Tom Schreier

I understand the frustration, and the patience that needs to be shown, but it's the way [it works].
-- Twins GM Terry Ryan on being patient with prospects, 8/14/15
All Minnesota Twins fans wanted on Friday night was Jose Orlando Berrios to make his first major league start. The 21-year-old pitcher was rated the 36th best prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America before this season. He is almost six years younger than his competition in Triple-A, owns a sub-3.5 ERA and his 1.105 WHIP have statheads in a tizzy.
For six innings the vox populi was right: Berrios was cruising through the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders like a stapler through reams of paper. But in the seventh inning he got stuck, giving up six hits and four earned runs without recording an out. “We're trying to win games,” Ryan stated on Wednesday why Duffey got the call over Berrios, “and Berrios is certainly on a good track here, and doing a nice job, but the other kid is probably a little bit more prepared for this arena right now than Berrios.” He and his scouts were right -- it’s as simple as that. At least for that night.
The Twins took a calculated risk by not bringing up Berrios, who was scheduled to start on a night where Trevor May, an erstwhile starter converted to a bullpen arm, made an emergency start and could only throw 50 pitches that night. J.R. Graham, the expected reliever to come in after May, was not at his best against the Cleveland Indians, and the rest of the bullpen had to be used to finish up the game in the final series before an important road trip to New York, Baltimore and Tampa Bay that might determine whether or not Minnesota makes the playoffs this season.
Tyler Duffey was throwing the next night, his second career start, and had just been shelled by a mighty Toronto Blue Jays team that supplemented their roster at the trade deadline by bringing in the likes of Troy Tulowitzki and David Price. If Duffey faltered against an Indians team that was projected to win the World Series this year -- but admittedly have fallen short of that prognostication -- Shane Robinson might be called upon again to break out that trusty knuckleball of his.
Instead, things went rather well for the plucky Twins. Duffey took a no-hitter into the sixth inning on short rest and earned another start in Baltimore. Twins management looked smart, and the cries for Berrios were silenced for the night. “I try to be greedy,” said Molitor after the homestand, admitting that there was a different feeling in the clubhouse after a rough start to the second half of the season. “The Texas game we had a chance, but overall you take 4-2.”
It’s easy to get frustrated with the Twins: They are probably the most conservative organization in the league, and yet when they have taken risks, it hasn’t worked out. Some of it was in their control, and some of it wasn’t. Aaron Hicks wasn’t ready for major league pitching when he was called up. Byron Buxton got hurt. Kyle Gibson was inconsistent. Trevor Plouffe took a while to find a place on the field. Brian Dozier couldn’t cut it as a shortstop. And Glen Perkins struggled as a starter.
And yet Hicks is beginning to establish himself as a leadoff hitter a year after he dropped switch-hitting on a whim. Buxton didn’t choose to get injured, obviously. Gibson got off to a strong start in the first half of the season, and at the very least is a good major league pitcher. Plouffe has made drastic improvements defensively at third base and can hit for power. Dozier made the All-Star team as a second baseman this year; Perkins as a closer. Only Eddie Rosario and Miguel Sano have come into the league and looked like bona fide stars right away, although the same thing can be said of Kennys Vargas, Danny Santana and Oswaldo Arcia, and all three of them are in the minors right now. Player development takes time, and fans don’t want to wait around -- especially after four years of losing.
Hicks appears to have made the biggest turnaround. He was batting .040 as a leadoff hitter when he was first called up and ended his rookie season below the Mendoza Line. A year ago he gave up hitting on the left side; now he’s batting around .300 with power while getting on base, allowing Dozier, Mauer and the core of the Twins lineup to drive him in. He’s the player he was supposed to be when he was selected in the first round of the 2008 draft. “I wouldn't call it exceeding expectations,” Molitor said recently. “There's not a lot of people in the organization that gave up hope on him despite the fact that he came up here and had a couple opportunities and didn't take advantage [of them].”
But Hicks is far from the only Twins player to have a massive turnaround as he entered his mid-20’s. Dozier’s rookie season was considered “disastrous.” Perkins filed a grievance against the team in 2009 after he was demoted to Triple-A coming off an injury; now he has a corner locker in the clubhouse. Plouffe looked like a he was in no-man’s land after it was determined that he would not be a major league shortstop. “This is a difficult game to play, that's the one thing,” says Ryan, speaking of Berrios in particular, but arguably he could be speaking of any young prospect. “When you're 20 or 21 trying to compete against these guys that have been around for five or six years up here and have done well.”
While he would like players to make the team and stick in the majors at age 22 or 23, he knows that 25 or 26 is more realistic, as most of the league’s stars are at their best from 25 to 32. Many fans want to give up on them before that, and to be fair, most organizations do, too. A lot of teams would have given up on Hicks, Dozier or Perkins, and the Twins are better off because they didn’t.
If the Twins have one edge over either the savvier (Rays, A’s) or spendier (Yankees, Dodgers) clubs it is their patience. They are not going to have a massive payroll because they don’t have a massive TV deal like the Yankees, Dodgers or even the Cardinals, and they get pilloried for spending anyways. Ricky Nolasco got hurt and likely won’t return this year. Ervin Santana was suspended for using performance-enhancing drugs. Joe Mauer suffered a concussion, removing him from behind the plate, and now doesn’t possess much power for a first baseman and has become a sub-.300 hitter as teams have begun to shift on him and pitch him more effectively.
Money doesn’t solve problems; good management does, and the Twins know this. By erecting Target Field, largely with taxpayer money, they have essentially became a draft-and-develop team that will keep its prospects -- or at least should. They did that with Mauer, and unfortunately injuries are always a risk, especially with a catcher. Hopefully his move to first base and loss of offensive production does not deter the Twins from locking up the likes of Hicks, Sano and Rosario when the time comes. Torii Hunter never should have been allowed to leave, that much is obvious now. The same mistake can’t be with the next generation of stars -- not in the Target Field era. A draft-and-develop team that doesn’t retain its prospects is a glorified farm team, and St. Paul didn’t build CHS Field with the Twins in mind.
If you look at the 2015 Minnesota Twins, almost every player in the field is homegrown. The pitching staff is a different story, and the team’s inability to produce quality starters over the years has hurt them: It led to over $100 million being spent on outside help, something Ryan said “isn’t exactly the blueprint that we had in mind,” when he signed Ervin Santana in the offseason.
But look at the outfield: Rosario, Hicks and Hunter all came up through the system, and Buxton is expected to take over at center in the near future. The three mainstays in the infield are also Twins draft picks: Plouffe at third, Dozier at second and Mauer at first, and Sano could eventually take over for Plouffe at the hot corner.
The two missing positions are shortstop and catcher, of course, which could have been J.J. Hardy (raised in the Brewers farm system) and Wilson Ramos (another homegrown product). Then again, at the time he was traded it looked like Hardy was injury prone, and there didn’t seem to be much need for Ramos with Mauer behind the plate and Minnesota in win-now mode. On the flip side, patience would have yielded better results in both cases.
Regardless of if the Twins make the postseason this year, they have, in short order, turned from a team focused on developing players to one that has playoffs on their mind. That doesn’t mean they won’t have prospects in their system, but they can’t wait around for them to develop anymore, lest they risk wasting the primes of their star players. Prospects will soon be traded for holes on the major league roster, but let us not forget, had the Twins not been patient up until this point, they would have far more needs than they have right now.
In some ways, it’s a luxury that they didn’t have to call up Berrios before he was ready. One that, if they are doing things right, they should have for years to come.
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Aaron Hicks is only 25. Entering the All-Star Break he has yet to have his 700th plate appearance, and he’s played in just over 180 games. And yet, he’s already dropped switch-hitting for a brief time period, has been called out by former manager Ron Gardenhire and assistant general manager Rob Antony for showing up to the ballpark and not knowing who the starting pitcher was that day, and after not making the team out of spring training this year the Star Tribune reported that he might not get another shot. “We probably haven’t seen the last of Aaron Hicks,” wrote LaVelle E. Neal, who has covered the Twins since 1998, “but the Twins’ expectations have fallen so far for the 14th overall pick from 2008 that his future could end up as a fourth outfielder.”
 
