Parker Hageman

Great question. This was something I wanted to add a paragraph about but could not find any articles attempting to answer that question. It is possible that this was addressed at some point during that year by either the Star Tribune or Pioneer Press however I don't have access to those archives. I would assume that someone would have mentioned it to him after his totals dropped so dramatically. Only thing I can find cited is that Puckett told reporters at the All-Star Game that he was failing to find a "groove": Still, he won his first and only batting title that year so he was clearly hitting the ball hard -- it just wasn't leaving the park.

According to Terry Ryan, the strike played a significant role in Mack's decision to take the two-year deal with Tokyo Giants. There was little indication of January 1995 that the strike would be over to begin the season so Mack's signing seemed fair in retrospect.

Frankly, I wrote this post on facts. We know these things happened. I acknowledged that there were people who believed that Puckett may have taken steroids but there is not one iota of proof -- not one dealer, a person with knowledge or a smoking needle if you will. Any attempts to connect him to steroids is just unfounded speculation. Could it be true? Sure. Obviously with what happened in baseball the past decade I would not be one bit surprised to find out everyone was on steroids at some point. If you would like to speculate further based on rumors or hearsay, I recommend you provide your analysis in the blogs section.

Hitting instructor Bobby Tewksbary (http://tewk****ting.com/) and I were going back on several video clips of Mauer's swing from 2009 to the current edition recently. Given that clips are limited, grainier and from different angles (Dome vs Target Field) from 2009, it is hard to put together anything comprehensive. There are minor, minor differences (there's a bit more upper body tilt now, his got a more open stance now, etc). The only thing that stands out to me -- and it is hard to confirm based on the video clips -- is that he appears to be loading more with his hands/arms and shoulders before he starts his swing and that in my opinion may play a small factor in his bat speed: 2009: http://m.mlb.com/video/v5027405/minchc-mauers-seeingeye-single-plates-punto 2014: http://m.mlb.com/video/v35291327/minhou-mauers-single-leads-to-two-runs-in-9th/?c_id=mlb I would have to GIF and isolate this but watch his loading process before bringing his hands forward. This is a trait that appears to be consistent between the two years. Is these move causing issues in his swing? Slowing his bat down? Is this intentional attempt at trying to manufacture power instead of letting it happen?

I thought a note from Halsey Hall in his Hammond Happenings thread saying that the Twins had requested that Oliva and Rod Carew not give hitting instruction any more was interesting: http://twinsdaily.com/topic/16825-hammond-happenings/?p=306228

We do fixate a lot on the leg kick that Puckett added, but it is not necessarily the driving force that helped him accumulate all those home runs. In his profile of Jose Bautista's reinvention, it was the timing of his swing that was the focal point of his rebuild -- the leg keg was added for "rhythm". Puckett's leg kick added rhythm and helps with his timing. Timing was one of the cited factors for Brian Dozier's increased power. Arcia possesses the similar leg kick but you see his timing being off -- that is one area I hope he focuses on for the future.

Ben Revere has the highest contact rate in the majors. He is not one leg kick away from 20+ home runs in a season. I understand what you are driving at but that is a vast oversimplification for what happened to Puckett from 1985 to 1986. Can Mauer do this? Maybe. He does have the issue of not being able to pull the ball: http://twinsdaily.com/_/minnesota-twins-news/what-happened-to-joe-mauer-r3348.

I don't know if Puckett ever laid off certain pitches -- I recall that he still swung at offerings that he couldn't hit with a 10-foot pole throughout his career -- but pulling the ball more seemed to allow for greater success, whether it was because of keeping the defense honest or just because he was driving the ball harder. Obviously we do not have batted ball data or swing zone heat maps like we do now but that would have been great to compare those seasons (1984-1985 to after).

In response to the weight gain, Puckett responded by saying the added LBs helped him stay back/anchored.

