Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Tuesday, June 6, 2017 Confident Randy Rosario Wants to Show Twins He's Ready for the Majors
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Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Tuesday, June 6, 2017 Confident Randy Rosario wants to show Twins he's ready for the majors. (Neal) p. 1 Roy Smalley explains 1987 Twins' home dominance, 2017 Twins' road dominance. Star Tribune (Rand) p. 2 Series preview: Twins at Seattle. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 3 Twins’ commitment to video scouting spreads through minors. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 4 Falvey brings expertise to Twins' No. 1 pick. MLB (Bollinger) p. 6 Preview: Twins at Mariners. FOX Sports (STATS) p. 7 Twins free youth clinic coming to Tink Larson Field. WASECA County News (Ring) p. 8 Confident Randy Rosario wants to show Twins he's ready for the majors La Velle E. Neal III | Star Tribune | June 6, 2017 ANAHEIM, CALIF. – Although he began the season touring the Southern League, Randy Rosario believed he was major league material. “I was ready for it,” the 23-year-old, newly recalled Twins lefthander said. “I was waiting for it. I was saying to myself, ‘Randy, just be ready for it.’ ” Confidence is one characteristic that jumps out with Rosario. He is bright, has worked hard to learn English and made a quick transition to the bullpen after making 55 starts in the minors from the time he was signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2010 until the middle of last season. It also helps to have a fastball that can reach 94 miles per hour and a wipeout slider. That will give you confidence, too — and encourage a team like the Twins to give a Class AA pitcher a chance in the majors. So Rosario wasn’t that surprised when he was called up from Chattanooga on Thursday. And when asked to pitch two innings with a nine-run lead against the Angels on Friday, he was unfazed when he stood on the mound and saw Albert Pujols digging in. Pujols was stuck on 599 home runs at the time — and was facing a rookie making his major league debut. “Before I came to the United States, I was watching Pujols and seeing him hit bombs all the time,” Rosario said of his fellow Dominican. “I said I hope I can pitch to him one day in my life. It’s a dream come true. It was very good.” Rosario got ahead 0-2 on Pujols before getting the future Hall of Famer to ground out to third. Good result, right? “I wanted to face him, but I wanted to strike him out,” Rosario said. “Then I feel better.” Rosario did give up a home run to Danny Espinosa in the ninth inning, when he said he was trying to do too much and overthrew a few pitches. But his outing, which completed an 11-5 Twins victory, enabled other worn-out relievers to rest their arms. The Twins plan to take advantage of Rosario’s ability to eat innings. “Aside from having weapons to get major league hitters out, we felt that Randy could give us three to six outs as a result of being extended in a number of his outings at Chattanooga,” General Manager Thad Levine said. In May, Chattanooga was in Biloxi, Miss., for a five-game series and lost the first four. Lookouts manager Jake Mauer gathered the team for a pep talk. “We had a conversation as a team in Biloxi, of all places, about how close these guys are to the major leagues,” Mauer said. “And some of things we need to do while being aware that some guys are just a phone call away.” The Twins were about to head to Baltimore, where they swept the Orioles. But they came back home and watched their bullpen get used up during a 15-inning loss to Tampa Bay on May 28, followed by the Memorial Day mauling by Houston the next day and the 17-6 debacle at the hands of the Astros on Wednesday. Already running out of options, the Twins looked at Chattanooga and focused on Rosario, who had given up only five earned runs in 23 ⅔ innings this season. “In an ideal world, we would like to see players continue their development at [Class AAA] Rochester before matriculating to the big leagues,” Levine said. “That being said, the major league season rarely plays out in an idyllic fashion.” After meeting with members of the minor league staff — including Brad Steil, the Twins’ director of minor league operations — the team decided to give Rosario his chance. Chattanooga, playing in Birmingham, Ala., at the time, was holding a presentation for outfielder Edgar Corcino, who had just passed his U.S. citizenship test and also found out he was having a son. “We were going to talk about that in front of the team,” Mauer said, “and [we] literally got the call that Randy was going up.” It was true — they were just a call away. Rosario joined a relatively rare group of Twins who have made the jump from Class AA to the majors. It also includes Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Aaron Hicks, Eric Milton, Brad Radke and, of course, Mauer’s little brother Joe. The only recent player to make a bigger jump was shortstop Jorge Polanco, who was called up from Class A Fort Myers in 2014 when the club was shorthanded. Sometimes elite prospects, as Sano and Buxton were, will land on the express past Rochester. In many cases, it happens when a team no one else to turn to. That’s how Rosario is getting his chance. “I want to help my team,” Rosario said. “I feel like we can win more games now. I want to do my best every day. So we will see.” Roy Smalley explains 1987 Twins' home dominance, 2017 Twins' road dominance Michael Rand | Star Tribune | June 5, 2017 The 1987 and 2017 Twins bear a certain resemblance to one another, with their new young executives (Andy MacPhail and Derek Falvey), home run power and surprisingly good play (World Series champs vs. first place on June 5). Those 1987 Twins were actually outscored during the regular season (806 to 786) but won the division anyway. These 2017 Twins are charting a similar early course despite being outscored 265-246 so far. In one area, though, the comparisons come to a screeching halt and instead turn into exact opposites: the 1987 Twins were amazing at home and dismal on the road. The 2017 Twins, nearly a third of the way into the season, have been magnificent on the road but subpar at home. How do we explain what happened 30 years ago in the context of what is happening now? Well, it helps to talk to Roy Smalley — who played for the 1987 Twins and now works as an analyst on Twins broadcasts on Fox Sports North. “Let me start in 1987,” said Smalley, who hit .275 with eight home runs for the Twins that season, his final year in the majors. “I think a couple things were going on. In sports, especially a stupid game like baseball, you can’t underestimate how closely tied the physical and psychological are both individually and as a team.” Smalley was somewhat of an anomaly on that team in that his home and road splits were nearly identical. But when a team goes 56-25 at home compared to 29-52 on the road (including 13-36 in its final 49 road games), something is clearly going on. “There was something about our team in that place. We still played on that old, hard turf. There were big hops, teams would lose balls in the roof. … We had guys who could hit the ball over the baggy and the ball carried really well,” he said. “On the road, we didn’t have the psychological edge and our pitching got a little exposed. We tended to outslug people at home and get outslugged at home. All those things 2 factored into that.” Thirty years later, the Twins play at Target Field, not the dome. But that doesn’t explain why they’re 12-18 at home this year and 17-6 on the road after taking three of four against the Angels. Still, Smalley sees psychology playing a role in this disparity as well and thinks the Twins are pressing while playing at home. Miguel Sano, who is hitting .357 on the road and .255 at home (with .774 vs. .457 slugging splits away vs. home) is a prime example. That said, overall hitting isn’t necessarily the problem. The Twins as a team actually have a higher OPS at home (.755 to .743) at home this season, but their clutch hitting (on display again against the Angels) has been better on the road. More telling: their team ERA is more than a full run lower on the road (5.18 at home, 3.85 on the road). “They want to play well for the fans. They know what happened last year and that it’s been one winning year in six,” Smalley said. “They go on the road and they take a sigh of relief and play ball. There’s none of that subconscious hoping that they can show up well for the home fans.” A greater explanation, Smalley said, could be simpler than psychology: the schedule. Arguably the four best teams the Twins have faced this season are Houston (no doubt), Colorado, Boston and Cleveland. Minnesota is 2-10 against those teams at home but has only faced Cleveland on the road (going 2-1 in that series). “My recollection is that they’ve played way better teams at home than on the road,” Smalley said.