins organization and reached Triple-A in 2013. He worked with hitters in the DSL from 2017 through 2020. He then moved up to Cedar Rapids where he has been a coach the past couple of seasons. He returns to the DSL in 2023. Another former Twins minor leaguer, Ruben Santana, returns for his second season as a hitting coach. Jimmy Alvarez has been with the DSL staff since 2009. Erick Julio and Jesus Sanchez will be the DSL Twins’ pitching coaches. MINOR LEAGUE COORDINATORS After 25 years with the Mets organization, Kevin Morgan joined the Twins as minor-league field coordinator in 2020. He spent part of the 2021 season on the big-league coaching staff. Morgan got one at-bat for the Mets in 1997. Edgar Varela was the Twins big-league hitting coach in 2020 and 2021. He is now back for his sixth season in the organization and second straight season as the coordinator of instruction. Former big leaguer Julio Borbon is back for his second year as the assistant coordinator of instruction. A former first-round pick, Borbon played in 294 games for the Rangers, Cubs and Orioles. Justin Willard returns for his sixth season in the organization. This is his third season as the pitching coordinator. Before that he was a pitching coach in Cedar Rapids and in Pensacola. Nat Ballenberg is in his fourth season with the Twins organization. He shifts to assistant pitching coordinator after spending last season as the organization’s special projects pitching coordinator. Bryce Berg is in his fourth season with the Twins organization and second as the minor-league hitting coordinator. In 2021, he was the Kernels hitting coach. Ryan Smith was the Saints hitting coach last year. He now is the assistant hitting coordinator. In 2021, he was hitting coach in Wichita. In 2019, he held that role in Cedar Rapids. Tucker Frawley will again be the infield and catching coordinator. Former big-leaguer manager Mike Quade is back for his sixth season as outfield coordinator. He was the Rochester Red Wings manager from 2015 to 2017. Quade was the Cubs manager in 2010 and 2011. PLAYER DEVELOPMENT STAFF Vice President, and Assistant General Manager: Jeremy Zoll enters his seventh season with the Twins and fifth in this role. His focus is on the minor leagues and player development. Vice President of Hitting Development and Acquisitions: Alex Hassan is back for his sixth season with the Twins. He has been the Director of Player Development the past four seasons. Director of Player Development: Drew MacPhail takes over this role. Director of Minor League and High Performance Operations: Brian Maloney. Assistant Directors of Player Development: Tommy Bergjans, Frankie Padulo. Director of Player Education: Amanda Daley. Assistant Director of Player Development Research: Josh Ruffin. Analysts, Baseball Research: Chad Raines, Grey Wilburn.

The Minnesota Twins have been rumored to be looking to acquire a right-handed hitting outfielder. The names that have been tossed around have been free agents, over the age of 30, but there might be a young outfielder in need of a change of scenery that the Twins should consider as well, even if only as an opportunistic move. Player development is rarely linear. In fact, you could probably argue that it is never linear. It’s much more parabolic with occasional downtrends on the way up the system. For many prospects, the trend line never reaches the goal of the big leagues. Sometimes there are injuries. Sometimes it just takes a little longer to move up to the next level. Sometimes, players develop later. Sometimes they don’t. It has been made known that the Twins are looking to add a right-handed hitting outfielder. While they have clearly shown interest in veterans like AJ Pollock and Andrew McCutchen. Just this morning, Adam Duvall signed with the Boston Red Sox. But there just might be a 23-year-old outfielder with a ton of talent and potential that the Twins could acquire for very little. Jo Adell was the Los Angeles Angels first-round pick back in 2017. He immediately started flying up the organizational ladder and prospect rankings. Here is a quick look at his statistics by minor-league level: Rookie: .325/.376/.532 (.908) Low-A: .326/.398/.611 (1.009) High-A: .289/.344/.548 (.891) Double-A: .288/.372/.518 (.890) Triple-A: .271/.335/.542 (.877) Before the 2019 season, he was ranked #6 by Baseball America and #2 by Baseball Prospectus. Before the 2020 season, he was ranked #3 by Baseball America, #2 by Baseball Prospectus, and #6 by MLB Pipeline. In the Covid-shortened 2020 season, Adell was performing well at the team’s alternate site, and when there was a need, he made his MLB debut. He was pushed into action well before he was ready and in 38 games, he hit just .161. He played