In 1986 the Minnesota Twins' Kirby Puckett jumped from four home runs to 31 in a single-season. How did he do it?In baseball history there are a handful of players who have transformed from a mediocre player into a power threat overnight. Toronto’s Jose Bautista is an example of that -- someone who had hit home runs in the low double-digits and was suddenly jacking 30-plus home runs each season. Like Minnesota’s Kirby Puckett, Bautista had the prerequisite tools which can equate to that type of power (quick hands, strong lower-half and powerful hips). The trick was putting it all together. For Puckett the tipping point would come in his third season with the Twins. In his first two season in the majors Puckett posted an impressive .292 average but hit just only four home runs in over 1,300 trips to the plate. That style of hitting according to Rachel A. Koestler-Grack in her book “Kirby Puckett (Baseball Superstars)” was based on the teachings from one of the organization’s roving minor league hitting instructors and legendary hitter, Tony Oliva. Together, Oliva and Puckett honed his inside-out swing that delivered base hit after base hit offered little in the way of power. However some in the organization sensed that beneath the singles exterior was long ball potential. Puckett would just need a push. The push may have come in the form of peer pressure. Puckett told Sports Illustrated in 1986 that Reggie Jackson had found Puckett in the outfield before a game in Anaheim two years prior. Jackson approached the then-rookie center fielder. Looking him up and down, Jackson asked "You hit the long ball?" "Nope", Puckett replied, "I’m a base-hit hitter." "Then what am I doing here," Jackson said mockingly, "Why am I talking to this Punch and Judy hitter?" Opponents weren't the only ones who would poke fun at Puckett’s single-minded approach at the plate. His own teammates would razz him for the lack of power. When he finally hit a home run in 1985, the rest of the Twins gave him the silent treatment in the dugout which Puckett felt was a dig. According to Chuck Carlson in his book “Puck!” the Twins’ regular lead-off hitter released his frustration in batting practice, at one point clearing the fence on 10 swings in a row. Puckett made the decision that he wanted to add the long ball to his repertoire. Even though he believed he could be a power hitter, Puckett was apprehensive about altering his swing from the base hit mode. “It scared me because being a home run hitter brings a lot more pressure. I didn’t know whether I wanted that,” Puckett said. It would be Oliva, who had moved on to being the major league hitting coach, who would help convince him that it would be beneficial beyond just the home runs, it would led to more base hits as well. Puckett’s opposite field approach had allowed teams to shift their outfield around on him to prevent him from driving the ball into empty space in right (not unlike the inverse alignment that Joe Mauer faced on occasion in 2014). Pulling the ball more, Oliva convinced Puckett, would open up the field for more hits to fall as outfielders would have to play back more to respect his bat. In addition to the approach adjustment Puckett also hit the weights hard during the offseason -- or perhaps the buffet, depending on who you asked. When he reported to spring training in 1986 Puckett tipped the scales at 212 pounds. That kind of weight on his five-foot-eight frame caused some concern among the coaching staff. He had gained 17 pounds over the winter. “What else can you do in Minnesota during the winter except eat?" Puckett jokingly said after he showed up to camp. Twins manager Ray Miller was not convinced this was necessarily a positive move. When the Twins entered a late-May series in New York, Miller implored his outfielder not attempt to drive anything out of the vast Yankee Stadium. After sending two long outs into the spacious outfield the previous night against the Yankees’ Ron Guidry, Miller reportedly told Puckett “this park’s too big for you” on the way back to the hotel. The next day, in his second at-bat Puckett drove a Joe Niekro offering 450+ feet over the center field wall. When Puckett returned to the dugout he told Miller “Too big for me, huh? There’s your ‘too big’” and refused to shake Miller’s hand in jest. Kirby Puckett had officially arrived. As the 1986 season progressed, Puckett was a one-man wrecking crew. His eight home runs in the month of April were the best in baseball. He added seven more in May. No longer was he a turf hitter, expected to drive the ball down or to right field. This out-pour of offense earned him a trip to his first All-Star Game in Houston. Here we can see the difference in Puckett’s swing from 1985 to 1986. While the ball in play results are nearly identical in both clips, the process is significantly different. The first clip is from August 1985. This is Puckett's pre-power swing that has a shorter leg kick and much more movement from his feet after his swing (diving at the pitch rather than keeping his weight back): http://i.imgur.com/03w4GVY.gif Compare that to his 1986 midsummer classic swing. Puckett displays his new swing complete with the iconic higher leg kick driving his weight to his back leg before firing forward: http://i.imgur.com/UHYFy3d.gif Former pitcher and All Star Game broadcast Jim Palmer summarized the changes. “They made a change. They moved him up on the plate, you can see him on top of the plate,” he said during Puckett’s 1986 All-Star Game at-bat. “He came up as basically a contact hitter, just trying to hit it down on the turf in Minnesota. This year Oliva did change him and if you look at his build you can see he can hit the ball a long way.” During the at bat Palmer mentioned that pitchers started to adjust to the new Puckett by busting him inside. Pitchers had started to throw inside on him to move him off the plate. On a road trip in Seattle, twice the Mariners’ hurlers threw at Puckett’s head to get him to move his feet. The message pitches didn’t phase him. “Pitchers have been knocking him down, and he has been knocking them back,'' Ray Miller told reporters. ''He hit one off a pitcher's leg in Seattle after the guy threw one behind his ear.'' Beginning in 1986 Puckett's new swing would result in 20-plus home runs in each of the next three seasons.The trademark Puckett swing would become a household brand when the Twins reached the World Series in 1987: http://i.imgur.com/MWUh9CI.gif And even more iconic in 1991: http://i.imgur.com/xCB11GG.gif There are plenty of theories of how Kirby Puckett became one of the first players to go from so little to so much power so quickly. Because it is baseball and steroids have permeated the game for so long, these trends invite accusations. Even Bill James lobbed some at Puckett in 2008. Is it possible that Kirby Puckett used steroids and make changes to his swing to get these results? Potentially, but there is nothing more than hearsay and unsubstantiated rumors. What we do know is that Kirby Puckett had the raw natural tools and physical stature to orchestrate that power production. He just needed the right coaching and the right mindset. In a way Puckett's story is not unlike Brian Dozier who was a few adjustments go from a single-season high of 12 home runs in the minors to 42 in 2016. Puckett's career trajectory is of a player who went from a turf burner to a power threat. Without that conversion, it's possible that the Twins don't win two World Series in five years. Click here to view the article

