If 2019 Spring Training is Preview of Season, Twins Will Be Successful

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So here we are, on the verge of Opening Day, and there is some confidence building around the Minnesota Twins. There could be a few reasons for this… First, it’s sunny and above 30 degrees outside so everyone is walking around with dopamine being naturally flushed through their bodies… but there might be more to it than that.

The new culture inside of the Rocco Baldelli-led clubhouse has everyone excited. The Twins finally seem to be on the cutting edge of the MLB which is a mind-numbing thought. It all seems to be positive so far. But as Dan Hayes of The Athletic wrote today, the games haven’t started yet. The players are clearly happy with the new data-driven route to success and the laid-back clubhouse approach, but that should be expected. You’d be happy too, if your boss came in and told you the company was going to take a “work less but more efficiently” approach to the job, going forward.

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However, if you look beyond the natural shots of dopamine and the positivity coming out of the clubhouse, you can find plenty of positivity in the only thing you can take tangibly (kind of) from Spring Training.

Statistics

The MLB keeps detailed stats of their Spring Training games. Historically, you haven’t even been able to rely on stats from games played before the season starts because everything changes when real games start playing out. But, if we step back as far as we can and look at the team numbers as a whole, HOPEFULLY some of these numbers will carry-over.

 

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Twins Spring Training Stats via MLB.com

Batting

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Homeruns – 46 (4th MLB)

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Batting Average – .281 (3rd MLB)

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OPS: On Base + Slugging – .830 (3rd in MLB)

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RBI: Runs Batted In – 162 (7th in MLB)

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Pitching

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ERA: Earned Runs Average / 9 Innings – 5.16 (10th in MLB)

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Strikeouts – 259 (T-11th in MLB)

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Batting Average Against – .262 (15th in MLB)

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Again, Spring Training can usually be thrown in the garbage but I’d sure as hell rather have a good spring than a bad one. The Twins have been among the best in the MLB on offense and the pitching has been average or better… If (and it’s a big if) that is the formula when the games matter then the Twins will win nearly 90 games along with the division crown.

Personal stats in Spring Training matter even less but for those interested…. Byron Buxton recorded 36 official at-bats where he hit .444 with 4 HR, 15 RBI, and 5 K’s…

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via GIPHY

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Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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