Search the Community

The Twins want to give the veterans that they have traded an opportunity to play in the playoffs and win a World Series title. Now Bobby Wilson has that opportunity. Wilson is currently on the disabled list and touted for his tremendous defense and veteran leadership for the catchers and pitchers. Chris Gimenez? Well, the same thing, plus he can pitch in blowouts instead of Mitch Garver or Willians Astudillo, right? Share your thoughts.

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Jose Berrios: 30 Game Score, 3.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 K, 2 BB, 66.3% strikes (57 of 86 pitches) Home Runs: Bobby Wilson (2) Multi-Hit Games: Logan Forsyhte (2-for-3, BB), Bobby Wilson (2-for-3, HR) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Forsythe .225, Wilson .183, Duffey .170 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Adrianza -.103, Berrios -.288 This was Berrios’ second-shortest outing of the year, but the third time in his last five starts he failed to complete five innings. It took him 86 pitches just to record 11 outs. He gave up seven hits, walked two batters and hit another. To make matters worse for Berrios, the defense committed two errors behind him. Jorge Polanco skipped a throw that first baseman Ehire Adrianza couldn’t scoop, resulting in a run, and Eddie Rosario, playing right field for the second-straight game, couldn’t cleanly field a single. Miguel Sano made a pretty nifty play on a foul popup. His momentum carried him into the Pittsburgh dugout, but luckily the Pirates were quick to come to Miguel’s rescue. Oh wait, that’s not how it happened at all … https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1029814707937370113 How about a li'l help here fellas? Bad karma right there ... The Twins managed to get to Chris Archer, taking a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, and the new-look Twins bullpen stood strong. Oliver Drake kept things clean for 1 1/3 innings. He’s now up to 4 1/3 shutout innings since joining the Twins. Gabriel Moya gave up singles to three of the seven batters he faced, but thanks to Tyler Duffey, he also ended the day with 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Since being called back up in late July, Moya has given up three earned runs over 11 2/3 innings (2.31 ERA). Going back to Duffey, he took over with runners on first and second and one out in the seventh. A huge spot with the Twins clinging to a one-run lead. He got the next two batters to fly out, ending the threat. Since his return, Duffey has now thrown 3-1/3 no-hit innings. A couple more familiar faces took over from there, as Taylor Rogers handled the eighth before Trevor Hildenberger got the job done in the ninth for his third save. Altogether, the bullpen combined for 5 1/3 innings of shutout ball, giving up five hits and two walks while striking out four batters. Logan Forsythe was 2-for-3 with a walk and three RBIs. He’s gone 17-for-44 (.386) since joining the Twins. Bobby Wilson had an RBI single in the second inning, then added a solo homer in the seventh. Karma. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: AL Central Standings CLE 68-51 MIN 56-63 (-12) DET 50-71 (-19) CHW 44-76 (-24.5) KC 36-83 (-32) Next Three Game Thu vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT: Ervin Santana vs. Francisco Liriano Fri vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. Matthew Boyd Sat vs. DET, 6:10 pm CT: Kohl Stewart vs. Artie Lewicki Last Three Games MIN 5, PIT 2: Odorizzi, Polanco Spark Comeback DET 4, MIN 2: Stewart Debuts, Bats Slump in Loss MIN 4, DET 3: Austin Homers, Hildy Survives Save Chance

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Lance Lynn: 36 Game Score, 5.0 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 6 K, 3 BB, 57.9% strikes Bullpen: 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 K, 0 BB Lineup: 3-for-7 w/RISP, 9 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Dozier .399, Pressly .227, Wilson .208, Cave .144 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Lynn -.275, Escobar -.107 Credit to Lynn, he got back on track despite the awful start to the game. He struck out the leadoff man, gave up a single, but then appeared to induce a potential inning-ending double play. Instead, Jorge Polanco couldn’t handle the feed at second and everybody was safe. Perez went down and launched a three-run homer on a ball that was below