The Young Core

[Lipoli390]

I rarely post on the Twins board, but baseball is my second sports passion after basketball and I'm a pretty avid Twins fan. Actually, baseball was my #1 sport growing up and it was the sport I played in high school. But enough about me. I was just thinking about just how special this Twins team can be. Few thought last Spring that this team would be competing for a playoff spot, but here we are holding on to the second wild card position albeit by a thread. But the real story isn't the possibility of a wild card birth this season. The real and exciting story is what we're seeing recently from our young core.

When I think of our young core, I think of Sano, Buxton, Kepler, Polanco and Rosario. Sano's been performing at an elite level all season at the plate and in the field. Kepler's been delivering offensively and defensively all season as well, although I'm still looking to see more consistency (a higher batting average) from him at the plate. Rosario is doing it all with impressive stats at the plate and very solid fielding. But what gets me really exciting is what we're seeing recently from the two youngest members of our young core -- namely Buxton and Polanco. They're both hitting for average and power. Buxton is doing it all hitting, fielding and on the bases. I know some in town were losing patience with these two offensivley, but I've remained confident all season that they would both find their hitting stroke. Buxton just turned 23 last December and Polanco just turned 24 last month. That's young for baseball. Kirby Puckett didn't arrive in the majors until age 24 and he had his first all-star caliber season when he was 26. These two guys are looking tremendous right now and they're going to get better - much better in the next few years.

I don't think there's another team in baseball with five guys in the 23-26 age range who have the talent of our core young five. Yes, the Twins need to shore up their pitching. But the offensive and defense are in place for the Twins to be a major force for many years if we keep these core five together.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Lip, we never knew you were a baseball guy...welcome to this part of town!

I couldn't agree more that this young core is exciting. Mollie is showing some confidence in them by putting three guys under the age of 24 in the heart of the lineup, and we also have Kepler as a good #6 or 7 hitter and Sano coming back likely in September. We also have some very promising pitchers in the minors, both starters and relievers, almost ready to supplement our young offensive core.

The one young guy I worry about is Kepler, because he hasn't shown he can hit lefties. For his career he only hits .202 against lefties, and it's gotten worse this year (.131 with no homers). I'm getting more convinced that he will excel as a platoon player, with Grossman or Granite starting in the outfield when we face lefties. This shouldn't hurt Max too much since most starting pitching is RH. And I have no problem giving him an occasional start against lefties.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I'm not a huge baseball fan, but Buxton and Co. have certainly piqued my interest this year. Exciting stuff.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Would be kinda fun if one member of that core was a pitcher, right?

Although it's probably fair to say Berrios fits the bill there, right?

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Would be kinda fun if one member of that core was a pitcher, right?

Although it's probably fair to say Berrios fits the bill there, right?

I think that's fair. While he's been up and down in his first two years, that's not unusual for a pitcher as young as he is, and ther potential is clealry there. His ball movement is extraordinary, and he's only going to get better as he matures.

In addition, there are several arms in the minors that could turn into top of the rotation pitchers...Stephen Gonsalves, for one. And this generation of Pohlads is not as cheap as papa was...if they think the team is one great pitcher away from contending, I could see them replacing Joe's $20 million+ contract with a similar one for an ace.

[Monster]

It's a good young core. I'm gonna mention Rosario. A couple weeks ago Roy Smalley laid out technically why he loves his swing. He said he is amazing at moving the bat head to wherever the ball is. He said he usually misses because of off speed or the ball is just too far away to reach but he rarely misses getting the big end of the bat to the right spot. I watch condensed games so I don't see every swing but yeah I see what he is talking about. The bat head even when he strikes out is right there. It seems really u Kaye but I'm not a great baseball mind. Lip you should check out Roy Smalley and Souhan's podcast it's one of the best ones I listen too.

[Lipoli390]

It's a good young core. I'm gonna mention Rosario. A couple weeks ago Roy Smalley laid out technically why he loves his swing. He said he is amazing at moving the bat head to wherever the ball is. He said he usually misses because of off speed or the ball is just too far away to reach but he rarely misses getting the big end of the bat to the right spot. I watch condensed games so I don't see every swing but yeah I see what he is talking about. The bat head even when he strikes out is right there. It seems really u Kaye but I'm not a great baseball mind. Lip you should check out Roy Smalley and Souhan's podcast it's one of the best ones I listen too.

Thanks, Monster. I'll check that podcast out. I've always loved Rosario's swing, but it's interesting to here from an expert part of what make it so good. Rosario is just entering his prime. I think he'll be a consistent .300 hitter. And he has some nice pop in his bat as well.

[Monster]

I watched most of the first 4 innings last night. Smalley was on the broadcast.

Adrianna and Garver got in on the offensive fun but they weren't alone. Berrios got into trouble a couple times but was pretty good. Hopefully Buxton's hand is ok. 6 games over .500 and to some extent they are in the drivers seat for their wildcard spot and 1 game out of that top spot.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I watched most of the first 4 innings last night. Smalley was on the broadcast.

Adrianna and Garver got in on the offensive fun but they weren't alone. Berrios got into trouble a couple times but was pretty good. Hopefully Buxton's hand is ok. 6 games over .500 and to some extent they are in the drivers seat for their wildcard spot and 1 game out of that top spot.

Scary that the Angles and Orioles keep winning, but so do we...so I agree we're in the drivers' seat.

Abe asked whether Berrios belongs in the discussion of the Twins' great young core, and most of us think he does. This GIF showing the ridiculous movement on his fastball shows why he has top of the order stuff already at a young age. This movement is so absurd (Garver couldn't catch a fastball), it almost looks like he is doctoring the ball!

http://thesportsdaily.com/the-sports-daily/jose-berrios-fastball-moved-so-much-that-twins-catcher-couldnt-track-it-video/

[Jester1534]

Speaking of Garver I think he will be eventually added to this list in a year or two. Man I really like his swing, he barrels up a lot of balls and I also think he calls a very good game, I think next year he could really benefit learning from Castro.

As for Rosario to me he's the new Vlad Guerrero. He can hit any pitch out for a home run and has a cannon for an arm. The only difference is Eddie swing is less violent than Vlads but they both are just free swingers.

Kepler is the one guy we should be patient with, remember he has least experience against good pitching growing up in Germany. To me he's more athletic version of Jason Kubel and if he learns to hit leftys better there no reason why he can't be a .265-.275 hitter with 20 bombs a year.

As for pitching I believe the Calvary is coming. Romero, Gonsalves, Thorpe, Stewart and Jorge are a year or two off. They all don't need to hit but if two of them do then your looking at a really scary young team that will be good for years. Plus Birdi, Jay and May will all be back from TJ next year these are all guys that will really help our bullpen. I wish May was healthy idk he be a SP or not but I think he would be our closer right now.

One last thing is a Twins have a problem at shortstop but it's a good problem. We have 3 guys in our minor leagues that can all play. Gordon, Wander Javier, oh and there's that number 1 pick guy Royce Lewis. With polanco playing as well as he has I could see Gordon and Javier getting traded for a bonafide starter in the off season.