Two of the most outspoken Twins players of the last 25 years — former teammates Doug Mientkiewicz and A.J. Pierzynski — teamed up again recently on the Legends Territory podcast co-hosted by Pierzynski.
Doug Mientkiewicz rips Twins organization for mishandling Byron Buxton's development
Mientkiewicz, a former first baseman and more importantly a former successful Twins minor league manager, had several things to say on a recent podcast featuring another ex-Twin, A.J. Pierzynski.
June 9, 2023 at 4:42PM
Given their tendency to speak their minds and their history with the Twins, it's not surprising that things turned a bit controversial at times.
Mientkiewicz was a spectacular defensive first baseman and popular player as the Twins rose to prominence in the early 2000s. Later he was a successful minor league manager at multiple levels with the Twins from 2013-17 before being fired at the end of the fifth season.
A personality conflict seemed to be at the heart of that dismissal, as Mientkiewicz alluded to in an interview after it happened. "You want to fault me for being passionate, I can live with it," Mientkiewicz said in 2017. "I know my personality is not for everyone, and I can rub people the wrong way."
Mientkiewicz managed Byron Buxton in the minors. On that recent podcast, Mientkiewicz took issue with the development plan those above him put in place for Buxton, as I talked about on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast.
"It's surprising that Buxton's doing as well as he is because to me, we developed him in the wrong fashion," Mientkiewicz said on the podcast. "Thankfully, he was just good enough to where his talent finally came out."
Pierzynski, who was traded by the Twins after the 2003 season to pave a path for Joe Mauer, pressed him for more. Mientkiewicz said the Twins moved Buxton around from league to league too much and over-emphasized his minor league numbers.
He recalled a specific example from when the two were together at Class A Fort Myers. Mientkiewicz wanted to put Buxton at No. 3 in the batting order, he said, so that Buxton would have a better chance to work on his weakness — hitting sliders.
Someone above him in the organization said he was supposed to bat leadoff, according to Mientkiewicz, so that Buxton would see more fastballs and have more success.
That's a very granular disagreement, but it does offer interesting insight into how players are developed. Buxton struggled offensively early in his career, but his main issue lately has been staying healthy.
He has an .858 OPS since the start of the 2019 season but has been derailed by numerous injuries — including his current stint on the IL after being hit in the ribs by a pitch.
Here are four more things to know today:
*Dalvin Cook was ostensibly drafted in 2017 as Adrian Peterson's replacement. While it's not quite the QB succession plan the Packers enjoyed for 30 years from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers, those two did give the Vikings quite a run at running back for the last 15 years. With the Vikings set to move on from Cook, we'll see how a committee approach works.
*It's pretty amazing to think that the five best players in an organization's 25 year history all played together at the same time. But that's the case for the Lynx.
*If you've ever heard a soccer coach complain that their team lost despite having more possession time or a hockey coach lament losing despite having more scoring chances, we now have a baseball equivalent: Twins hitting coach David Popkins decrying Thursday's 4-2 loss, in which the Twins in his estimation hit the ball with the barrel of the bat more often than the Rays.
*The Nuggets are two wins away from winning the NBA title, but they are already thinking about the future as evidenced by a draft pick trade with Oklahoma City.
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.