in 35 games for the 2021 Angels and was a bit better. He hit .246/.295/.408 (.703) with five doubles and four homers. Hoping to break out in 2022, Adell really struggled with the Angels in 88 big-league games. He hit just .224/.264/.373 (.636) with 12 doubles and eight homers. When he was drafted tenth overall in 2017, scouts from several teams insisted that he could really struggle to make contact in the upper levels. Well, that has certainly been the issue for him with the Angels. He struck out 41.7% of his plate appearances in 2020. He improved that number to a respectable 22% in 2021. But in 2022, he had 107 strikeouts to go with just 11 walks and his K-Rate was back up to 37.5% Tom Kelly used to always say that a player needed 1,500 MLB at-bats before you really knew what you had in him. Also, I think Adell may have driven TK crazy. I mean, he thought Rich Becker struck out a lot, and he never struck out more than 25.5% of his plate appearances during a season with the Twins. And Becker walked almost 12% of the time. So why would I spend time researching and writing an article on a player who has struggled this much? There are several reasons why I think it’s a gamble worth considering. First, he will turn 24 years old in April, so he is very young. He has plenty of time to develop and make some improvements. Next, Adell’s tools are elite, incredible. He stands 6-4 and over 220 pounds. He’s very strong, and very fast. He’s got a strong arm. He can hit the ball a long ways. One person I talked to referred to him as an “ultimate showcase player.” Watching him take batting prospects and run and throw is a joy. Simply, it has not yet translated to big-league success for Adell. The phrase Change of Scenery is often used to say that a guy clearly has talent but his current team just is not finding a way to pull it out of him… but maybe our favorite team can. That doesn’t always happen, but there certainly are examples. Maybe a new manager. Maybe an organizational philosophy. Maybe a coach that says something to make something click. Maybe it’s talking to the right veteran, maybe someone like Byron Buxton who obviously was as highly ranked as a prospect as Adell has been. Things didn’t immediately transfer for Buxton in the big leagues, and he’s continued to have injuries that keep him out of the lineup. But to hear the right things, whatever they may be, from a current All Star who has endured similar struggles might be a benefit. And yes, I am aware that with the Angels he has had Mike Trout doing outfield work and taking batting practice with him. But again, new situations, new voices. And hope for different results. Maybe it’s hearing from a former player. How many times have we talked about the incredible talent of Torii Hunter. But he wasn’t an immediate success in the big leagues. He made the trip from Triple-A to the big-leagues and back several times. But he kept working, endured, and became an All Star and Gold Glove winner. Maybe it’s having the right teammate on his side. The year Adell was taken tenth overall, the Twins selected Royce Lewis with the first overall pick. Lewis and Adell have been good friends since their high school days when they competed with and against each other in national tournaments and showcases. Since, they have participated in the Futures Game and Arizona Fall League together. We know that Lewis is a great leader. We see his positivity and how it affects those around him. Maybe having an old friend around might help his transition to a new team, and maybe relaxing can help him find more success. Adell has one option year remaining, so he could spend some time in St. Paul if needed. We have not heard the minor-league coaching assignments yet, but if the Saints coaching staff is similar, with Toby Gardenhire managing and Ryan Smith leading the hitters, I like his chances of improving and making adjustments. He is right-handed, and he can really complement the other young left-handed hitters in the Twins outfield such as Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff, and Nick Gordon. He can also play center field if needed. Joey Gallo is only here for one year, so a more permanent, full-time role can be available in 2024. In the short-term, he can be a platoon option. From what I have been told, the Angels would definitely be willing to trade him, and the cost may not be real high. They have added several players this offseason, including outfielder Hunter Renfroe and Brett Phillips, and they added infielders Gio Urshela and Brandon Drury (who has spent some time in the outfield). Mike Trout and Taylor Ward are the primary starters along with Renfroe. Playing time with the Angels may be very limited. So why acquire an outfielder who