Parker Hageman

In late June of last year, Minnesota Twins closer Glen Perkins decided to make a switch. His strikeout rate had been falling since his peak in 2013 when he whiffed over 32 percent of the hitters he faced. Suddenly, he noticed hitters were not responding the same to his slider -- his go-to when he wants to miss a bat -- like they once did. From Perkins’ perspective, there was a “perceived lack of bite or spin” that prompted an evaluation of his premier pitch. At that point in the season, Perkins was on-track for one of the best of his career and was a few weeks away from representing the Twins in his third straight All Star Game. He had converted 24 saves in as many opportunities. He held hitters to a tidy .217 average against. He had struck out 28 in 31.1 innings of work. For all intents and purposes, there was nothing wrong with his performance. Nevertheless, Perkins was not satisfied with his slider’s performance and decided to make an adjustment. So on the night of June 30th, in a game at Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark, Perkins introduced a new version of his slider.It seems bold for a closer -- the guy asked to preserve the win -- to try out new methods without at least giving it some time on the side first. “I’m more of a ‘throw a pitch and see what happens’ and then react off a foul ball or a check swing or how he goes at it,” Perkins explains about his development process on the mound. “That gives me more of an idea then a pre-at bat plan of how I’m going to get this guy out. I want to throw a pitch and make a determination of what I’m going to do after that pitch.” In the third at-bat of that outing, Perkins faced the Reds’ Joey Votto, a notoriously difficult out and one of the stingiest swingers in all of baseball. Perkins said the new slider passed his litmus test when he was able to get Votto to move his hands on a ball that dove down into the dirt. Votto did not commit to a swing but getting him to flinch was the baseball equivalent of convincing Donald Trump to admit he was wrong. Later that inning, Perkins put third baseman Todd Frazier away on a slider with strong downward action. http://i.imgur.com/EHt0sim.gif It may be hard to detect with the naked eye but his slider was moving differently. After the game Perkins tracked down Jack Goin, the Twins’ Manager of Major League Administration and Baseball Research, and had him confirm with Statcast data what Votto and Frazier’s reaction had told him -- the slider had a higher spin rate than before. The combination of what he saw and what the numbers told him was enough for him to ditch his previous grip. **** Perkins stresses that all he did was make a simple adjustment. “The concept of the pitch is the same,” Perkins emphasized. “It’s not like I’m went out there and said ‘alright, now I’m going to throw a splitty’. I’ve thrown a slider for seven years and now I’m going to throw a split-finger. It’s just like how guys throw a changeup and they start to alter their changeup grip. I’ve moved the two-seamer around in my hand, I’ve tilted the four-seamer. It’s still the same pitch just holding it differently and hoping that a different grip on the ball gave it better results.” That “different grip” came from what he saw from watching Francisco Liriano and Ervin Santana throw their sliders. For most of his career, Perkins says he used a grip resembling that of a standard curveball, placing his pointer and middle finger along the horseshoe of the seams. More recently however he felt that he wasn’t getting the necessary spin rate to fool hitters as consistently as he did in the past. “It was the lack of swings-and-misses, the chases, [the slider] just didn’t look as sharp as I wanted it to be,” he said. So Perkins turned to the grip that Liriano and Santana used -- throwing his two fingers across the seams and giving the digits a little daylight. At 35.8 percent of his mix, no other starting pitcher has thrown their slider more frequently than Ervin Santana has over the last four years. And with good reason: Opponents struggled to barrel up the pitch that Perkins described as having “cutter-ish” movement with a very late, sharp break. When asked what he felt made his slider special -- one that hitters have struggled against for multiple seasons -- Santana demurred. “It’s just a normal grip,” Santana said with a shrug. “I just try to snap it at the end, that’s it. No special move.” Santana’s slider was actually a gift from his brother, who had taught him how to throw the pitch at a fairly young age. “I lost my curveball because of velocity so my brother taught me that grip for the slider and then after that…” Santana then gave a gesture that suggested everything after that was sunshine and lollipops from there on out. While his end of the season results were stifled because of his back injury, Perkins felt like when he was healthy, his new slider