The strength of the 2023 Twins heading into the season appeared to be starting pitching, while there were big questions about how the team would create runs.
Three Twins hitters who could surge in the second half
The Twins have struggled at the plate as a group and individually this season. These players are candidates to rebound and help carry the offense in the second half of the season.
July 7, 2023 at 5:55PM
But the gap between the two through more than half of this season has been far wider than almost any of us could have imagined.
While the Twins have excelled on the mound — leading all of MLB in team ERA (3.55) and batting average against (.227) going into Friday — they have lagged in the bottom half of the league in a lot of key batting stats. The Twins are No. 24 in team batting average, No. 21 in runs scored and No. 20 in OPS.
Whether they are able to take control of the AL Central will hinge on both hitting and pitching, but it's hard to imagine an optimistic outlook in potential playoff games without considerable improvement at the plate.
Some adjustments have already begun, as Twins beat writer Bobby Nightengale Jr. and I talked about on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast.
With just three games left before the All-Star break, let's take a look at individual candidates who could surge offensively against a soft schedule once play resumes:
Carlos Correa: After an interesting, to put it mildly, offseason that eventually saw Correa re-sign with the Twins for six years and $200 million, the lack of production from easily the team's most expensive player has been significant.
Correa's OPS this season (.707) is more than 100 points below both his career mark and what he posted last season for the Twins. But he has enough of a track record to suggest better times are ahead, and the Twins will need him to ramp up his production.
Jose Miranda: He rose from relative obscurity last year to become a productive regular in the Twins' lineup, but he faltered when given the same large role to start this season.
Miranda wound up back at Class AAA St. Paul, where an uptick in his production combined with a long-term injury to Royce Lewis gave him another chance with the Twins. He produced an extra-base hit every 12 plate appearances last season. He can get hot in a hurry, and the Twins could use it.
Christian Vazquez: Signed in the offseason for three years and $30 million, Vazquez deserves at least some credit for the Twins' pitching success as a strong receiver. But at the plate, he's been a disappointment with just a .567 OPS — like Correa, more than 100 points below his career mark, and like Correa with a track record suggesting better times are ahead.
Here are four more things to know today:
*Along the lines of Twins pitching, I very much enjoyed columnist Jim Souhan's piece on pitching coach Pete Maki.
*The NBA is trying out a new in-season tournament this year. More details are coming on Saturday, with Wolves star Anthony Edwards involved.
*Victor Wembanyama is involved in the in-season tournament details as well, just as long as Britney Spears isn't there.
*As mentioned on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast, my latest bit of regular fun is Immaculate Grid. If you have a vast reservoir of seemingly useless baseball knowledge floating around your brain, it could be for you, too.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
