***Official 2024 Twins Spring Training thread***

[Hornets]

Ted
@tlschwerz
Bryce Harper talking of Bailey Ober's heightened velo today, "If he's going to be 95-96 like that, good luck to anyone in the Central."

That was from yesterday Weimy...

[weimy froob]

Ted
@tlschwerz
Bryce Harper talking of Bailey Ober's heightened velo today, "If he's going to be 95-96 like that, good luck to anyone in the Central."

That was from yesterday Weimy...

nevermind. what's the point?

[Hornets]

Ted
@tlschwerz
Bryce Harper talking of Bailey Ober's heightened velo today, "If he's going to be 95-96 like that, good luck to anyone in the Central."

That was from yesterday Weimy...

yeah. the tweet was posted today. what's the point?

Exactly.

[weimy froob]

That was from yesterday Weimy...

yeah. the tweet was posted today. what's the point?

Exactly.

did you have any idea how well ober threw until you opened this thread? i didn't think so.

[Hornets]

yeah. the tweet was posted today. what's the point?

Exactly.

did you have any idea how well ober threw until you opened this thread? i didn't think so.

I saw the quote yesterday. Anyway, I'm just playin with ya. My post of "this was from yesterday" is the kind of post you often times throw my way....

[weimy froob]

Exactly.

did you have any idea how well ober threw until you opened this thread? i didn't think so.

I saw the quote yesterday. Anyway, I'm just playin with ya. My post of "this was from yesterday" is the kind of post you often times throw my way....

here you go. this is from today.

[Hornets]

did you have any idea how well ober threw until you opened this thread? i didn't think so.

I saw the quote yesterday. Anyway, I'm just playin with ya. My post of "this was from yesterday" is the kind of post you often times throw my way....

here you go. this is from today.

I don't know about you Weimy, but the thought of how incredible our "O"fence could be this season gives me goosebumps!

[weimy froob]

I saw the quote yesterday. Anyway, I'm just playin with ya. My post of "this was from yesterday" is the kind of post you often times throw my way....

here you go. this is from today.

I don't know about you Weimy, but the thought of how incredible our "O"fence could be this season gives me goosebumps!

looking forward to getting the season going. less than a month away.

[Hornets]

here you go. this is from today.

I don't know about you Weimy, but the thought of how incredible our "O"fence could be this season gives me goosebumps!

looking forward to getting the season going. less than a month away.

[Hoop Dreams]

Carlos Santana with his first bomb as a Twin today!

[weimy froob]

i'll just put this here. cardinal fans in twitterverse meltdown mode after sonny gray was removed with right hamstring tightness.

[Hoop Dreams]

Rodriguez has a pretty swing.

[Tommy_Hawk]

Rodriguez has a pretty swing.

Trade him now! His value will NEVER be higher!

[Hoop Dreams]

Jose Miranda with two more hits today.

[Hoop Dreams]

Carlos Santana is now 8-20 this spring.

[weimy froob]

Twins starter Joe Ryan works on new (old?) pitch

When Twins pitcher Joe Ryan arrived to camp last year, the talk surrounding him was about his revamped slider and his split-change, both of which he had spent the offseason working on. This year, he has a new trick — well, actually an old one that he decided to pick back up again — that he has been working on: a two-seamer.

“When I was at Driveline, (director of pitching Chris) Langin was kind of like, ‘All right, this could be fun, whatever,’ ” Ryan said. “And I kind of took what I knew and what we had learned from some other pitches and applied the reverse concept, and it works and they like it and the team likes it. The hitters don’t seem to like it, so it’s great.”

Ryan, who threw three innings and gave up a solo home run in the Twins’ 7-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday at Hammond Stadium, isn’t sure how much he’s going to use the pitch, but he figures to be mixing it in depending on the opposing lineup and whether he needs it on that given day.

An extra weapon for the fourth-year starter could be valuable as Ryan looks to build off of a 2023 season that started off so well before subsequently being interrupted by a groin injury that he tried to pitch through unsuccessfully for more than a month before notifying the Twins.

In the 15 games before the injury, Ryan had a 2.98 earned-run average, and opponents were hitting .203 off him. In the next seven games, opponents hit .336 and he gave up 31 runs in 32 1/3 innings (8.63 earned-run average) before he landed on the injured list. Though he returned for the final month of the 2023 season, he never quite regained his early-season form, finishing the year with a 4.51 ERA in 29 games.

The key to his consistency throughout the full season, his manager Rocco Baldelli said, will be how well he can execute his secondary pitches.

“He has always relied and gone back to that good fastball, the good upshoot fastball that he uses. But you definitely need to keep developing those other pitches and pay a lot of attention to them, and he is. And that’s what he has been spending his (time on in) camp — he did the same thing last year,” said. “He came in with some new pitches. Having those pitches very consistent and under his full command, that’s the important part. So that’s going to be a big part of his success.”