the zone. From there, Lynn gave up just one more run through five innings. Lynn went back out for the sixth inning and opened things up with a hit-by-pitch followed by a walk. Ryan Pressly came in and hit a batter of his own to load the bases with nobody out and the Twins holding just a one-run lead. Pressly retired the next three batters he faced to keep things clean in the top of the sixth. The bats provided some breathing room in the bottom of that inning, as Brian Dozier hit a two-run homer and Logan Morrison added a solo shot. Wilson had a great day at the plate. For real! He hit an RBI single with two outs in the second inning, added a run-scoring double in the fourth frame and then singled in the seventh. Altogether, the Twins had 15 hits with three from each of Wilson, Dozier and Joe Mauer. Jake Cave was 2-for-4 with a triple. After Pressly’s impressive Houdini act in the sixth, Zach Duke followed with a scoreless seventh and Alan Busenitz, who was activated as Addison Reed hit the DL, handled the final two frames. Busenitz gave up a solo homer with two down in the ninth. Next up for the Twins is a four-game series against the Rays at Target Field to close out the first half. After getting off to a bit of a sluggish start, Tampa Bay has gone 20-10 over its last 30 games. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: AL Central Standings CLE 49-41 MIN 41-49 (-8) DET 40-55 (-11.5) CHW 30-61 (-19.5) KC 26-66 (-24) Next Three Games Thu vs. TB, 7:10 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. Blake Snell Fri vs. TB, 7:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Nathan Eovaldi Sat vs. TB, 1:10 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Chris Archer Last Three Games KC 9, MIN 4: Slegers Slayed by Royals MIN 3, KC 1: Minnesota’s All-Star Shines MIN 10, BAL 1: Twins Pick Up First Sweep of 2018

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Kyle Gibson: 60 Game Score, 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 9 K, 4 BB, 59.6% strikes Bullpen: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 K, 0 BB Lineup: 3-for-8 w/RISP, 5 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Wilson .280, Kepler .164 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Rosario -.163, Dozier -.108 Bobby Wilson was 2-for-3 and drove in three runs since May 14, 2016. The Twins were down 3-0 before they even got up to bat, but Gibby got rolling and Max Kepler hit a solo home run in the fifth to get the Twins on the board. Wilson had a run-scoring single later in that inning and the tying run came in to score on a bases-loaded wild pitch. Wilson was up in a big spot again the very next inning. He hit a bases-loaded double that plated two more runs to give the Twins the lead. Oh, and Jake Cave made another tremendous catch. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1015668389769932800 Trevor HIldenberger pitched a scoreless eighth inning before Fernando Rodney had a far too interesting ninth. He got the save, but it was an experience. The O’s got the game-tying run to second base, but Rodney got Tim Beckham to ground out to earn his 19th save. Gibson hasn’t given up more than five earned runs all season, and this was his 14th start in 18 times out in which he’s surrendered three or fewer earned runs. Postgame With Molitor https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1015710479321260032 Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: AL Central Standings CLE 49-37 MIN 38-48 (-11) DET 39-51 (-12) CHW 30-58 (-20) KC 25-62 (-24.5) Next Three Games Sun vs. BAL, 1:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Alex Cobb Mon vs. KC, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Tue vs. KC, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 6, BAL 2: Jake Cave Is the Hero We Deserve MIN 5, BAL 2: Slegers, Cave Lift Twins Out of Slump MIL 3, MIN 2: Pushing Against a Stone

