News Twins Team Notes

[Minnesota Twins]

Twins 5, Orioles 2: Bat flips don’t lie

Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Makes a man want to hit a slam... ish.

Taking a request tonight!
Tonight in...
(We got from sandwiches asking here)
Tonight in...
Tonight in...
We’re here, we’re here!

It’s always good to see the Twins advance like this,
Know how to grant any glad fan’s wish,
Withhold the drama (please!), completed (please!)
No problems (we’re here, we’re here!), no problems
Go crazy with a bomb like that,
There’s Byron knockin’ ‘em flat,
Then Bader (see!) a tater (see!)
Leaving the crowd going bawdy.

All STUDS tonight,
You know the Twins don’t lie
When they’re dominant in the fight
Always in action, connection:
Don’t you see? Tell me this is perfection.

Hey now, Simeon started, was groovin’,
It was driving ‘em crazy,
And the bullpen kept on this idea,
Never giving ‘em chances.
And when the Orioles could just score, nobody got any more,
Just send them to the naughty world (just groove!)
But was the dominance expected? No matter: it’s selected,
So seize the win, we’re taking it! (let’s go!)

It’s always good to see the Twins advance like this,
Know how to grant any glad fan’s wish,
Withhold the drama (please!), completed (please!)
No problems (we’re here, we’re here!), no problems
Go crazy with a bomb like that,
There’s Byron knockin’ ‘em flat,
Then Bader (see!) a tater (see!)
Leaving the crowd going bawdy.

All STUDS tonight,
You know the Twins don’t lie
When they’re dominant as they go
Every combo, let’s go:
Don’t you see? Tell me this is perfecto.
There’s not a DUD tonight,
The Twins don’t lie
When they’re dominant in the fight
Always in action, connection:
Don’t you see? Tell me this is perfection. (we’re here, we’re here!)

Hey now, all of the offense was groovin’, all hammerin’ that man,
They go, go round the bags as they’re movin’, with a cheering from that fan
They’ll win this Wednesday game, they’ve come to play now, play now:
See, they’re doin’ what they planned, so we stand, and we go
Fully nuts: we rant and we rave!

Ballin’ on behalf of the offense,
Ballin’ on behalf of the arms,
Ballin’ on behalf of the offense,
Ballin’ on behalf of the arms.

It’s always good to see the Twins advance like this,
Know how to grant any glad fan’s wish,
Withhold the drama (please!), completed (please!)
No problems (we’re here, we’re here!), no problems
Go crazy with a bomb like that,
There’s Byron sendin’ it to fly.
Then Bader (see!) a tater (see!)
Leaving the crowd going bawdy.

Now we need to read the Comments,
Need to pick the one that will earn some adornments.
Let me see:
Gonna go with James Fillmore and Silva, he’d say!
Though there are still more yet still to see.)

We came to see a game and got to see
A rip or three that we backed with the chanting: “That’s a good win, on three!”
Drive it back with a pop, cleared the wall like Humpty Dumpty
It leaves the ballclub jazzy
(Why’d the MLB try contraction?)
It’s the politest Minnesotans
Never guilty, always kindness in our actions
No dopes, no dopes, now we’ve picked up our hopes
And we cheer cause we’re here, let’s subvert the old tropes, tropes!

All STUDS tonight,
The Twins don’t lie
When they’re dominant as they go
Every combo, let’s go:
Tell me that this is perfecto.
There’s not a DUD tonight,
The Twins don’t lie
When they’re dominant in the fight
In action, connection:
Don’t you see? Tell me this is perfection. (we’re here, we’re here!)

(Good night’n!)
(Good night’n!)

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/...arrison-bader-dingers-simeon-woods-richardson

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Twins 5, Orioles 2: Sweeeeeeeeep!

The Minnesota Twins sweep the Baltimore Orioles in three games at Target Field

From fishing celebrations to buck bombs to spartan helmets, this Minnesota Twins team is on fire, and it is fun to watch.

While the competition hasn’t been overly stiff, wins are wins and the Twins have won five in a row and 10 of their last 11 games at Target Field. It’s all at a perfect time when the Minnesota Timberwolves are working to beat the Warriors in the Western Conference semifinals.

Despite striking out three times at the plate and an error in the field. Brooks Lee was the key player of the game this afternoon. He managed a go-ahead two-run double in the bottom of the 8th with two outs. Heading into this inning the Twins only had three hits on the afternoon.

Brooks Lee hammers a 2-run go-ahead double to put the @Twins ahead! pic.twitter.com/v48OLtOo9K

— MLB (@MLB) May 8, 2025​

Despite the Orioles having a majority of the baserunners and hits, the Twins situational hitting took them to the finish in this one. Trevor Larnach tied things up with his 5th home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth.

Trevor Larnach goes yard to tie things up pic.twitter.com/VTmiQhPkFV

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 8, 2025​

“I thought I had a better chance hitting right handed than left-handed today,” Lee said to broadcaster Katie Storm after the game.

He also touched on this winning streak, and says this team is going to keep it going.

“We find a way to win, and we have been doing that for a few days now, and we are going to keep doing that,” he said.

Lee is a California transplant who loves fishing. His new celebration imitates him reelin’ in what I think is likely a nice Minnesota walleye. He went ice-fishing with Louie Varland in a few spots last year on the Twins Caravan, and according to reports, and now his new celly, he clearly loved it. Well, his big go-ahead double was just in time for the fishing opener which is Mother’s Day weekend coming up. According to my MLB app, it also has him in contention for AL Player of the Week. He says the clubhouse is meshing well right now.

“It’s been great, it’s a lot of fun. We have a great clubhouse and a great group of guys,” he said.

We would be remiss if we didn’t touch on the toss from Byron Buxton in center field Thursday afternoon, throwing out a runner at the plate.

In addition to everything else he's doing well right now, Byron Buxton just nailed a runner at the plate with a great throw from center field. pic.twitter.com/ZYtOOa7xoa

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) May 8, 2025​

On the mound, Bailey Ober got the start for the Twins as Joe Ryan was battling an illness. Ober pitched 5 innings, giving up 8 hits and 1 ER. He walked 1 and struck out 6. The bullpen was a big part of the story though, giving up only 2 hits and no earned runs. Sands, Topa, Jax (W,) and Duran (S) all made appearances.

Next up for the 18-20 Twins is a weekend series against the San Francisco Giants. The Giants sit in a tough NL West, in third with a 24-14 record.

Let’s Go Twins! Keep it rollin’, for Mom.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/8/24426439/twins-5-orioles-2-sweeeeeeeeep

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Eddie Rosario wasted no time jolting the 2015 Twins

Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images

One pitch is all it takes!

After their horrendous start to the 2015 season, the Minnesota Twins had stabilized a bit following Trevor Plouffe’s panache. But heading into a May 6 contest with the Oakland (RIP) Athletics, the squad was just 14-13. Things could still go either way on the ‘15 season.

But then Eddie Rosario dug in and changed all of that with his first major league hack.

A native of Guayama, Puerto Rico, Rosario came to the Twins organization via the fourth round of the 2010 MLB Draft. His development was a bit up-and-down: the raw talent showed immediately and he played for the Puerto Rico squad in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. He also received a 50-game suspension in 2014 for use of a banned substance.

Photo by Robbie Rogers/MLB via Getty Images
Baby Eddie representing his country of birth

But when Eduardo Nunez & Oswaldo Arcia hit the IL in early May of ‘15, it opened a roster spot for the young prospect.

Entering the Target Field batter’s box against A’s lefty Scott Kazmir, Eddie led off the third inning in the 8th slot of Paul Molitor’s lineup. With a cadre of family members in the bleachers, the first sphere Kazmir sent his way did not return to the field of play...

I’ll never forget watching this moment on TV while living in Burnsville, MN. It is exceedingly rare that a first swing possesses such magic, but—as conveyed by Dick Bremer & Bert Blyleven in the booth—that was exactly what transpired here.

Rosario was no flash-in-the-pan. He’d stick with the big club for the ‘15 duration and put up this line: 122 G, 474 PA, 18 2B, 15 3B, 13 HR, 11 SB, 102 OPS+. In the field, his Cuddyer-like cannon would gun down as many runners as his scattershot brain would sometimes let on.

Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images
Chugging towards 3B

After a 6-year Twins stint followed by some club-hopping, Eddie is—believe it or not—still kicking around. This year he appeared in 2 games with the Los Angeles Dodgers before being granted free agency in lieu of accepting an assignment. As the ‘21 Atlanta Braves discovered, Eddie remains a small-sample-size weapon in the biggest of moments.

Photo by Jeremy Chen/Getty Images
That swing looks VERY familiar!

The Twins would throttle the A’s 11-0 that May 6, 2015 evening (6 scoreless innings from Kyle Gibson—somewhere TJ is smiling). By the time May closed, the Twins were a remarkable 20-7 within its boundaries—moving into 1st place in the AL Central!

As you can see, I was pumped!

(Late breaking news: Eddie Rosario is now in Atlanta again! You can’t keep Rosie down!)

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/...irst-pitch-oakland-athletics-scott-kazmir-wow

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Game 40: Giants at Twins

Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

The masculine urge to be so back.

First Pitch: 6:15 pm CDT​

TV: KMSP, FOX / ~ / Radio: TIBN, WCCO 830, The Wolf 102.9 FM

Apparently, April showers bring May flowers.

After I wrote exactly ONE optimistic preview so far this year (before the second game of the season), the Twins made life difficult by digging an immediate hole for themselves and playing like hot ass in a can all week leading up to the Saturday games.

But this time, the story is a little different.

Seven games under .500 last weekend, the Twins said, “you know what? try this on for size,” and have since rattled off six straight wins, including salvaging a series victory at Fenway Park, sweeping the Baltimore Orioles, and winning a national night game opener against the San Francisco Giants.