Who will be the Twins' fifth starter? What about center field? What will the clubhouse be like with Paul Molitor in charge? Where should I get a beer in Fort Myers? On this week's No Juice Podcast -- recorded at JL Beers in Northeast Minneapolis -- Dan Anderson and Parker Hageman are joined by MLB.com's Twins beat writer, Rhett Bollinger, to answer these questions and more. Click to listen.Other topics include cheating in Little League, Charles Barkley's anti-analytics rant and Phil Cuzzi's promotion. Mike Evans from JL Beers joins the show to talk about their mobile app and upcoming events, including the addition of the delicious and limited Bell's HopSlam to the taps on February 25th. He also shares how you can get $10 Burger Bucks for free which you can put towards that pint of beer. Listen below, on iTunes or on Stitcher: NO JUICE PODCAST, EPISODE #43: SPRING TRAINING PREVIEW WITH RHETT BOLLINGER Click here to view the article

In his first full season as a starter, Dee was a 3.1 WAR player. In terms of his E-Town performance? M'eh, I wouldn't focus on that. As opposed to Sano, Polanco and Buxton, Gordon was not afforded the luxury of getting his feet wet at a development level in the GCL. And trying to compare performances in those leagues across time is difficult. For instance, the offensive environment in the Appy League in 2011 was far superior to that of 2014. That could be a case of a better class of pitching or inferior offensive players but it goes to show comparing sheer OPS numbers is not telling of the entire story. Definitely correct in that he still needs to prove that his tools can result in success. His second season should be something to watch.

