Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Tuesday, April 11, 2017 Miguel
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Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Tuesday, April 11, 2017 Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton trending in opposite directions. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 1 Twins coach Rudy Hernandez puts new meaning in 'behind the scenes'. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 2 ‘Nothing falls’ in front of Twins’ talented young outfield. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 3 Inbox: When might Berrios, Park get callup? MLB (Bollinger) p. 4 Wetmore: Two of Twins’ most important players have opposite problems right now. ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 5 From worst to first: Santana leads Twins’ hurlers to top of MLB. FOX Sports (Staff) p. 7 Preview: Twins at Tigers. FOX Sports (Associated Press) p. 8 Twins Want Visitors' Clubhouse at Comerica Park Fumigated. Deadline Detroit (Staff) p. 9 The Twins Are Only Four or Five Pitchers Away. The Ringer (Baumann) p. 9 Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton trending in opposite directions Chris Miller | Star Tribune | April 10, 2017 Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton have been the two poster children for the Twins for the past couple of years (yep, there are still a few versions of this photo in our system from last year's season preview), and after the team's 5-1 start they are now the talk of the Twins offense. Sano on the positive side, Buxton not so much. Sano, after Sunday, was second in the major leagues in RBI with eight, one behind Nomar Mazara of Texas; and second in slugging percentage (.850) and OPS (1.308) to Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto. Sano's two-run home run lined into the wind in the Twins' 4-1 victory at Chicago on Sunday put an exclamation mark on his strong start. There's no way to sugarcoat Buxton's rough start -- 2-for-26 with 14 strikeouts. Even in 21st century baseball, where it's tolerable to flirt with 200 strikeouts in a season, Buxton is on pace for, well, 378. That's not going to happen, but he is off to an excruciatingly painful beginning at the plate. With five rally-killing catches in center field, however, he has demonstrated his value ... and his teammates and manager insist he'll break out of his slump soon. We'll see. (It should be noted that Sano had two errors at third base in Saturday's loss in Chicago, which gives him a fielding percentage .50 points below his slugging percentage ... so as dependable as Buxton is patrolling center, his buddy at third is trending in the opposite direction.) The Twins are off today, traveling to Detroit as soon as their hotel rooms are ready for a three-game series against the Tigers that starts tomorrow. Finally: Phil Miller had the hidden nugget at the end of his postgame blog yesterday ... the Twins have won two road games, something they couldn't say last year until May 12. Twins coach Rudy Hernandez puts new meaning in 'behind the scenes' Phil Miller | Star Tribune | April 11, 2017 DETROIT – The Twins are off to their best start in seven years. They’re in first place in the American League Central, own the best record in the entire American League, and have the second-largest run differential in the game. And Rudy Hernandez has witnessed none of it. That’s weird, since Hernandez is a member of Paul Molitor’s coaching staff, and has been for all three seasons of Molitor’s tenure. But the Twins decided to expand their coaching staff to eight members last winter, despite a major league rule that limits teams to seven coaches in the dugout during games. After much discussion, Molitor and the front office decided that meant Hernandez, the assistant hitting coach who has been a member of the organization for 17 seasons, would work from the clubhouse or batting cages once the first pitch is thrown. “It’s strange. I don’t know why one more coach [matters], but I live with it,” said Hernandez, a former Appalachian League Manager of the Year with the Twins’ rookie-level team in Elizabethton, Tenn. “Rules are rules.” That’s Molitor’s position, too, and he speaks from experience. While serving as a roving minor league instructor for the Twins, he once met the major league team on a road trip and sat, in uniform, in the dugout as a game began. “And we got a phone call — during the game — that I couldn’t watch from the dugout. So somebody’s watching somewhere,” Molitor said. “A guard came up [from the clubhouse] and said they got a call about it.” Hernandez has been in the dugout the past two