another organization has given up on? Well, first, teams claim players at the back of their 40-man roster all year long. 99% of those players are significantly less talented than Jo Adell. And while he has struggled mightily in the big leagues, he is a great athlete with an overflowing toolbox. Whether or not he ever becomes a star, or if he becomes a solid regular, or even if he flops, that’s a risk I would take all the time. And it’s very rare to get that kind of player available for very little. The Angels really don’t need position players, but like most teams can use pitching. I really think if they offered something like a B- pitching prospect in Low-A and a C prospect at Double-A, the Angels might very well consider it. Older, I mean, more veteran Twins fans like myself may remember a similar player that helped the Twins a few decades ago. Shane Mack was the 11th overall pick out of UCLA in 1984. He had been a great college player and went to the 1984 Olympics. He made his MLB debut with the Padres in 1987 and played some more in 1988. In those two season’s, his OPS+ was 77 (23% below league average). He was injured and in Triple-A in 1989, so the Padres left him available for the Rule 5 draft. The Twins selected him, and he played five seasons with the Twins. Overall, he hit .309/.375/.479 (.854) with 119 doubles, 24 triples, and 67 home runs. He also stole 73 bases and played terrific defense, mostly in right field. He was very much instrumental in the Twins 1991 World Series championship, and is often referred to as the most underrated player in Twins history. No, I’m not going to tell you that the Adell situation and Mack’s situation 30+ years ago are identical. They were different players, and the game was played differently then. Adell is certainly bigger and stronger than Mack was and he is three years younger now than Mack was going into the 1990 season. The similarities are that they were highly-regarded, highly-drafted players with great tools and athleticism that were unable to put it together with their first team. Mack found great success with the Twins for five years. Maybe Adell can experience a similar improvement through a well-timed change of scenery and new voices. I wouldn’t expect him to perform like Shane Mack did, but if he can become a solid everyday player or even a significant role player, that trade could be great. If not, the Twins won’t be out a lot. You don’t even have to say he’s the answer to the team’s right-handed outfielder question. I’d be good with taking a flyer on a recent Top 5 global prospect and seeing what happens. The goal is to win, but it should always to continue to acquire talent. He’s a league-minimum salary guy for another couple of years, and he’s got an option remaining. This trade would not stop them from still signing a veteran right-handed hitting outfielder such as Tommy Pham or Jurickson Profar. (Update: Less than two hours later, Tommy Pham signed with the Mets.) Low risk… incredibly high reward. Your turn. What do you think about Adell? Who would you like to see the Twins acquire as a right-handed outfield option? Comment below.

Before we get started with the fourth and final installment, we just want to say Thank You to our readers, our followers, those who participate in the forums, our terrific, talented writers and bloggers, those who provide videos, and just everyone who has helped 2022 become such an exciting year at our site. #5 Minnesota’s 3 Options with Carlos Correa July 23 Cody Christie It was obviously a big deal when the Twins signed Carlos Correa, and as you can tell from our Top 20 most-viewed article rankings, at times you may think that we are ABC, All ‘Bout Correa. While that isn’t completely true, Correa has certainly found himself key in many articles throughout the course of the year. This article was a little over a week from the trade deadline. The Twins were still in first place, but the injuries were catching up, especially in the pitching staff, but throughout the roster. Cody wrote about three options for the Twins at the deadline. They could keep him and make that push toward the division title. They could try to lock him up before the deadline, though Correa was always going to become a free agent again. They could trade him and receive something in return for his services over the season’s final two months. Wisely, the Twins' front office decided to be buyers at the deadline. They made significant trades, adding to their starting staff, adding an All-Star reliever and a #2 catcher. Obviously, it didn’t pay off as two of the three ended the season on the Injured List and the other regressed to the mean with the Twins. #4 Twins Fans Absolutely Furious at Surprise First-Place Start May 