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Joe Berrios: 84 Game Score, 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 12 K, 2 BB, 65.4% strikes Bullpen: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 K, 0 BB Lineup: 2-for-9 w/RISP, 6 LOB Top three per WPA: Berrios .449, Grossman .161, Wilson .097 Berrios gave up a double on his very first pitch of the game, but would only surrender two more hits, one of which could have easily been scored an error. This was a red hot Texas Rangers team, but Jose stopped them dead in their tracks. Berrios busted out his curveball over and over again, throwing 44 curves on his 107 pitches (according to Baseball Savant). The Rangers managed to put just one of those curveballs in play. Jose got nine swinging strikes, six called strikes and nine foul balls on that pitch. Over his last eight starts, Berrios has surrendered just 13 earned runs over 57 innings pitched, a 2.05 ERA. This was a scoreless game until the bottom of the fifth. Robbie Grossman hit a leadoff double, advanced to third on an Ehire Adrianza fly out to center and then scored on a Bobby Wilson two-out single. The next inning, Eddie Rosario hit a leadoff single and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Eduardo Escobar was walked, but Texas managed to retire the next two batters, Brian Dozier and Logan Morrison. Grossman came up and hit a ground ball through the infield to score Rosario. Hildy pitched a 1-2-3 eighth before Rodney struck out the side to earn his 17th save of the season. Bartolo Colon had a great start in his return to Target Field, pitching seven innings, but today was La MaKina's day. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: AL Central Standings CLE 43-44 DET 36-42 (-8) MIN 34-40 (-8) CHW 25-51 (-18) KC 23-53 (-20) Next Three Games Mon OFF Tue at CHW, 7:10 pm CT: Lance Lynn vs. Reynaldo Lopez Wed at CHW, 7:10 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. James Shields Thu at CHW, 1:10 pm CT: TBD vs. Lucas Giolito Last Three Games TEX 9, MIN 6: Odorizzi Lays an Egg TEX 8, MIN 1: Circling the Drain BOS 9, MIN 2: There Go Those Shiny Pitching Stats

Heading into the season, I called out the team's questionable catching depth as a primary concern. The Twins just didn't have much in the way of established commodities behind starter Jason Castro (who himself was basically an average player). Two months in, Castro is out for the year and Minnesota's iffy catching depth is being put to the test. Mitch Garver had a solid April but since May 1st he is hitting .188/.278/.234 with three extra-base hits (all doubles) in 72 PA. The lack of production would be easy enough to live with if his defense stood out, but Paul Molitor doesn't appear to feel that way; why else would light-hitting minor-league journeyman Bobby Wilson (slashing .167/.196/.333 since his call-up) be getting so many reps? I'm not giving up on Garver but realistically, he was a fringe prospect who isn't showing much offensively here at age 27. There isn't a ton of upside there. All of the organization's best catching prospects remain several years away. And while Castro is under contract for 2019, he'll be returning as a 31-year-old coming off major knee surgery. The Twins could use a serious big-league addition at catcher, and not necessarily in the form of a 2018 rental. However, even that route would potentially yield a meaningful upgrade capable of making a pivotal impact. As I look at the current landscape around the majors, there are three opportunities I see for making a splash and reeling in some serious help behind the plate. Here they are, from the least dramatic to the most (and I've gotta admit, Option C is my favorite right now). Option A: Trade with the Atlanta Braves for Tyler Flowers The Braves, who find themselves leading the NL East here in June, aren't in position to be dumping valuable assets, but they could live without Flowers. The 32-year-old is having another good season, slashing .270/.403/.444 after posting an .823 OPS last year, but he's in a timeshare with fellow veteran backstop (and former Twin) Kurt Suzuki. Even with their surprisingly strong start, the Braves are still a young, future-minded team. Presumably they'd be open to shipping out Flowers, who's eligible for free agency after this season, in exchange for controllable talent with upside. Flowers has far more MLB experience than any of Minnesota's present fixtures, and is considered a strong pitch framer. Plus, his OBP skills would bolster the lower half of the Twins lineup. A Suzuki reunion would also be possible, I suppose, but I prefer Flowers as a fit for this team. Option B: Trade with the Oakland Athletics for Jonathan Lucroy When Oakland signed Lucroy to a one-year, $6.5 million deal around the same time in March that Minnesota added Lance Lynn, it was assumed he'd be used as trade bait around the deadline. And even though the A's find themselves above the .500 mark two months in, that's still the likely plan. They have