Now, despite little ground made up within the division — and I’m of the opinion that you should only really be focused on your own record until at least July — the Twins are very suddenly sitting with a 19-20 record, and are just one more good ballgame away from pulling to the .500 mark for the first time this season.

Is this actually a winning team? It sure hasn’t looked like one since the end of March, but with the pitching corps locked in and the injured offense on the mend, there’s more reason to be excited about the Twins now than there has been at just about any point so far this season. It sure feels like that elusive regressing to the mean is already underway.

Joe Ryan makes his return to the rotation after a brief illness this week, and it’s just in time, because he’ll be squaring off against Logan Webb on the side of San Francisco. Having already won a Chris Paddack start this weekend, Minnesota has a little bit of breathing room in not needing to beat Webb to still have a chance to win the series. However, sources are telling me that they are going to try to win anyway. Imagine that!

Webb, of course, is a reigning first-time All-Star (despite a second-place Cy Young finish in 2023) who’s already rocked up 1.2 bWAR with a league-leading 1.87 FIP and low home run numbers in eight starts so far, thanks in large part to a sinker that might be the best in the league.

Christian Vazquez finds himself the only non-starter in a lineup built from a roster that suddenly has a very clear A-Squad / Bench Bats dichotomy.

The Twins go for seven in a row tonight, on another beautiful evening at Target Field.

GO TWINS GO!

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/10/24427437/game-40-giants-at-twins

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Twins 2, Giants 1: Seven Nation Army

Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

Because the Twins won seven in a row, on national TV, you know?

Folks, the Twins are back to .500.

A week that’s reminded the fanbase why there’s reason to believe in this core of players was capped on Saturday night by the kind of complete performance that felt like wishful thinking just a few days ago. Minnesota took home a gritty, 2-1 nailbiter win over the San Francisco Giants, with elite pitching paving the way.

First, the credit to Joe Ryan. Still visibly ill — deep breathing, lying on the floor between innings, and none of his usual swagger on display in a major energy conservation effort — Ryan nevertheless turned in six innings of two-hit ball, walking none and surrendering the lone Giant score on a second-inning Heliot Ramos homer.

At only 76 pitches upon exit, Ryan almost certainly would have pitched deeper into the game had he not spent all of Monday vomiting “20-30 times” after attending a screening of Sinners. Vampires aren’t for the faint of heart, Joe.

As characteristically solid as Joe Ryan was, so too was Logan Webb. For those in Twins Territory unfamiliar with Webb’s track record given his NL West stomping grounds, wonder no more, as it was assuredly on display tonight. Carving up Twins hitters with plenty of groundball outs and nine K’s to boot, Webb pitched 7 innings (103 pitches) and was tagged with just the one homer himself — however, Trevor Larnach’s came with a man on, and it made all the difference in the game.

The Twins haven’t been too good this season when failing to score more than three runs, so you’d be forgiven for thinking two wouldn’t be enough. So too would Rocco Baldelli, tossed in the middle innings for a balls-and-strikes argument; in a 2-1 game, every minor swing counts, and Rocco got his money’s worth with a hat toss that national announcer Jason Benetti likened to Mary Tyler Moore. (To Rocco’s credit, it had to have been the most convincing outburst I’ve ever seen from the Minnesota manager; generally speaking, his ejections are extremely finger-waggly, more evoking the anger that would get a skipper tossed, rather than actually containing any.)

The Twin bullpen had to be perfect all the way home, and they basically were — assist to Christian Vazquez. Griffin Jax breezed through the seventh, but Cole Sands’ eighth began with another extra-base knock from Ramos, a leadoff double to turn the heat up.

Ramos took third on a sac fly — then was erased one play later in one of Vazquez’s clutchest moments as a Twin, period.

All that was needed now was a clean ninth from Duran, and after demonstrating a little PFP work with a 1-6-3 double play turn, the star closer froze Willy Adames with a beautiful breaker to end the ballgame.

So, seven in a row. The Twins have come all the way back to a 20-20 record, six back of the league-leading Detroit Tigers. After a rough go in Cleveland, the team has won consecutive series against the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles (a sweep), and San Francisco Giants (with a chance for the sweep tomorrow.)

It wasn’t too far off from now on last year’s calendar, when the Twins went on a roll for 12 in a row — against weaker competition, I might add. Most positive stretches happen more gradually, over a broader time horizon — at least for normal baseball teams. But the Twins haven’t seemed like a very normal baseball team lately; who knows how far this year’s run will go?

COURTESY: Baseball Savant

STUDS:

Twins Pitching (9 IP, 4 H, ER, 0 BB, 9 K)

DH Trevor Larnach (2-for-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR)

C Christian Vazquez (0-for-2, R, BB, PO)

DUDS:

NO DUDS! TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/10/24427763/twins-2-giants-1-seven-nation-army

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Twins 7, Giants 6: Crazy Eight!

Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

Game-of-the-year candidate!

The Minnesota Twins came into this beautiful Mother’s Day afternoon contest looking to put the finishing touches on a Target Field sweep of the San Francisco Giants. It took a rollercoaster, game-of-the-year candidate, 3+ hours of baseball to decide the fate, but at the end of the day: Mission Accomplished!

Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
Spoiler Alert!

Right away, the Giants took advantage of a bout of Pablo Lopez wildness to push a first-inning run across on a Heliot Ramos sac fly (scoring Mike Yastrzemski).

Ramos proved pesky again in the 4th, blasting an oppo-taco 2-run tater to extend San Fran’s lead to 3-0.

Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
Ramos feeling it in the early goings

But in the Twins’ 4th, the bats finally started cutting through the unseasonably warm May atmosphere against SF starter Landen Roupp: a Trevor Larnach infield single was immediately followed by a Brooks Lee blast to cut the deficit to 3-2!

Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images
A good day in the cleanup spot for Lee

Alas, ever-pesky in trying to avoid a sweep, the Bay Area brethren changed the number again in the 5th—helped by a Lopez balk (his 3rd of the season, oddly) allowing Jung Hoo Lee to sac-fly in Yastrzemski. 4-2 Frisco.

Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
Not quite Ace Pablo this afternoon

Once again, however, Twins’ bats kept battling: a Byron Buxton sac fly plated Kody Clemens—and could have been much more if not for a tremendous diving catch by Ramos—in the bottom of the 5th to again cut SF’s lead down to a single digit (4-3).

Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
Keeping it close

As soon as San Francisco manager Bob Melvin turned the game over to his bullpen, MN pounced. In the 6th, the Twins loaded the bases for Royce Lewis who (of course, in the most dramatic moment) got off the schneid with a clean RBI single. A Harrison Bader force-out grounder brought in Willi Castro to give the Twins their first lead—5-4—of the afternoon!

Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
Rolls Royce

Yet, this rollercoaster-ride of a game would continue: in the 8th, a bad bounce off Griffin Jax’s buttocks would allow Ramos (yes—him again) to plate Willy Adames to tie things at 5-5. A clearly-rattled Jax then nearly walked in the go-ahead run before recovering from a 3-0 count to preserve the deadlock.

Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
Giants put bat-to-ball and tie it up

After Danny Coulombe preserved his ERA perfection in the 9th, the Twins’ first walk-off window was quickly winnowed by three straight whiffs off the side-winding Tyler “Twin Brother of Former-Twin Taylor” Rogers.

There would be bonus baseball on Mother’s Day.

Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images
More baseball for Moms to enjoy!

As you’d probably expect from this game by this point, San Francisco blooped a few balls around the infield against Jhoan Duran in T10 and plated their Manfred Man to again reclaim the lead at 6-5.

Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
Maddening little bloops give SF the lead

But in the bottom of the 10th, Lee continued his torrid afternoon with a solid single and Ryan Jeffers immediately brought MN’s Manfred Man—Ty France—in to tie the game 6-6 on a sacrifice ground-out. After another argument with the home plate umpire—a common theme through this series—Twins manager Rocco Baldelli could be heard on the TV broadcast saying something like “get a hit here, K”.

Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
A lot of drama with the Men in Blue

Well, “K” (DaShawn Keirsey, Jr.) did his manager, momma, team, and fanbase proud...

MAKE THAT 8 IN A ROW FOR THE TWINS!

Keirsey Jr. walks it off in extras!

MIN (ML -155)
pic.twitter.com/C4gq0mwGvd

— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) May 11, 2025​

Your Final: Minnesota Twins 7, San Francisco Giants 6

EIGHT WINS IN A ROW FOR THE TWINS—now a winning baseball team at 21-20!!!

Up next: a day off before opening a three-game series at Camden Yards to (hopefully) beat up on Baltimore again.

Studs​

• Jeffers: Gunning down a SB attempt in a close contest.
• Lee: Big blasts from the cleanup slot.
• Lewis: Solid hit in a big spot.
• Keirsey: Walk-off winner!
• Moms: all of ‘em—everywhere!

Duds​

• The home plate umpire: Causing chaos all day.

Comment of the Game​

• norff uses just a few words to describe the entire afternoon.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/...-pablo-lopez-mothers-day-moms-dashawn-keirsey

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Monday Morning Minnesota: The “DaShawn Keirsey Jr. Appreciation Post” Edition

Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

Eight sounds great!

The Twins are now one of the hottest teams in baseball, sweeping the Baltimore Orioles to start the week and finishing off the San Francisco Giants this weekend to improve to 21-20 and maintain their eight-game winning streak. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. hit a walk-off single to left field in the 10th inning on Sunday, finishing a wild 7-6 game. They are still 4th in the AL Central, which speaks to how good the division has been this year, and are now 5.0 games behind the Tigers.