20 RandBalls Stu This is RandBalls Stu at his finest. It was approaching two months into the season. The Twins, who finished in last place in the AL Central in 2021, were playing well and found themselves with a nice lead in the division. However, a quick glimpse through #TwinsTwitter and many Twins-related forums found fans upset about all kinds of things. Correa was a bust. How can you send Royce Lewis back to St. Paul? The Twins front office only cares about their algorithms and spreadsheets. You know, it’s some of the silliness you may read here from time to time too. And RandBalls Stu captured it perfectly. #3 3 Reasons Target Field Attendance Continues to be Sparse May 26 Cody Christie Another topic that brought about much conversation and disagreement was Target Field attendance. Why were the Twins struggling to bring fans to the ballpark? Obviously in Minnesota, weather can be a huge factor in attendance, especially with how cold temperatures can get in April after the sun goes down. Obviously, after there were no fans in 2020 and limited fans at some stadiums in 2021, 2022 was the return to semi-normalcy. There are several reasons listed, and you may have your own. For me, the fact that such a high percentage of people simply can’t watch the Twins on TV is major. How do you gain interest in a product? Well, I’m not a marketer, but making it difficult for many people to watch easily is not a good strategy. Unfortunately, Bally’s Sports is mostly only available on cable and not included on many streaming services. What are other reasons for the Twins' struggle with attendance, and what might your suggestions be? #2 Byron Buxton Did the Twins a Favor December 12 Ted Schwerzler You just never know sometimes. I’ve written thousands of Twins blogs and articles over the past 20 years (Maybe 2003 was the start of SethSpeaks dot net). In the past couple of years, I’ve read, edited, and scheduled hundreds if not thousands of Twins articles. You just never know which ones will click, or resonate, and get page clicks. With the free agent prices skyrocketing this offseason, Ted notes that the Twins are very fortunate to have locked up Byron Buxton a year ago. And as we suspected at the time, the Twins got him for an incredible deal. Had he been a free agent this offseason, he would be looking at a Swanson contract, if not a Bogaerts-like deal. #1 Dozens Injured as Twins Bullpen Attempts to Prepare Salad July 8 RandBalls Stu Yes, RandBalls Stu has two articles in the Top 5 most-viewed Twins Daily articles of 2022. And this article came in #1. The article that came in at #4 was fantastic, but there’s no question, this was the best of the year. “Sources say the bullpen was assigned chips and ice, but when reliever Emilio Pagan got lost on his way to Kowalski’s and drove to Fort Smith, Arkansas instead, they improvised a pasta salad. That’s when the trouble began.” And hilarity ensued. What a fun, creative article from such a talented Minnesota writer With that, we wish you all a very happy and safe New Year, rich with fortune and maybe even a little prosperity. Thank you so much for stopping by the site frequently, commenting, and helping other Twins fans to check out our site Previous Articles: Part 1: 16-20 Part 2: 11-15 Part 3: 6-10

Today, we jump into the Top 20 articles at Twins Daily in 2022. We appreciate all of our readers and those who comment as well. So it's fun to look back at which articles received the most page views over the course of the year. It's also kind of a fun way to look back at some of the biggest stories of the past year. As you take a look through these top articles, think about which Twins-related stories you might say are the top 10 stories of 2022 for you. Maybe it was the Correa signing. Maybe it has been the Correa offseason saga. Maybe it was the trade deadline, or the drafting of Brooks Lee. Maybe it was the debut of Royce Lewis, or the debuts of hometown kids Louie Varland and Matt Wallner. Through the Wins and Losses, the ups and downs, it certainly hasn't been boring to be a Twins fan in 2022, even with the limited signings this offseason... so far. But who knows? Maybe some of the most-read articles at Twins daily in 2023 will be transactions made over the next month or so. Enjoy looking back at the #6-10 articles at Twins Daily in 2023. #10 Why is the MLB Increasing the Size of Its Bases? March 13 Melissa Berman Following the lockout, we kept hearing about various rules that would be coming to he big leagues starting in 2023. Melissa Berman, who had just joined us as a regular contributor, did a fantastic job of breaking down each of the coming changes, why they might be making the change, and what it might mean to teams. Her article on the