no real shot at contending in a division with three clearly superior teams. The price to acquire Lucroy would probably be higher than a Flowers type, but not by a ton. At 31, Lucroy isn't the offensive force he once was — he has only one home run thus far — but he's a capable hitter and a steady vet with a .264 average and .338 OBP dating back to the start of last year. Option C: Trade with the Miami Marlins for J.T. Realmuto This is the "aim high" option and — in many ways — a very logical one. Unlike Flowers and Lucroy, Realmuto is still relatively young (he turned 27 in March) with multiple years of team control (he's arbitration eligible through 2020). He's also very good, with a .761 career OPS and a .301/.359/.510 line this year. The Marlins were shopping Realmuto during the offseason, but he was one of the few attractive assets they ended up keeping (much to his chagrin). The Nationals are among the clubs that made a run at him, but ultimately they couldn't meet Miami's asking price. This tells us Minnesota will have to pony up if they want to make something happen, especially since Realmuto's having an excellent season. But from my view, names like Stephen Gonsalves and Nick Gordon should be on the table. Realmuto is just that kind of commodity, capable of making a franchise-altering impact as the Twins (hopefully) enter their contention window. What do you think? Do you have a preference among these options? Perhaps another trade scenario strikes your fancy? Or would you be satisfied with staying the course, letting Garver stay in the driver's seat while hoping someone like newly signed Triple-A farmhand Cameron Rupp can step in if needed? Please share your thoughts in the comments if you've got 'em.

Since Castro hit the DL on May 5th, Garver and local happy hour goer Bobby Wilson have surprisingly split reps at catcher. Garver has caught nine games, played once at DH and served as a PH twice, while Wilson has caught eight games himself. This seems odd. Garver is clearly an upgrade over Wilson offensively. While he has had some blunders in the field, Garver has also been far from a liability and even shown some areas of catching strength (throwing out base runners). This led me to ask the question: Why are the Twins handling their catching situation the way they are? What can we expect from the club moving forwards, assuming they can stay within striking distance of Cleveland? Hitting Castro was having an appalling offensive start before he went down with a meniscus injury which ultimately ended his season. In my previous piece on Castro, I contended that he put up fairly average offensive numbers for a catcher, ranking sixth among catchers in OBP in 2017 (minimum 400 plate appearances), and first in BB% (11.1%). Castro had been putrid his year, managing a .257 OBP (compared to .333 in 2017). This was not aided by an unbelievable .216 BABIP. Perhaps Castro has been inhibited by his injury throughout the season, we’ll never know. What we do know is that his ‘generally solid offensive production for a catcher’ was way down. Garver was thought to be an offensive upgrade over Castro. So far, that has proven to be the case, at least over the 2018 version of Castro. Garver has a 5.5% BB% (Eddie Rosario was at 5.9% in his ‘more disciplined’ 2017), and a 30% K% (Miguel Sano was 35% in 2017). Garver has gotten on base at a .303 clip, not great but significantly better than 2018 Castro. These numbers are still a small major league sample. His walk rate, in particular, should stabilize and increase over time to around the 10% he has averaged throughout his career. Wilson, despite delivering some big hits for the Twins so far, is an offensive liability. In nine seasons, he has a .213/.266/.321 offensive line in 875 plate appearances. Make no mistake, despite Castro’s awful start, he’s light years ahead of Bobby Wilson. Regular Fielding DRS (defensive runs saved – which measures fielders by the number of runs above or below average) is a particularly limited statistic to use on catchers because catching is so complicated and encompasses so many different elements than ‘regular’ fielding does. Additionally, it’s particularly prone to fairly volatile variations and doesn’t usually stabilize until hit a larger sample (at least a season). In 2017 Castro had a DRS of +10 (Gold Glove winner Martin Maldonado was +22). In 620 innings caught in 2016 (his last season consistently playing in the