Hicks ended up resurfacing with the Twins, getting a call up in mid-May that lasted until he went on the disabled list in mid-June. Since returning from injury on July 7, he’s hitting .323 with two doubles, one triple, two home runs and seven RBI in 10 games. With Byron Buxton on the DL, he is the team’s starting center fielder, already has a Willie Mays-esque catch and is starting to show everyone why he was a first round selection in 2008. “I feel good at the plate,” he says, simply. “I’m just trying to make solid contact and drive some balls into the gap.”
 
He struggles to articulate exactly what is behind the turnaround. It is not as though he got traded or changed positions. Hicks added a leg kick, which has improved his timing and power, but it’s not all mechanical when it comes to big league production. “Up until this level, it’s physical,” Double-A manager Doug Mientkiewicz told the Star Tribune in June. “Past this level, it’s mental.”
 
“Our whole ordeal here is you have to prepare today as if you’re gonna be in Minnesota tomorrow, so you don’t want to have to all of a sudden change your routine and change your preparation,” says Triple-A hitting coach Tim Doherty, a person Hicks credits with turning his career around. “He learned how to do that. He learned how to study film, and he learned how to get his routine in, his work in, prior to learning how to take care of his body day-in and day-out.
 
“As far as his talents go, at some point in time the word ‘raw’ is gonna have to come off. You can’t have raw ability your entire career,” he continues. “You go up to the big leagues, and the first time you don’t know what to expect, you don’t know what they’re doing, so you gotta learn. … Seek out the veteran players: They’ll talk to you, they’re gonna help you, and they’re there and they’re a veteran because they listen and they learn. When players do that, like Hicksy’s been doing now, that’s huge.”
 
Torii Hunter has been a major influence on him in the Twins clubhouse. The nearly 40-year-old outfielder has helped Hicks with everything from workouts to diet to routine. “He’s always picking my brain,” says Hunter, who came up with the Twins as a center fielder at the turn of the century and had his fair share of call-ups and demotions before establishing himself as a major leaguer. “He reminds me of myself, that’s what I did with Kirby and Paul Molitor when I was younger and they were older.”
 
Hicks has always had talent: It’s why he was drafted in the first round, it’s why the Twins felt comfortable trading away Denard Span and Ben Revere in the same summer, and it’s why he was able to reach the majors at age 23. “Hicks is one of the most athletic outfielders in the high school ranks and perhaps in the (2008) draft class,” read one scouting report on him. “He’s got a ton of tools, but will he learn how to use them? Someone is sure to take that chance.”
 
“I definitely think that this guy, if he puts it together and gets his mind right, it’s gonna be special,” echoes Hunter. “[it’s] knowing when you step on the field you have the most athletic ability on the field. It’s like an inner-cockiness: You don’t speak it, you just go out and do it and try to prove it and tell yourself, ‘Hey, you’re better than everybody on this field.’”
 
The Twins ultimately took a chance on Hicks, of course, and they’ve given him ample opportunity to make the most of his ability since calling him up two years ago. Looking back on it, Twins general manager Terry Ryan admits that his promotion was premature, because while he made his fair share of spectacular plays in the outfield, he finished his rookie year with a .192/.259/.338 line in 81 games and wasn’t much better at the plate in his sophomore season (.215/.341/.274). “If somebody’s concerned about Hicks not getting a chance, I’ve got to talk to them,” says Ryan, elevating his voice. “If you’re talking about Hicks, you’re talking about the wrong guy. He’s had a lot of chances and he’s doing something with it here recently, but we’ve been criticized to the extreme about [his] chances.”
 
Throughout the process the Twins had to strike a delicate balance, allowing Hicks — or any prospect — enough leeway to fight through his struggles without giving him a sense of entitlement. “We try to make sure they get every opportunity,” says Ryan of his young players. “Aaron’s had a lot of chances. It’s his turn. It’s time to step up, and he’s done a nice job here.”
 
Twins hitting coach Tom Brunansky says the biggest difference between now and a year ago, when Hicks was muddled and briefly dropped switch-hitting, is his maturity level. “He feels confident, you can tell,” Brunansky says. “He doesn’t get frustrated, to where if it’s a bad at-bat … he can put that aside a little bit, we can get good conversations about what the next at-bat’s gonna do, and he’s moved on.
 
