Twins: Where has the offense gone?
The Minnesota Twins offense has completely disappeared many times this season, and it’s caused this ball club to lose winnable games. Where has it gone, and will it come back?
The Twins’ offense is in the top-10 in a few offensive statistics, but if you watch their games, you know that’s not the case.
- Batting average: .248 – 11th
- Home runs: 144 – 10th
- OPS: 727 – 10th
Before the trade deadline, Minnesota was in the top 10 in more categories. The pitching improved, but the offense has dried up. There are many games where if the Twins were to score three runs, they’d win.
One reason for these struggles is this team’s inability to hit guys in when they’re in scoring position. This season they rank 20th in RISP per game at 3.44.
It feels like a lot more, and that’s because the Twins will have games where they hang 10 runs on the opposing team, but they’ll follow that performance up with one or two runs.
The Minnesota Twins have battled the injury bug all season, and that deserves part of the blame. Alex Kirilloff looked good when his wrist was feeling right, and Royce Lewis did too before tearing his ACL.
Trevor Larnach has been on the IL for quite some time and that’s resulted in more playing time for minor league players like Jake Cave, Tim Beckham and Mark Contreras.
There are many other names, but you get the point.
The other reason is the Twins are not getting any production from their key players.
- Byron Buxton: .224/.306/.526, 28 HR, 51 RBI
- Carlos Correa: .267/.348/.426, 14 HR, 40 RBI
- Max Kepler: .228/.320/.357, 9 HR, 42 RBI
- Jorge Polanco: .237/.346/.403, 15 RBI, 55 RBI
Luis Arraez has continued to produce, and so has Jose Miranda, but the Twins have needed more from these four players listed above. Buxton gets a pass because he was nominated to an All-Star game and is risking his long-term future by playing through a gruesome knee and hip injury.
As for Correa and Kepler, there’s zero reason they should be playing the way they have.
Here’s their production over the last 30 games:
If their defense wasn’t good, they’d be unplayable.
Minnesota needs to get more production from their key players. You could argue they’ve received the most production from a rookie. If the offense doesn’t pick it up soon, they’ll be watching the playoffs from their couch in October.