majors) Wilson had a DRS of -3. This is fascinating because as an offensive no-show, Wilson is automatically described as having value as a ‘solid defender’ and ‘good club-house guy’. Those may both be true, but Wilson’s last season with a positive DRS was 2015. In 145.0 early innings for the 2018 Twins, Garver is -2. Other than naming this, it’s much too early to read further into Garver’s general fielding of his position. Preventing Base Stealing Both Castro and Garver have done a god job at preventing the running game this season for the Twins. For context here, of active catchers, the best active career caught stealing% is Yadier Molina at just under 41%, Castro is 25th among active catchers at 26%, Kurt Suzuki, a pretty sub-par defensive catcher, is 36th at 23% (Joe Mauer is 10th on this list at 33%!). The Twins trio fit interesting here, fully acknowledging that we are early in the season and there is an extremely small sample size. Through Sunday, Castro was at 40%, Garver 30%, and Wilson 0% (only 2 attempts). What has been clear in the early going, is Garver has a good, and accurate, arm, and seemingly a solid approach to getting runners. Statcast allows us to be even more precise with this breakdown. Interestingly, Castro and Garver excel in slightly different areas, with Wilson unsurprisingly lagging behind. Pop time measures the amount of time from the pitch hitting the catcher’s mitt to the moment the ball reaches the fielder’s receiving point at the center of the base. Mitch Garver has the fastest pop time of the three, averaging 2.03 seconds, good for 40th out of 75th catchers. Wilson is 75th at 2.32. This is the pop time equivalent to Albert Pujols running to first base, extremely pedestrian. Castro ranked 48th before his injury, close to Garver. In exchange (the amount of time it takes to get the ball out of the glove), Castro is a top-20 catcher, with an average time of 0.70. This is a much less developed skill for Garver, who comes in 65th at 0.79. Wilson, again, ranks last in MLB at 0.90. These increments might seem small, but they mater when you’re trying to throw out folks running at 29 feet per second. Of course, while all of these factors contribute to being able to throw out base runners, the runner himself and the time the pitcher takes to get the ball to the catcher are also vital factors. These numbers do bear out however, that we can trust our eyes and assume that Bobby Wilson is the least athletic catching option the Twins have. Game Management Through Sunday May 20th, the table below was true of Twins pitching when being caught by each of the team’s catchers. I don’t think there’s a ton to read into this. These numbers undoubtedly ebb and flow with the fortunes of how the team is playing in general. Castro caught the majority of games in the Twins miserable stretch that culminated in a series of butt-whoopings by the Yankees. I don’t think there’s any doubt that Castro can call an excellent game. This potentially is where Wilson may have an edge on Garver. One way to take advantage of Wilson’s increased game calling experience would be to pair him with a specific pitcher (Fernando Romero would be an excellent candidate), in order to develop a strong pitcher/catcher relationship and develop a relationship with his stuff. The Twins however, should not be splitting or near splitting catching time from an offensive standpoint. Even with Garver’s numbers still being a small sample, he should be getting closer to 80% of playing time rather than 50%. Twins Next Steps It will be fascinating to see what the Twins do at catcher as the season progresses. What’s clear from this examination is that Bobby Wilson, while fitting the ‘loveable, defensively dependable backup’ narrative, is actually a pretty terrible option, particularly offensively. There will be some bigger names on the trade market this summer, such as JT Realmuto, whom I wouldn’t expect the Twins to aggressively pursue. The Twins could get a moderate upgrade on Wilson via trade for a far smaller price, who they could use in a more effective time split with Garver. Alternatively, it would be fascinating to see if AAA catcher Willians Astudillo gets any consideration for major league catching time. In 99 ABs for the Rochester Red Wings, Astudillo has a .273/.305/.495 line with five HR. What do you think of the current Twins time share at catcher? Would you make a move? Stick with Wilson? Or give Astudillo a chance?

