CapitalBabs

Maybe it was just a coincidence.
Sure, Cedar Rapids Kernels catcher Charles Mack jumped out to a torrid start, with eight hits in 14 at-bats during the first week of the Kernels’ 2022 season, while pitcher Casey Legumina was charged with four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings of work in his sole start during that first week.
And, yes, it’s true that Legumina has been doing some cooking at the home of the host family that he and Mack share in Cedar Rapids this summer.
But it would be inconceivable that the food poisoning that had Mack bedridden for a couple of days and out of the Kernels lineup for five days had anything to do with Legumina being jealous of Mack’s hot start… wouldn’t it?
Let’s ask them.
“I got my food poisoning from him!” Mack accused when the question was raised during a joint interview near the end of the team’s most recent homestand.
“No way! I wasn’t even cooking for you!” was Legumina’s response.
Fortunately, it’s something Mack can laugh about now. He wasn’t laughing much when the bout of food poisoning hit during the team’s trip to play the Quad Cities River Bandits in Davenport earlier in the season.
“It was not fun,” Mack said. “I got sick that Saturday.”
Charles then admitted that it hadn’t been Casey’s cooking that did him in, but rather some chicken from a fast-food restaurant. In fact, the same issue sidelined at least a couple of additional Kernels.
“I learned my lesson. I was in bed for a couple of days, hardly moving,” he recounted.
It couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Kernels’ infielder-turned-catcher. His eight hits came in just four games during the opening week of the season and included three doubles and one home run.
Naturally, any time someone gets so sick that suddenly, the first thing you wonder about is whether it was caused by COVID.
“To be honest with you, I kind of almost wish it was COVID, just because then I would have known what it was,” Mack said. “I went to the E.R. to try to get some blood tests done. If I would have just had COVID, I wouldn’t have had to do any of that stuff.”
Nevertheless, Mack is healthy again and back in the catching rotation with fellow Kernels backstops Jair Camargo and Jeferson Morales.
Despite notching one hit in seven at-bats in the two games since recovering from his illness, Mack still sported a .409 batting average and a 1.140 OPS through Wednesday’s game at Beloit.
The illness was certainly ill-timed, but Mack remains philosophical about it.
“That happens. That’s life,” he said. “If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. I was meant to get sick, so we’ll see what happens from there. But it feels good and I’m ready to go.”
As for that rough (at least statistically) first start for Legumina, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the numbers might indicate.
He breezed through the first three-plus innings in Davenport before losing a bit of command, giving up a couple of singles and two walks in the fourth. He left the game with one run surrendered and the bases full of River Bandits.
The first batter after Legumina left the mound hit a bases-clearing triple.
That’s just bad luck and bad timing!
In his next start, Legumina surrendered two runs in 4 2/3 innings.
And in his third and most recent start, he worked five shutout innings against the Beloit Sky Carp, striking out eight batters, while walking just one and giving up one hit.
That’s the kind of progress the Twins’ eighth-round pick in the 2019 draft out of Gonzaga University is looking for this season.
“I feel really good. Obviously, I’ve had a lot of really good innings,” he said during the interview this week. “There were one or two innings that got away from me, but that’s part of the game. And those are things that I’m working out. Those are things I can control; things I’m working on in my bullpens now, to correct, so when I get in a game, it’s a little bit cleaner.
“This year, I’m just trying to throw as many strikes as possible. For me, the big thing is my curveball, my changeup, and just really trying to refine those, get it in the zone more. (I want to) be able to throw them in counts that people aren’t expecting. I’m just trying to be more comfortable, in general, just have a better rhythm with those pitches on the mound. As long as I can do that, I feel like everything will be alright.”
Mack, on the other hand, is beginning just his second year as a catcher after being selected as an infielder out of East Williamsville (NY) High School in the sixth round of the 2018 draft.
Coming off a 2021 season in Fort Myers where he hit .229, Mack was happy with how he was swinging the bat to begin this season, though much of his focus has had to be on continuing his development as a catcher.
