Sonny Gray was perplexed when he saw Pablo López carrying around a kid’s fishing pole. “The first thing I thought was, ‘Oh man, that’s cool. Declan’s got one of those,’” he said, referring to his son. Who could blame him? The fishing pole was made of plastic and didn’t have a hook. But then he saw López turn and hand it to Byron Buxton, who had just hit his fourth home run in five days, and it clicked.
“I didn’t put it together,” Gray said, laughing. “I just thought Pablo was playing with a fishing pole at first, and then it was kinda like, ‘Ahh, the home run thing! So that was cool. That was fun.”
Buxton was wearing a vest with “Land of 10,000 Rakes” on the back of it. It’s Minnesota’s answer to the Los Angeles Angels’ Samurai helmet or the Toronto Blue Jays’ home run jacket. The best part? López went the extra mile with the fishing rod. “Did you see the design?” he asked the media after the game. “It’s Paw Patrol. It’s a Paw Patrol fishing pole.”
López thought to include the fishing pole as part of the outfit because he kept entering the clubhouse after games and seeing fishing shows on Bally Sports. So he, Kyle Farmer, Michael A. Taylor, Ryan Jeffers, the clubhouse managers, and Mitch Hestad from the communications department put the outfit together. Hestad came up with the 10,000 Rakes moniker, which is fitting for a team that’s finally coming alive at the plate.
The Twins had a .723 OPS in April, 17th in Major League Baseball. That’s understandable in some regards, given the cold weather and their weird schedule. But it’s disappointing because many promising hitters have gotten off to slow starts, including Carlos Correa, José Miranda, and Nick Gordon. But as the weather begins to (hopefully) warm up in May, will Minnesota’s hitters also start to produce?
There are some positive early signs. Buxton has taken to the designated hitter role, which has kept him in the lineup until he’s ready to play center again. Miranda hit .243/.308/.355 in April, but he has a 1.048 OPS in the last week. Rocco Baldelli has frequently turned to Max Kepler as his leadoff man, and he has hit .364/.444/.546 in the previous six games. A rejuvenated Joey Gallo owns a 1.063 OPS and has hit as many home runs (7) as he hit with the Los Angeles Dodgers last year.
“It’s us having better at-bats, which are leading to swinging at better pitches and doing more damage,” says Baldelli. “That’s what I think it is. I think it’s fairly simple. I think some of the weather was challenging. We played in some better ballparks in the first week of the season. We come home, it was cool. It was cool even going into the Washington series and all that.”
The Twins aren’t using the weather as an excuse, but colder weather favors pitchers. The ball travels farther in the warm summer air, and players aren’t used to the cold after spending Spring Training in Fort Myers. They’ve had a lot of day games, which affects sleep patterns. They had to squeeze in the Washington Nationals series because the Nats didn’t want to have to return to Minnesota for makeup games. And they’ve traveled to New York and Boston rather than playing other AL Central teams early in the season.
None of that adversity is too much to overcome. The players can’t get used to staying up late when first pitch is at noon or 1:00 pm. They should have taken a series from the Nationals, who might lose 100 games this year. And the Boston Red Sox are having a down year. The Twins realize that and have tried to adjust accordingly.
“It’s gonna be like this all year long,” Baldelli acknowledged. “So, you know, the repetitive nature of going back to the same clubs that are an hour and a half flight away, I think that’s over. I think it’s gonna be nice when we do get a chance, like this series, to just take a quick flight and have the off-day in Chicago and feel like you’re close by.
“But we’re gonna traveling the country, just like every other team now, and the schedule is gonna be a little more, you are gonna be bouncing around a lot with this schedule. I wouldn’t say that anything that’s happened early on this year is out of the ordinary or anything that has thrown us for a major loop.”
The weather (should) improve soon, and many other hitters have already started heating up. Correa is hovering around the Mendoza line (.202/.283/.351), and the Twins need more from their newly-minted $200 million man. But he hit .243/.309/.324 in April last year, then hit .318/.384/.500 in May and .342/.405/.608 in June. And Nick Gordon’s .127/.143/.200 slash line is disappointing after he hit .272/.316/.427 last year. But he’s battled injuries and has seen infrequent playing time. Minnesota would be wise to be patient with him, at least through May.
My point in bringing up the weather and schedule isn’t to create excuses for the team but to ask if Minnesota’s recent output is sustainable. I won’t offer any ironclad assurances here. Still, it’s worth seeing what happens once they establish a rhythm and play in better weather. The Twins head to Chicago and Cleveland, two AL Central opponents. It should be warm when they return home. Fitting for a team that was fishing for offense all year and now has the gear to reel it in.