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) The Twins acquired Cave this offseason from the Yankees, where he figured to have very little opportunity to break in at the major league level. Well, taking a look at the Twins’ depth chart and considering the fact he’s a lefty, it didn’t appear there was going to be much of an avenue for him to contribute here, either. Good thing for him baseball happens. Mauer will take some time off to recover from a neck strain, meaning Logan Morrison will be manning first base and Robbie Grossman will get some work as the DH. That opened the door for another outfielder to enter the fold, and Zack Granite just recently returned from an injury of his own, creating the perfect storm for Cave to enter the picture. Cave took advantage of his first opportunity, destroying a pitch for a round tripper. According to Matt Kelly of MLB.com/Statcast, Cave’s exit velocity of 111.4 mph is the second-highest of any Twins homer this year, trailing only Miguel Sano. Heck of a way to make an impression on your first hit. https://twitter.com/MLBPipeline/status/998005657784733696 Maybe this means people will know his name. FanGraphs had him listed as “A Cave” in their box score. Not sure if they thought the Twins were just going to literally put a cave in centerfield tonight, or what. Anyway, as I noted earlier Bobby Wilson drove in the other two runs, meaning all the damage tonight came from a couple of guys who aren’t even really supposed to be here. That had to have felt good, considering Milwaukee’s first run of the game scored after Wilson committed a throwing error in the first inning. Wilson spent all last year in Triple A and even considered retiring at the end of spring training. With Jason Castro out for the year, it sure is a good thing the Twins talked him into going to Rochester. The Twins picked up only three more hits outside of those contributions from Cave and Wilson, one of which was a leadoff double from Morrison. Bad news: He ended up being picked off at second base. The best way I could describe Minnesota’s performance tonight would be flat. The Brewers, on the other hand, played with energy and passion. Unfortunately, both teams’ fan bases also matched the energy of the teams they were rooting for. I’m sure there were more Twins fans in the crowd at Target Field, but it sure didn’t sound like it. Fernando Romero had his worst start, plummeting his ERA to 1.66. Oh wait, that’s actually still really good. Romero gave up four runs, three earned, on three hits and two walks over five innings. He only managed to strike out two batters. The bullpen basically had to be perfect. They were not, as Addison Reed gave up a go-ahead homer to Christian Yelich in the eighth inning. Hindsight’s always 20/20, of course, but Ryan Pressly had only thrown eight pitches while recording the final two outs of the seventh. Can’t help but wonder what might have happened if he stayed out there, though you can’t fault Paul Molitor for going to Reed. The Brewers’ bullpen basically had to be perfect … and they pretty much were. Dan Jennings (1.2 IP) Jeremy Jeffress (1.0 IP) and Josh Hader (2.1 IP) held the Twins scoreless for six innings and racked up nine strikeouts while only giving up a pair of hits. Postgame With Molitor https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/998034535156613120 Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Sun vs. MIL, 1:10 pm CT Mon vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT Tue vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT Last Three Games MIL 8, MIN 3: Gibson Falters, Mauer Exits Due to Neck Injury MIN 4, STL 1: Berrios is Back STL 7, MIN 5: Lynn with a Dud Again More From Twins Daily Twins Minor League Report (5/19): Jaye with a Great Start, Jay with a Poor Finish 2018 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospect: 31-40 Buy Your "Picnic With The Saints" Tickets NOW The Evolution of Jose Berrios

https://twitter.com/RhettBollinger/status/996776775077294080 This is a tough blow for a Twins team fighting for the top spot in the AL Central standings. Other players like Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano have already missed time this season. It’s taken longer than expected for Ervin Santana to return from injury. Also, the club has been without Jorge Polanco due to his suspension. That’s a lot of regular players not in the line-up. That being said, it’s not like the Twins are without a viable catching option. Mitch Garver has performed well so far this season and he will need to continue to make the most of this opportunity. Bobby Wilson played an important role in Tuesday’s victory over the Cardinals. Both players are going to need to take on even more vital roles moving forward. https://twitter.com/SethTweets/status/996778118965841921 Now the question remains as to what the Twins front office should do moving forward. Does the club need to bring in another catcher to back up Garver? Can they find another option to stash at Triple-A? Can Garver and Wilson carry the team’s catching needs? Feel free to add your thoughts to any of those questions and more in the COMMENTS section.

