Minnesota Twins Wish Every Month was May

In April, the Twins were terrible. They ranked near the bottom in the majors in OPS, and they had a terrible time producing enough runs to win, even with the quality starts their pitching staff kept putting together. The Twins were remarkably undisciplined at the plate, taking fewer walks than most teams and striking out too often.

It was embarrassing to be a Twins fan and watch player after player swing away at bad pitches. It came to the point where other teams realized the Twins were aggressively swinging early during their at-bats, and opposing pitchers learned to throw junk outside the strike zone early. It looked like another season of Twins’ offensive mediocrity.

But in May, the Twins were sixth in SLG, fifth in OPS, third in OBP, and third in runs scored in the AL. They upped the number of walks the team had by nearly 50 percent. It was an offensive explosion outside of anything Twins fans could have ever hoped. The Twins looked disciplined and patient at the plate, and  they displayed the sort of power you’ll find in playoff-bound teams.

Since May 1, the Twins have five hitters in the top 50 in the AL for pitches per plate appearance (Cuddyer, Harris, Morneau, Mauer, and Young). Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are ranked sixth and seventh respectively in RC/27. Delmon Young has a .65 BB/K ratio, good for 19th in the AL. The only Twin better during the same period was Joe Mauer. Delmon Young has made some great strides at the plate, and the Twins' coaching staff deserves some credit for the change.

In fact, I would credit the team’s coaching staff for the dramatic shift the Twins have shown recently. With numerous injuries and some gaping lineup holes, Gardenhire and his team have kept the Twins competitive and, to be cliché, done more with less. They've made adjustments and those adjustments are working.

So far, the Twins pitching staff has been average. A big yawn. This is mainly due to 28 starts given to a trio of pitchers who have been struggling all year: Livan Hernandez, Boof Bonser, and Francisco Liriano (who attempted to return from Tommy John surgery a little too early).

Boof is a tough call, as his sabermetric numbers suggest he’s doing better than his actual performance, but his actual performance has been really bad for a long time, going back over thirty starts.

Livan Hernandez is slowly submitting to his long-term track record, and is on pace to be annoyingly bad by the All-Star break.

Francisco Liriano, the 2006 rookie phenom, struggled early, but his game has been getting stronger with each start in AAA. Liriano could make a successful comeback very soon, and his addition, along with the continued success of other young pitchers on the Twins team, could propel the Twins into late-season contention.

It can’t be said for certain that the Twins have turned things around. There’s still a lot of statistical noise. There are a lot of injuries and other lineup questions to be answered. As the team is built now, they don’t have staying power. But, there’s hope. And for fans of a team that plays in flyover land and never gets noticed by ESPN, hope is enough for now.