“We can call it growth, we can call it maturity — whatever it is, whatever terminology you want to use for it, it’s nice to see, because the talent and skillset of that kid is good.”
 
“I think it all came down to being able to do what I needed to do to become the player that I want to be, and it’s kind of just — I tried something new. I tried leg-kicking, and it’s been working out good for my timing and hitting in the big leagues,” says Hicks, who worked on the technique with Brunansky in spring training. “A lot of it just came with time: Being up here and having to deal with the grind and having to deal with failure so much. I mean, it’s all about just going out there and trying to have fun and learn, and learn as fast as possible to be able to have success.”
 
“All of that, and all of the curves that these guys go through with the ups and downs from the injuries and that type of thing, that all builds on all their mentalities,” says Doherty. “It makes them stronger, it makes them understand that when you take that away from them, they realize how hungry they need to be to get back with their teammates and start competing and try to win their division, and then try to win the pennant, and then try to win the World Series.”
 
Doherty says that Hicks told him, “I should be in center field. I should be helping those guys win,” when he was in Triple-A during his rehab stint, which brings up another aspect of Hicks’ development: He’s on a winning team for the first time in his major league career. So while he wasn’t traded, he did experience a change of scenery this season. “Does it matter? It makes it a whole lot easier. Absolutely,” says Doherty. “You’re going to a team that’s competing and trying to catch the Royals and right in the playoff hunt. Yeah, that makes it easier. But it doesn’t make it easier as a player: You still have to compete, regardless of if you’re in first place or last place.”
 
“He has that winning spirit, we’re winning, and he’s a part of winning right now,” says Hunter. “This last week, this last week or so, he’s shown all the ability that the Twins thought he had drafting him in the first round. This is what he’s capable of doing, and if he can do this consistently — you’re gonna have your rough times, that’s the way it goes — if he can bounce back every time, and make adjustments like he’s doing, he’s gonna be playing major league baseball for a long time.
 
“He’s only 25.”
 
This article was originally posted on the Cold Omaha section of 105 The Ticket.
 
Tom Schreier writes for 105 The Ticket’s Cold Omaha. Tune in to The Wake Up Call every Sunday at 8:00 am to hear the crew break down the week in Minnesota sports.
 
Follow Tom on Twitter @tschreier3.

Aaron Hicks is only 25. Entering the All-Star Break he has yet to have his 700th plate appearance, and he’s played in just over 180 games. And yet, he’s already dropped switch-hitting for a brief time period, has been called out by former manager Ron Gardenhire and assistant general manager Rob Antony for showing up to the ballpark and not knowing who the starting pitcher was that day, and after not making the team out of spring training this year the Star Tribune reported that he might not get another shot. “We probably haven’t seen the last of Aaron Hicks,” wrote LaVelle E. Neal, who has covered the Twins since 1998, “but the Twins’ expectations have fallen so far for the 14th overall pick from 2008 that his future could end up as a fourth outfielder.”
 
Hicks ended up resurfacing with the Twins, getting a call up in mid-May that lasted until he went on the disabled list in mid-June. Since returning from injury on July 7, he’s hitting .323 with two doubles, one triple, two home runs and seven RBI in 10 games. With Byron Buxton on the DL, he is the team’s starting center fielder, already has a Willie Mays-esque catch and is starting to show everyone why he was a first round selection in 2008. “I feel good at the plate,” he says, simply. “I’m just trying to make solid contact and drive some balls into the gap.”
 
He struggles to articulate exactly what is behind the turnaround. It is not as though he got traded or changed positions. Hicks added a leg kick, which has improved his timing and power, but it’s not all mechanical when it comes to big league production. “Up until this level, it’s physical,” Double-A manager Doug Mientkiewicz told the Star Tribune in June. “Past this level, it’s mental.”
 
“Our whole ordeal here is you have to prepare today as if you’re gonna be in Minnesota tomorrow, so you don’t want to have to all of a sudden change your routine and change your preparation,” says Triple-A hitting coach Tim Doherty, a person Hicks credits with turning his career around. “He learned how to do that. He learned how to study film, and he learned how to get his routine in, his work in, prior to learning how to take care of his body day-in and day-out.
 
“As far as his talents go, at some point in time the word ‘raw’ is gonna have to come off. You can’t have raw ability your entire career,” he continues. “You go up to the big leagues, and the first time you don’t know what to expect, you don’t know what they’re doing, so you gotta learn. … Seek out the veteran players: They’ll talk to you, they’re gonna help you, and they’re there and they’re a veteran because they listen and they learn. When players do that, like Hicksy’s been doing now, that’s huge.”
 
Torii Hunter has been a major influence on him in the Twins clubhouse. The nearly 40-year-old outfielder has helped Hicks with everything from workouts to diet to routine. “He’s always picking my brain,” says Hunter, who came up with the Twins as a center fielder at the turn of the century and had his fair share of call-ups and demotions before establishing himself as a major leaguer. “He reminds me of myself, that’s what I did with Kirby and Paul Molitor when I was younger and they were older.”
 
Hicks has always had talent: It’s why he was drafted in the first round, it’s why the Twins felt comfortable trading away Denard Span and Ben Revere in the same summer, and it’s why he was able to reach the majors at age 23. “Hicks is one of the most athletic outfielders in the high school ranks and perhaps in the (2008) draft class,” read one scouting report on him. “He’s got a ton of tools, but will he learn how to use them? Someone is sure to take that chance.”
 
“I definitely think that this guy, if he puts it together and gets his mind right, it’s gonna be special,” echoes Hunter. “[it’s] knowing when you step on the field you have the most athletic ability on the field. It’s like an inner-cockiness: You don’t speak it, you just go out and do it and try to prove it and tell yourself, ‘Hey, you’re better than everybody on this field.’”
 
The Twins ultimately took a chance on Hicks, of course, and they’ve given him ample opportunity to make the most of his ability since calling him up two years ago. Looking back on it, Twins general manager Terry Ryan admits that his promotion was premature, because while he made his fair share of spectacular plays in the outfield, he finished his rookie year with a .192/.259/.338 line in 81 games and wasn’t much better at the plate in his sophomore season (.215/.341/.274). “If somebody’s concerned about Hicks not getting a chance, I’ve got to talk to them,” says Ryan, elevating his voice. “If you’re talking about Hicks, you’re talking about the wrong guy. He’s had a lot of chances and he’s doing something with it here recently, but we’ve been criticized to the extreme about [his] chances.”
 
