All Things 2024 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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TRIVIA

Following a (correct) scoring change, Alex Kirilloff ended up with a triple in a third consecutive game with his RBI knock into the right-field corner on Saturday. Four other Twins had accomplished that feat -- most recently, Eddie Rosario. Who was the first to do it?

A) Tony Oliva
B) Rod Carew
C) Brant Alyea
D) Jacque Jones
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
TRIVIA

Following a (correct) scoring change, Alex Kirilloff ended up with a triple in a third consecutive game with his RBI knock into the right-field corner on Saturday. Four other Twins had accomplished that feat -- most recently, Eddie Rosario. Who was the first to do it?

A) Tony Oliva
B) Rod Carew
C) Brant Alyea
D) Jacque Jones
Click to expand...


TRIVIA ANSWER
B) Rod Carew

Best not to overthink this one! Carew is the Twins’ all-time leader in triples by a wide margin, so it figures he’d probably have strung together three in a trio of consecutive games at some point -- and he did, from June 15-17, 1977.
 

on the umpiring Saturday - one of my favorite Twitter accounts is Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards)

they do a breakdown of every MLB game to show how accurate the Home Plate Ump was on balls and strikes.

for Saturday, Ump Brennan Miller missed calls on 19 pitches.
of 62 pitches that were called strikes, 13 should have been called balls (79% accuracy rate). and 6 pitches that were called balls should have been strikes. the overall accuracy rate rate was 89% - or 4% lower than average.
 

on the pitching injury front - there is a big fight brewing between MLB and the MLBPA over pitching injuries.

the players' union is claiming that the pitch clock is leading to more pitching injuries - forcing pitchers to work faster with less recovery time.

MLB has responded that they have done studies showing that the issue is not the pitch clock. MLB says their study indicates that pitching injuries are due to pitchers throwing with max velocity and higher spin rates. lots of data showing the trend toward higher velocity not just on fast balls, but on breaking balls.

also read an interview with Dr. Meister (Rangers' team doc and a tommy john specialist). Meister said he is seeing more and more younger pitchers - high school age and even younger - coming down with arm injuries. said too many kids are throwing way too many breaking balls before their bodies are fully developed.
 

Twins with 3 players hitting over 0.200. (Correa, Buxton, Kiriloff). Less than ideal.
 


David Ortiz homered in a 10-6 win in Toronto on this date in 2002, giving him an RBI in each of the Twins’ first six games of the season—the second-longest RBI streak to start a season in Twins history.

Tony Oliva had an RBI in each of the Twins’ first eight games to start the 1970 season.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
on the pitching injury front - there is a big fight brewing between MLB and the MLBPA over pitching injuries.

the players' union is claiming that the pitch clock is leading to more pitching injuries - forcing pitchers to work faster with less recovery time.

MLB has responded that they have done studies showing that the issue is not the pitch clock. MLB says their study indicates that pitching injuries are due to pitchers throwing with max velocity and higher spin rates. lots of data showing the trend toward higher velocity not just on fast balls, but on breaking balls.

also read an interview with Dr. Meister (Rangers' team doc and a tommy john specialist). Meister said he is seeing more and more younger pitchers - high school age and even younger - coming down with arm injuries. said too many kids are throwing way too many breaking balls before their bodies are fully developed.
Click to expand...

Back in my day, you weren’t permitted to throw and curves/sliders until 9th grade.
It just wasn’t done.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
on the umpiring Saturday - one of my favorite Twitter accounts is Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards)

they do a breakdown of every MLB game to show how accurate the Home Plate Ump was on balls and strikes.

for Saturday, Ump Brennan Miller missed calls on 19 pitches.
of 62 pitches that were called strikes, 13 should have been called balls (79% accuracy rate). and 6 pitches that were called balls should have been strikes. the overall accuracy rate rate was 89% - or 4% lower than average.
Click to expand...

 



Angel Hernandez still has a job so to think anything is going to change is wishful thinking.

 










Slim Tubby said:
More Twins management blunders by playing guys out of position. Oh, what might've been with Miguel as a closer.
Click to expand...
That's a mockery of the game.

MLB should limit the number of pitchers teams can carry to 11 or 12.

Then, they should eliminate the extra innings rules that places a runner on 2nd base.

Finally, they should limit the number of transactions a team can make.

Those changes would require teams to carry multiple starters who can pitch more than 200 innings per season.

That's how you make long starts valuable again, and end this max effort pitching that causes all these injuries. Plus it ends the stupid extra innings gimmick.
 

TruthSeeker said:
Then, they should eliminate the extra innings rules that places a runner on 2nd base.
Click to expand...
I hated that rule when it was introduced. I have come around to accepting it, and actually prefer now for the regular season.

Going back would not impact starters innings anyway, they are long gone by the 9th already.
 

Ope3 said:
I hated that rule when it was introduced. I have come around to accepting it, and actually prefer now for the regular season.

Going back would not impact starters innings anyway, they are long gone by the 9th already.
Click to expand...
Yeah it would. Managers would have to be cognizant of the score in a close game. Instead of burning through the pen early, they'd have to consider leaving the starter in longer.
 