moved similarly to Liriano’s -- or at least eliciting similar reactions from hitters. “I would say they were pretty dang similar,” Perkins said of his new slider’s action. “Just judging on the swings that I’ve seen him get and the swings that I was getting I think they were pretty close.” To claim that your pitch gets the same response as one of the game’s most dominating pitchers could be met with some skepticism but based on results Perkins was truly on to something. Download attachment: Perkins_Slider.png What’s more is that unlike the previous iteration, opponents were swinging and missing at a higher percentage of sliders inside the strike zone. Download attachment: Perkins.png The pitch, Perkins acknowledged, was far from the perfect weapon. The new grip gave the slider more vertical drop but there were times when he was unable to get the ball to stay down. Like the one he threw to future teammate John Ryan Murphy, which stayed up in the whomp ‘em zone and was promptly launched over the right field wall at Target Field. http://i.imgur.com/IujNwyD.gif After the switch, Perkins allowed another three home runs on the new slider. Some of that was due to issues with his neck and back but at other times his inability to properly locate the pitch. **** Eddie Guardado, the current Twins bullpen coach and a former closer himself, understands exactly what Perkins is going through. “I think you always got to make adjustments, right? This game is about adjustments,” Guardado said. “I’ve done it before. I’m sure a lot of guys have done it, just to see if we get a different angle, a different feel. [Perkins] worked on that last year. I noticed that the ball was going down a little bit more, which is good. Always down, always good, right? It’s coming along pretty good this year.” As a survivor of 17 years in the big leagues, Guardado is no stranger to adjustments. In 2001, after a failed foray as a starter, Guardado was coming off several years of success as a late-innings reliever with the Twins. In 1999 Dick Such, the Twins pitching coach at the time, introduced him to the split-finger fastball grip in efforts to retire more right-handed hitters. From that point forward he threw a splitter in side sessions but lacked the necessary confidence to bring the pitch to the mound with him in a game situation. When the Twins fell out of the race that year, Guardado saw an opportunity to introduce his new pitch. He would go on to save 98 games for the Twins and strikeout 197 in 199.1 innings of relief before signing a three-year, $13 million contract with the Seattle Mariners heading into the 2004 season. “Obviously you can’t be afraid, there’s no question,” Guardado said about the mindset a pitcher needs in order to bring a new pitch out to the mound. “Different grip, not knowing what’s gonna happen when I throw this pitch...but that’s why you work on it before you go out there. But still, when you go out there, you’re still not sure.” Perkins says his experience differs from Guardado’s. First, Perkins says he wasn’t seeking out a new pitch, just to improve on an existing one.“I’m past trying to developed something for sustaining,” he said when discussing the possibility of adding a completely new pitch to his repertoire. Second, his “new” slider did not get the same incubation process as Guardado’s splitter received. Perkins points out that once the season starts, those side sessions become a luxury for a closer. When he decided to flip the pitch, he was coming off a 15 appearances in the month of May, rarely getting the opportunity to work on things in between outings. Therefore the majority of his slider development came after long toss during pre-game warm-ups with former teammate Brian Duensing. Perkins fiddled with the pitch and, ultimately, he figured if it failed miserably he could always go back to his previous slider grip. **** “I don’t like to go in there and fix a damn engine when you only need to change a spark plug,” Guardado said about his bullpen coaching philosophy. In many ways, that applies to what Perkins is going through at this stage in his career. Yes, he has added more preventative maintenance, opting to spend the winter in Fort Myers and mixing in more strength training to his conditioning program (something he admitted was never a part of his offseason workouts before). This, he believes, will keep the engine running throughout the duration of the 2016 season. In terms of on-field performance, Perkins is hoping that the on-the-fly tinkering with the slider will help him improve without a complete rebuild. He acknowledges his velocity is down from several years ago and does not expect to throw over 95 again in his career. Similar to the slider grip, he has played with a two-seam fastball all spring training to give hitters another look. He’s not fixing the damn engine, simply making a few tweaks. Click here to view the article