The Past Week on Twinkie Town:

• Need to vent about the Twins? Or provide some reasons to calm down? Check out our Game Threads and join the conversation!
• In case you forgot what happened this past weekend, our Game Recaps are back as well!
• John Foley looks at how Danny Coulombe has found success this season.
• Zach Koenig takes us back to 2015 and the heroics of Eddie Rosario.
• Ben Jones provides the April Farm Report, highlighting AAA slugger Carson McCusker.

Elsewhere in Twins Territory:

• Phil Miller at Star Tribune highlights an interesting opinion Rocco holds about road trips.
• Theo Tollefson at Zone Coverage looks at what led the Twins to finally get over .500.
• Matthew Leach at MLB.com provides an update on Matt Wallner’s return from injury.

In the World of Baseball:

• Detroit is still atop the AL with a 26-15 record, with the Guardians, Yankees, and Royals all tied at 2.5 games behind. The Dodgers maintained their position atop the NL, with a 27-14 record, putting them a game ahead of the Padres and Mets.
• Manager Bud Black and bench coach (and old friend) Mike Redmond were fired from their roles with the Rockies, which clearly will fix the Rockies, as opposed to spending money to upgrade the team.
• Buster Olney at ESPN highlights a few things to watch with the trade deadline this year.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/...-dashawn-keirsey-jr-appreciation-post-edition

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Game 41: Giants at Twins

Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Happy Mother’s Day!

First Pitch: 1:10 PM CT​

TV: Twins.TV​

Radio: TIBN​

Know Thine Enemy: McCovey Chronicles​

Let’s not bury the lede this afternoon: Happy Mother’s Day! I hope you all have a chance to, at very least, have a conversation with the beloved mothers or women in your life! They always appreciate the call.

If you are looking for a really good “podcast listen”, I’d like to direct you to a recent Effectively Wild series on the enigmatic Ella Black. It can of course also be found on any podcast aggregator service.

I’ll let host Ben Lindbergh spin the whole tale if you are so inclined to give it an ear, but the basics are:

Photo by Sebastian Kahnert/picture alliance via Getty Images
I am an affirmed podcast junkie

Ella Black was the first woman to ever cover baseball for a national publication (The Sporting Life)—writing about the 1890 Pittsburgh Burghers & Alleghenys of the short-lived Players League.

Ella’s publications only appear in that single calendar year and baseball/newspaper scholars have often theorized that Ella Black was perhaps a pseudonym for a male writer.

But even amidst the vagaries of trying to truly verify anything from 1890, Lindbergh makes a compelling case that Ella was, in fact, a woman and an obvious pioneer in sports coverage from females.

This is the baseball era we’re talking about here

Today, the Twins look to make all their mommas proud as try to sweep the weekend series with the San Francisco Giants behind this compilation of competitors...

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/...d-mothers-day-ella-black-effectively-wild-pod

 

[Minnesota Twins]

How Danny Coulombe Uses Deception to Stand Out

Minnesota Twins pitcher Danny Coulombe (54) delivers a pitch | Photo by Bailey Hillesheim/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The deceptive lefty has been one of the Twins’ best relief arms thanks to a well-crafted arsenal that fits together beautifully.

Before the Twins’ current six-game winning streak, the bulk of the blame for their slow start was rightfully directed towards an offense that routinely forced the pitching staff into situations with little margin for error. That’s been especially hard on their corps of relievers, who have the majors’ second-most losses (11) and rank 24th in win probability added (which is up from 29th thanks to this week’s winning streak) through games on May 9.

It’s difficult to give the bullpen a pass for their role in those disappointments, but other numbers suggest they’ve largely done some good work. Minnesota’s relievers rank 5th overall in fielding independent pitching (3.28), fourth in fWAR (1.8), and third in strikeout-to-walk rate (26.1%: 7.6%), which is one of our best predictors of success.

One of the brightest spots in the Twins’ bullpen has been lefty Danny Coulombe, who has yet to allow a run in 17 appearances, while sporting a sterling 17-1 strikeout to walk ratio. Coulombe, who returned to the Twins on a one-year, $3-million deal this past winter, picked up his second save of the season in Jhoan Duran’s stead last night.

Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Coulombe’s success in the early part of 2025 shouldn’t be a surprise. Over the previous four seasons, he posted a 2.75 ERA, 3.17 FIP, and 132-33 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 133 appearances. He’s been a solid middle and matchup reliever for a long time.

He also isn’t like many of his teammates on the mound. The Twins have built a pen of big guys throwing power stuff from the right side. Coulombe has usually been the only left-hander in the Twins’ bullpen, and he goes about his business in a very different way.

As a group, Minnesota’s relievers average better than 96 mph on their fastballs, the 4th-highest average in MLB. Of course, it helps to have Jhoan Duran and his frequent triple-digit heaters bringing up that number, but Louis Varland, Griffin Jax, and Jorge Alcala are all besting that team average, too, and Brock Stewart isn’t far behind.

Coulombe, on the other hand, is 5’10 and sits about 90 mph with his fastball. What Coulombe lacks in velocity, he has more than made up for with deception and atypical movement.

A Carefully Crafted Arsenal​

Coulombe is the type of pitcher you might call a tinkerer. The chart of his pitch mix over time from Statcast is an adventure:

From Baseball Savant

That isn’t meant to say that there wasn’t a thoughtful method behind the seemingly constant tweaking. Coulombe, who told FanGraphs’ David Laurila back in 2022 that he’s always had a feel for spin and manipulating the baseball, just went through lots of trial and error to find an arsenal that was more than the sum of its physical inputs.

When Coulombe was with the Twins previously (2020-2022), he mostly operated with a three-pitch mix – four-seamer, slider, and curveball, while occasionally dabbling with a sinker, a changeup (in 2022), and a larger breaking sweeping slider.

He put up good results for the Twins (2.92 ERA in 41 appearances) but outperformed his peripherals thanks to a strikeout rate that left a little to be desired (22.0%) and too many walks (9.3%).

Upon landing with Baltimore via trade late in Spring Training 2023, he picked up a cutter that quickly became his most often used pitch and the final piece to the puzzle. With the cutter in play, he leaned more on the sinker, de-prioritized his curveball, and ditched the changeup entirely.

The last two seasons, Coulombe has settled in on a cutter, sweeper, sinker, four-seamer arsenal, each thrown 20-30% of the time, with the occasional knucklecurveball mixed in.

We can understand why that was the mix Coulombe landed on by looking at the movement profiles of his pitches:

From Baseball Savant

I’ve written about the advantages of having multiple pitches that look like each other on their way to the plate. It makes it difficult for the hitters to identify what’s coming and get the barrel on it.

Looking at Coulombe’s movement profile above, you can see that his sinker, four-seamer, cutter, and sweeper make almost one contiguous plot across the top of that visual, and his curveball is nearly perfectly in line (vertically) with his four-seamer and cutter.

Like puzzle pieces, everything fits together beautifully, which enables a high degree of deception. This deception creates uncertainty for hitters and allows everything in his arsenal to play up above the raw, physical characteristics of the pitches.

With this mix as his weaponry since the 2023 season, Coulombe’s strikeout rate has popped up to 28.5%, and he’s nearly halved his walk rate to 4.9%, while posting a 2.17 ERA across 110 appearances. Much of that gain is attributable to this pitch mix, especially the cutter and sinker, enabling him to snag more called strikes (13.5% with 2020-2022, 17.9% since).

Having that many options also allows Coulombe to be more than just a lefty-matchup reliever. While he’s a bit stronger against lefty hitters, he’s also performed well against batters on the right side of the plate, holding them to .215 wOBA last year and .174 so far in 2025.

Atypical Movement​

Taking advantage of tunnel effects isn’t the only way Coulombe utilizes deception. He’s also got a mix of pitches that move in ways that are contrary to usual expectations.

I’m about to show you several pitch movement plots that compare how Coulombe’s pitches move to how other lefties’ pitches move. These are from the perspective of the pitcher looking at home plate, the X axis is horizontal movement, and the Y axis is induced vertical break, which is a measurement of movement without the effects of gravity.

Cutter​

Coulombe’s most utilized pitch this season and last has been his cutter, a ~85 mph offering with significant horizontal and vertical movement. You can see in the plot below that his cutter has a unique combination of vertical and horizontal movement:

From Baseball Savant

With that shape, this pitch probably could be thought of as a tight slider. He deploys it at about equal rates to right-handed and left-handed hitters (about a third of the time) and most often targets it low and inside to righties and low and away to lefties:

From Baseball Savant

Since its introduction in 2023, Coulombe’s cutter has been the 3rd-most valuable lefty cutter (among both starters and relievers) by Statcast run value in MLB.

Sinker​

Next most utilized is his sinker, a 90 mph moving fastball that Coulombe uses most often for left-handed opponents. Now, when you see “sinker,” you might be visualizing a pitch that moves downward and is used low in the zone to create weak contact on the ground.

That’s not what Coulombe’s “sinker” is.

It’s a two-seam fastball that gets significantly less downward and horizontal movement than other sinkers (remember these plots are from the pitcher’s perspective):

From Baseball Savant

With that movement profile, this pitch just doesn’t do what batters expect it to do. It stays up and runs less than expected. That makes it a pitch that plays best up in the zone, which is counterintuitive for a “sinker.”

You might think of it a bit like Joe Ryan’s four-seamer in that it’s a pitch that gets more “rise” than you’d expect, so batters tend to swing under it. Coulombe leans into this pitch’s unusual shape by often throwing it up and to his glove side (i.e., away from lefties) where it can stay above hitters’ barrels.

From Baseball Savant

Opposing hitters have produced a .123 wOBA against Coulombe’s sinker since 2023, the lowest mark among all left-handed pitchers in MLB.

