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I've been a very tough critic of the Twins coaching staff, but Dozier has been on fire lately and I think a lot of it has to do with a new bat hitch. So kudos to them. Kepler looks like he has a plan up there. We gapped a ton of balls in that Cleveland series. I'm not sure how much of that is on the coaching staff, but there's a lot to like lately. Now only if we can get Mr. Sano going.

Very nice work here! Nerds (me included) could pick nits about accounting for draft position, outliers, or other variables... but still this is tremendous stuff. It should be printed in Strib or Pioneer Press. A few questions spring to mind, since you've already compiled much of the data... 1. If you throw out the top 2 or 3 players for each team, how do the ranking look? 2. Who is the most consistent? Who produced the most ML +WAR players? 3. What about over/underperforming their slots? I think average WAR by draft position is available, that might be interesting? For the most part, I don't have much vitrol for whom the Twins have selected. I usually look at the video for many of the players we pick and many others each year, and usually think... yeah these new Twins look pretty good. However, I do wonder how the Twins compare to development vs. other teams? Maybe the problem isn't that they are picking the wrong guys, but that they are not coaching them as effectively as other clubs? Are they doing biometric analysis, injury prevention analysis for pitchers, pitch recognition/selection training for hitters? Case in point... I recently watched the Fastball documentary. Very interesting, highly recommend it. One point they made that seems straightforward but has big implications was how the faster a guy throws the less his ball drops. That's why high velocity fastballs seem to ride/jump up, because they end up higher than your'e used to seeing. So, if you're facing Cabrera from Atlanta, who throws 100 mph, you need to factor this in - not just in terms of being quicker but SWINGING HIGHER. Last night Sano struck out and when I watched the replay frame by frame his bat appeared to be on time, but he was under the ball by a few inches. If that pitch was 92 he probably would have crushed it, assuming his timing was slowed down a bit. By the way, mechanically Sano's swing plane is awesome, it's deep/back and very flat which allows him to wait longer on pitches and hit them hard even if his timing isn't right on. So, the takeaway is when you're facing a guy who throws hard... obviously you have to be quicker, but you also have to make sure you swing above where you normally would. Maybe this is rube stuff and they are doing all this, in which case please tell us! This team has always been big on "fundamentals" which has become too vague of a term. Sure, swing/pitching/fielding mechanics are important - but so too is anticipation and being prepared. I wonder how much time/resources the Twins spend on the cerebral part of the game. Some guys maybe do better if they just react (see ball hit ball), but at this level, you should want every edge available. That means pre-thinking things, trying to pick up 'tells', knowing tendencies. As Ted Williams said... "Did I guess? Hell yes!"

Winner!

Burning questions... is this how Eduardo Nunez gets to games, and so, how long before his helmet falls off? #mopeds

Also not relevant to baseball or MN/BOS... but ICYMI... this Mackelmore video is all kinds of awesomeness:

On this day 10 years ago... link: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN200707210.shtml Twins beat the Angels 5-2. Twins hit 3 bombs and Neshek gets the win behind a strong outing from Bonser. Twins infield features a trio of Punto, Castillo, and Bartlett. Fun to look back at those old teams sometimes.

Now he just has to work on being a more consistent-type poster.

Or maybe it was Nunez. I forget.

Oh it's real... AND... I'm pretty sure the dude cleared the canvas and showed up a few weeks later with a Dozier hair-sey.

Deep lyric of the day... courtesy of Lonely Island (which popped up on Pandora) "Havin' sex can make a nice man out the meanest..." Ain't that the truth! I blame the media for not emphasizing this point enough in these dark times. How's that for irrelevant?

No posts in 5 minutes? You guys are stallin'!

Fun fact... the Twins have 19 people in their "front office" that focus somewhat on player development/evaluation, outside of coaches. Probably even less that actually do "front office" type work. The Rays appear to have at least 37. The Pirates have about as many. Every team I looked up appear to have far more than the Twins. Not shocking stuff, but still I was kind of surprised to see how much personnel other teams were putting toward their player development/evaluation. The Cubs have several people who work on a "mental skills program".

Wonder what the exit velocity was on Kepler's shot. Nice rope!

Anthony LaPanta and the Twins Live crew have a thankless job. The idea of an extra 30 minutes to recap this crap is beyond hysterical. I just wish they would go full Harry Doyle on the bit. I'd tune in just for that.

Target Field really is the best stadium going for visiting fans. I wonder if they have started marketing in other cities, or those in flight magazines.

Exactly what I thought about the glasses look. Crazy resemblance! Getting promoted is easy! Just don't give up any runs, maybe one or two hits per nine, and strike out two-thirds of the hitters you face.

..And the 532 fans left in attendance. #requiredattendance. I jest, but great win. Go Twins!

Most are like, here's a bunch of random middle school doodles. Look good? ...no. However, I saw a smiley face on a TJ scar, that is something ironic anyway.

Come on Marney, you got to hang in there!

$2 you call it special!

I've yet to a sleeve of tattoos that left me thinking "boy, I bet he's really glad to live with those forever." That said, I don't think it's technically impossible.

Yan Gomes. Twins killer. Add him to the list.

Whoores?

Only Prince has the power to get everyone off their cell phones. #littleredcorvette

Wow. Lindor!