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Berrios gave St. Louis a heavy dose of curveballs, offering it up 33 times among the 102 pitches on the evening. He got nine swinging strikes and five called strikes on that Uncle Charlie and the Cardinals only managed to put it in play three times. Altogether, Jose had 16 swinging strikes and topped out at 95.5 mph. https://twitter.com/PitcherList/status/996561487979274240 This started out as another frustrating night for the offense, as Cardinals rookie Jack Flaherty held the bats in check over the first five innings, but they finally broke through. With two down in the sixth inning, the Twins strung together consecutive singles from Brian Dozier, Eddie Rosario and Eduardo Escobar to tie the game at 1-1. Logan Morrison led off the eighth with a double and scored when the Cardinals couldn’t properly field a Byron Buxton bunt. Maybe baseball is fair after all. One night after losing because they misfired while fielding a bunt, the Twins scored the go-ahead run because the other guys misfired while fielding a bunt. Bobby Wilson helped eliminate some drama by blasting a two-run homer to put the Twins up three runs. His last MLB home run was Sept. 21, 2016. https://twitter.com/TwinsHighlights/status/996596488494112769 The bullpen locked it down, as Addison Reed retired the only two batters he faced on strikes and Fernando Rodney pitched a perfect ninth inning for his eighth save. He hasn’t given up a run in eight appearances and has surrendered just two hits over that stretch. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Wed vs. STL, 12:10 pm CT Thu OFF Fri vs. MIL, 7:10 pm CT Sat vs. MIL, 6:10 pm CT Last Three Games SEA 1, MIN 0: Twins Get LeBlanc’ed LAA 2, MIN 1: Ohtani Excellent as Angels Walk Off Twins MIN 5, LAA 3: Twins Outlast Angels in Gutsy Victory More From Twins Daily "Picnic With The Saints" Ticket Prices Announced 2018 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospects: 41-50 What Can Be Done to Awaken Slumbering Twins Offense?

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Being a Twins fan, I’ve just conditioned myself to go into things expecting the worst, particularly when it comes to pitchers. I came up with dozens of legit excuses that could’ve been made if Romero came out and had a bad start. Sure, he had already gotten his debut out of the way, but this was his first road start. Pitching in enemy territory can be difficult. While they’ve had some injuries, the Cardinals lineup is among the more patient in baseball. That’s not easy to contend with. Let’s see what else? There’s the difference between the MLB ball and the one they use in the minors. That really seemed to be an issue for Jose Berrios (pun intended). Romero was also going to have to hit for the first time since he was a young boy. You could see where that may have messed with his nerves. Plus, he had to deal with Robbie Grossman being his right fielder. OK, that last one was a joke. Nothing seemed to faze Romero. He actually didn’t have excellent command, but his pitches were so nasty it didn’t matter. He got strikeouts when he needed, and in his final inning he induced a huge double play when he really needed it. St. Louis got its leadoff man aboard in three separate innings. It didn’t matter. https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/993655767768162304 Looking at his mannerisms, body language and pace, it appeared as though Romero was just throwing on the backfields in spring training. https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/993662317677162501 Romero got 14 swinging strikes on his 97 pitches and topped out at 98.1 mph. His final three pitches of the evening were clocked at 97.1, 96.2 and 96.5, according to Baseball Savant. https://twitter.com/MLBPipeline/status/993698271196401666 One thing that had to have helped Romero settle in was the fact the bats gave him a two-run lead before he took the mound. Joe Mauer drew a leadoff walk and both Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario delivered RBI doubles. Rosario would hit a second double later on in this game. He absolutely tattooed the ball again tonight, hitting both those balls in excess of 103 mph. I know I took a cheap shot at our friend Robbie earlier, but he had a really nice night at the plate as well. Grossman was 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. Along with helping Romero navigate the St. Louis lineup, catcher Bobby Wilson was 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. The Twins offense seems to have been stuck in an all-or-nothing mode, but they managed to score their six runs tonight without the benefit of a home run. Trevor Hildenberger pitched a perfect seventh, continuing an upward trend for