Yes, this was pointed out a lot in George Will's Men At Work during his Cal Ripken section. If a player can put stank on the ball -- with a quick release, mind you -- this increases the likelihood of covering the 5.5 hole between short and third and can help compensate for players like Hardy and Ripken that did not have blinding quickness.

Over the past 10 years, the Minnesota Twins have had some of the lowest production from the shortstop position among all MLB teams but the future may offer stability in the form of Nick Gordon. Selected with the fourth overall pick in 2014, Gordon entered the Twins’ system with lofty expectations. Certainly the Twins have used first-round picks on shortstops in the past -- such as Levi Michael (2011), Trevor Plouffe (2004) and Michael Cuddyer (1997) -- but eventually all were relocated to another spot in the field. Will Gordon suffer the same fate or can he develop into the two-way shortstop the organization has lacked for years?Age: 19 (DOB: 10/24/1995) 2014 Stats (Elizabethton): .294/.333/.366 (.699) with 6-2B, 4-3B, 1-HR ETA: 2018 2014 Ranking: N/A What’s To Like Baseball America anointed Gordon the Appalachian League’s number two prospect, citing his natural instincts, first-step quickness, soft hands in the field, and lightning quick hands at the plate leading to a contact-oriented approach. At short, he has displayed the tendencies of an elite defender with a rocket arm (he hit 94 mph with his fastball during a Perfect Game showcase in high school) which increases his range potential. The trick has been instilling in Gordon the idea that he can take his time, avoiding rushing his throws across the diamond -- which reportedly happened on several occasions this season -- but truly a lesson all shortstops must learn as they adapt to the faster game. Considering it was his first year of professional baseball where he was two years younger than the league’s average, his .294/.333/.366 slash line in 255 plate appearances was solid. In all, he was fourth in hits (69), second in runs scored (46), tied for third in triples (4), and tenth in stolen bases (11). Gordon’s season ended with the E-Twins in the playoffs and his left hand in a cast after suffering a broken finger against the Johnson City Cardinals in the postseason. Despite ending the year sidelined, the Twins are excited about his future. “With the maturity and skill level we saw from him in high school, we thought he’d be able to compete at that level and handle any adversity,” Twins Minor League Director Brad Steil told Twins Daily’s Seth Stohs on the decision to place Gordon in the advanced rookie league, “He was probably more prepared for pro ball than most high school players, having been around it most of his life because of his dad and brother.” With major league bloodlines -- an All-Star brother, Dee, who currently plays second for the Miami Marlins and father, Tom, who pitched for 21 years in the majors as a three-time All-Star -- the Twins know that he has the genetics to complement his personal drive to reach and excel at the major league level. “You value the gene,” said Mike Radcliff, the Twins’ Vice President of Player Personnel, last July. “When you come from a major league gene, that’s what it is all about. There’s a great value at the beginning of their careers and a feeling that they won’t be overmatched.” What’s Left To Work On Like any raw but talented prospect, Gordon has areas of his game that need improvement. Despite having all of the natural talent to play shortstop, Radcliff pointed out that as he ascends in the system the Twins want to see Gordon smooth out his footwork and pivot at second base, necessary components of middle infield success . Offensively, while he demonstrated an excellent ability to garner hits, Gordon’s plate discipline was lacking. He struck out in 18% of his plate appearances -- a decent rate compared to the league’s average -- but walked in just 4%, making him one of the league’s least frequent walkers. Improvement in that area would help buoy his on-base percentage and put him on the bases more in order to take advantage of his speed. While his pre-draft profile suggested he would provide power, ultimately the left-handed hitting Gordon’s swing stays inside the ball more which has made his spray chart look strikingly similar to that of Joe Mauer: ground balls to second and balls in the air to left. This distribution is not an optimal way to generate power. Admittedly Gordon is not exactly built like a brick blankhouse but adding weight has been a goal for him this offseason. The Twins stressed that they want to see him add to his “man muscles” which, in theory, should help him generate more power. For his part, Gordon has spent the offseason attempting to hasten that process. “I’ve just been working out, trying to put on some weight, and stay fast,” Gordon told Stohs in January. “Stay to my game. I’m loving the process.” What's Next Nick Gordon is gifted in ways that should make normal players envious but he still needs seasoning. It is hard not to be enamored of his work in the field. Dinged for eight errors -- a faulty stat on many levels -- his E-6 totals pale in comparison to seasons of past Elizabethton shortstops like Brian Dozier (14), James Beresford (23) or Trevor Plouffe (16). Will his patience at the plate increase? If you listen to Oakland’s GM Billy Beane, probably not wholesale. “It can be taught, but we’d have to take guys in diapers to do it,” the A’s general manager remarked in Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball. And Gordon acknowledges his aggressive approach which has led to a near .300 batting average. And what about his power numbers? Radcliff believes the extra bases will come as he matures and continues to fill out his frame. The Twins will likely move him to Class-A Cedar Rapids where he can hone his defensive skills and make adjustments at the plate. If he is able to damage that league both with his glove and bat, a stop in Fort Myers is likely not out of the question. TD Top Prospect #10: Nick Burdi TD Top Prospect #9: Trevor May TD Top Prospect #8: Eddie Rosario TD Top Prospect #7: Jorge Polanco TD Top Prospect #6: Nick Gordon TD Top Prospect #5: TD Top Prospect #4: TD Top Prospect #3: TD Top Prospect #2: TD Top Prospect #1: Click here to view the article

