Minnesota Twins Summer Check Up


Minnesota Twins

29-34 (2nd in AL Central)



Eye Popping Number

26

The Minnesota Twins have been very average this season. Nothing spectacular that really jumps off the page. Nothing except for Eduardo Escobar. Escobar has been Mr. Super Utility for the Twins over the past few season, while joining the home run revolution last season and hitting 21 home runs, the most of his career. This season, he’s already on pace to break that career high, but even more impressive, he’s leading all of baseball in doubles. Escobar and Eddie Rosario are the Twins entire offense right now, as the rest of the team has been in a season long slump, so Escobar will need to continue to keep hitting extra base hits to keep the Twins in games.

Biggest Surprise

Last Year Miguel Sano played in his first all-star game at the age of 24. With a promising first three years under his belt, Sano looked to become one of the next big sluggers in the American League. But alas, he’s had a surprising drop in production this season. Granted, he had a hamstring injury earlier this year that hampered him a little bit. But since coming back, he’s lost his starting third base spot to Escobar, as he’s hitting just .208 and has an on base percentage of .277. Not great. His 40% strikeout percentage would also be a good career high.

Player to Watch

Jose Berrios burst onto the scene last season, and with Ervin Santana injured, he was thrust into the #1 starter position this year. And he’s stepped up to the challenge. He already has a couple outings where he took a no-hitter into the 5th inning, and his WHIP has been elite, ranking 5th in baseball at .920 (walks + hits per innings pitched). His hit rate and walk rate have gone down drastically from last season (hence the low WHIP), and his strikeout rate has gone up. If the Twins can get hot and make the wild card game, Berrios will be one of the main reasons why, and will be a worthy adversary of whoever starts against him in the win or go home playoff game.

What to Watch for at the Deadline

At 5.5 games behind the Cleveland Indians for the AL Central lead, the Twins are in striking position to win the division. While the majority of the offense has struggled this season, they have plenty of talent to get hot and carry them. Last year they were buyers, then sellers (they traded a guy that they had just traded for), and when they thought their season was over, ended up making the postseason anyway. This year could be very similar. I doubt they’ll make a big splash if they do decide to be buyers. They do need an upgrade at DH, so they can target any position to fill that. Nicholas Castellanos (Detroit) or Shin-Soo Choo (Texas) would be good fits. If they end up deciding to sell, Kyle Gibson and Jake Odorizzi would be prime targets to leave. They both have an extra year under contract, which would be huge for a team not wanting to spend money in this upcoming hectic offseason and want to fill out their rotation. Brian Dozier is also an upcoming free agent, and the team hasn't signed him to an extension, so if they want to get a return on him, then they would be wise to trade him.

*All stats as of 6/13 via fangraphs.com and baseball-reference.com

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