Throughout the process the Twins had to strike a delicate balance, allowing Hicks — or any prospect — enough leeway to fight through his struggles without giving him a sense of entitlement. “We try to make sure they get every opportunity,” says Ryan of his young players. “Aaron’s had a lot of chances. It’s his turn. It’s time to step up, and he’s done a nice job here.”
 
Twins hitting coach Tom Brunansky says the biggest difference between now and a year ago, when Hicks was muddled and briefly dropped switch-hitting, is his maturity level. “He feels confident, you can tell,” Brunansky says. “He doesn’t get frustrated, to where if it’s a bad at-bat … he can put that aside a little bit, we can get good conversations about what the next at-bat’s gonna do, and he’s moved on.
 
“We can call it growth, we can call it maturity — whatever it is, whatever terminology you want to use for it, it’s nice to see, because the talent and skillset of that kid is good.”
 
“I think it all came down to being able to do what I needed to do to become the player that I want to be, and it’s kind of just — I tried something new. I tried leg-kicking, and it’s been working out good for my timing and hitting in the big leagues,” says Hicks, who worked on the technique with Brunansky in spring training. “A lot of it just came with time: Being up here and having to deal with the grind and having to deal with failure so much. I mean, it’s all about just going out there and trying to have fun and learn, and learn as fast as possible to be able to have success.”
 
“All of that, and all of the curves that these guys go through with the ups and downs from the injuries and that type of thing, that all builds on all their mentalities,” says Doherty. “It makes them stronger, it makes them understand that when you take that away from them, they realize how hungry they need to be to get back with their teammates and start competing and try to win their division, and then try to win the pennant, and then try to win the World Series.”
 
Doherty says that Hicks told him, “I should be in center field. I should be helping those guys win,” when he was in Triple-A during his rehab stint, which brings up another aspect of Hicks’ development: He’s on a winning team for the first time in his major league career. So while he wasn’t traded, he did experience a change of scenery this season. “Does it matter? It makes it a whole lot easier. Absolutely,” says Doherty. “You’re going to a team that’s competing and trying to catch the Royals and right in the playoff hunt. Yeah, that makes it easier. But it doesn’t make it easier as a player: You still have to compete, regardless of if you’re in first place or last place.”
 
“He has that winning spirit, we’re winning, and he’s a part of winning right now,” says Hunter. “This last week, this last week or so, he’s shown all the ability that the Twins thought he had drafting him in the first round. This is what he’s capable of doing, and if he can do this consistently — you’re gonna have your rough times, that’s the way it goes — if he can bounce back every time, and make adjustments like he’s doing, he’s gonna be playing major league baseball for a long time.
 
“He’s only 25.”
 
This article was originally posted on the Cold Omaha section of 105 The Ticket.
 
Tom Schreier writes for 105 The Ticket’s Cold Omaha. Tune in to The Wake Up Call every Sunday at 8:00 am to hear the crew break down the week in Minnesota sports.
 
Follow Tom on Twitter @tschreier3.

While the Minnesota Twins are a homegrown team that relies heavily on players from their farm system to sustain success in the major leagues, reclamation projects are an important part of their team construction. Once-highly-touted prospects or players that have had some big league success and saw a dip in production with their former team for various reasons are often of interest to a team in a mid-sized city looking to get the most value out of their signings.
 
These players are relatively low-risk and high-reward based upon their perceived potential and low cost to sign. If they pan out, the organization looks smart for turning around the career of a player that was once considered a top prospect. If they don’t, they can be released for relatively little cost to the team other than the cost of giving playing time to a struggling player.
 
For a team like the Twins, who play in a mid-sized market and have relatively parsimonious ownership, this is a way to get potentially high-end talent without high cost or long term commitment. Pelfrey, a high draft pick who had two strong years as a member of the New York Mets, signed to a one-year, $4 million deal in 2013 following Tommy John surgery. Then, in a much scrutinized move, was re-signed for two years, $11 million following a tough first year.
 
Fifteen million dollars is nothing to sneeze at, but it is relatively cheap for a former first round pick who had two strong seasons as a member of the Mets in 2008 and 2010 — so long as he pitches like the player he can be.
Pelfrey was awful in his first year with the Twins. He came back from Tommy John surgery faster than expected, pushing himself to get back on the mound against doctor’s orders, and felt the effects of accelerating his return timetable. He was 5-13 with a 5.19 ERA (79 ERA+), pitching 152.3 innings in 29 starts, making the $11 million extension he received the year after that much more perplexing. “He’s coming off Tommy John, he came back quickly, and we thought, ‘Okay, that’s a good starting point, but there’s more to come.’ That’s the reason,” Twins general manager Terry Ryan said when asked why the team re-signed Pelfrey. “And he showed some flashes, and he certainly showed the velocity and stuff like that, so we thought, ‘All right, he’s over the hump on the Tommy John response,’ and now all of a sudden we’re gonna get more. Well, unfortunately that didn’t happen.”
 
He only made five starts in the first year of his second contract, finishing last season with a 0-0 record, 7.99 ERA (50 ERA+) and only 23.2 innings pitched. “Last year was awful,” says Pelfrey, who has always been accountable, even during his most trying times with the Twins, “so this offseason I came in and worked my tail off to … honor that two-year deal and be the best I could, and I thought I put myself in a pretty good situation.”
 
Pelfrey has been the best pitcher in the starting rotation this year, going 5-3 with a 2.97 ERA (136 ERA+) in 13 starts. His play merits All-Star consideration and will likely garner a large contract for him in the offseason. A player playing out of his mind in a contract year is not unheard of — Joe Mauer hit .365/.444/.587 with 28 home runs the year before he signed his $184 million extension, and Kurt Suzuki made his first All-Star team on a one-year deal last season — and Pelfrey was certainly upset when he was assigned to the bullpen out of Spring Training, perhaps providing an incentive for him to pitch well in the rotation.
 