Good write-up. In researching the 1987 team, I found some interesting quotes from MacPhail on how the deal came together. http://twinsdaily.com/articles.html/_/minnesota-twins-news/1987-revisited-gladden-slams-cards-r4222

RE: Full counts... Nobody threw him strikes. Nobody threw him fastballs. It is an amazing amount of respect for the big guy/disrespect for Trevor Plouffe.

When you look at him, you wouldn’t realize that Max Kepler was a cold-blooded killer. Behind the laid-back, polite, innocent-looking demeanor is a 23 year old who is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of murdering Southern League pitching. By now, most are familiar with Kepler’s intriguing backstory – a player signed as a teenager from the baseball boondocks of Berlin. His makeup and athleticism wowed Twins scouts to the point that they were willing to make him the highest paid European amateur signing, in spite of the fact that Kepler had played more soccer than he had baseball. His lack of experience was apparent upon his introduction to a better pool of competition. “You watched him back in the Gulf Coast League and Cedar Rapids, he didn’t know what he was doing,” said Mike Radcliff, the Twins Vice President of Player Personnel. “He had a great body and a great swing and he had tools. He had no idea.” That was then. Now, Max Kepler is the reigning Southern League MVP. He essentially forced the Twins into giving him a September call-up. How did the 22-year-old suddenly flip the switch?Kepler says it was frustration with the status quo that prompted him to reevaluate his approach at the plate. In 2014 he was coming off a season where he slugged just .393 with Fort Myers. That was several points higher than the league’s average, to be sure, and the Florida State League with its sweltering, oppressive humidity in the summer months has a way of zapping power from many promising prospects. That being said, he was certainly not creating the type of power expected from a corner outfielder with a six-foot-four frame. “I was rehabbing with Fort Myers and I started with the same approach that I had in '14 and I wasn't happy with it,” Kepler explains. “I was just hitting singles and I wasn't generating much power, which I was looking for in '15. And then, kind of on my own, I just started to raise my leg a little more and sit back on my backside. Which wasn't really a leg kick yet but I had momentum going in my swing.” Since he began the 2015 season late and was assigned with the Miracle as what amounted to a rehab stint, his use in the lineup was sporadic and his at-bats were limited. The inconsistency combined with the new swing did not produce much. It was in Chattanooga that Kepler’s 2015 season began its upward trajectory. Working with Lookouts hitting coach Chad Allen, he says, gave him the guidance to improve his swing as well as confidence to keep using it, in spite of some initial struggles during his introduction to the Southern League. “Chad Allen told me, you know, why not just mingle with the leg kick and see what happens for a week or two. The first week, I struggled and kept [the leg kick] low and then the second week, I felt really comfortable, balanced. It got bigger.” After 12 games into his Chattanooga career, Kepler had a dozen hits, sprinkling in a double and a pair of triples in almost 50 at-bats. The results seemed very similar to his output in Fort Myers. Then, in the final game of a series against the Jackson Generals, he hit two doubles. Something clicked and the floodgates opened. Over the next five games, he hit another five doubles. Kepler said he did not model his swing after any particular hitter but he has studied the Rockies’ Carlos Gonzalez and his leg work. “I try to be as quiet and soft as he is in the landing,” Kepler says. http://i.imgur.com/aWtUQBM.gif http://i.imgur.com/BWAb7Sz.gif Obviously Gonzalez was a much more polished hitter entering professional baseball (as opposed to Kepler who honed his skills in the baseball hotbed of Germany), and Gonzalez has the good fortune to call Coors Field home where balls travels in the high altitude, but it’s not difficult to envision Kepler adding more home runs to his resume this season. Evaluators say that it is not just what Kepler has done physically with his swing but he has also made improvements in his ability to handle the game between the ears. The mental side that Allen instilled, Kepler says, was to stop obsessing about the count and quit worrying about when pitchers get ahead. Just let it fly. “He told me to be more aggressive. I was more of a patient hitter, didn't like striking out a lot. I was more of a slap hitter once I got a strike on me.” Twins hitting coach Tom Brunansky, who says he views Kepler’s minor league development last season as one of the organization’s biggest accomplishments of the year, also had a hand in getting Kepler to pull the ball with authority. “I told Chad, I said his job is to get Max to pull the ball the right way,” he said. “Max has always been able to barrel the ball, put it to left field, left center. Pulling was always a struggle for him.” Contrary to what most believe about the Minnesota Twins’ curation of hitters, inside the organization coaches and instructors work diligently on trying to maximize power potential, not reduce it. This may not have always been the case but there is a renewed emphasis on developing power. The message from the top of the minor league development chain is to drive balls, show aggression and, yes, pull the ball. Kepler, who says he used to “inside out a lot of balls” earlier in his career, has shifted his approach to pulling the ball rather than focusing on dumping a fastball to left field. “You don’t beat up the Southern League and become an MVP like he did without pulling the ball,” Brunansky remarked. “To Max and Chad’s credit, he learned how to pull the ball the right way. You see that coming back into camp this year, which is good. The ball jumps off his bat, he’s got a real quick back.” Some wondered if Kepler’s other offensive skill sets would erode with the focus on generating more power. Would the message to be more aggressive translate into swinging at more pitches out of the zone? Would his strikeouts skyrocket into Adam Walker territory? Interestingly enough, even with the more aggressive mindset, Kepler actually reduced his strikeout rate in Double-A (from 15 to 13 percent of plate appearances). What’s more, as the season progressed and he continued to hammer the ball, pitchers began to respect his power and pitch around him. The naturally patient Kepler was savvy enough to accept a free pass to first. He went from walking in 8 percent of his plate appearances to 14 percent. Those numbers are trending in a mighty fine direction. **** No, Max Kepler was not going to beat out any of the existing outfielders for a spot to start the 2016 season but the move is a blessing in disguise. The crowded roster will give Kepler the time to find out if his revamped approach will hold up against theoretically better pitching in Triple-A. With the minor leagues, baseball has one of the best filtration processes and, as Brunansky says, pitchers will give you instant feedback whether or not an approach will work. If it doesn’t work, Kepler will have to make more adjustments. On the other hand, if he embarrasses International League pitching the way he did the Southern League’s pitchers, he won’t be down for too long. Click here to view the article

I'm not suggesting he held back. I'm suggesting he was working on his two-seamer (or something like hitting a spot, etc). Relievers don't have the opportunity to work on things in-season. They don't get the side pens like starters do. They have spring training to test things where results don't matter. The veteran guys who have a roster spot don't need to try to impress on the radar gun. This is something that should be revisited at the end of April or in May.

