Image credit: © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
The Minnesota Twins have a huge defense problem. When an opposing hitter puts the ball in play, they’re a disaster, with the fifth-worst Defensive Efficiency in the majors. Entering Sunday, they’d allowed the most stolen bases in the league (75), at a success rate of roughly 83% on attempts. Runners have taken the extra base against them 80 times, fifth-most in the majors. Liners go right over the heads of outfielders who misread the ball off the bat. Flares fall between the middle infielders and their charging outfield colleagues. They’re bad at turning the double play, and their aggregate range on the middle infield is the worst I’ve seen in years.
Sure, you say, but who cares, really? The Twins stink, anyway. The Twins are in a semi-voluntary rebuild. Not catching the ball is a normal part of being a bad team; the Twins are just doing what they’re supposed to do. And you’re half-right. This team also cannot pitch, really, with the 26th-ranked DRA in the majors. Ravaged by injury, a starting rotation that already relied on some high-variance arms has descended into near-constant chaos—Joe Ryan taking the ball every five or six days and a maelstrom of rehab setbacks and lost velocity and shaky command all around him. A bullpen that never really hinged on anything has turned out to be exactly as unreliable as expected, a ring of serpents circling the aforesaid storm to snap their jaws menacingly at any victory that threatens to escape the sound and fury.
On the other hand, though, the offense has been… delightfully average? Can ‘average’ be ‘delightful’? In this case, that’s sometimes how it’s felt. Minnesota is tied for 12th in the bigs in DRC+, and while they’re below-average for June, they’re scoring runs at a clip that outpaces every American League team except the Yankees. They just finished a 5-1 road trip in which three of the wins were blowouts. Kody Clemens has good surface-level numbers, and when you hear that, your impulse will be to dismiss it as a passing fluke, but Clemens had a 106 DRC+ in his (very miniature) breakout last year, and it’s up to 113 this season. Byron Buxton has never been better; he’s on pace for 50 home runs. Victor Caratini (110 DRC+), Trevor Larnach (109), Luke Keaschall (103) and Josh Bell (100) give them some depth.