increasing base sizes took off and became one of our top ten articles this year. Besides just encouraging more of the running game in baseball, it may also help players remain healthy because of a bigger first base. #9 ;Latest Twins Carlos Correa Rumors Free Agency December 10 Nick Nelson Ever since the Twins signed Carlos Correa in spring training, we knew he would opt-out and become a free agent. I’m not sure at any point did we think that the Twins would offer him a 10-year, $285 million contract. Days before Correa agreed to a 13-year, $350 million, Nick wrote up an article on the various rumors surrounding Correa. The Twins and the Giants weren’t the only teams. The Cubs were rumored to have interest. This was when there were reports saying that the Yankees had interest. It was soon after this point that the Mets showed some interest. As we know now, the Giants backed out after concerns about Correa’s physical. Hours later, news broke that Correa agreed to sign with the Mets for 12 years and $315 million. The roller coaster offseason for Correa continued as the Mets didn’t like his medicals either. So, the saga continues. #8 The Weirdest Move Minnesota Could Make October 7 Ted Schwerzler On Opening Day, the Twins sent Taylor Rogers and Brent Rooker to the Padres in exchange for Chris Paddack and Emilio Pagan. Rogers started out well for the Padres but after losing the closer job, he was traded to the Brewers. Rooker played in just a couple of games for San Diego before he was traded to the Royals. Chris Paddack made just a handful of starts before he needed his second Tommy John surgery. Pagan stayed healthy, but he really struggled. Pagan has always given up a ton of home runs, but he gave up an even higher percentage in 2022. He continued to get high-leverage opportunities and put up some terrible Win Probability Added numbers. However, we keep hearing, and anyone who watches can see it, that he has some very good stuff. His fastball sits 95-97 mph. He’s got a decent slider. He has typically shown good control. One of the frustrating things about the offseason for many Twins fans came when the Twins tendered a 2023 contract to Pagan. But as Ted wrote in this article, it would have been ‘weird’ had they not done so. Of course, I think that most believe that the Twins will attempt to trade Pagan during the offseason. We shall see. #7 Pitching Coach Wes Johnson to Abruptly Leave Twins June 26 John Bonnes It was a big surprise to people around baseball when the Twins hired Wes Johnson as their pitching coach before the 2019 season. Few knew who he was, but a quick search tells us that he had a lot of success at various colleges in building pitching staffs. Johnson did a nice job with the Twins, so it was quite a surprise when it was announced that Johnson was heading to LSU during the middle of the season. Johnson is responsible (along with Derek Falvey and others) for the current Twins pitching programs and philosophies throughout the organization. They have continued to spend on technology and analytics, coaches and coordinators, and we have seen those processes working through the likes of Louie Varland, Simeon Woods Richardson, Josh Winder, Cole Sands and others who made their debuts in 2022. However, in late June, news broke that Johnson was leaving the Twins to become the pitching coach for LSU where he would make significantly more money. Obviously at a college powerhouse like that, they wanted him to join them quickly, so Johnson had to make a quick decision. He took the job and remained with the team through the big series in Cleveland that was arguably the turning point of the season. Pete Maki took over as the team’s pitching coach. He had been an assistant and worked out in the bullpen. In reality, the change was fairly seamless in that the Twins hire Maki to be the Minor League Pitching Coordinator after he had coached at Duke. He was right there with Falvey and Johnson in determining the organization’s pitching philosophy. #6 Carlos Correa Contract: Giants Postponed Medical Concerns December 20 Nick Nelson As I mentioned in the previous installments of this series, December was a good month for Twins Daily. We would like to thank Carlos Correa for a bit of that success. The rollercoaster offseason of Correa has kept Twins fans intrigued and coming back to read updates but also to converse or share their frustration with other fans. This update from Nick came after the Giants had backed out on their contract with Correa and Scott Boras, but before the news that he wanted to sign with the Mets. What a mess! Check back soon for the Top 5 most-read articles at Twins Daily in 2022. Previous Articles: Part 1: 16-20 Part 2: 11-15 Part 3: 6-10 Part 4: 1-5 (Coming Soon!)