Great stuff overall, Jeremy. I'm hoping we see a lot more of Trevor May soon. The one thing I would like May to improve on -- besides the numbers -- is pitching from the stretch. It is in those situations that have weighed on his performance.

What is going on in Fort Myers? What happened to Joe Mauer? Did Oswaldo Arcia really change things up in Venezuela? Is Kent Hrbek a must-follow on Twitter? What's child birth like? On this week's No Juice Podcast Dan Anderson and Parker Hageman answer these questions and more. Click to listen.Other topics include Al Michaels' contention that the Twins pumped fake crowd noise into the Dome during the 1987 World Series, when the appropriate time to bring a child to their first baseball game is, and how to properly plan for Valentine's Day. Listen below, on iTunes or on Stitcher: NO JUICE PODCAST, EPISODE #42: "I GOT SOMETHIN AL CAN PUMP" Click here to view the article

Interesting notion, Seth. Went to check those numbers against Morneau and Span following their concussion seasons to see if there may be something to it. Check out their BA performances in those changing speed scenarios: Obviously this was just a rough-and-tough view of the data -- and batting average and the sample size is extremely volatile -- but considering the rapid drop the season after their concussions (aside from Span's jump in performances against changeups following fastballs), it is not entirely implausible to think that the brain injury is effecting the ability to track that kind of speed decline. If I were a baseball team, I would probably want to research that further and more in-depth.

According to ESPN/TruMedia's data, Mauer finished the with the seventh lowest BA in 0-2 counts at .068 (44 PAs). Jason Heyward at .053 finished with the worst in the game. One interesting note is that during those 0-2 situations, the most frequent pitch was a fastball up in the zone. This differed from the other seasons. This might be a trend in baseball or something opponents have targeted. Either way, Mauer was not successful against those pitches.

No, he was working out leading up to the Winter Caravan when he said he his offseason was "very productive". From ESPN.com last November:

He did increase his tendency to swing at the first pitch over the past few years: 2014 - 12% 2013 - 8% 2012 - 8% 2011 - 6% 2010 - 9% And, like you said, he did have success when swinging at those. In terms of Mauer hitting behind in the count, he didn't hit behind anymore than he did in the last six years. He did so more in 2012 and 2010 when he had very good years. This season, he's just performed poorly in those circumstances. Like I mentioned above, there appears to be a slight timing issue in his mechanics compared to his early model. That analysis is forthcoming. This would cause the swing-and-miss issues, the increased foul balls and decline in hard-hit contact.