“For me, I’m a new catcher, so that’s always a priority,” he said. “With that being said, in the past, I’ve been an infielder my whole life, so I’ve always expected myself to hit. Last year, I felt, was kind of a slow year. I just wasn’t as comfortable as I wanted to be. This past couple of weeks, I’ve just tried to be as comfortable as possible and as confident as possible in the box.”
A big part of Mack’s work behind the plate is becoming as familiar as possible with a staff full of pitchers.
“I catch all these guys a lot, so I have a good idea what they’re working on in bullpens,” he explained. "Like Casey said, the biggest thing is getting these guys in the zone. Our motto is to throw nasty stuff in the zone. If we can do that, if we can build off that, after we get ahead in the count, then we can start expanding the zone. If you’re down in the count, there’s not much you can do other than throw a fastball in the zone or flip your best off-speed pitch in the zone. Hitters pick up on that. But if you get ahead, you can do what you want.”

Both Legumina and Mack, of course, had their professional plans waylaid when the COVID pandemic struck during the 2020 spring training, costing both players a full year of minor league development just as their careers were getting started.
“It was mayhem,” Mack recalled. “When we found out, we were all in the Champions Hall, our big auditorium (at the Twins’ minor league academy in Fort Myers, Florida). We thought, ‘Oh, there’s no way we’re all going to be sent home.’ Then we get the news that we’re going home for a couple of weeks, and we were all shocked. And then come to find out we were going to be home for the whole year. It was a crazy time.”
Naturally, a professional ballplayer can’t just take a year off, regardless of the reason for the season’s cancellation.
“You kind of have to make due with what you have,” Mack said. “I was fortunate enough to have some facilities up by me (in New York) for a short period of time. Then, obviously, those got closed down as well. I just put up a little net in my garage. You make due. And I have a brother back home, so he helped. That was a blessing.”
Meanwhile, almost all the way across the country, Casey Legumina was having to improvise as well. But he had another complication. He was trying to return from ‘Tommy John’ surgery, which he had undergone shortly after being drafted by the Twins in 2019.
“I had my brother who plays, so that was good,” Legumina said. “Like most places in the country, everything was shutting down. There was limited capacity if they were open.
“I ended up building a gym at my house. My brother and I, we just trained there, and I’d throw to him. I was in rehab at the time. So, I did all my rehab throwing to my little brother, who was my catcher.
Of course, maybe all that down time gave Legumina an opportunity to refine his culinary talents.
“My dad always cooked,” he said, explaining his affinity for spending time in the kitchen. “We owned restaurants growing up. My dad liked to just create things, see what tastes good. I just watched him growing up. So, I just kind of fell in love with cooking for myself, and I enjoy it. I’d rather cook for myself than go get something to eat.”
It’s probably a safe bet that Mack would choose having Legumina cooking for him over going out to eat, as well… at least if the alternative is chicken from a certain fast-food joint.
Whatever Legumina, Mack, and the rest of their teammates are eating, they need to stick to those diets. Through Wednesday’s win over Beloit, Cedar Rapids is 14-3 and has opened up a three-game lead over their closest Midwest League Western Division rivals.
 

Other Twins Daily 2021 Award Winners
Twins Daily 2021 Awards: Most Improved
Twins Daily 2021 Awards: Pitcher of the Year
Twins Daily 2021 Awards: Rookie of the Year
Even the gleaming optimist would struggle to tally a fruitful list of positives from the Twins rocky 2021 season. Let's face it, 2021 was a wash. Players underperformed, a cesspool of injuries plagued, and the team as a whole fell mountains short of preseason expectations. 
There's plenty of content out there about the ladder issues. Yet as an optimist myself, it would be cruel not to highlight some of brilliant performances that took place in a deeply-needed 'normal' year of Major League Baseball for the Minnesota Twins. 