Four-Seamer​

Perhaps the pitch that enables the sinker and cutter to be as effective as they are is Coulombe’s four-seamer, a nearly perfectly straight 90-mph offering (5th-percentile velocity).

Coulombe has added about an inch more induced vertical movement to his four-seamer since returning to the Twins, something the club has proven to be adept at training, see Pablo Lopez, among others, but it’s still below average in that regard. What stands out is its lack of horizontal movement:

From Baseball Savant

We think of four-seamers as straight pitches, but in reality, nearly all four-seamers have some horizontal movement to the arm side because very few humans throw perfectly overhand.

Coulombe operates from a high arm angle (57°) and can release his four-seamer with almost perfect backspin. That results in the pitch having no horizontal movement. You might think that could be a bad thing (i.e., straight pitches get hit), but consider how that lack of movement makes the pitch different from other four-seamers. Look at the plot above. Hitters have learned to expect some arm-side run, and Coulombe’s four-seamer just doesn’t do that.

The pitch serves an important role in connecting the sinker and cutter, but is also effective in its own right. Last year, opponents produced .214 wOBA against it, and the pitch has a 31.6% whiff rate so far this season.

Breaking Balls​

By now, I hope you’ve noticed that Coulombe’s pitches are all on the edges of these pitch movement plots. It’s the same for his two breaking balls — a sweeper that doesn’t sweep as much as most but has more vertical movement, and a vertical breaking curveball that can be described in the same way:

From Baseball Savant

Coulombe uses his sweeper about 20%, and more often to right-handers than left. The curveball is used sparingly, just 10 times all season so far, primarily as a below-the-zone for chase breaking ball. Again, going back to 2023, Coulombe’s sweeper is 6th among left-handers in run value, and he’s held opponents to .190 wOBA against it.

— — — — —​

Taken together, Coulombe has developed a well-rounded arsenal that makes maximal use of deception and unexpected movement. If you were wondering how a guy who sometimes doesn’t crack 90 mph can be so effective, that’s the major reason why.

---

John writes for Twinkie Town, Twins Daily, and Pitcher List, with an emphasis on analysis. He is a lifelong Twins fan and former college pitcher.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/...ow-danny-coulombe-uses-deception-to-stand-out

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Twins 3, Giants 1: Paddack, we believed in you all along

A man, a plan, a semi-mullet, Paddackama | Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

The Twins’ oft-maligned starter turns in a terrific performance.

Chris Paddack, whom I’ve made fun of (along with everyone else), shows why the Twins wanted him in the first place; he was mixing speeds and locations very effectively tonight. And the offense had enough to live with. Inning-by-inning notes:

1: Mike Yastrzemski is the grandson of Carl. Willy Adames hits one within Steve Bartman reach of being a homer; it’s foul, and he strikes out.

Leadoff triplets for Lord Byron! Trevor Forever knocks him in. Larnach gets doubled off on a screaming France line drive to 1B, but 1-0 Twins

2: Environmental ad showing forests, oceans, things in danger right now. It’s for Citizen watches. Buy an overpriced watch, save the planet. Next up, Rolex is saving baby seals or something.

Correa has a one-out single although nothing comes of it. Jordan Hicks's sinker wasn't sinking much in the first; he seems like he’s (unfortunately) settling in.

3: Actually useful Apple TV stat: Paddack averages 19 pitches per inning. That’s high. (Ideally you want 15 or less.) He’s at 28 through 3 here -- guys are really missing that slider. (Which looks like a curve to me, but whudda I know.)

Hicks still on it. Apple complaining that Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds should be in the HOF. Nobody’s stopping them from buying tickets.

4: Moving Right Along... which is the title of a song from The Muppet Movie. Those songs (which are very, very good) were written by Paul Williams, an elfin little weirdo who never learned to read music. He's also in the great movie Phantom of the Paradise, although the songs in that aren't as good as the Muppet Movie ones.

And that’s today's random Film Facts. 12 up, 12 down for Paddack.

Ty France breaches Hicks's Maginot Line with a bloop single. He steals on a 3-2 hit-and-run where Patrick Bailey's throw beats him by a LOT but it’s in the dirt. Correa knocks him in -- that’s two hits for slow-starting Carlos! Twins 2-0

5: Chris Paddack is pitching a PERFECT GAME. This won't continue but I would be so happy if it did.

Apple sideline reporter on Bader moving from CF (because Buxton): “he loves it, he says it’s like getting a new girlfriend.” OK. He knocks a single, which must be like getting your new girlfriend to send you a fun selfie? Takes second on a VERY wild pitch. Kody Clemens HBP (something his dad was good at, too). Buxton singles! No RBI, as LF Heliot Ramos (great name!) bobbles the ball -- Bader was originally held at third. ANOTHER WP moves up the runners, but France pops out, still, Our Lads in Strange Unis 3-0

6: Paddack in the sixth for the first time this year. Naturally, it's Christian Koss -- batting .195 -- who breaks up El Perfecto. I swear I saw that coming.

The umpteenth ad for Google's AI baseball-watching app. Sci-fi writers have imagined computers destroying the world basically since computers started existing; nobody predicted it would be from the utter stupidity of ubiquitous crappy AI and bitcoin. Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, it'd be the dumbest crummiest tech none of those smart sci-fi writers could have thought up. Oh well.

7: Paddack still in, ye gods I wouldn’t have predicted this! Matt Chapman homers, alas. But Paddack’s still only at 79 pitches. I'm guessing he's done, but maybe not. This is why friends call me The Oracle.

Giants reliever Kyle Harrison has a tricky 3/4 delivery and throws hard. Our Harrison takes a one-out walk and makes a steal and looks cocky enough to compare position changes to new girlfriends. Royce Lewis in to PH! Takes a pretty hittable strike 3. Buxton IBB, wise move. Larnach gets to try lefty/lefty matchup and it doesn’t thrill us. Twins 3-1

8: Paddack still in and gives up the leadoff single. A flyout to right, and it’s bullpen time. Jax & Duran pitched last two games, so it'll be The Other Guys. And St. Paul's Louis V. gets it done! Nice Target Field ovation for Paddack as he comes out.

A two-out walk to Ryan "I wish my parents had named me Jeff" Jeffers. Naught arises therebyfrom.

9: Danny "Electric Charge" Coulombe in for the save opportunity. Nasty tight curve/cutter (cuttve?) for leadoff strikeout. Same for next batter! And another one makes it sixth straight no duds, Twins win!

Studs of the game: Paddack of course! Buxton gets an IBB because when he’s healthy, you IBB him, he’s really good. Possibly hopeful 2-4 for Correa. Coulombe is doing great right now.

Many good comments tonight, even if the game was on a TV channel that people who paid good money for MLB.com or Twins TV couldn’t watch (I hear ya, JcS — I think those subscribers should get a refund for these games). Comments of the game go to Nagurskiinsandpouint for asking that we treat each other better, gintzer for correctly calling a foul ball live at the game, Kirillofffan19 for identifying lefty relievers the Twins should get next year, and Minnesota 1952 for “A Coulombeoscopy to clean up a Twims Wim.”

Tomorrow’s game is on the FOX airwaves broadcast, and features something called a Logan Webb against our own junk-talcing Joe Ryan at 6:15. Be there or be a polygon with four sides of equal length!

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/...dack-goes-8-plus-we-believed-in-you-all-along

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Twins 6-8, Orioles 3-6: Super hard-hit sweep!

Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

A pair of rallies and strong ‘pens keep the Ws coming!

Good to know there’s baseball following the rain,
Play a quick nine and then do it again.
Though erring in the open, losing wasn’t fate:
‘Cause Vázquez with a bomb and they win nine straight!

Feel the highs of this doubleheader,
On the rise, see this club all better.
Say, though it’s still May (early), no one should stay surly:
A doubleheader is the best to see.

Still there’s one more and it, it gets absurd:
They fall behind after quite the rotten third.
But fight and fight, and in a sudden shocking minute,
A Clemens hard swing and the Twins’ll win it!

Laud the ‘pen in this doubleheader.
STUDS again in this doubleheader.
Say, ere we part, splay a gulf: comment on Beowulf.
This doubleheader was the best, you see!

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/...zqueuz-kody-clemens-bullpen-ten-straight-wins

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Game 44: Twins vs. Orioles

Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Twins look to sweep the Orioles for second time in two weeks

First Pitch: 11:35 AM CT​

TV: Twins.TV​

Radio: TIBN​

Orioles page: McCovey Chronicles​

Twins win two. Wolves win one and secure the series victory. Minnesota sports fans are happy right now.

Thursday’s day game against the Baltimore Orioles is game four of the series, and the Twins have won the first three and are on a ten-game winning streak. The Twins were the first team this season to win ten straight. A 1-3 Chris Paddack is on the mound for the Twins, Tomoyuki Sugano is on the bump for Baltimore. He is 4-2 on the season with a 2.72 ERA.

Thursday’s Lineups

Twins

1. Byron Buxton CF
2. Trevor Larnach DH
3. Ryan Jeffers C
4. Brooks Lee 2B
5. Carlos Correa SS
6. Willi Castro RF
7. Royce Lewis 3B
8. Kody Clemens
9. Dashawn Keirsey LF

P Chris Paddack

Orioles

1. Jackson Holliday 2B
2. Ryan Mountcastle 1B
3. Gunnar Henderson SS
4. Adley Rutschman C
5. Ryan O’Hearn DH
6. Tyler O’Neill RF
7. Cedric Mullins CF
8. Emmanuel Rivera 3B
9. Heston Kjerstad LF

P Tomoyuki Sugano

A lot of Twins fans were ready to give up on this team. It was a rough start to the season, but this fire under them right now is incredible. Sweeping the double header Wednesday showed just how much grit this team has, and I think it’s safe to say Rocco’s no longer on the chopping block.

