Twins: Multiple rookies standout in June
The Minnesota Twins have had a disappointing season, sitting at 33-46. While the season can presumably be chalked up as a lost cause, there have been a few bright spots to recognize as the season continues. With all the injuries the Twins have had, they’ve had to call up a lot of rookies and those players have ran with that opportunity.
Minnesota went 11-14 during the month of June. Even though this team hasn’t been winning games, they should have an opportunity to contend next season. Allowing their rookies players to play through an up-and-down season should cause for good development.
This team has already seen what their future could potentially look like with the likes of Alex Kiriloff, Trevor Larnach, Bailey Ober, etc. Knowing what sort of talent they have, may allow them to make some bigger trades ahead of the MLB Trade Deadline.
One of the players this season who’s had a lot of success has been Alex Kiriloff. This season his batting splits are .265/.305/.446. Along with getting on base and batting with a pretty decent batting average, Kiriloff has shown his ability to hit with power and hit in the clutch In June, his splits were .278/.329/.430, along with two home runs and 12 RBIs.
A bigger development this season has been his emergence at first base, which has caused Miguel Sanó to come off the bench.
Much like Kiriloff, Trevor Larnach has seen similar success. This season his batting splits are .243/.349/.410. When Larnach gets a hold of a pitch, that ball has no chance of returning.
That home run went 461 feet into the Delta 360 Suite. Thus far he’s hit five home runs and batted in 13 RBIs. In June, his splits are .256/.326/.378, with two home runs and 6 RBIs.
Both Larnach and Kiriloff are two of the biggest young stars on the team, but they will have to adjust to off-speed pitches. Pitchers are quickly realizing to avoid throwing them fastballs, but this adjustment shouldn’t be too hard for them as they gain more experience.
Last season the Twins saw the emergence of Ryan Jeffers when Mitch Garver was out of the lineup with injuries. This season he started the year with the Twins, but struggled heavily, causing him to go back to Triple-A. There, he did have success and was granted another crack at it with the injuries the Twins have gone through.
The former second round pick still has work to do, like hit better against right-handed pitching. Against lefties, he’s hitting a strong .314 and .136 against righties. In June, he went just .219, but provided five home runs and 13 RBIs.
It’s been a longtime coming for Nick Gordon and it’s been fun to see him succeed at the major league level. His father Tom Gordon and brother Dee Gordon both saw a lot of success in the MLB and it’s not hard to see a similar path for Nick himself.
Gordon was touted as one of the Twins top prospects after being drafted fifth overall in the first round in the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft. However, after battling some stomach issues and injuries, Gordon struggled to get his feet settled and make an impact in the Twins minor league system.
In 50 plate appearances (44 in June), Gordon is hitting .313, with an on-base percentage of .340. He’s going to do the bulk of his offense with contact swings and causing a little bit of pressure on the base paths. So far he’s stolen five bases on all five attempts.
On the other side of things, Bailey Ober has started in six games, five of those in June. He’s done a fairly decent job pitching, but his ERA isn’t really an indicator as to how well he’s played. Despite his ERA sitting at 5.84, Ober has shown that he can be a fourth or fifth starter in the Twins rotation for years to come.
Other players like Ben Rortvedt and Gilberto Celestino haven’t seen much success, but they’ve been thrown into the lineup a little too soon with the Twins struggling to keep players on the field. These players should produce either later in the year or in the near future.
While the season has been disappointing, Minnesota has seen success from their young prospects. This up-and-down season should provide valuable experience and hopefully allow the Twins to get back to contention sooner, rather than later.
One wonders if the Twins will start dealing some of their talent soon. What do you think?
I believe they will be making plenty moves in the coming weeks. I know a lot of teams are waiting on Minnesota to start dealing their players.