Losing sucks, but at the end of the day there are reasons for Twins fans to be optimistic. The players below prove why.
Honorable Mention for Twins Daily 2021 Most Valuable Player (listed in reverse order of votes received)
3B Josh Donaldson (18 Votes)
After a less-than-ideal first season with the Twins, Donaldson was stellar this season. The Bringer of Rain posted a 3.2 Offensive WAR and was an extra-base hit machine, tallying 26 homers and 26 doubles. Donaldson's .247 batting average doesn't do justice for how impactful he was in the Twins lineup. On top of that, his defense was rock-solid, as demonstrated by his 2.2 Defensive War. 
Will Donaldson remain a Twin for the final two years of his four-ear contract? Given his impact this year, I sure hope he does, When healthy, the man is a force on both sides of the ball. 
CF Byron Buxton (33 Votes)
If it weren't for the injury-crutch there's a good chance that Buxton would be atop this list...and atop standings for league-wide awards. In just 61 games Buxton slashed .306/.358/.647 (1.005) with 72 hits (23 doubles), 19 homers, and 32 RBI. Arguably the fastest player in baseball, Buxton stole nine bases on 10 attempts and was as Buxton-esque as ever patrolling center field at Target Field.
There's a lot of speculation regarding Buxton's future in Minnesota. Yes, health is an issue but my goodness, if you can't see that Buxton is a generational player, please open your eyes.
Also Receiving Votes: Baily Ober (13), Luis Arraez (12), Jose Berrios (8), Michael Pineda (6), Nelson Cruz (4), Taylor Rogers (4), Max Kepler (1), Caleb Thielbar (2)
Twins Daily 2021 MVP: 2B Jorge Polanco (50)
 Mention Jorge Polanco's name to Twins fans a year ago and one would likely be met with discouragement and vitriol. My oh my have the tables turned. 
While the whole Andrelton Simmons project at shortstop didn't exactly work out, Polanco's shift to second base rejuvenated the former all-star with the caliber of elite performance that we all knew he was capable of. Polanco finished the 2021 season with a .269/.323/.503 (.826) slash line, knocking 158 hits, 97 runs, 33 home runs, and 98 RBI. The speedy infielder also stole 11 bases in 17 attempts and touted a team-leading 4.8 offensive WAR. 
Polanco was a beacon of light all season for the Twins offense. After a slow April, Polanco's batting average hovered in excellency each month as the season progressed. 

And despite a subpar September (.245/.273/.547), Polanco still managed to knock eight homers (only second to his nine HR in August) and compile 58 total bases (26 H, 8 2B, 4 BB). 
Polanco's 33 homers put him fourth on the list amongst all MLB second basemen. The 28-year-old also ranks fourth at the position for RBI (98), and fifth for slugging percentage (.503). 
Coming off of his eighth season with the organization it's clear that Polanco is a player that the Twins are comfortable investing in. If that wasn't the case they would have taken advantage of numerous opportunities to trade him away. The investment has paid off, yet there's still work to be done. 
Polanco posted a defensive WAR of 0.7 this season and totaled a .961 Fielding Percentage with 17 errors (15 at 2B). Those numbers are solid but aren't going to win any Gold Gloves. Yet that misses the point of the greater picture. Polanco looked infinitely more confident at second base compared to his days at shortstop. There's a great chance that the confidence in the field correlated directly to his enormous year at the plate. Baseball is an incredibly difficult sport on the mental side of the game and Polanco's newfound confidence is a huge win for the future of the Twins organization. 
At the end of the day Polanco truly was the most valued player on this season's roster. He stayed healthy (in comparison to others), was a staple in the field, and hit for power and consistency from both sides of the plate. Hopefully the Twins can wrangle up a high-quality shortstop to complement Polanco up the middle. If so, the Twins could have one of the stronger infields in all of MLB. 
How do you feel about the choice of Jorge Polanco as the teams Most Valuable Player in 2021?