Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Thursday, March 9, 2017
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Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Thursday, March 9, 2017 Twins' Miguel Sano no longer getting caught with his hands up. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 1 Trevor May, Twins turn back Team USA in exhibition. Star Tribune (Neal lll) p. 2 Twins offer new pass: 30 home games in April and May for $99. Star Tribune (Rand) p. 2 Twins' day at camp: Healing Stephen Gonsalves misses shot to play with Team USA. Star Tribune (Neal lll) p. 3 Dozier remains with Twins as Team USA prepares for WBC. Star Tribune (Neal lll) p. 4 Minnesota Twins: Brian Dozier recalls late grandmother as his ‘biggest fan’. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 5 Memory of ‘Father John’ drives Minnesota Twins pitcher Stephen Gonsalves. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 6 May holds his own vs. potent Team USA lineup. MLB (Bollinger) p. 7 Twins taking advantage of strong outfield arms. MLB (Bollinger) p. 8 Team USA pitcher D.J. Baxendale wore his Twins jersey to face the Twins' Byron Buxton. MLB (Garro) p. 9 Soreness in shoulder sidelines Gonsalves. MLB (Bollinger) p. 9 Wells makes impressive debut in WBC '17. MLB (Knobler) p. 10 Wetmore’s 5 thoughts: Did Twins make right call by not trading for Jose De Leon? ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 11 Hilbrand Family's Love for the Twins. Voice of Alexandria (Korkowski) p. 12 Twins' Miguel Sano no longer getting caught with his hands up Phil Miller | Star Tribune | March 9, 2017 FORT MYERS, Fla. – Miguel Sano swears he was never trying to intimidate pitchers with the way he wielded his bat as he waited for a pitch. Yes, his hands were high, sometimes above the bill of his helmet. And yes, he waggled his bat back and forth, as if emphasizing the danger the weapon posed. “I wasn’t trying to scare them,” Sano said. “It’s just how I hit.” He’s got a new way to hit now, and while the adjustment isn’t a huge one, he hopes it does put a little fear into pitchers — because of how effective it is. “It’s working really good,” Sano said. “I think it will be better this year.” That’s an acknowledgment that 2016 wasn’t the season Sano had hoped for, and not just because of his two stints on the disabled list. He hit only .236, his on-base percentage fell to .319 and he set a new Twins franchise record for strikeouts with 178 in only 116 games. To restore his potency at the plate, Sano tinkered with his mechanics. But it wasn’t until he got home to the Dominican Republic that he found what he hopes was the answer. It came from former major leaguer Fernando Tatis, who hit 113 home runs over 11 major league seasons. Tatis, whose son Fernando Jr. is a top prospect in the Padres organization, watched Sano take batting practice and made a suggestion. “He said hands up high takes me too much time to [get in position to] swing,” Sano explained, demonstrating the extra motion required to trigger his swing. “Put my hands lower, and it’s just one move. Faster.” The result, according to Sano? “If I put [my hands] lower, I have more time. I can see the ball more,” he said. “I start them down, see the pitch, and boom.” Boom is indeed the goal. And while reducing the amount of movement necessary to get his bat cocked only produces a split-second more time to see the ball, his new Twins hitting coach, James Rowson, says that millisecond is more significant that it might seem. “Even a split-second, with the speed of his hands, can really make a difference,” Rowson said. “If he gets a better look at the ball, he’s going to make better decisions. It can really help.” Besides, Rowson said, Sano seems more comfortable with the adjustment. His hands are shoulder-high at most, and at times he’ll drop them even lower. “The goal is making good contact, so we start from there. Put your focus on the contact, and then so whatever you need to do to get to that point,” Rowson said. “We sort of work the problem backward. The more focus we put on what comes before the swing takes away from what we need to do to get that contact. It’s not me telling him, ‘Hey, move your hands,’ it’s more me saying, ‘Let’s find a good place to hit and let your mechanics flow naturally.’ ” Sano admits he might tinker with his swing a little too much at times, so he likes Rowson’s do-what-works approach. “Hands up high, I learned that a long time ago,” Sano said. “But this feels good. I think this works.” Trevor May, Twins turn back Team USA in exhibition La Velle E. Neal lll | Star Tribune | March 8, 2017 FORT MYERS, Fla. - Ian Kinsler singled to left. Adam Jones singled to right. Nolan Arenado slammed a two-run double off the wall. After three batters, Team USA looked ready to batter Twins righthander Trevor May on Wednesday and use his pitching to raise its confidence heading into the World Baseball Classic. Instead, it was May feeling good about himself after he shut down the national team during the Twins' 3-2 exhibition victory. May relished the chance to face a lineup, he said, that consisted of No. 3 hitters across the league. "Team USA, man," May said. "We're all rooting for them to take home the title. Honestly, I was really, really excited." After the first three batters, May shut out Team USA for 3⅔ innings on one hit and two walks. He kept his fastball on the corners and broke off a few nice curveballs — a pitch on which he's changed the grip. Team USA fielded its A lineup, but started reliever Luke Gregerson and borrowed a few Twins farmhands to fill out the bullpen. The Twins tied the score in the second with a couple of two-out hits. Jason Castro ended a nine-pitch at-bat with a single to right to score Max Kepler. Jorge Polanco followed with an eight-pitch at-bat that resulted in an infield hit when Arenado couldn't hold on to his soft liner. ByungHo Park's sacrifice fly in the sixth put the Twins up 3-2. Craig Breslow pitched two innings to pick up the save. May has given up only one earned run over 7⅔ innings this spring and is making his case to win the job as the Twins' No. 5. starter. "Here it is, getting ready to use all of my stuff," May said. "Taking some risks, like when I get behind in the count and throw something I normally wouldn't. Not falling into patterns and being competitive from day one." Twins offer new pass: 30 home games in April and May for $99 Michael Rand | Star Tribune | March 8, 2017 The Twins on Wednesday announced a new Ballpark Pass deal for the months of April and May: $99 for access to 30 home games — all of them except the home opener — in those two months. No, that is not a misprint. There is some fine print, such as you don’t get a seat for the games. Basically, “Ballpark Access” is what used to be known as a standing-room only ticket. You choose every game you want to go to, and the ticket is delivered to your mobile device. Still, this is a fairly absurd deal — working out to just a little more than $3 per game if you went to all 30 — considering the cheapest individual regularly priced ticket you can get to a game is $6 — and that’s only offered for select games. There’s pretty good variety of opponents; only the 2 Royals are here twice in the first two months. You also get to see the White Sox, Indians, Tigers, A’s, Red Sox, Rockies, Rays and Astros. The offer is clearly a nod to declining overall attendance at Target Field — which didn’t get any help from last year’s 59-103 record — and the annual struggle to attract fans in colder weather before school gets out. The Twins drew 40,000+ for their home opener April 11 last season, but the number was barely 20,000 for the next game and dipped below that mark several times in the first two months. The overall attendance at Target Field in 2016 was 1,963,912 — the seventh consecutive season it decreased since the ballpark opened. In both 2010 and 2011, attendance topped 3 million fans. The Twins’ strategy appears to be essentially: hey, there’s room. Let’s let people in, hope they buy some concessions and expose them to what the organization hopes is a better product — perhaps converting some of those Ballpark Pass holders into regular ticket buyers or even season- ticket holders as time goes on. It’s a practical strategy, but there is also some risk when you devalue your product to such a level as the Twins are doing now. It’s not quite to the old days of the Metrodome, when you could get an upper deck general admission SEASON TICKET for $99, but it is far cheaper than any other deal I can recall in Target Field history. It can feel less special to attend a game when a price is so low, and it can also alienate ticket buyers who paid more to get in. The Wolves tried similar things in recent years after mighty struggles, offering season ticket packages with a per-game price equivalent to whatever pick the Wolves got in the NBA draft lottery.