Perkins also hit 94 the other day. I had a chat with him and he says he feels much better now than where he was at this point last year. Naturally, all players say they are in the best shape of their lives. He pointed out that he had the early spring training injury last year that kept him from pitching to start the Grapefruit League so this year he felt more season ready. The velocity isn't a concern at this point.

Still had Runzler on the brain. Thanks.

Another day and yet another Minnesota Twins victory in the Grapefruit League. On the field, the offense was not nearly as potent had it been the previous day in Port Charlotte but the shutout of the Pirates’ lineup today proved that the minimum amount of runs was needed to win. Off the field, the front office made several roster moves which solidified the position players heading north and left four remaining slots for pitchers to be determined. Here is more from Saturday from around the complex.* Kyle Gibson tossed six scoreless innings as the Twins topped the Pirates 3-0 at Hammond Stadium, using an assortment of breaking balls to keep Pirates hitters off kilter and register eight strikeouts. Gibson said he mixed in plenty of curve balls in the game, a pitch that he has been trying to incorporate more. The curve has not been getting the swings-and-misses like he would like to see. He did note that the pitch gets the hitters to move their hands on takes and induces weak contact. “I think it plays my slider up a little bit,” Gibson said of the effects of throwing more curve balls. “I think the bigger break on the curve and the slider more like a fastball, I like throwing those two in the same at-bat main because the slider ends up looking like the fastball. It’s something that just throws a little bit of a wrinkle and throws their timing off.” * In the fifth inning, Pittsburgh catcher Chris Stewart hit a grounder to shortstop Eduardo Escobar. Escobar unleashed a hard but errant throw across the diamond that seemed like it had a date with the first base stands. Byung Ho Park, in an extremely athletic manner, leapt and snagged the ball out of the air and came down to retire Stewart in time. Earlier in the game, Park also made a diving stop of a Cole Figueroa smash down the line. “I found out early in camp that he could catch the ball,” Molitor remarked about Park’s defensive chops. “He doesn’t panic, he slows the plays down pretty well. The teaching aspect for him this spring has been more the nuances of the position that have somehow been overlooked in his development over there.” The Twins obviously have Joe Mauer ensconced at first base and he has greatly improved his defensive capabilities at the position, but he seems rigid and still learning the position at times. Park, on the other hand, conducts his business on the field like a true defensive first baseman. * With the six moves from this morning, the Twins are down to 29 players in camp -- 16 of whom are pitchers. The team has expressed the desire to limit the pitching staff to 12 so the next four cuts will involve pitchers. Among those on the bubble are lefties Fernando Abad, Logan Darnell and Ryan O’Rourke as well as right-handers Michael Tonkin and Brandon Kintzler as relievers. Starter hopefuls Tyler Duffey and Ricky Nolasco will pitch on Monday, with one of them joining Tommy Milone in the rotation. Manager Paul Molitor has made it clear that the Twins intend to keep Duffey as a starter and he will not be an option of the pen in spite of being a closer in college. * When the Twins signed Carlos Quentin to a minor league contract, they built in a June 1st opt-out date. The agreement is a common one between veteran players and the parent clubs. The Twins, however, also gave Quentin assurances that they would give him the ability to explore other employment options if they were not going to use him at the major league level. “He’s probably gonna take a day or so to decide on what he wants to do,” Ryan said. “We certainly offered him the chance to play at Triple-A.” The Twins were satisfied with Quentin’s contributions this spring but the numbers game was not favorable for him. “He had some good days here,” Ryan admitted. “And he stayed healthy, which is one of the concerns you might have, but we’re going to go this path at this time. Now that’s not saying that if goes to Triple-A and all of a sudden he gets going down there, there’s an opportunity to come back.” “I think he handled himself well considering he hadn’t played for a year,” Molitor said of Quentin’s performance this spring. “He still looks like a threat in some ways and I think at-bats will help him, if he decides to go that route.” READ: Carlos Quentin Among Six Twins Roster Cuts * For several reasons, the Twins kept Oswaldo Arcia as the bench bat/backup outfielder over the veteran Quentin. Arcia was out of options and, despite struggling the last two years, he is teeming with promise. Arcia had been working hard this offseason to improve his approach at the plate overall, but has specifically focused on handling left-handed pitching. His two home runs in Jupiter on Thursday opened some eyes. “He spent almost all winter here,” Ryan said. “He came in in good shape, he’s got things to prove, he did a better job this spring on defense - throwing, routes, all that stuff defensive. Obviously we’re keeping him mostly for that bat and that power. It’s his opportunity to take some quality at-bats and make that the right decision for us.” For his career, Arcia has hit just .231/.271/.343 against southpaws and just .164 when lefties attacked the outer-third of the strike zone. Both home runs came on balls on the outer-half, showing some indications that the left-handed swinger may be turning a corner. Arcia's inclusion raised questions regarding Molitor’s ability to get some players regular at-bats, something that young hitters like Arcia need to build confidence. “I haven’t thought about how much I am going to play him,” Molitor said. “I do know that I like to keep people involved, particularly early.” * Twins bullpen coach Eddie Guardado says he likes to keep things simple with his relievers when it comes to making adjustments. “I don’t like to go in there and fix a damn engine when you only need to change a spark plug.” * It was pointed out to Trevor Plouffe this week that he had not hit fastballs well in 2016. According to ESPN/TruMedia, Plouffe’s .220 batting average against fastballs was the fourth lowest among qualified hitters. The previous year he had hit .282 while driving 23 doubles (compared to 14 in 2015) on heaters last year. So why the big difference? Were pitchers attacking him differently? Was he hunting after sliders? Plouffe was surprised by the data and had no explanation for the sudden decline. A day later in Port Charlotte, Plouffe launched two mammoth home runs. When asked if those came on fastballs, he just smiled and nodded. Narrative busted. The Twins like Plouffe’s ability to take professional at-bats as a cleanup hitter. “He’s capable for hitting in that slot because he can get a hit and he can hit it over the fence every now and then. I don’t think it fazes him much,” Molitor said of Plouffe. Ryan echoed that sentiment saying Plouffe was “about the ideal guy” to hit behind Sano in order to keep pitchers honest. * The Twins travel to Tampa tomorrow to face the New York Yankees where Phil Hughes, Ryan Pressly and Fernando Abad will throw. The minor leagues will have inter-squad games at 10 AM on the backfields. Click here to view the article

