Minnesota Twins: Power ranking the All-Star Candidates
The Minnesota Twins as a team have been off to an underwhelming start to their season but still have several players who could be All-Stars.
The Minnesota Twins have had a less than impressive start to the season. In fact, their 31-37 record would have been considered an absolute disappointment if we would have been told about it before the season began. It still is an absolute disappointment in many ways, but the Cleveland Indians’ struggle is fueling some hope for the Twins and their fans here in the middle of June.
Amongst the disappointment, the Twins have had some players performing very well. A couple of them should receive some legitimate consideration when it comes to the MLB All-Star game. In the following words, we are going to do a power ranking of the Twins players that have been performing the best this season and have a shot of being placed on that All-Star roster.
In all transparency, clearly, some of these names mentioned will not be making the All-Star roster. Unless of course most of the league simply opt out of playing in the game. These players are right now the best players on the Twins roster 68 games into the 2018 season. We start with some honorable mentions.
Honorable Mentions:
Ryan Pressly
If we would have compiled this list earlier in the season Ryan Pressly would have easily made our top-5. Since the calendar has read June it seems that the workload that has been put on Pressly may have simply caught up to him. He leads the Twins relievers with 36 appearances. Please, someone save manager Paul Molitor from himself when it comes to bullpen usage!
Anyways, through the end of May Pressly had logged 28.1 innings and had a 2.22 ERA and 39 strikeouts. After a stretch of three straight outings where he gave up two runs in each of those outings, his overall numbers look much worse now. Pressly now has a 3.41 ERA over 34.1 innings but does have a 2.92 FIP, 121 ERA+, and a 13.1 K/9. When performing well and rested Pressly has the best stuff in the Twins bullpen.
Fernando Rodney
Fernando Rodney had a rough start to his season. In March and April Rodney appeared in 9 games and held a 5.87 ERA and a .343 batting average against. Since then the Twins closer has rebounded well. From the beginning of May on, Rodney has pitched in 16 games and 15.2 innings and with a 1.72 ERA and 12 saves. Bringing his season numbers to a 3.09 ERA, 8.9 K/9, 15 saves, in 25 appearances.
No. 5– Trevor Hildenberger
Just like his relief counterpart Fernando Rodney, Trevor Hildenberger got off to a rough start in 2018 but has rebounded nicely to once again be one of the teams most trusted relievers. At the beginning of the season there was a point where Twins fans dreaded seeing the side arming reliever come out of the bullpen.
Hildenberger put together three scoreless appearances to begin the season. Then in five of the next eight he gave up a run. Certainly not what you want out of one of your top bullpen arms. It was enough to have many fans calling for Hildenberger to be shipped back to Triple-A Rochester.
Since his appearance on April 30th Hildenberger has appeared in 20 games and had a very respectable 1.14 ERA and 21 strikeouts. That has helped his season totals to rebound to a 2.34 ERA, 177 ERA+, and a 7.3 K/9 in 31 appearances and 34.2 innings.
No.4– Kyle Gibson
A year ago at this time there is no way we would have expected to be writing about Kyle Gibson on this list. Since the end of last season Gibson has been performing like a remade pitcher. Something that has Twins fans very excited.
To this point in 2018 Gibson has made 14 starts and logged 82.2 innings. That has Gibson averaging about six innings a start and he has become a steadying force in the Twins starting rotation with a 3.27 ERA. The only bad thing is that Gibson hasn’t been getting any run support putting his record at only 2-4 when he has actually pitched much better than that.
What has been most surprising is that the 2018 Gibson looks much more like a strikeout pitcher than the previous versions of himself. Gibson has already logged 81 strikeouts for a 8.8 K/9 rate. He also owns his career best 1.173 WHIP.
No. 3– Jose Berrios
It is hardly a secret that the Twins have been in search of an ace ever since they traded away Johan Santana. Now we may not be ready to fully crown Jose Berrios as ace of the Twins starting rotation, but he has certainly taken some significant steps in that direction in 2018.
