Over the years, fans in Minnesota have grown accustomed seeing a certain style of play. As an organization, the Twins have consistently focused on building around pitchers who throw strikes and pitch to contact, and backing up those hurlers with a quality defense capable of turning those balls in play into outs.
And so, when the Twins fielded a sub par defense in 2008, it felt pretty odd. Overall, the Twins had a pretty successful season last year, but there’s no escaping the fact that their defense left much to be desired. Nearly any fielding metric rated the 2008 Twins as a below-average defensive team.
There are a number of reasons for this. The Twins opened the season with defensive liabilities at third base and second base in the forms of Mike Lamb and Brendan Harris. Delmon Young manned left field for nearly the entire year, and his normally substandard range was made abysmal by an ankle injury that bothered him for much of the season. Adam Everett, who’d been brought in as a defensive specialist at shortstop during the offseason, was rendered ineffective in the field by a bad shoulder.
This year, the Twins appear to be a far better defensive club — in fact, they could well be one of the best in the league. You’ll have a hard time finding a team that fields a stronger group from the middle of the field to the left foul line.
In center field, there’s Carlos Gomez, perhaps the rangiest outfielder in the American League. Denard Span figures to get the lion’s share of playing time in left (though he’ll likely move around the outfield quite a bit), and he brings center-field range to a corner outfield position. Meanwhile, the left side of the infield features Nick Punto at shortstop and Joe Crede at third, both of whom have historically been known for their great gloves. And, of course, calling games for the Twins will be Joe Mauer, who is fresh off capturing his first Gold Glove award in 2008.
One could make an argument that each of these players enters the 2009 season as a legitimate Gold Glove candidate, and the Twins aren’t too shabby elsewhere on the field. Populating the right side will be Justin Morneau at first, Alexi Casilla at second and Michael Cuddyer in right field, and each of those three is at least average defensively. On days where Jason Kubel and Delmon Young are not in the field (and both figure to spend a fair amount of time at DH), the Twins may not have one defensive liability out there.
Of course, all of this can crumble quickly. Mauer and Crede both carry injury concerns that could affect their defensive prowess, or even their ability to play. Meanwhile, guys like Punto and Gomez will have to hit enough to stay in the lineup regularly, which is far from a given. Yet, if all goes well, the Twins have a decent chance of fielding one of the best defensive units in the majors this season. For a team with a young stable of starting pitchers that mostly pitch to contact, that’s invaluable.
Topics: Carlos Gomez, Denard Span, Joe Crede, Joe Mauer, Nick Punto
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[...] Nelson does a defensive outlook on the Twins for the upcoming ‘09 [...]
[...] Nick Nelson posted and article at BaseballDigest.com about the Twins Defense in 2009. It should be excellent, or at the very least significantly improved over last [...]