Pelfrey, however, attributes his success to three things: He’s in good health, his split-finger has given him the “pitch that he’s lacked for 30 years,” and his sinker is much better. “First time in a couple years, maybe since Tommy John, I don’t have to make my sinker move,” he says. “I can just throw it, and it has that natural sink, which it always had before.”
 
Pelfrey has had a split-finger since 2010, a year in which he went 15-9 with a 3.66 ERA (107 ERA+), but he had it revamped by bullpen coach Eddie Guardado in Spring Training this year. “To be honest with you, during Spring Training we’re watching these guys throw in the spring, and he’s throwing his splitty, and I looked at him and, jokingly, I go, ‘What is that pitch?’” says Guardado, chuckling. “He goes, ‘It’s my split finger, dawg.’ And I go, ‘That ain’t gonna work.”
 
Guardado says sometimes he has trouble working with veteran pitchers, given that they have had a track record of success and are often stuck in their ways, but Pelfrey didn’t take much time to get the split-finger down. By the end of Spring Training he was throwing it with ease, giving him a pitch that falls out of the strike zone, which complements his mid-90s fastball, curveball and sinker. “It’s like a new toy,” says Guardado, “He worked with it every day, and I just showed him the grip. Did we talk about it a little bit? Yeah, absolutely. But he did it all on his own. I’d like to take the credit, but he’s a hard-worker, man, so it’s all good.”
 
The split-finger, complemented by a naturally moving sinker, has given Pelfrey more confidence on the mound. His usually plodding pace has been improved upon. In many ways, the Twins have the pitcher they’ve always wanted right now. Health is always a concern for players, especially pitchers, but it’s rare for a veteran player like Pelfrey to all of a sudden have another weapon in his arsenal. It’s easy to look back and say it was a good signing now, but it took some fortitude and, frankly, stubbornness for the team to retain him after a tough first year.
 
It wasn’t just his potential, though, that enticed the Twins; they also liked his leadership. “It doesn’t hurt,” says Ryan. “It’s always nice to have a little bit of that veteran presence in any part of your club, especially when you’re talking about the rest of that starting staff, they’re relatively young.”
 
He was given a corner locker in the team clubhouse, and according to his teammates, he’s very approachable and has a way about him of offering constructive criticism without making a struggling teammate feel the need to get defensive. “He’s easy to talk to, he’ll come up to talk to you about certain things he sees, and he’s definitely a leader,” says Kyle Gibson, 27, who is in his third year with the team. “I think he approaches every situation like that very well. He’s not gonna come up to you and say, ‘Hey, you were really bad today, and this is what I saw.’ He’s gonna ask you questions, he’s gonna try to approach it in the most mature way possible, because that’s the kind of guy he is.”
 
Gibson, like Pelfrey, is a sinkerball pitcher who has undergone Tommy John surgery. He says that the two were able to speak freely about the difficulty of coming back, as well as the mental hurdles every player has to go through during the ups and downs of a season. “He’s been a guy who I’ve talked to about learning how to attack with my fastball a little bit better at certain times,” says Gibson. “I’m always trying to talk to him about something just because I feel like going through the surgery, whether it’s how we were feeling last year or the year before, I’m always a guy who’s looking to learn something, and that’s a great guy to learn from.”
 
In some ways it’s unfortunate that Pelfrey is coming into his own in a contract year at age 31. He’s a Scott Boras client, so he’s unlikely to come back on a discount, and the Twins suddenly have plenty of depth in the starting rotation. Still, for the time being he’s one of the best pitchers in the league, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The team is finally competitive again, Phil Hughes is off to a slow start, so the team is in need of an ace, and Pelfrey has no doubt left a meaningful mark on the younger pitchers, especially Gibson. “So far I’m glad that it’s working out,” says Pelfrey, “but there’s a lot of baseball left, so we’ll just keep it going.”
 
This article was originally published on the Cold Omaha section of 105TheTicket.com.
 
Tune in to The Wake Up Call every Sunday at 8:00 am to hear the crew break down the week in Minnesota sports.
 
Follow Tom on Twitter @tschreier3.

While the Minnesota Twins are a homegrown team that relies heavily on players from their farm system to sustain success in the major leagues, reclamation projects are an important part of their team construction. Once-highly-touted prospects or players that have had some big league success and saw a dip in production with their former team for various reasons are often of interest to a team in a mid-sized city looking to get the most value out of their signings.
 
These players are relatively low-risk and high-reward based upon their perceived potential and low cost to sign. If they pan out, the organization looks smart for turning around the career of a player that was once considered a top prospect. If they don’t, they can be released for relatively little cost to the team other than the cost of giving playing time to a struggling player.
 
For a team like the Twins, who play in a mid-sized market and have relatively parsimonious ownership, this is a way to get potentially high-end talent without high cost or long term commitment. Pelfrey, a high draft pick who had two strong years as a member of the New York Mets, signed to a one-year, $4 million deal in 2013 following Tommy John surgery. Then, in a much scrutinized move, was re-signed for two years, $11 million following a tough first year.
 
Fifteen million dollars is nothing to sneeze at, but it is relatively cheap for a former first round pick who had two strong seasons as a member of the Mets in 2008 and 2010 — so long as he pitches like the player he can be.
Pelfrey was awful in his first year with the Twins. He came back from Tommy John surgery faster than expected, pushing himself to get back on the mound against doctor’s orders, and felt the effects of accelerating his return timetable. He was 5-13 with a 5.19 ERA (79 ERA+), pitching 152.3 innings in 29 starts, making the $11 million extension he received the year after that much more perplexing. “He’s coming off Tommy John, he came back quickly, and we thought, ‘Okay, that’s a good starting point, but there’s more to come.’ That’s the reason,” Twins general manager Terry Ryan said when asked why the team re-signed Pelfrey. “And he showed some flashes, and he certainly showed the velocity and stuff like that, so we thought, ‘All right, he’s over the hump on the Tommy John response,’ and now all of a sudden we’re gonna get more. Well, unfortunately that didn’t happen.”
 
He only made five starts in the first year of his second contract, finishing last season with a 0-0 record, 7.99 ERA (50 ERA+) and only 23.2 innings pitched. “Last year was awful,” says Pelfrey, who has always been accountable, even during his most trying times with the Twins, “so this offseason I came in and worked my tail off to … honor that two-year deal and be the best I could, and I thought I put myself in a pretty good situation.”
 