Last season we were given glimpses of an absolutely dominant Berrios, but there were still moments where he wasn’t fully there. This season we have been able to see that Berrios a little more consistently. In 14 starts Berrios has a 3.51 ERA, 9.1 K/9, two complete games including his 2018 opening shutout against the Baltimore Orioles.
While Berrios has had some really amazing flashes. For instance he has topped 10 strikeouts in a game three times this season. He has also had some duds. Including a four start stretch where he gave up five, four, four, and five earned runs in those starts from April 24th to May 10th.
Something that has been very positive for Berrios is that he has cut down on his walks. As a strikeout pitcher one of the worries will always be Berrios’ ability to pitch deep into games. He has cut his BB/9 down from 2.97 in 2017 to 1.51 so far this season. That combined with a K/9 that we mentioned earlier that is at his career high puts his K/BB rate at 6.07 this season. Cutting down on walks as a hopeful career trend will help him get out of innings quicker.
It may honestly be tough for Berrios to make his way into he All-Star game, but he has put a good foot forward to impressing Twins fans and the rest of the league. His performance should at least result in his name being thrown around a bit in the conversation for the staff that represents the American League.
No. 2– Eduardo Escobar
Who saw this coming? I for one didn’t. In fact my personal thoughts before the season began is the Twins wouldn’t see a successful Eduardo Escobar if he was thrust into full-time duty. Again, I couldn’t have been more wrong if the first part of the season means anything.
Between Jorge Polanco‘s suspension and Miguel Sano‘s struggles Escobar has been regularly lining up on the left side of the Twins infield. In that time frame Escobar has slashed .302/.353/.579 and has a .932 OPS. If we go a step deeper in stats he also has a .389 wOBA and a 148 wRC.
Escobar has been an absolute doubles machine. The result of what sounds like a strategical shift he has been working on by paying attention to where and who his outfield hits are landing. That has him with a major league leading 30 doubles. If he keeps up his current pace he will take over the franchise season record for doubles in a season and will may push for Earl Webb‘s American League record of 67.
Escobar has also stretched two of those into triples and flashed some power with 12 home runs. He has also been surprisingly good with his glove at third base. Even if it seems the Twins may not trust him as a shortstop at this moment. With the current roster makeup that is OK since he is needed as the teams starting third basemen anyways.
Landing in the top-10 in the American League statistical categories such as slugging percentage and OPS should also have Escobar’s name brought up in the All-Star reserve conversation. With as many good infielders as there are in the AL it may be hard for him to crack the roster, but he is certainly deserving at this point.
No. 1– Eddie Rosario
No surprises here. No reason to try and get cute. Eddie Rosario has been hands down the best player on this Twins team this season. If we believe the Twins are in a sad state of affairs right now, it would be much worse without Rosario and Escobar putting together the seasons that they have been.
While Rosario’s approach at the plate may drive some nuts it is producing results. He is currently slashing .321/.359/.579 and owns a .938 OPS. As reflected in Rosario’s .579 slugging percentage he has added 20 doubles and 16 home runs in 2018. There have been several times this season where Rosario has come up with the big hit or big play to help the Twins capture a lead, tie up a game, or win a game.
Rosario is not what anyone would describe as a patient hitter, but he has improved in that area. He has also clearly been slightly more selective with the pitches he is offering at. Rosario has gone from swinging at 44.9% of pitches outside the strike zone in 2016 to 38.8% this season. In the last two seasons he has produced a slight increase in his walk percentage from 3.4% in 2016 to over 5% the last two seasons. He has also seen his strikeout rate drop from 25.7 % in 2016, to 18.0% last seasons, and now it is sitting at 16.7% for this season.
Next: Finding a Brian Dozier trade partner
Rosario will certainly be representing the Twins as an All-Star come July if he keeps anything close to this performance up. He is currently top-10 in the American league in stats like batting average, OPS, doubles, and RBIs. It will be hard for him to supplant several other great AL outfielders to start as he is looking up at Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, and Aaron Judge for that spot. His performance in 2018 as well as his flair to entertain should make him a very attractive add to the squad for the exhibition game that features the leagues biggest stars.