Unfortunately, the rest of the AL Central continues to win ballgames. The Twins now sit three games above .500 at 23-20. The Tigers have the best record in baseball 29-15 and lead the charge in the division. The Twins are 5.5 back. A fun thing to see though, and something I like to point out to my Yankees friends, largely because of their success against the Orioles, and then taking two of three from the Red Sox, the Twins are 7-1 against AL East teams.

Two things to keep an eye on as we head into the series finale:

Ty France left the first game yesterday with a foot issue. Harrison Bader left with groin tightness.

A third thing, but for the O’s... infielder Ramon Urias joins the team again after being the IL with a hamstring injury.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/15/24430670/game-44-twins-vs-orioles

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Twins 4, Orioles 0: 11 in a Row!

Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Twins have now swept the Baltimore Orioles twice in two weeks

The fun continues, and my house is completely spotless from all the sweeping we’ve been doing lately. The Minnesota Twins take three more games from the American League East’s Baltimore Orioles. The Twins held the O’s scoreless in Thursday’s matchup, and that’s good enough for 11 straight wins.

Before we get to more on this fantastic stretch of ball...

A concerning moment for all, Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa collide while tracking down a Cedric Mullins pop fly. Buck did catch the ball. Both are currently in Major League Baseball’s concussion protocol.

Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton both exited today’s game after this collision pic.twitter.com/noqmg2vRQY

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 15, 2025​

MLB concussion protocol entails:

The MLB concussion protocol ensures player safety by mandating baseline testing, standardized evaluation using SCAT5 tool, and a 7-day disabled list for concussed players. Players must return to baseline cognitive function before returning to play, and a prohibited same-day return to play. The protocol also includes a return-to-play form and a designated MTBI specialist.

Hopefully both will recover quickly.

Now, back to the game today. Chris Paddack pitched seven strong, giving up only 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB and 3 K. His overall ERA is down to 4.05 after inflating his ERA in his first start this season, giving up nine runs. Times have changed though, since that start he has only given up 12 runs in 43 1⁄3 innings. In his last two starts alone he has given up one run in 14 1⁄3 innings pitched. The Sheriff has been showing up in his recent starts.

As for at the plate, Dashawn Keirsey Jr. started off the scoring in the top of the third with a 374 ft. blast to right field, Lewis was on base. Twins up 2-0. Next batter, another dinger. Buxton hit a first-pitch home run to center, 3-0 ballgame. Finally in the 7th Royce Lewis singled to left scoring Castro. Out of the pen, Louis Varland got the eighth inning, and Duran came in for the ninth.

Let’s take a quick look at the home run stats, mainly leaders, from the Twins:

Buck Truck - 10

Trev - 7

Bader - 4

Brooks Lee - 4

Ty France - 3

Because he hit one today, Keirsey Jr. - 1

Batting, Harrison Bader leads the charge with a .300 BA, Buxton is batting .261 and Ty France is at .252.

Here’s a look at the standings:

AL Standings 5-15

One thing I was very confused about from this afternoon, the attendance at today’s game. Perhaps they mentioned it in the broadcast? But, yesterday’s doubleheader looked very sparse. Thursday’s game attendance in Baltimore was 30,926. Quite impressive. If anyone knows why the major jump in fans at the game, please let me know.

As for the Twins, it’s off to Milwaukee to start a weekend series. The Brewers are 21-23 and sit in third place in the NL East.

As always, Go Twins!

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/15/24431096/twins-4-orioles-0-11-in-a-row

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Derek Falvey has not yet gone from apprentice to master with the Minnesota Twins

Photo by Mike Carlson/MLB Photos via Getty Images

The Cleveland Guardians remain a persistent pest

One of the best lines from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope comes when once-Jedi-apprentice-turned-Sith-Lord Darth Vader meets his old master Obi-Wan Kenobi...

“When I left you I was but the learner—now I am the master”

Derek Falvey—President of Baseball Operations for the Minnesota Twins—has likely been waiting for his own “now the circle is complete” moment since the Twins hired him away from the Cleveland Guardians following MN’s Total System Failure (TM) of 2016.

In terms of AL Central flags above Target Field or Progressive Field, the tally is 4.0 for Cleveland & 2.5 (the .5 being 2020) for Minnesota. Not necessarily a wide gulf.

But one could argue that only by 2022 had Falvey finagled the pitching pipeline here in Twins Territory that he excelled at in CLE. During those past three seasons—and now into a fourth—the Twins have not only struggled to beat the Guardians whatsoever, but lost so many games in dramatic, late-inning fashion that fans could be forgiven for squinting and seeing pinstripes on the Clevelanders.

Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
It always seems to end like this

Let’s take a look—painful as it may be—at the ways in which MN hopes have been dashed by Guardian gallantry of late. I’ve limited the scope to contests in which Cleveland took a lead or won the contest in the 8th inning or later—arguably the worst type of gut-punch defeat.

2022​

Overall: 6-13 vs Guardians​

• 5/14: T10; Myles Straw 1B off Jharel Cotton
• 6/21: T11; Andres Gimenez 1B off Griffin Jax
• 6/22: T9; 4-run rally off Jax & Emilio Pagan
• 6/28: B8; Amed Rosario 1B off Pagan
• 6/29: B10; 3-run rally off Cotton & Pagan

Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
His Dark Materials drawing Ron Davis comps

• 6/30: B9; Andres Gimenez HR off Tyler Thornburg
• 9/16: B8; Jhoan Duran wild pitch
• 9/17: B15; Amed Rosario reaches on E off Dereck Rodriguez

2023​

Overall: 6-7 vs Guardians​

• 8/30: T10; Kole Calhoun HR off Kody Funderburk

Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
Funderstruck got Calhoun here—but the tables would soon turn

2024​

Overall: 3-10 vs Guardians​

• 5/17: B8; Jose Ramirez HR off Duran
• 5/19: B9; Will Brennan HR off Duran
• 9/16: B8; Kyle Manzardo HR off Jax

Photo by Lauren Leigh Bacho/Getty Images
Not even Duran or Jax have been spared

• 9/18: B10; 3-run rally off Ronny Henriquez & Michael Tonkin
• 9/19: B10; Andres Gimenez 1B off Thielbar

More recent heartbreak can be re-lived here, here, and here should you want further PTSD.

Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images
The most recent CLE heartbreak

Like I said, the Twins aren’t that far behind Cleveland when it comes to Central champagne-spraying. I also do not fully put this burden on the GM tier, as the last year-and-a-half has seen a complete ownership check-out.

The last two weeks have proven the Twins will compete in 2025, but the fact remains: Right now they not only can’t beat their biggest division rival, but the losses are so deflating as to seem to count for more than one L in the standings. Next Monday-Wednesday will bring the next opportunity for a Cleveland coup.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/...te-inning-heartbreak-al-central-championships

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Twins 3, Brewers 0: The Very Clean Dozen

The Von Ryan Express, after getting off to a slow start. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

That’s 12 in a row for your third place Twinkies! Only 5.0 GB, I’ll take it.

1980, 1991, 2024, and 2025 — what do these things have in common? 12-game Twins win streaks, that’s what!

Joe Ryan finishes strong after a long couple of innings. The Twins don’t really score enough to win, but they do anyways. Inning-by-inning notes:

1: Singles by Larnach and Jeffers to open things up! Ty France RBI! Willi Castro smacks one off his knee and another Twin has died. (He is not dead.) One of the K-named Clemens child coterie gets another RBI.

Brice Turang (whoooooo?) opens Milwaukee’s half with a single. He steals and makes a very good slide to avoid the tag. Ryan gets out of it, but not until walking a guy and throwing 30 pitches. Twins 2-0

2: Mercy, mercy, DeShawn Keirsey! (This is a reference to something broadcaster Bill Schonely would say about Trailblazer Jerome Kersey, and yes I DO have a Jerome Kersey Dairy Queen glass. A Kevin Duckworth and Cliff Robinson, too.) He bounces one off Turang for a single. Then Vázquez and Larnach with hits... but Jeffers decides to honor Correa’s memory and GIDP. You’d like to have gotten more than one there.

Castro played defense last inning, but he’s out now. Replaced by Ryan Fitzgerald, who will be 31 in June, and this is his first MLB game. Way to hang in there, Ryan! Twins 3-0

3: Fitzgerald's first AB is a flyout. Per radio, he was so popular with the Worcester Red Sox that, after he was traded, the team had an appreciation day for him, and almost 25,000 people showed up! Target Field doesn't often get that many, these days. Joe Ryan really settling in: six straight strikeouts!

4: Royce Lewis pushes his average all the way up to .172. Nothing comes of it.

Ryan breaks the strikeout streak with a HBP. Still no runs allowed, but up to 79 pitches already. I’m guessing he gets another shot at the bottom of the order, then he’s gone. Lewis does the defense!

5: Rookie Ryan is now 0-2. Unfortunately “Chad” (really Chandler” Patrick is settling in. Seven-pitch inning for older Ryan!

Top 133 songs of the past 20 years, as voted on by The Current listeners, full list revealed tonight. Some good stuff on there: Janelle Monae, Neko Case, Lola, Big Thief, CHVRCHES, Animal Collective, Maggie Rogers, Dessa, Sufjan Stevens, M.I.A., Florence + The Machine, Amy Winehouse, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Tribe Called Quest.

No R.E.M., Aimee Mann, Mitski, Beck, Father John Misty, John Prine, Orville Peck, Yola — these are OMISSIONS. Also, I woulda picked a different Killers song than the one those voters did:

Yeah, that’s just better. I'm so-so on the lyrics, but that falsetto is GREAT.