him, and Matt Magill handled the final two innings to preserve the shutout. In all, the Cardinals managed just four hits. It was a pretty great night, and it ended with the Twins picking up their fourth straight victory. Postgame With Romero https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/993691747560517632 Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Tue at STL, 12:15 pm CT Thu at LAA, 9:07 pm CT Fri at LAA, 9:07 pm CT Last Three Games MIN 5, CHW 3: Rosario Lifts Twins to Third Straight Victory MIN 8, CHW 4: Rosario Drives in Five MIN 6, CHW 4: Twins Slug Four Homers in Victory More From Twins Daily What's Gotten Into Kyle Gibson? Week in Review: Baby Steps Edwar Colina: From Chilly Home Opener to No-Hitter

Before the 2017 season, the Twins signed Jason Castro to a three-year, $24 million deal. In 2017, he had easily his best offensive season since his All-Star season in 2013 with the Astros. Last year, Castro hit .242/.333/.388 (.720) with 22 doubles and ten home runs. While those aren’t great numbers for a hitter, they are very solid for a catcher, especially one credited to be as solid as he is defensively. But right now, Castro has been struggling and because of Morrison and Grossman, few are talking about it. Following his 0-4 with three strikeout game on Wednesday night, Castro is hitting just .146/.241/.229 (.470). He has 20 strikeouts in 54 plate appearances. That’s 37%. Defensively, Castro is a good pitch framer. Let’s be honest, those are the numbers that made him a free agent that several teams wanted last year. He is league average the last couple of years in terms of throwing out base stealers. He’s had his moments already this year in terms of blocking balls and such. Of course, it’s also important to remember that we are talking about 54 plate appearances. He’s still at the point of the season where a 4-for-4 day would raise his batting average by .065, so there is no reason to worry at this point. Mitch Garver was the Twins minor league player of the year last year after a big season in AAA. He made his debut. Now 27, he’s earned the opportunity to be on the big league roster. He’s been used mostly in a platoon role. Castro starts against right-handers while Garver gets the starts against southpaws. Between that and the multitude of weather postponements, Garver hasn’t had much playing time. In fact, he went from April 10 until April 21 without playing. He’s had just 22 plate appearances in his eight games played this season. He’s hitting .200/.273/.400 (.673) with a double and a game-winning home run among his four hits. He has seven strikeouts in his 22 plate appearance (32%). Of course, if I want to use the if-he-goes-4-for-4-in-his-next-game scenario, Garver’s batting average would increase by .133. Defensively, he has had his ups and downs. On Tuesday night in New York, he had a tough inning with a “wild pitch’ and an error, but he was also the catcher for Jose Berrios’s complete game shutout. I said already last year that I thought Garver was the best overall catcher in the organization. Of course, at the time, he had zero major league service time. But I’ll stand by that comment. I think that Garver can be a good defensive catcher and a better-than-average hitting catcher. Of course, that will need to be proven over time. At this stage, it is simply opinion. Jason Castro and Mitch Garver are the Twins two catchers, and they likely will be throughout the season, barring injury. As the Twins, hopefully, start playing a more consistent schedule, both catchers should be able to get into more of a regular routine with more consistent playing time. Looking at Rochester to see what the options are as the Twins' #3 catcher, it’s easy to feel confident that Castro and Garver will remain the big league catchers. Bobby Wilson went 0-3 with two walks on Wednesday. The 35-year-old veteran has two hits in his first 31 at bats (.065) with the Red Wings. Willians Astudillo is hitting .267/.290/.400 (.690) in his eight games for the Red Wings. And at AA, the Twins have defensive specialist Brian Navarreto and veteran Wynston Sawyer. The Twins will need their catchers to pick it up over the next few weeks offensively. And there is little reason to believe that they won’t. Castro will likely end the season hitting .220 with about ten homers and strong defense. Garver isn’t proven, but if he gets enough consistent at-bats, he should certainly outperform Castro at the plate. While catcher is an area in the organization that could use some depth (their top catching prospects are in Cedar Rapids - Rortvedt, Banuelos), I believe that their two major league catchers have a chance to be about league average for the position, and if that’s the case, it will really help the team.