TruthSeeker said:
Yeah it would. Managers would have to be cognizant of the score in a close game. Instead of burning through the pen early, they'd have to consider leaving the starter in longer.
Click to expand...
I think for the other reasons you listed they would, but not the extra inning thing.

I just don't think Mgrs would be considering leaving their pitchers in longer in the 5-7th innings because the game might eventually be tied in the 10th and last past that because of the non-ghost runner rule.

The rule I would like to see implemented is having the DH tied solely to their Starting Pitcher, especially if they last fewer than 5 innings. Pitchers does not go that minimum, then fine but has to hit for himself (or be replaced by a Pinch Hitter).
 

the pitching thing is tricky because it's tied to a philosophical change in how the sport is played.

teams used to use a 4-man starting rotation and it was not unusual for pitchers to throw 300 innings a year. pitching was all about changing speeds, changing location, hitting your spots - and making the hitter put the ball in play. if there was a key situation, pitchers would "bear down" and give it their best stuff to try and get out of a jam.

to give it another name - "pitch to contact." the phrase that came to be reviled by Twins fans. but it kept pitchers healthy for the most part.

now, it's all about max effort and max velocity on every pitch, with harder breaking balls - or you could call it the "driveline" approach to pitching.

some # -
2005 - 50 pitchers threw 200 IP or more (most - 246.1)
2010 - 45 -- (most 250.2)
2015 - 28 -- (most 232.2)
2018 - 13 -- (most 220.2)
2019 - 15 -- (most 223.0)
2021 - 4 -- (most 213.1)
2022 - 8 -- (most 228.2)
2023 - 5 -- (most 216.0)

last pitcher to work 250IP in a season - Justin Verlander 2011
last pitcher to work 260IP - Roy Halladay 2003
last pitcher to work 270IP - Randy Johnson 1999
last pitcher to work 280IP - Charlie Hough 1987 -- (knuckleball)
last pitcher to work 290IP - Bert Blyleven 1985
last pitcher to work 300 IP - Steve Carlton 1980

and the "holy bleep" award (modern era) Mickey Lolich - Detroit Tigers - 1971 - 376 innings.
(Wilbur Wood and Phil Niekro had some huge IP numbers, but they threw the knuckleball.)
 

We also have to remember hitters are much better than ever before. Ballparks haven't gotten larger (in some cases they've gotten even smaller) and players have gotten stronger. If you're going to put pitchers in a situation where max effort can't be done, we will probably see scoring increase by a lot.

Max effort isn't just throwing fast. A big part of it is breaking balls. If you reduce the effort of each pitch, breaking balls will be less effective.
 

This is an interesting thread. From my amateur understanding, he believes this delay in the arm action causes extra stress.

 
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TRF Guy said:
Northern Minnesota
Click to expand...

To further clarify, my 8th grade coach didn’t allow any breaking balls - this was also the case for the summer Pony league team I played on as well. The thought process was, as I recall, you didn’t want to put that kind of stress/strain on an arm that was still growing at that point - so instead I threw a crappy palm ball.

We also weren’t allowed to use free weights until 9th grade, per the football coach who ran our S&C program in HS. He said, “You can just use the universal machine, until you get some hair on your sack.”
 
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short ornery norwegian said:
the pitching thing is tricky because it's tied to a philosophical change in how the sport is played.

teams used to use a 4-man starting rotation and it was not unusual for pitchers to throw 300 innings a year. pitching was all about changing speeds, changing location, hitting your spots - and making the hitter put the ball in play. if there was a key situation, pitchers would "bear down" and give it their best stuff to try and get out of a jam.

to give it another name - "pitch to contact." the phrase that came to be reviled by Twins fans. but it kept pitchers healthy for the most part.

now, it's all about max effort and max velocity on every pitch, with harder breaking balls - or you could call it the "driveline" approach to pitching.

some # -
2005 - 50 pitchers threw 200 IP or more (most - 246.1)
2010 - 45 -- (most 250.2)
2015 - 28 -- (most 232.2)
2018 - 13 -- (most 220.2)
2019 - 15 -- (most 223.0)
2021 - 4 -- (most 213.1)
2022 - 8 -- (most 228.2)
2023 - 5 -- (most 216.0)

last pitcher to work 250IP in a season - Justin Verlander 2011
last pitcher to work 260IP - Roy Halladay 2003
last pitcher to work 270IP - Randy Johnson 1999
last pitcher to work 280IP - Charlie Hough 1987 -- (knuckleball)
last pitcher to work 290IP - Bert Blyleven 1985
last pitcher to work 300 IP - Steve Carlton 1980

and the "holy bleep" award (modern era) Mickey Lolich - Detroit Tigers - 1971 - 376 innings.
(Wilbur Wood and Phil Niekro had some huge IP numbers, but they threw the knuckleball.)
Click to expand...

Great post- thanks!

Glad I got to see most of that in person, when pitching was an art, with Masters like Palmer, Maddox and Hunter vs. artisans with a stick, Carew, Brett & Gwynn. I miss those days.

And for your consideration, an SI cover which encapsulates thatIMG_4390.jpegIMG_4389.jpeg era of a limited bullpen. I included two, as the images weren’t the best.
 
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