6: Another hit for Clemens, who tops this lineup with a .788 OPS (on a .212 average). Nobody else gets anything. When Patrick’s sinker is working, it’s working. It’s working.

Surprise! Ryan stays in for now. This top of the order goes L/R/L, so it’s quite possible they will come up later in a key game situation, and it’s be nice to have Coulombe available there. A one-out double from William Contreras — Milwaukee’s second hit. A flyout, then a ꓘ to end the inning! 99 pitches to finish the game for Joe. Well done. Also I want my keyboard to have a ꓘ symbol on it.

7: Bullpen battle time. Tyler Alexander wins Round 1. Brock Stewart in for the Twins -- radio says his HS nickname was Beef Stew. OK. Leadoff single for Sal Frelick. A strikeout, another single. Gulpity-gulp. ꓘ symbol again. And again! Gulping over.

8: Alexander still in. Wiki says he once had 10 strikeouts in relief... but the record (unsurprisingly) belongs to Randy Johnson with 16! Alexander gets less than 10 here, but the Twins can't get to him anyways.

More surprisingly, it’s not Coulombe to face that L/R/L mentioned earlier. It’s Capt. Jax, USAF. A one-out single, but another ꓘ to finish things off... see why I want that key? I mean I can CTRL-C CTRL-V with the best of them, but that’s not the point.

Another handy one is CTRL-C CTRL-K CTRL-V to add links to things. Try it, you’ll like it, and it will get you Hawt Dates.

9: Joel Payamps, that’s a name I know. Vázquez gets a double and ends by basically rolling into second, this is fun.

It’s... Cole Sands for the save opportunity? OK. He’s been pretty good of late. Flyout, K, ꓘ! Twins win!

Studs: Ryan (of course), Sands, Kody Clemens? Sure, Kody Clemens. Duds We Love: Jackson Chourio, 0-4, 4 SO

Good gamethread tonight. COTG to our own Walter Koenig: “How do the Minnesota Twins keep scoring runs and winning games when it is clear that God hates them (injuries, Pope from Chicago, etc.)” Nagurskiinsandpoint on Ryan throwing so many first-inning pitches: “That’s no way to keep the nethers fresh.. just saying.” (Because Ryan uses Ball Talc.) And imakesandwichesforaliving with “my real name is J. F. Kennedy and I’ve been enjoying my life sailing back and forth around the tip of South America for over 50 years now”

Tomorrow’s game will be Pablo López against something called a Tobias Myers, at 6:15. Is Tobias any relation to the Myers who did this piece on a Wisconsin Snake Guy? Seriously, a guy in Wisconsin intentionally got bitten by snakes for 20 years. To each their own...

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/...clean-dozen-joe-ryan-bullpen-scoreless-outing

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Game XLV: Twins @ Brewers

Rich Rollins, former Twin (and former Brewer). | National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

Series with the state neighbors begins; we look at “Miller Park” funding, and a former Twin.

First pitch: 7:10 Central​

Weather: National Weather Service still gutted, chance showers but They Have A Roof, 70°​

Opponent’s SB site: Brew Crew Ball​

TV: Twins TV. Radio: Still missing the great Bob Uecker on Brewers broadcasts​

Brewers starter Chad Patrick was obtained in a trade with Oakland in 2023; he made his MLB debut this March. Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes that Patrick’s very effective cutter is possible because he has unusually long fingers, and that this also makes a consistent breaking ball a challenge for him. So he goes cutter, low-90s fastball, sinker, and barely uses a slider or change. His full name is Chandler Allen Patrick, so I’m guessing I know what his parents’ favorite 1990s TV show was. MST3K, right? I loved that show, too. YTD digits:

Today In Baseball History has a weird one; that time David Wells of the Yankees threw a perfect game against the Twins in 1998. Wells later said he had a raging, skull-rattling hangover that day. Oh, look, that’s May 17, not May 16.

On May 16, 1984, 6,346 fans watched the Twins lose in the Metrodome. But 51,863 tickets were sold! That’s because Carl Pohlad was already making noise about getting out of the Dome lease if attendance wasn’t high enough, so local businessman Harvey Mackay bought a bunch of tickets to keep attendance over the “voids the lease” mark for that season. (Why didn’t Mackay then just give the tickets away to a charity or something? I dunno.) Mackay wrote a bunch of “how to get rich in business” books that sold well, because in the 1980s people believed that rich business guys were a model for us all. Fortunately that fever passed.

After meeting with another 1980s business guy, Rob Manfred has now decided that Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose are no longer banned from baseball. Our own BH-Baseball doesn’t like Manfred, writing “As if anything Rose or Shoeless Joe ever did could compare to the destruction of the game’s integrity by Rob Manfred. Ruth, Ted W, Sisler, and Walter J. would roll over in their graves if they could see the free base runners, the pitch timers, limited pick-off attempts, and more.” I hate Manfred more for ramping up stadium swindles, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so good for you, BH! (And here’s a writer who very much agrees with the same things.)

Many articles wrote that Rose and Jackson are now eligible for the Hall of Fame. That’s not quite correct; the HOF is not part of MLB, so it can enplaquen anybody it wants, MLB ban or not. It was the HOF itself that decided to keep out players banned from MLB; they could have changed their minds at any time.

Back to $tadium $windles: in 2023, Wisconsin governor Tony Evers signed off on $500 million in stadium upgrades for the Brewers. (Bud Selig was in attendance, and the Bud Selig Experience at formerly-named-Miller Park is still there.)

One of the things Neil de Mause teaches us to watch about these stories is the way they are reported. In this case, the story was reported by the AP, which has no vested interest in making the Brewers happy. (Local papers frequently want to make sports teams happy to continue gaining access.) So, what does this AP article (by Todd Richmond) say?

It says that the money is “to help the Milwaukee Brewers repair their baseball stadium.” Right away, a wrong word: “their.” The Brewers only own 36% of the stadium; the public owns the rest. That’s why the Brewers don’t pay property taxes! (Almost all US teams have this arrangement.) Also, since the article later states that the Brewers will pay $110 million, it’s more accurate to say the Brewers will be “help”ing the taxpayers foot the bill.

Next, the article states “The stadium’s glass outfield doors, seats and concourses need replacing, the stadium’s luxury suites and video scoreboard need upgrades and the stadium’s signature retractable roof, fire suppression systems, parking lots, elevators and escalators need work, according to the team.”

There’s no breakdown of what’s costing what, here. Obviously, you want to repair things that are broken. Retractable roofs are very expensive and heavy and have a lot of moving parts, so I can understand that needing repair. Fire safety and elevator/escalator maintenance are important. Seats do break. Do the concourses “need replacing”?

Most importantly, do the “luxury suites and video scoreboard need upgrades”?

I’ll bet you your first-born children that this is the primary consideration for the Brewers. Fancier exclusive seating and more of it; a swankier Jumbotron. So that the Brewers can charge people more money for tickets.

A better headline would be “Wisconsin spends $500 million to raise Brewers ticket prices.” Or, “Governor won’t investigate waste of $609 million.” That’s the original taxpayer cost. For a building that opened in 2001. If it’s already falling apart after such a short period, Wisconsin should be suing the engineers/contractors who built it.

Finally, this: lawmakers were “spurred by the threat of losing tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue.” Reading the lawmakers’ minds, are we? (This is something the great economics writer Dean Baker complains about in economic policy reporting.) If the lawmakers think that spending hundreds of millions to protect tens of millions makes “tax revenue” sense, then they are clearly insane and that should be your story. Obviously the real threat was that the team will move.

I’m sure there are lawmakers stupid enough to believe the phony-baloney “public benefit” numbers that PR firms create for sports teams; hopefully, most of them aren’t that dumb. I fully expect teams to threaten to leave unless they’re given oodles of free money; I wish reporters, and especially politicians, would be more open and honest about why the teams get the money.

At least it’s not Wisconsin’s disastrous billions in subsidies to a tech company and getting absolutely nothing in return; at least it’s not the Twins running a TV ad saying that if the team left Minnesota, it would make a kid sick with cancer sad... an ad that aired after the child had died. So it could be worse.

In completely less important news, Trevor Plouffe says the Twins want to do some all-ex-jock, no-play-by-play-guy broadcasts this year. In the style of a popular ESPN football broadcasting thing. (Everything that makes sports coverage more bro-tastic is popular.) Plouffe thinks it’s a bad idea, that it probably won’t work, and how he doesn’t like the ESPN broadcasts. But, he says, “I’m excited to try it.” Sure. It’s fun to try new things. Sometimes.

The day, however, belongs to former Twin (and, briefly, Brewer) Rich Rollins, who died this week at the age of 87. Rollins was a fairly light-hitting third/second baseman, but he was a very bright guy with a strong work ethic and the Twins liked having him around; he was with the team from 1961-1968. (Went 0-2 with a walk in the 1965 World Series.) He made the All-Star team twice in 1962! (From 1959-1962, there were two All-Star games.)

SABR’s Rick Schabowski has a typically thorough profile, including this story which Rollins told about meeting his future wife: “I was rooming in Minneapolis in ’62. One o’clock at night, I get this knock on the door. I’m up reading a book; I’m the only one in the apartment and this gal is at the door, in tears, and her father had just been killed in an automobile accident. She just needed someone to talk to. She knocked on the door, and we went out for coffee. We got back at 3 o’clock in the morning, and that was the first time I met her.”

Rollins married that same “former United Airlines stewardess” the next year. (Back then, United wouldn’t allow their flight attendants to be married.) They had six kids and 11 grandkids.

Another enjoyable profile is by a HOF employee, Bruce Markusen; that’s where I stole the picture from. It’s more fun because Markusen is just a giant baseball card nerd, and I like nerds. Makusen writes, “his smarts, his work ethic and his easygoing personality allowed him to forge out a 10-year career in the big leagues, along with a successful second career in the front offices of two professional sports teams. Rollins’ success should teach us to never underestimate the kid with the big glasses.”