I don't think there is anything a team can glean from Buxton's discussion. Sure, he wants to be more aggressive early in the count. Until anything changes and he proves he can hit in those situations, they'll likely continue to pitch to him the same.

I'm thinking Quentin and his agent will discuss their options. This might be the Twins' way of giving him an opportunity to explore another job before committing to Rochester. Ryan will address the media at 12:30 EST so we'll learn more soon.

The Carlos Quentin comeback experiment will be delayed. The Minnesota Twins made six moves this morning, trimming the roster down to 29 players, including reassigning the veteran Quentin to Rochester.Joining Quentin on the Triple-A roster is catcher John Hicks, who had hit .304/.292/.348 in 12 spring games. Meanwhile position players Darin Mastroianni, Juan Centeno, James Beresford and pitcher Dan Runzler were reassigned to the minor league camp leaving 29 players left in camp. The Twins now have sixteen pitchers, two catchers, six infielders and five outfielders remaining with four cuts left to make. Quentin, who was in the running for a spot on the bench as a right-handed bat, has a June 1 opt-out in his contract. The 33-year-old signed a minor league deal this offseason in hopes of returning after a year off from baseball. He performed well in the spring, hitting a pair of home runs and posting a .250/.333/.500 line over 15 games. Earlier in the week, assistant GM Rob Antony told reporters that the team had a “gentlemen’s agreement” with Quentin, saying that the team would let Quentin out of his deal if they felt there would be no room for the veteran going forward. Quentin’s reassignment paves the way for Oswaldo Arcia to assume the role of part-time outfielder, DH and pinch hitter. Arcia has not had a strong spring, but a pair of opposite field home runs of left-handed pitching this week has given the Twins some reassurances that Arcia’s offseason work is paying off. Click here to view the article

Seems just based on speed alone he should hit over .260. The swinging bunt yesterday was a prime example of how he's going to get hits that others would have been thrown out on. He still doesn't look fully comfortable when facing this competition. Even with the swing change, he doesn't swing with intent. He seems more defensive in his swings. As he said, he doesn't like hitting with two strikes (who does) but if the approach is swinging to avoid two strikes rather than driving the right pitch well... It's a mental/comfort thing.

Molitor stressed that there are three pitchers and two slots. Everyone is being coy about the outcome but my guess is that they have made their decision and will let everyone know at the end of camp. No reason to make an announcement until they find out if everyone is healthy.