Pelfrey has been the best pitcher in the starting rotation this year, going 5-3 with a 2.97 ERA (136 ERA+) in 13 starts. His play merits All-Star consideration and will likely garner a large contract for him in the offseason. A player playing out of his mind in a contract year is not unheard of — Joe Mauer hit .365/.444/.587 with 28 home runs the year before he signed his $184 million extension, and Kurt Suzuki made his first All-Star team on a one-year deal last season — and Pelfrey was certainly upset when he was assigned to the bullpen out of Spring Training, perhaps providing an incentive for him to pitch well in the rotation.
 
Pelfrey, however, attributes his success to three things: He’s in good health, his split-finger has given him the “pitch that he’s lacked for 30 years,” and his sinker is much better. “First time in a couple years, maybe since Tommy John, I don’t have to make my sinker move,” he says. “I can just throw it, and it has that natural sink, which it always had before.”
 
Pelfrey has had a split-finger since 2010, a year in which he went 15-9 with a 3.66 ERA (107 ERA+), but he had it revamped by bullpen coach Eddie Guardado in Spring Training this year. “To be honest with you, during Spring Training we’re watching these guys throw in the spring, and he’s throwing his splitty, and I looked at him and, jokingly, I go, ‘What is that pitch?’” says Guardado, chuckling. “He goes, ‘It’s my split finger, dawg.’ And I go, ‘That ain’t gonna work.”
 
Guardado says sometimes he has trouble working with veteran pitchers, given that they have had a track record of success and are often stuck in their ways, but Pelfrey didn’t take much time to get the split-finger down. By the end of Spring Training he was throwing it with ease, giving him a pitch that falls out of the strike zone, which complements his mid-90s fastball, curveball and sinker. “It’s like a new toy,” says Guardado, “He worked with it every day, and I just showed him the grip. Did we talk about it a little bit? Yeah, absolutely. But he did it all on his own. I’d like to take the credit, but he’s a hard-worker, man, so it’s all good.”
 
The split-finger, complemented by a naturally moving sinker, has given Pelfrey more confidence on the mound. His usually plodding pace has been improved upon. In many ways, the Twins have the pitcher they’ve always wanted right now. Health is always a concern for players, especially pitchers, but it’s rare for a veteran player like Pelfrey to all of a sudden have another weapon in his arsenal. It’s easy to look back and say it was a good signing now, but it took some fortitude and, frankly, stubbornness for the team to retain him after a tough first year.
 
It wasn’t just his potential, though, that enticed the Twins; they also liked his leadership. “It doesn’t hurt,” says Ryan. “It’s always nice to have a little bit of that veteran presence in any part of your club, especially when you’re talking about the rest of that starting staff, they’re relatively young.”
 
He was given a corner locker in the team clubhouse, and according to his teammates, he’s very approachable and has a way about him of offering constructive criticism without making a struggling teammate feel the need to get defensive. “He’s easy to talk to, he’ll come up to talk to you about certain things he sees, and he’s definitely a leader,” says Kyle Gibson, 27, who is in his third year with the team. “I think he approaches every situation like that very well. He’s not gonna come up to you and say, ‘Hey, you were really bad today, and this is what I saw.’ He’s gonna ask you questions, he’s gonna try to approach it in the most mature way possible, because that’s the kind of guy he is.”
 
Gibson, like Pelfrey, is a sinkerball pitcher who has undergone Tommy John surgery. He says that the two were able to speak freely about the difficulty of coming back, as well as the mental hurdles every player has to go through during the ups and downs of a season. “He’s been a guy who I’ve talked to about learning how to attack with my fastball a little bit better at certain times,” says Gibson. “I’m always trying to talk to him about something just because I feel like going through the surgery, whether it’s how we were feeling last year or the year before, I’m always a guy who’s looking to learn something, and that’s a great guy to learn from.”
 
In some ways it’s unfortunate that Pelfrey is coming into his own in a contract year at age 31. He’s a Scott Boras client, so he’s unlikely to come back on a discount, and the Twins suddenly have plenty of depth in the starting rotation. Still, for the time being he’s one of the best pitchers in the league, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The team is finally competitive again, Phil Hughes is off to a slow start, so the team is in need of an ace, and Pelfrey has no doubt left a meaningful mark on the younger pitchers, especially Gibson. “So far I’m glad that it’s working out,” says Pelfrey, “but there’s a lot of baseball left, so we’ll just keep it going.”
 
This article was originally published on the Cold Omaha section of 105TheTicket.com.
 
Tune in to The Wake Up Call every Sunday at 8:00 am to hear the crew break down the week in Minnesota sports.
 
Follow Tom on Twitter @tschreier3.

While the Minnesota Twins are a homegrown team that relies heavily on players from their farm system to sustain success in the major leagues, reclamation projects are an important part of their team construction. Once-highly-touted prospects or players that have had some big league success and saw a dip in production with their former team for various reasons are often of interest to a team in a mid-sized city looking to get the most value out of their signings.
 
These players are relatively low-risk and high-reward based upon their perceived potential and low cost to sign. If they pan out, the organization looks smart for turning around the career of a player that was once considered a top prospect. If they don’t, they can be released for relatively little cost to the team other than the cost of giving playing time to a struggling player.
 
For a team like the Twins, who play in a mid-sized market and have relatively parsimonious ownership, this is a way to get potentially high-end talent without high cost or long term commitment. Pelfrey, a high draft pick who had two strong years as a member of the New York Mets, signed to a one-year, $4 million deal in 2013 following Tommy John surgery. Then, in a much scrutinized move, was re-signed for two years, $11 million following a tough first year.
 
Fifteen million dollars is nothing to sneeze at, but it is relatively cheap for a former first round pick who had two strong seasons as a member of the Mets in 2008 and 2010 — so long as he pitches like the player he can be.
Pelfrey was awful in his first year with the Twins. He came back from Tommy John surgery faster than expected, pushing himself to get back on the mound against doctor’s orders, and felt the effects of accelerating his return timetable. He was 5-13 with a 5.19 ERA (79 ERA+), pitching 152.3 innings in 29 starts, making the $11 million extension he received the year after that much more perplexing. “He’s coming off Tommy John, he came back quickly, and we thought, ‘Okay, that’s a good starting point, but there’s more to come.’ That’s the reason,” Twins general manager Terry Ryan said when asked why the team re-signed Pelfrey. “And he showed some flashes, and he certainly showed the velocity and stuff like that, so we thought, ‘All right, he’s over the hump on the Tommy John response,’ and now all of a sudden we’re gonna get more. Well, unfortunately that didn’t happen.”
 
