Twins' Ryan Jeffers trying to find his swing after two seasons of struggles

FORT MYERS, FLA. — It's not that Ryan Jeffers can't take a compliment. But tell him, as his coaches do, that his hard work is paying off, that he's turning into a defensive specialist behind the plate, and he winces a little.

"In college and all through the minors, I was always the guy who was banging the ball around the ballpark," Jeffers said Thursday, smiling — he's almost always smiling in the Twins' clubhouse — at the memory. "I was an offensive catcher, always have been. You get to the big leagues with your bat, not your glove. That was my game."

It propelled him through the Twins' farm system in record time. But when he was called up to Minnesota midway through the 2020 pandemic season, after a mere 191 minor-league games, he made a couple of important discoveries: The Twins wanted him to work harder on his defense, a project he threw himself into.

The other? "The big-league level is really hard," Jeffers said. "Hitting big-league pitching is really hard."

It was a humbling realization for one of the greatest hitters in NC-Wilmington history, a player who in 2018 led the Colonial Athletic Association in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, doubles and home runs. When the Twins drafted him in the second round that June, Jeffers tore up rookie-level and Class A pitching, too, posting a .946 OPS in his first pro season.

But after a promising, if truncated, rookie season, Jeffers could never live up to those credentials in a Twins uniform. He batted only .199, albeit with 14 home runs, while splitting time with Mitch Garver in 2021, then followed it up with a .208 in 2022, a half-season spoiled by a broken thumb that required surgery.

"Struggling a little bit at the big-league level, I mean, it was tough. I was busy learning how to be a major-league catcher and trying to be there for my pitchers. That's what's going to keep me in the game for a long time, handling things behind the plate, so I'm happy about that," Jeffers said. "But as a hitter — [the ability] is still in there, I know it is. I'm only 25; I've still got time to figure it out."

The Twins likely believe that, too, but they made it clear this winter that they aren't going to sit still and just hope Jeffers eventually gets it. Minnesota signed veteran free agent catcher Christian Vazquez to a three-year contract in January, and plan to split the job — probably not 50/50, but Jeffers if healthy still figures to get between 60 and 70 starts — between the two.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli is willing to adjust the arrangement as each player's results dictate.

"All the tools to be a good major-league hitter are there," Baldelli said of Jeffers. "He came up very quickly, a guy that didn't have as many minor-league at-bats as most good major-league hitters. … [But] he's a dangerous hitter. Stripping it down, that's what he has to spend his time on."

That's how Jeffers spent his winter, almost obsessively reworking his approach at the plate with Twins hitting coach David Popkins.

"I probably talked to him more often than my wife," Jeffers joked. "We've pretty much been reworking my swing from the ground up. It looks much different than it has in the past, but it's much more mechanically sound and puts me in a much better spot."

The model, more or less, is the hitting style of the Cardinals' Paul Goldschmidt or the Angels' Shohei Ohtani, talented batters who each have won Most Valuable Player awards in the past two years with wide stances and almost no stride toward the pitch. Jeffers is learning to use the ground to add leverage to his swing and generate power, while giving him more time to track pitches.

The results look great on video and in the batting cage, Jeffers said, and he's eager to try out his new hitting style in a game. It's already added to his confidence, even though it means ditching the pivot-stride technique he's used most of his life.

Players like J.D. Martinez and Justin Turner, Jeffers points out, were disappointing hitters early in their careers, then refined a technique that helped them blossom. So why not him?

"I want to get in there and try to put up the numbers I know I can this year. To be the player I know I can be, to be one of the top catchers in the game. That's my goal," he said. "I truly believe I can be a top-five catcher in the league, in both sides of the baseball. I'm going to keep putting in the work until I get there."