seasons and got used to having regular consultations with players during games. So it wasn’t easy, Molitor said, to tell him that his post was changing, though not his job. “We had conversations about how to best utilize our spots in the dugout,” Molitor said. “Rudy’s a very high-valued guy here. The conversation I had with him was about how, systemically, it was going to change, but basically he’s in the same position.” That position entails working during early batting practice on refining mechanics and game-planning for the opposing pitchers — tasks that haven’t changed. But the Twins have discovered that having a coach in the clubhouse isn’t exile; increasingly, it’s an advantage. “He’s priceless. He’s up here watching the game on video, so he’s got a good idea about how guys are being pitched, whether pitchers are hitting their locations, where guys are missing,” said hitting coach James Rowson. “I see things from the dugout angle, low and from the side, but he’s got the best view, on video. So between innings, I often come back to the clubhouse and we talk about what we’re seeing. He’s got notes on pitch sequences, things like that. It’s good information.” The players utilize it, too. In the modern game, video is always available to see previous at-bats, but now there’s a coach stationed at the monitor, charting pitches and ready to offer advice. “It’s different that he’s not [in the dubout], but it’s a blessing for me to be able to come in here and talk to him during the game,” said Robbie Grossman, who is slowly adjusting to all the free time that his new role as designated hitter allows him. “I like to come see my at-bats, and it’s great to have Rudy there to bounce things off of.” After the fifth inning, Hernandez often meets the Twins’ bench players by the batting cage — directly behind the dugout at Target Field, or sometimes in more distant locations in other ballparks — to throw them some pitches so they’re loose in case they’re called upon to pinch-hit or enter the game defensively. “I’m getting used to it. I was always outside, but I’m learning to focus on this,” said Hernandez, whose 51st birthday was observed Sunday, complete with a birthday candle stuck in a bagel and an off-key version of “Happy Birthday,” by fellow Venezuelan Eduardo Escobar. “I’m still helping the hitters. And when they come to you, you know they want your help.” 2 ‘Nothing falls’ in front of Twins’ talented young outfield Mike Berardino | Pioneer Press | April 10, 2017 A nickname has been elusive for the Twins’ talented young outfield, but a mission statement already has been delivered. “Nothing falls but the rain.” That’s what center fielder Byron Buxton has been saying on behalf of the group, including Max Kepler in right field and Eddie Rosario in left, as the Twins raced out to a surprising 5-1 start in the season’s opening week. “That’s his line, not my line,” first-year Twins coach Jeff Pickler said with a laugh. “I’m not big on one-liners. I think Byron brought that with him from Triple-A, and it’s a good one. If they want to embrace that, I think that’s great.” Not even a 2-for-26 start at the plate has knocked Buxton off course in center field, where he took away a pair of hits with diving catches on Opening Day against the Kansas City Royals, and then added two more grabs as he crashed into the wall in the first inning against the Chicago White Sox last Friday. Kepler, who was disappointed with his defense in a seven-error rookie season, raced into the corner to make a diving grab later that same night, and Rosario has corralled multiple shots to the warning track and the wall. “It’s fun playing out there,” Buxton said. “I’m very blessed to have those two by my side. To go out there every day with them, that makes me a lot more comfortable out there. With the competitiveness we’ve got to want to make those types of plays, the sky’s the limit. We just want to stay aggressive.” Pickler, a former Triple-A infielder and scout who is coaching outfielders for the first time, likes what he has seen in the early going. Along with nearly airtight defense in the infield and behind the plate, the Twins’ outfielders are making life much more enjoyable for the pitching staff. “They’re having fun, they’re playing free, they’re engaged with one another,” Pickler said. “Byron’s doing a great job of communicating east and west. It’s six games in. We’ve got a long road to go, but they’re getting after it.” IMPROVING CHANCES, LIMITING RISK Improved defensive positioning has had much to do with igniting the Twins’ nightly highlight show in this would-be Bermuda Glove Triangle, where hits mysteriously disappear.