Two Of My Favorite Non Twins Help Keep Twins In The Race

The Twins are still 4.5 games back of the Tigers, but the weekend sweep of the Royals combined with the good weekend by the A’s has breathed new life into the 2009 season. And the two catalysts of Sunday’s game was two of my favorite non-Twins, Jack Cust and Landon Powell.

Cust has been a favorite of mine for a long time, and a favorite of the sabermetric community in general. He never got a ton of playing time, but posted back to back great years in Oakland in 2007 and 2008 with wOBAs of .393 and .371. Cust both strikes out and walks a ton. He has no defensive value, in fact has less than no defensive value, but it is still fun to watch him hit. He always seems in control of his at-bats, and only swings at what he wants to swing at. He’s like Joe Mauer without the contact.

The Landon Powell story is much easier to explain. Back when I started watching college baseball, the first team I ever saw play was South Carolina, and the first two players I ever saw were Powell and his teammate Drew Meyer. Meyer, the former 8th overall pick by the Rangers, probably won’t ever make the majors as any more than a bit player (he is having a good season in AA, but he is 28 years old). Powell isn’t having a great year with the A’s, with a .322 wOBA and he is striking out in almost a fourth of his at bats. He is a terrible catcher as well. With Kurt Suzuki apparently the Oakland catcher of the future, Powell might not get much time behind the plate, or at DH with Cust there, but for one day at least he helped out the Twins big time. Thanks, guys.