He only made five starts in the first year of his second contract, finishing last season with a 0-0 record, 7.99 ERA (50 ERA+) and only 23.2 innings pitched. “Last year was awful,” says Pelfrey, who has always been accountable, even during his most trying times with the Twins, “so this offseason I came in and worked my tail off to … honor that two-year deal and be the best I could, and I thought I put myself in a pretty good situation.”
 
Pelfrey has been the best pitcher in the starting rotation this year, going 5-3 with a 2.97 ERA (136 ERA+) in 13 starts. His play merits All-Star consideration and will likely garner a large contract for him in the offseason. A player playing out of his mind in a contract year is not unheard of — Joe Mauer hit .365/.444/.587 with 28 home runs the year before he signed his $184 million extension, and Kurt Suzuki made his first All-Star team on a one-year deal last season — and Pelfrey was certainly upset when he was assigned to the bullpen out of Spring Training, perhaps providing an incentive for him to pitch well in the rotation.
 
Pelfrey, however, attributes his success to three things: He’s in good health, his split-finger has given him the “pitch that he’s lacked for 30 years,” and his sinker is much better. “First time in a couple years, maybe since Tommy John, I don’t have to make my sinker move,” he says. “I can just throw it, and it has that natural sink, which it always had before.”
 
Pelfrey has had a split-finger since 2010, a year in which he went 15-9 with a 3.66 ERA (107 ERA+), but he had it revamped by bullpen coach Eddie Guardado in Spring Training this year. “To be honest with you, during Spring Training we’re watching these guys throw in the spring, and he’s throwing his splitty, and I looked at him and, jokingly, I go, ‘What is that pitch?’” says Guardado, chuckling. “He goes, ‘It’s my split finger, dawg.’ And I go, ‘That ain’t gonna work.”
 
Guardado says sometimes he has trouble working with veteran pitchers, given that they have had a track record of success and are often stuck in their ways, but Pelfrey didn’t take much time to get the split-finger down. By the end of Spring Training he was throwing it with ease, giving him a pitch that falls out of the strike zone, which complements his mid-90s fastball, curveball and sinker. “It’s like a new toy,” says Guardado, “He worked with it every day, and I just showed him the grip. Did we talk about it a little bit? Yeah, absolutely. But he did it all on his own. I’d like to take the credit, but he’s a hard-worker, man, so it’s all good.”
 
The split-finger, complemented by a naturally moving sinker, has given Pelfrey more confidence on the mound. His usually plodding pace has been improved upon. In many ways, the Twins have the pitcher they’ve always wanted right now. Health is always a concern for players, especially pitchers, but it’s rare for a veteran player like Pelfrey to all of a sudden have another weapon in his arsenal. It’s easy to look back and say it was a good signing now, but it took some fortitude and, frankly, stubbornness for the team to retain him after a tough first year.
 
It wasn’t just his potential, though, that enticed the Twins; they also liked his leadership. “It doesn’t hurt,” says Ryan. “It’s always nice to have a little bit of that veteran presence in any part of your club, especially when you’re talking about the rest of that starting staff, they’re relatively young.”
 
He was given a corner locker in the team clubhouse, and according to his teammates, he’s very approachable and has a way about him of offering constructive criticism without making a struggling teammate feel the need to get defensive. “He’s easy to talk to, he’ll come up to talk to you about certain things he sees, and he’s definitely a leader,” says Kyle Gibson, 27, who is in his third year with the team. “I think he approaches every situation like that very well. He’s not gonna come up to you and say, ‘Hey, you were really bad today, and this is what I saw.’ He’s gonna ask you questions, he’s gonna try to approach it in the most mature way possible, because that’s the kind of guy he is.”
 
Gibson, like Pelfrey, is a sinkerball pitcher who has undergone Tommy John surgery. He says that the two were able to speak freely about the difficulty of coming back, as well as the mental hurdles every player has to go through during the ups and downs of a season. “He’s been a guy who I’ve talked to about learning how to attack with my fastball a little bit better at certain times,” says Gibson. “I’m always trying to talk to him about something just because I feel like going through the surgery, whether it’s how we were feeling last year or the year before, I’m always a guy who’s looking to learn something, and that’s a great guy to learn from.”
 
In some ways it’s unfortunate that Pelfrey is coming into his own in a contract year at age 31. He’s a Scott Boras client, so he’s unlikely to come back on a discount, and the Twins suddenly have plenty of depth in the starting rotation. Still, for the time being he’s one of the best pitchers in the league, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The team is finally competitive again, Phil Hughes is off to a slow start, so the team is in need of an ace, and Pelfrey has no doubt left a meaningful mark on the younger pitchers, especially Gibson. “So far I’m glad that it’s working out,” says Pelfrey, “but there’s a lot of baseball left, so we’ll just keep it going.”
 
This article was originally published on the Cold Omaha section of 105TheTicket.com.
 
Tune in to The Wake Up Call every Sunday at 8:00 am to hear the crew break down the week in Minnesota sports.
 
Follow Tom on Twitter @tschreier3.

The Minnesota Twins need to let loose. They need to believe that they can’t be held back by expectations, by the culture of losing created by four straight 90-loss seasons, by the numbers that say that they have outperformed their capabilities up until this point.
 
For the most part everyone in the locker room appears unhindered by outside speculation, ignorant or at least cleansed of the team’s previous losing ways. They feel that that they are, as a unit, more talented than people give them credit for after a 20-win May — the first time the Twins have reached that number in a month since 1991 — given that they have played everyone in the AL Central, as well as teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox, and taken a series from everyone except the Detroit Tigers.
 