With the regular season start a little over a week away, the Minnesota Twins announced their presence with authority in Port Charlotte. On their field, bats came alive and the pitching was crisp. On the personnel side, the team made several moves, paring down the roster. Take a look at the happenings around camp.* Ervin Santana, who was recently appointed the Opening Day starter, was absolutely unsolvable as he ran through the Rays’ lineup. With eight strikeouts over seven innings (59 strikes on 85 pitches) Santana appeared sharp and ready for the real games to begin. Keep the ball down and throw strikes was Santana’s blueprint but he mixed in a diving changeup and his biting slider which incited plenty of awkward swings off the Rays’ bats. Santana’s batterymate also noticed that the righty had been amping up the velocity. “I think he was throwing a bit harder from the get go than I was used to,” catcher Kurt Suzuki said after Santana’s outing. “He was 94, 95 at the beginning so you can tell he’s starting to get to season form.” * Trevor Plouffe and Kurt Suzuki tortured Rays’ starter Drew Smyly. Plouffe belted a pair of home runs to left while Suzuki had a double before launching his first of two home runs (he would get his second later in the seventh inning). Suzuki had fouled a pitch off his Achilles heel and spent some time trying to shake it off. Twins trainers emerged from the spacious Charlotte Sports Park dugout to tend to the catcher. Suzuki eventually returned to the batters’ box and promptly jacked the first offering from Smyly into the boardwalk area over the left-center field wall. “He has a way of beating himself up out there,” Molitor said in reference to Suzuki’s ability to absorb constant punishment from baseballs. Suzuki’s spring has not been necessarily strong but Molitor likes to see all the work Suzuki has been putting in trying to improve on his abysmal 2015 season. “I’ve been working with Bruno and Rudy in the cages,” Suzuki said after the game. “So it’s nice to see stuff paying off.” Suzuki says it is a work in progress but the coaches have been keeping his head still (something I pointed out at Twins Daily last month), not drifting to the ball and keeping a firm base in his swing. Suzuki’s success against Smyly and Jhan Martinez built some confidence in the process. Molitor said the team doesn’t expect Suzuki to hit for power but would like to see him continue to have strong at-bats. “It hasn’t been a really good spring for him but he’s worked hard.” * Bullpen coach Eddie Guardardo was beaming after the game. Why? “He threw BP to [Plouffe] and Suzuki today so he’s trying to take all the credit,” Molitor explained. READ: Will Byron Buxton’s Swing Changes Lead To A Breakout Season? * As expected, the Twins reassigned Max Kepler to the AAA roster. Kepler entered spring with an outside chance of winning a job but it was apparent that he was not going to beat out any of the existing position players for a spot. Still, the Twins were happy with what they saw from the 22-year-old, specifically his defensive chops. “This is the first camp he’s gotten much activity,” Twins general manager Terry Ryan said of his performance. “He played left, he played center, he played first. I felt like he did a decent job defensively.” Ryan remarked he was impressed with Kepler’s throw from the outfield during Thursday’s game in Jupiter. “That’s probably the biggest part of his game. I don’t think there is any question that he can field, that he can run.” Kepler is going to play all over the diamond in Rochester -- including time at first base -- but the emphasis will be on getting him time in the outfield. * Earlier in the week, Kepler discussed his improved approach at the plate. He added the leg kick on his own but also said he has changed the mental side of his game as well. In the past he felt like he became timid when pitchers would get a strike on him. Now, he doesn’t let the strikes dictate his approach. “I was more of a patient hitter, didn't like striking out a lot. I was more of a slap hitter once I got a strike on me. I didn't let that phase me in '15 and the leg kick kind of pushed that approach and be more aggressive.” Kepler believes that he is capable of pumping out more home runs when he applies his new approach over a full season. * Twins also announced they released outright Cedar Rapids native Ryan Sweeney. Initially he had told reporters that he was put through waivers but Ryan clarified. The Twins did not have conversations with him regarding a minor league assignment. “Some of the other guys who are still in camp emerged,” Ryan said. “It’s not anything he did not do. He came in and had plenty of opportunity. We gave him a lot of exposure, we gave him a chance. We just got some people that are ahead of him.” Sweeney went 10-for-37 (.270) with six walks (second only to Miguel Sano’s nine) in 16 Grapefruit League games. READ: Minnesota Twins’ Roster Projection 4.0 * Tyler Duffey has been working diligently on mastering his change-up this spring. After allowing a home run on a 3-1 change to Jose Bautista in Toronto in his first major league start, Duffey shelved the pitch. In his most recent spring start, Duffey said he mixed in a decent amount but grounded them early in the outing. When he tried to make an in-game adjustment with the pitch, he hung one in the middle of the zone that was launched into the neighboring property. In evaluating Duffey’s performance, Terry Ryan said that the staff is taking Duffey’s efforts to work on a new pitch into account rather than a review of his results. “You got to be careful about watching a guy out here when he’s working on a pitch,” Ryan said. “You have to take that into consideration. And he’s thrown a lot of change-ups.” Duffey will get one more opportunity this spring in game action when he and Ricky Nolasco will pitch on Monday in separate games. Ryan dispelled the notion that the two are competing head-to-head but it is difficult not to view those two appearances as influential in the decision-making process. * In minor league action, Jose Berrios threw in the AAA game. According to Twins Daily contributor Bob Sacamento, Berrios was sitting 93 but hit 95 with the fastball in his last inning of work. He also mixed in a slider (85 MPH) and change-up (around 75 MPH) to keep Oriole hitters off-balance. The right-hander finished the day with five innings of work, allowing two hits while strikeout out seven. Twins’ 2014 first round draft pick, shortstop Nick Gordon, returned to game action after suffering a hamstring/back injury. Click here to view the article

