The Twins spring training record through Friday, March 16th is 8-8. I think they are doing it with smoke, mirrors, and a little good pitching now and then. When you look at the Twins hitting and pitching this spring you have to wonder what the season holds in store. As a team, in 16 games and 528 at bats the Twins are hitting .237, slugging .322 and have a .319 OBP. The opposition is hitting .278, slugging .408 and have a .342 OBP. The Twins have hit 9 home runs and ground into 11 double plays and they haven’t even played a game in that cavernous Target Field where the Twins can’t seem to hit home runs. If you take the Twins 16 games played thus far and multiply it times 10, you get some scary numbers. I know, the Twins regulars aren’t playing all the time but let’s take a look at the numbers that the Twins proposed line-up for 2012 has put up thus far.
| POS | Name | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Mauer | 23 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .304 |
| 1B | Morneau | 26 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .115 |
| 2B | Casilla | 25 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .360 |
| SS | Carroll | 23 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .043 |
| 3B | Valencia | 24 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | .310 |
| RF | Willingham | 20 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .250 |
| CF | Span | 24 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .417 |
| LF | Revere | 25 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .320 |
| LF | Plouffe | 25 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .240 |
| DH | Doumit | 22 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .227 |
How can you not be worried about Justin Morneau and his total lack of power? How about Jamey Carroll hitting less than one-third his weight? Questions abound. Have I mentioned that the Twins pitching staff this spring has a 4.28 ERA and the opposing pitchers have a 2.71 ERA against the Twins? Lots of questions and issues and we are half way through spring training with 16 games left to go. It will make for an interesting couple of weeks for sure, stay tuned.
PATIENCE.
Fair points, JJ. It definitely looks bad on a graph. I’m more concerned with the stats the last two weeks of Spring Training, though. As in — will Morneau start to become more comfortable at the plate, will the starting pitchers hit their stride, and can Carroll look like a major league ballplayer by the time the Twins leave camp.