The Twins got their workout in on Wednesday. And there was enough time for Miguel Sano, Trevor Plouffe and Byung Ho Park to film a commercial on the main field. But then the skies opened up and it poured down for a while.
Hughes the pick to click? Park settles in. Day 3 of camp winds down
The Twins have nearly all their position players in camp a couple days before the first full squad workout.
Twins manager Paul Molitor said there are some predictions that it could be a wet spring. That's the last thing teams need, to potentially have games washed out and pitching backed up. Twins pitchers could always throw in the batting cages to try to keep on schedule.
No major news today, if you haven't figured that out by now. So I'll write a little about Phil Hughes.
Molitor expects Hughes to bounce back after a poor 2015 season during which he battled a sore back and saw his velocity dip a few m.p.h.
``Two years ago what he gave us was impressive leading the staff and all the things he did," Molitor said. ``We've talked about the things we need to do to get to the next level and it's going to start with our pitching and our rotation more than anything. The more we get out of veterans is going to be big for us. I think he's highly motivated after the struggles he went through last year. He's healthy and we're optimistic. I'm not going to bank on what we got in 2014, but we'd like to see something similar."
The main reason Hughes could bounce back? It's an even-numbered year.
Look at his record the last few seasons
2010: 18-8, 4.19
2011: 5-5, 5.79
2012: 16-13, 4.19
2013: 4-14, 5.19
2014: 16-10, 3.52
2015: 11-9, 4.40
So it's settled. Hughes will have a strong 2016 - and the Giants will win the World Series.
Park adjusts
Byung Ho Park is learning what life is like in the U.S. as he prepares for spring training with the Twins. He's been working out with other early-arriving position players on the back fields of the CenturyLink Sports Complex, waiting for the first full squad workout on Saturday.
He has interpreter J.D. Kim by his side, but Park has attempted to speak English when in one-on-one situations with teammates. He expects to use the language more as he picks up more words.
Eventually, he'll start playing games, when the biggest transition will occur. He's been encouraged by fellow Korean major leaguers Shin-Soo Choo and Jung-Ho Kang to not make adjustments until he has to. And he was able to learn from Kang's jump to the majors.
``Jung Ho and I played together on the same team for three years," Park said. ``We are very close teammates. His locker was right next to mine. And as he was trying to get himself ready to come over here and play in the big leagues, I was lucky enough to watch him prepare himself game-wise for all the aspects of making the transition. Yes I was very lucky."
Twins manager Paul Molitor plans to give Park plenty of at bats in camp so he can get used to the type of pitching he'll face in MLB.
That's it for now. Make sure you read my story about Jose Berrios, which should online later tonight and in tomorrow's dead-tree editions. There was some high praise for the young man.
The eight Twins headed for arbitration are Royce Lewis, Joe Ryan, Jhoan Duran, Bailey Ober, Ryan Jeffers, Willi Castro, Griffin Jax and Trevor Larnach.