Right on!

Correa and Buxton are in concussion protocol for at least seven days. Infielder Ryan Fitzgerald was promoted from St. Paul. He’s 30 and has never played above AAA.

OK, one extra factoid. You know the TV show Laverne & Shirley, set in Milwaukee? You know the annoying characters Lenny & Squiggy? in 1979 they put out an album, Lenny and the Squigtones. You can see the sleeve photo in this link. That photo shows Christopher Guest and labels him “Nigel Tufnel.” That’s his Spinal Tap character name. Lenny was played by Michael McKean — “David St. Hubbins” in Spinal Tap. They were only one Harry Shearer away!

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/...ch-rollins-joe-ryan-brewers-stadium-subsidies

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Twins 7, Brewers 0: Scott Baker’s Dozen

Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

The global domination continues.

The train will just not stop.

Tonight on FOX, the Twins won their 13th consecutive game, broke a team record for consecutive scoreless innings, moved into second place in the division, and dominated every facet of the game against the Milwaukee Brewers. They’ve only lost twice in the entire month of May, have erased generally every qualm about the season’s first six weeks, weathered every blow to their depth, and looked last year’s improbable streak dead in the eye and said, “I’ll do you one better.”

The vibes were great right from the jump yet again, as Minnesota opened the scoring on the game’s third pitch, with a bomb off the bat of #2 hitter Ryan Jeffers — 420 feet into the stands.

Even more runs were to be had in the early going, establishing Saturday night’s contest as another masterclass experience. Royce Lewis added onto a string of his own good at-bats with a leadoff double in the second, and scored when Christian Vazquez picked him up with a two-out single.

Then, another in the third, though it could have been more — three straight hits plated Jeffers again (he’d led off with a double), but Brooks Lee was thrown out at home by right fielder Sal Frelick on a Kody Clemens single, and Minnesota failed to add anything further.

And yet, the philosophy tonight seemed to be “just hit it, baby”, and it worked. A dramatic failed catch in right-center was already morphed into an RBI Twin hit back in the third; then, a two-out, run-scoring Lee knock — right off the laces of second baseman Brice Turang — marked Minnesota’s 11th hit in just the bottom of the fourth inning. It chased Tobias Myers from the game early, and put the Twins into consideration for “BABIP GOTY.”

Because nothing bad can ever happen to the Twins anymore, cash acquisition Kody Clemens decided that his early-season success with Minnesota isn’t an anomaly, and opted to launch yet another homer to sort of illustrate this point in the fifth.

The BABIP shenanigans continued in the sixth, with Trevor Larnach blooping a leadoff triple into possibly the shallowest part of left field that you can earn a non-little-league-triple from. That meant that a Lee flyout could produce a run; 6-0 Minnesota, with a run in each of the first four innings (the first time the Twins have done so since a 2017 game vs. the Padres.)

Then the fifth inning, then the sixth inning; don’t forget the ninth inning. The national commentators described the scoreboard as a picket fence, with routine posts littered along the box score with just one entryway toward the later innings. Minnesota notched 18 hits as a lineup; even DeShawn Keirsey Jr. checked in with a run-scoring single in the ninth.

Throughout this streak, the resurgence of the offense into a competent unit has been the biggest surprise, even amidst all the roster shuffling and delving through the barrel of depth. But as this has happened, it’s incredible that we’ve come to expect the kind of pitching performances we’ve been receiving — even as those performances establish new team records.

The Milwaukee offense was nearly completely lifeless until the bottom of the seventh, when Justin Topa entered the game and the Brewers promptly loaded the bases on a HBP with one out. Isaac Collins was tabbed off the bench to try and deliver the Crew’s first hit with RISP in the series. He’d fail to do so, blooping a soft busted-bat liner right back to Topa. And Brice Turang bounced out to leave ‘em loaded, eliciting boos from the Brewer faithful and cheers from the well-sized Minnesotan contingent filling the rest of the sold seats.

They’d register just three hits on the day, in their second straight shutout against Minnesota. On that note, it’s officially 33 consecutive scoreless innings for the Twins, the most since July 2004, and officially the most in team history. (They only really need a solid start from Zebby Matthews tomorrow to challenge the franchise record, just a few ticks higher.)

After Topa, Jorge Alcala and Kody Funderburk combined to wrap this one up.

What more is there to say? Apart from continued injuries, nothing has gone wrong for the Twins in over two weeks. LITERALLY nothing — it’s a 13-0 run that would make the Timberwolves jealous. They go for their fourth straight sweep tomorrow afternoon under the retractable roof of American Family Field; and boy, wouldn’t it be something if they returned to Minneapolis with the win streak intact?

Don’t change anything you’ve been doing since May 2nd. We’re all counting on you.

COURTESY: Baseball Savant

STUDS:

SP Pablo Lopez (6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K)

BP (3 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 4 K)

RF Trevor Larnach (2-for-5, 2 R, 3B)

DH Ryan Jeffers (4-for-5, 2 R, RBI, 2B, HR)

SS Brooks Lee (2-for-4, 2 RBI)

1B Ty France (2-for-4, RBI)

2B Kody Clemens (3-for-5, 2 R, RBI, HR)

3B Royce Lewis (2-for-4, R, 2B)

DUDS:

NO DUDS! TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/17/24432357/twins-7-brewers-0-scott-bakers-dozen

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Brewers 5, Twins 2: Highway Robbery

Michael McLoone-Imagn Images

Jackson Chourio ends the winning steak

In this I-94 “rivalry weekend” series between the Minnesota Twins & Milwaukee Brewers, the visiting Twins had taken the first two games and run their winning streak to 13. Even without Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, & Willi Castro in today’s contest, the Twins fought until the bitter end—when a highway robbery, so to speak, took the wind out of the traveling sails.

Making his 2025 debut, Twins SP Zebby Matthews’ bottom of the first inning couldn’t have gone smoother—whiffing William Contreras, Jackson Churio, & Brice Turang.

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Looking good in the 1st!

Alas, in the 2nd the Brew Crew were so desperate to break the Twins’ scoreless inning streak they bunted runners along until Sal Frelick singled in Christian Yelich. 1-0 Beer Men.

A round of applause for Twins hurlers: 34 consecutive scoreless frames—a franchise record!

Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images
Truly a remarkable feat!

Meanwhile, MN bats were having trouble making hard contact off Milwaukee SP Freddy Peralta—held at bay through the game’s first third.

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Tough to decipher

Zebby looked to be back on the horse in the 3rd—until a bout of wildness (three straight free passes) loaded the bases with Brewers. Milwaukee took advantage: hits from Isaac Collins & Frelick extended their lead to 4-0.

Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Walks will—and did—haunt

The Twins started clawing back into the offensive column in the 4th when a heating-up Royce Lewis blasted his first home run of the 2025 campaign!

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Good to see!

This game then became a battle of two very good bullpens. It wasn’t until the 7th when the Twins chipped away a bit further with a Trevor Larnach double being paid off by a Brooks Lee singled to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Photo by Lawrence Iles/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Chip away

With some momentum on their side to preserve the winning streak, Kody Clemens opened the 8th with a ringing double. Lewis then drove another ball deep into the AmFam Field expanse and over the fence—except that it was brought back into the park via a miraculous, lead-preserving catch from Jackson Chourio.

Michael McLoone-Imagn Images
That close

With the air out of the balloon, MIN reliever Jorge Alcala collapsed it entirely by coughing up a run in the 8th to extended Milwaukee’s lead to 5-2.

Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
A typical Alcala sight

With the streak on the line in the 9th, Twins’ bats could muster no dramatic comeback against former colleague Trevor Megill.

Your Final: Milwaukee Brewers 5, Minnesota Twins 2.

For the first time in over two weeks, the Twins wouldn’t shake hands upon game’s end.

Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Nope

Seeing a 13-game winning streak come to an end is always tough—especially when a comeback seemed oh so close. But consider this: two weeks ago, I would have been happy with a 7-5 mark on the Baltimore-San Francisco-Baltimore-Milwaukee stretch. The Twins went 11-1. Despite injuries that would crumble most squads, Rocco Baldelli’s bunch have burst back into competitiveness.

Again: a moment of appreciation for 13 IN A ROW!

Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images
The final jump-for-joy of the streak

Studs​

• Lewis: HR and some nice defensive work at 3B
• Carson McCusker: MLB debut

Duds​

• Matthews: 5 H, 3 BB, 4 ER in 3 IP

Comment of the Game​

• falcontimmy opining what one more foot of distance could have led too.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/...eddy-peralta-royce-lewis-jackson-churio-catch

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Harrison’s Hot Start: Is Bader’s Bat to be Believed?

Photo by Michael Mooney/MLB Photos via Getty Images

There’s some BABIP luck here, but also some encouraging underlying improvements

In recent offseasons, the Minnesota front office has made it a point to roster a right-handed hitting outfielder who can play a platoon role when Byron Buxton is healthy and be a semi-regular center fielder when Buxton is injured. Sometimes that strategy has produced (Michael A. Taylor: 21 homers, 2.0 fWAR in 2023) and sometimes it hasn’t (Manuel Margot in 2024).

When the Twins signed Harrison Bader to a one-year deal with an option for 2026 this past winter, the consensus was that they’d found their next player for this role and that Bader was a perfectly cromulent candidate to fill it. Across his eight big league seasons, Bader had established himself as a wonderful defensive outfielder with a below-average bat that wasn’t so bad you couldn’t live with it.

Through last season, Statcast credited Bader with preventing 68 runs with his defense since he debuted with the Cardinals in 2017. His 76 outs above average mark was the 2nd-highest total of any outfielder over that span.