Byron Buxton was not completely satisfied with his introduction to baseball’s highest level. That’s the simplistic way to phrase it. More accurate: Pitchers dissected him like a science project. He swung through a high percentage of over the plate. His strikeout rate ballooned as they threw him a bevy of breaking balls and fastballs off the plate. When he did connect, more often than not, the ball came off his bat at the speed of spilt syrup. This performance was unbecoming of the game’s top prospect. Hitting the ball -- and hitting the ball hard -- has been Buxton’s goal heading into his second tour of duty and he’s made changes to reach that goal.While Buxton acknowledged he was seeing pitches and movement that he had never truly experienced in the minor leagues, he was not making any excuses for the results either. “I gotta sit in the strike zone,” he said about his tendency to chase pitches. “I mean, yeah, it's a big adjustment up here but you gotta make adjustments to pitchers too. It was a little tough transition for me to adjust early but later on in the season I started picking up a little more and I was starting to feel really good at the plate.” After striking out in nearly 40 percent of his plate appearances over his first 21 games, he was able to reduce the frequency to 25 percent over the last 25 games. He quit chasing as many pitches out of the zone and he was able to put the barrel on a few more. Buxton said that he felt that he was able to anticipate a bit better what pitchers were trying to do with him in his last month of the season. “I started figuring out a little bit of what they might be try to do to me in certain situations. When I went up there I just got ready to hit. I got ready to hit the fastball and if they threw a fastball in there I put a pretty good swing on it.” Going forward, however, Buxton wants to be aggressive earlier in the at-bat and avoid the dreaded two-strike counts. “It's hard to hit with two strikes, especially up here in the bigs,” he said. “So if they throw you a pitch you can handle or a pitch you want, that's the pitch the majority of the guys will jump on and do damage with. It's hard to hit with two strikes with the nasty breakers and change-ups and cutters and sinkers. It's too many pitches you try to rely when you just took a get-me-over curve ball or down the middle fastball.” In terms of his contact, the gory batted ball numbers paint a somber portrait of Buxton’s first season with the Twins. ESPN/TruMedia’s data said that Buxton posted a .054 well-hit average (compared to the MLB norm of .138) which was the fifth-lowest among all hitters with 90 or more plate appearances. Likewise, according to BaseballSavant.com, Buxton’s 2015 Exit Velocity average was 87.3 miles per hour. In a simple terms, a ball hit 87 miles per hour roughly translates to a .236 average with a paltry .282 slugging percentage last season. On the other hand, if he were able to increase the exit velocity to send more pitches back out at the 90-95 mile per hour range, he could be looking at a .290 average with a .400 slugging -- a slash line that would be very respectable for a 22-year-old center fielder. In order to generate more velocity off the bat, Buxton worked on incorporating a little leg kick into his swing. “I went into the offseason last year and picked up a little bit of a leg kick, not too big,” Buxton said of his subtle change. “I want to keep [the leg kick] where it's at -- not too big, not trying to being overpowering. Keep me back behind the ball. Keep my head still. It's more for me to get that edge to make contact a little bit more, try to hit the ball hard and more consistent.” So far this spring he is satisfied with this changes in his swing. The hardest part, he says is gaining the right amount of at-bats to feel fully confident. “It's all about getting comfortable, especially if you have never had it before like I had,” he emphasized. “Just getting at-bats, get it comfortable, get to where you know when you need to start your load, where to finish your load, things like that. It's going good. I've gotten comfortable at the plate.” Byron Buxton is in the midst of the maturation process. In some capacity, all players go through this stage. Some do it quickly and some linger. Buxton has all the raw natural tools to be one of the game’s best two-way players. A rough introduction at the plate shouldn’t sidetrack that outcome. Click here to view the article