This is why the dance party was so vital for this team. Veteran presence and leadership get thrown around any time a team brings in an older player, but Torii Hunter’s influence on this team is tangible. It’s hard not to notice something different when the clubhouse is so full of smoke that Mike Pelfrey and Glen Perkins, who occupy the corner lockers next to the entrance, can’t see Joe Mauer and Hunter, who have the lockers by the players-only section of the room, when they are getting changed after games.
 
Entering the Twins clubhouse is like entering the high heavens, and it’s hard not to laugh when Hunter is running around saying, “It’s all medicinal. I have a card,” or at the notion of Pelfrey, all 6-foot-7, 230 pounds of him, dancing in the middle of a group of his teammates as a laser show takes place in the background. “I actually danced [and got] a lot of cheers, but I think they probably cheer for everything,” says the maligned starter, who is having his best season as a Twin. “I can’t imagine a 6-7 white guy being that good.”
 
“He doesn’t dance too much,” says Plouffe, beaming.
 
Why it works is that everyone on the team, except for Hunter of course, is a bad dancer. “It’s a ton of fun,” said Nolasco, another free agent signing who’s had his fair share of struggles, after picking up his 100th win.
 
“Dance moves are all right,” said Aaron Hicks, smirking. “What I learned in high school.”
 
“He took his shirt off and waved it in the air,” said Hunter, making fun of Hicks. “We got a lot of guys dancing, and we figured out a lot of guys cannot dance.”
 
While the post-game celebrations are unlikely to turn anyone into a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, it has allowed everyone to let their guard down. Plouffe, who came up as a shortstop in 2010, was converted to a third baseman that struggled at the hot corner before this season, has been able to joke around with the pitchers about his defense even though it is much improved. “I think I started at about an aluminum glove and then plastic and then I’ve moved my way up,” he says. “I still got a ways to go, but I’m improving, which is good.”
 
“He’s been unbelievable,” says Pelfrey. “I made a little joke, he might have started off with a plastic glove and every game he keeps moving up — he might even be at bronze right now. We’re working towards that gold glove.”
 
Plouffe admittedly has had his ups and downs in his major league career, and at times has become upset with criticism he got from fans, media and presumably his fellow players. “I mean, you hear it, but it’s not something I dwell on, because if baseball teaches you anything, it’s that if you fail, don’t give up,” he says. “Did I hear it? Sure. Did it deter me from working hard and believing in myself and being confident? No.”
 
Players have been outspoken about both their teammate’s strengths and weaknesses this season, something that has been taboo in year’s past. Things have always been congenial in the Twins locker room, but never this loose — at least not when the media are around. In the past, players deflected questions about one another if asked about a shortcoming, resorting to a select few stock answers. Now they are more honest than ever.
 
That’s the magic of a veteran like Hunter: After all, if a player is able to make a fool of himself in front of all his teammates with music blasting, lasers firing and smoke filling the room (and flowing into the manager’s office and the corridors of Target Field), why should he be embarrassed when he makes a mistake on the field? So what if the fans see it? The players know that they have each other’s backs, and that’s what counts.
 
It should be noted that Hunter did this on his own, and that new manager Paul Molitor could care less that he didn’t ask permission. “It was a nice surprise, kind of a little something different. I didn’t know that it would pick up steam, if you will,” he said (get it?). “It turned into a ritual as far as winning here was concerned, but I didn’t then, and I don’t have issues with it. It’s kind of them being able to establish their own thing that they do.”
 
Molitor could have been insecure as a first-year manager and cracked down on the practice, either because he was upset about all the smoke in his office, or because he thought Hunter was trying to undermine him in a power struggle. But Molitor and Hunter played together with the Twins and formed mutual trust. What Hunter is doing is good for the team, and therefore it’s not going to be questioned.
 
The whole ethos of the Twins is predicated on everyone doing their thing, and it comes from the top. General manager Terry Ryan says he won’t look at the player he’s going to draft with the No. 6 overall pick — he’ll just rely on his scouting reports. “I hate to break your heart. Who do you want me to go look at?” he asked the media. “You gotta pick and choose what you’re gonna see. If I go in there and don’t like him, am I going to go to the 12 scouts that have seen him and say, ‘We’re not taking him’?”
 
It’s not an uncommon practice for him — he only saw Tommy Milone pitch a few times before trading for him, for example — and it’s something that can easily be criticized: The Twins aren’t winning because their manager doesn’t know who the team is acquiring. But what it means is that he has faith in his scouts and in the protocol that they follow. Even with decisions regarding the 40-man roster, he’ll allow Molitor to have his say before the final decision is made. “I’m not that hard to work with,” he says. “There’s no unilateral moves in this organization, everybody’s gonna have a say. Ultimately it’s gonna land in my chair — somebody’s gotta make a decision.”
 
That is why he gets upset when national media covers his team. “I don’t particularly like a guy dictating our future that has never seen us play,” he said when informed that Grantland writer Michael Baumann questioned whether the Twins were for real this year. “You base your opinion on visual, plus statistics — that’s fair.”
 
I reached out to Baumann — whose article not only represents popular sentiment at a national level, but in the Twin Cities as well — to get his take. Baumann is very active on Twitter, and responded right away by saying he relied mostly on statistics, many of which aren’t very complicated, as well as his general knowledge of baseball. He also said Ryan probably wouldn’t say that the team’s start was all luck, while acknowledging that it is a small sample size and difficult to predict a team’s future at this point in the season.
 
“Well, if he was sitting here, we could talk to him and see what he thinks,” says Ryan, who meets with the media every day, of Baumann, who is quoted above, “but he’s not here and he wrote that, and he hasn’t seen us play, right? That would be like me taking an evaluation that’s never saw a guy play, he just read the stat page. I would call that invalid.”
 
The bottom line is that the Twins have to keep winning, and perception will change. Plouffe, who came up as a rookie in 2010 that was looking to please everyone around him, has now taken a leadership role with this team and remembers what it was like before the team collapsed, says that he gets the same feeling in this locker room as he had before. “This year we’re a little bit more of a dark horse, I guess you’d call it, which is fine for us,” he says. “But it is similar in that we show up to the field expecting to win every day.”
 
This post was originally published on the Cold Omaha section of 105TheTicket.com.
Tom Schreier can be heard at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays with Ben Holsen and Mike Morris and co-hosts a morning show 8-10 a.m. on Sundays.
@https://twitter.com/tschreier3