That glove work came with a collective .242/.306/.392 triple slash line that was about 10 percent worse than league average by wRC+ and the occasional pop (71 homers) and speed (94 steals). Put those together with typically solid overall baserunning, and Bader provided about 13 wins above replacement, averaging about 1.5 wins per season.

Photo by Benjamin Linteris/MLB Photos via Getty Images
Bader has long been known more for plays like this, than for his work with the lumber

More recently, though, Bader’s bat had been a bigger drag on his overall value. Since 2022, he’d hit only .239/.284/.360 (79 wRC+), getting on base less often and hitting for less power, despite playing in the hitter’s havens in Cincinnati and the Bronx in 2022 and 2023.

Naturally, then, Bader has come to Minnesota and been, arguably, the Twins’ best overall player through the first quarter of 2025. Through games played on May 16, he’s appeared in 39 games, taken 125 plate appearances, and produced a .300/.384/.464 slash line, .376 wOBA, and 146 wRC+, which all led the team. Toss in 4 homers, 4 steals, and his typically excellent defense, and Bader has already accumulated more WAR in 2025 (1.5 fWAR) than he did all of last season (1.3 fWAR).

This is the time of the season when it’s fair to wonder if a hot start is more than a few weeks of good fortune. Let’s examine Bader’s profile and see if there are reasons to believe he’s elevated his offense.

Obligatory Note About Sample Size​

First, let me do some quick (probably annoying) housekeeping. With 125 PA and 82 batted balls, Bader is right on the lower edge of the sample size thresholds where we can have some confidence there is signal in the data for certain stats, like strikeout rate, exit velocity, swing-take decision making, and batted ball data like fly ball rate and ground ball rate.

It’s important to remember that data describes the past, not predicts the future. What we’re saying when we say, for instance, that the strikeout rate for hitters stabilizes at 60 plate appearances is that we can have confidence that his strikeout rate over those (now past) plate appearances is a good reflection of his talent level at that time.

That’s different than saying we can expect that strikeout rate to be his new normal and he will perform the same way for the rest of the season. A statistic is highly reliable if it produces similar results under consistent conditions. That’s an important qualifier to acknowledge because the future conditions are almost certain to be different. Opposing pitchers might adjust, the player might play through a nagging injury, have something off the field happen, or have to deal with many other potential things that affect human performance.

That said, some skills, especially those most in a player’s control, like swinging the bat fast or approach adjustments, tend to be strong indicators. Only time will reveal if any differences in Bader’s game we might uncover in the next few sections have staying power and position him to keep having this kind of success.

Peripheral & Expected Stats​

Let’s begin with some of the most common peripheral numbers:

Data from FanGraphs and Baseball Savant

There’s a bit of a mixed bag here. Notably, Bader’s walk rate this season is double what it’s been the past three seasons. He’s also hit for more power, reflected by his isolated slugging mark. To state the obvious, both are good things for offensive production.

On the other hand, there’s some indication he’s gotten lucky. He’s running the 12th-highest batting average on balls in play (BABIP) in MLB and outpacing his career mark by 74 points. Similarly, his expected batting average and slugging percentage, which are based on exit velocity and launch angle measurements by Statcast, are in line with the past several seasons.

Let’s dig into the plate discipline first, and then return to the production on balls in play.

Approach & Discipline​

Data from Baseball Savant and Robert Orr’s leaderboard

The doubling of Bader’s walk rate coincides with a noticeably less aggressive approach at the plate. He’s swung at 42.7% of the pitches he’s seen this season, down almost 4 points from last season and about 6 points from the season before that. Swinging less often, no doubt, helps him chase pitches out of the zone less.

At the same time, Bader has maintained his swing rate on pitches in the zone and his hittable take rate hasn’t changed much — both of those, which contribute to his career high SEAGER mark (described here), suggest he’s simply doing a better job avoiding swinging at bad pitches while picking out good ones to go after at about the same levels.

That gain might be enabled by some changes Bader has implemented to his setup in the batter’s box. In the visuals below, comparing this season and last, you can see that Bader has narrowed his stance significantly and closed it slightly, while setting up about 3 inches deeper in the box:

Visuals from Baseball Savant
(Click to enlarge)

That’s pushed his average point of contact back toward home plate about 4 inches. In the simplest terms, that means he’s giving himself a little more time to make his swing-take decisions, which might be helping him identify and lay off those chase pitches.

We can see how that’s played out by looking at heatmaps of his swing rate against pitches in different locations around the strike zone:

Visuals from FanGraphs
(Click to enlarge)

These reveal that Bader has done a better job laying off “pitchers’ pitches” up and in, down and in, and just off the plate away.

Contact Quality and Bat Speed​

Turning back to batted balls in play, Bader’s isolated power (slugging percentage minus batting average) has been increasing little by little over the past few years. This season’s .164 mark is his best since 2020 and 2021 — the last seasons he was a net positive with the bat. Many other contact quality metrics support the gains in ISO:

Data from Baseball Savant

Since 2022, he’s made significant gains in exit velocity, hard hit rate, barrel rate, average bat speed, and fast swing rate (i.e., the fraction of his swings better than 75 mph).

The 2023 season is the first for which bat tracking data is available, and Bader’s 70.8 mph average bat speed was around the bottom third of the league. After gaining a couple of ticks, he’s in the 64th percentile this season.

EV50​

Still, it’s worth putting context around Bader’s exit velocity. While he’s made major improvements in that category since 2022, his 87.6 mph average this year is only in the 21st percentile. That juxtaposition is a good opportunity to explore the limitations of using this metric.

Tom Tango of MLB Advanced Media has repeatedly pointed out that using the average exit velocity of all batted ball data for hitters can be misleading because below a certain point, differences in exit velocity don’t make a difference. If a batter hits the ball 60 mph or 40 mph, they are functionally the same — an out, despite their 20-mph difference. But, there can be major differences in outcomes if a batter hits the ball 90 mph or 110 mph.

Tango suggests instead using the average of a batter’s fastest 50% of balls in play. If a hitter improves the quality of their best contact, they are likely to see meaningful gains in their production. When we apply that thinking to Bader’s data, we can get a picture of how he’s generating these improved results:

Data from Baseball Savant
Harrison Bader contact quality of 50% hardest hit balls in play

Swinging the bat faster, more often, has enabled Bader to increase the quality of his best struck batted balls. The average exit velocity of those is nearly 5 mph better this season than in 2022, and a fifth of them have been barrelled, about three times more than in 2022. His ability to pull his best contact in the air has more than doubled since 2022.

— — — — — ​

Let’s return to the question at hand — has Harrison Bader leveled up with the bat?

Like almost everything in this wonderful game, multiple factors are at play. Bader has enjoyed some good batted ball fortune so far in 2025. That has certainly helped boost his top-line results.

However, on the other side of the ledger, he’s also made some positive improvements in his plate discipline and the quality of his contact. Those developments seem to be supported by adjustments in his stance and approach, and steady gains in his ability to swing the bat fast.

I don’t think it’s likely that he’ll continue to lead the Twins on offense. But there are good reasons to think he won’t be 20% below average offensively like he has been the past three seasons.

This version of Harrison Bader has a good shot at being an average, or perhaps a touch above, offensive player. Combine that with his stellar defense and solid baserunning, and the Twins have a real strength (and plenty of surplus value) in their fourth outfielder.

---

John writes for Twinkie Town, Twins Daily, and Pitcher List, with an emphasis on analysis. He is a lifelong Twins fan and former college pitcher.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/...risons-hot-start-is-baders-bat-to-be-believed

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Monday Morning Minnesota: The “Oops!... The Twins Did It Again” Edition

Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

The 2024 Twins Season - 2025 Version

The 2025 Twins season is looking eerily similar to the 2024 season. Both teams started out poorly, but they saved the season with a double-digit win streak. Now everything is back to normal and the Twins are five games above .500. Frustratingly, the Detroit Tigers continued their run of excellence, and the Twins are still 5.0 games behind the best team in the AL.

The Past Week on Twinkie Town:

• Need to vent about the Twins? Or provide some reasons to calm down? Check out our Game Threads and join the conversation!
• In case you forgot what happened this past weekend, our Game Recaps are back as well!
• Free-agent addition Harrison Bader has been a catalyst for the Twins' success this year. John Foley checks in to see if this early-season performance is sustainable for 2025.
• Zach Koenig evaluates Derek Falvey’s record against his old team, the Cleveland Guardians.

Elsewhere in Twins Territory:

• CJ Baumgartner at Zone Coverage looks at how the Twins will try to overcome the injuries to Buxton and Correa.
• Aaron Gleeman at The Athletic highlights a few Twins prospects who have been excelling this year, including recent call-up Carson McCusker. ($)
• With Pete Rose being removed from the Hall of Fame’s permanently ineligible list, La Velle E. Neal III at the Star Tribune looks forward to the impact of Rose’s case on other potential candidates who have been blocked from receiving HOF honors, due to the character clause.

In the World of Baseball:

• Detroit is still atop the AL with a 31-16 record, and impressively, three AL Central teams currently occupy the wild card spots. The Dodgers are now tied with the Mets at 29-18 atop the NL.
• Manager Brandon Hyde was fired from the Orioles over the weekend. In a team chock-full of young hitting talent, ultimately, the starting pitching was the downfall this season, with an AL-worst ERA of 6.01 and WHIP of 1.46. Baltimore is currently 15 games under .500 and look unlikely to return to the playoffs this year.
• Jess Rogers documents the close relationship between Christian Yelich and legendary broadcaster Bob Uecker, who passed away in January.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/2025/5/...esota-the-oops-the-twins-did-it-again-edition