It has taken twelve years in the majors but Ervin Santana can finally add Opening Day Starter to his resume. With a Cheshire smile on his face, Santana says he took the news in stride. “It feels good,” Santana admitted but then quickly downplayed the significance of the assignment. “To me, it's great but I take it as another start and I just prepare for the day. Same game. Nothing changes. I just have that in my mind and go up there and perform.” The 2016 season will starting significantly differently for Santana after missing the first 80 games last year when he tested positive for PEDs. And this year he hopes to set the tone for the season in a more meaningful way: By picking up where he left off.Santana's track record has earned him the right to usher in the new season. When his suspension was up, he struggled to get up to speed, posting an ugly 6.05 ERA in his first 10 games. However from the end of August forward, no Twins starter had worked as deep into games and had as much success as Santana did over his last seven outings in 2015. In fact, in that time only Chicago’s Jake Arrieta (0.33 ERA) and Cleveland’s Cody Anderson (1.38 ERA) posted lower ERAs than Santana. Only Arrieta allowed fewer home runs per nine innings. Based on that, the Twins made the easy decision heading into spring training that -- barring any unforeseen circumstances -- Santana would be handed the pearl in Baltimore. “It was kind of conversations with [pitching coach] Neil [Allen] prior to spring training, beginning of spring training,” Paul Molitor said of the decision to set the rotation the way they did. “You know you have to set it up somehow, some way. You can always adjust early according to injuries or something that becomes apparent. How they're throwing the baseball. We kind of thought that order made sense at the beginning if everyone was healthy.” With Santana leading the rotation, Molitor said that he would be followed by Kyle Gibson and Phil Hughes in Baltimore but refrained from announcing his fourth and fifth starters. Molitor mentioned the uncertainty surrounding Phil Hughes, who was coming off a “sub-par” season, as the reason why he was dropped to third in the rotation. Hughes has suffered from recurring issues with a disc in his lower back but said that since he received an epidural, the disc has been able to heal and has responded well this spring. The right-hander has been consistently sitting at 90-92 in his starts and has struck out nine over 11 innings in Grapefruit action. Ervin Santana will be the eighth different Opening Day starter for the Minnesota Twins since the 2006 season. Since then only Carl Pavano (2011, 2012) and Johan Santana (2005, 2006) have thrown in multiple Opening Days. Click here to view the article

At the beginning of the month it was assumed that Tyler Duffey would be enjoying crab cakes and Flying Dog with the rest of the Twins rotation when the season started in Baltimore. After all, manager Paul Molitor said that it would take something “fairly significant” to not have Duffey as one of his five starters. Whatever the reason -- because of his spring training results, inability to adapt quickly, or the progress of others -- Duffey’s rotation certainty has waned. If the Twins’ decision-makers are looking at the results, Wednesday did not help Duffey’s cause.In a start against the Orioles' minor leaguers on the CenturyLink Sports Complex backfield (as chief competitor, Ricky Nolasco, prepared for his start at Hammond Stadium), Duffey failed to assert himself, allowing six runs spread over 5.2 innings on 90 pitches. Molitor, who had endorsed Duffey several weeks ago, watched several innings of what was an appearance marked with loud contact and inability to put hitters away on two-strike counts. “I was missing arm-side a little bit with my fastballs,” said Duffey of his outing. “They got me behind occasionally, and then I left some over the middle that got hit fairly well today.” The Orioles minor leaguers jumped on Duffey in the second inning, tagging him for a single, double and topped with a mammoth three-run shot to left-center as Molitor looked on. Duffey, who was around the zone for the most part, failed to get hitters to chase his curve ball out of the zone. “I've noticed that all spring,” Duffey said of his curve. “I think guys know it's coming so they're sitting on it. One guy took two fastballs. Didn't even budge. I think he was sitting dead-red on curve ball. So that's where now I'm going to have to adjust accordingly.” Duffey’s curve was clearly his best weapon in 2015 and he leaned on it heavily. According to Fangraphs.com he threw it 39.8 percent of his mix, tied with Toronto’s Brett Cecil for highest usage. Naturally the word on the deuce is getting out. However, Duffey thinks he has the solution to combat opponents’ approach. “Instead of trying to bury it,” he said he was going to simply “throw [the curve] for a strike. I think I can get away with more fastballs throwing that too. That's just the adjustment.” Duffey has also worked diligently on his change-up this spring, a pitch he needs to put the finishing touches on. After throwing several into the dirt to Orioles hitters, Duffey said he made an adjustment to bring the pitch up some, only to do so at the wrong time. In the fourth, he hung a change to a hitter who launched a two-run shot to left-center. Despite the six runs allowed, Duffey said he felt good about the process, including the in-game adjustments with his change-up. “I felt good but my location just wasn’t as good as it had been.” Duffey will likely get one more opportunity to show the Twins he can make his adjustments quicker and without so much barrel involved. Click here to view the article