Tinkering around with a pitch he used to throw — Ryan said his dad originally taught him how to throw a two-seamer as a child, and it wasn’t really until high school that he started throwing the four-seam fastball — is exactly how he can accomplish that.

It started with him kind of joking around, he said. And now?

“It’s a great pitch to add to the arsenal,” Ryan said. “I don’t know what that usage looks like throughout the course of the season, but it’s a fun pitch to have in my back pocket when I need it, and it’s a fun pitch to throw.”

[weimy froob]

[Hornets]

So am I hearing correctly that new pitcher Anthony DeSciafani is having arm issues? If so isn't that just great?

[ForCaleb]

Twins starter Joe Ryan works on new (old?) pitch

When Twins pitcher Joe Ryan arrived to camp last year, the talk surrounding him was about his revamped slider and his split-change, both of which he had spent the offseason working on. This year, he has a new trick — well, actually an old one that he decided to pick back up again — that he has been working on: a two-seamer.

“When I was at Driveline, (director of pitching Chris) Langin was kind of like, ‘All right, this could be fun, whatever,’ ” Ryan said. “And I kind of took what I knew and what we had learned from some other pitches and applied the reverse concept, and it works and they like it and the team likes it. The hitters don’t seem to like it, so it’s great.”

Ryan, who threw three innings and gave up a solo home run in the Twins’ 7-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday at Hammond Stadium, isn’t sure how much he’s going to use the pitch, but he figures to be mixing it in depending on the opposing lineup and whether he needs it on that given day.

An extra weapon for the fourth-year starter could be valuable as Ryan looks to build off of a 2023 season that started off so well before subsequently being interrupted by a groin injury that he tried to pitch through unsuccessfully for more than a month before notifying the Twins.

In the 15 games before the injury, Ryan had a 2.98 earned-run average, and opponents were hitting .203 off him. In the next seven games, opponents hit .336 and he gave up 31 runs in 32 1/3 innings (8.63 earned-run average) before he landed on the injured list. Though he returned for the final month of the 2023 season, he never quite regained his early-season form, finishing the year with a 4.51 ERA in 29 games.

The key to his consistency throughout the full season, his manager Rocco Baldelli said, will be how well he can execute his secondary pitches.

“He has always relied and gone back to that good fastball, the good upshoot fastball that he uses. But you definitely need to keep developing those other pitches and pay a lot of attention to them, and he is. And that’s what he has been spending his (time on in) camp — he did the same thing last year,” said. “He came in with some new pitches. Having those pitches very consistent and under his full command, that’s the important part. So that’s going to be a big part of his success.”

Tinkering around with a pitch he used to throw — Ryan said his dad originally taught him how to throw a two-seamer as a child, and it wasn’t really until high school that he started throwing the four-seam fastball — is exactly how he can accomplish that.

It started with him kind of joking around, he said. And now?

“It’s a great pitch to add to the arsenal,” Ryan said. “I don’t know what that usage looks like throughout the course of the season, but it’s a fun pitch to have in my back pocket when I need it, and it’s a fun pitch to throw.”

I think this is really important. He needs to have better movement on his pitches in general, but this new/old 2-seamer should help.

For the better part of last year it seemed like this 4-seamer was "flat" and he wasn't executing it's location.

[weimy froob]

[weimy froob]

[feekdogg]

I don't see the big question. I saw enough out of Wallner last year to live with giving him the job and live with the growing pains.

[Hornets]

I don't see the big question. I saw enough out of Wallner last year to live with giving him the job and live with the growing pains.

Wallner deserves to be the starting LF but he hasn't earned the right to stay in the lineup if he goes into a prolonged slump. I'm a little skeptical on his ability to have a big impact for the whole season. Hope I'm wrong Dawg.

[ForCaleb]

I don't see the big question. I saw enough out of Wallner last year to live with giving him the job and live with the growing pains.

I agree. Who else would they start? Castro? Margot??

[Ask Not]

The Athletic is doing a "Standout in Each Team's Camp" article.
The standout in Yankees' camp: 31 year old Nick Burdi.


I didn't know that guy was still hanging around. He was going to be the Twins' closer the year after he got drafted out of Louisville.

[Phil Leotardo]

I don't see the big question. I saw enough out of Wallner last year to live with giving him the job and live with the growing pains.

I agree. Who else would they start? Castro? Margot??

I'm sure they're tempted to give Larnach another chance, but I agree that Wallner should have a lengthy run as the everyday guy.

[Tommy_Hawk]

I don't see the big question. I saw enough out of Wallner last year to live with giving him the job and live with the growing pains.

I agree. Who else would they start? Castro? Margot??

I'm sure they're tempted to give Larnach another chance, but I agree that Wallner should have a lengthy run as the everyday guy.

I like BIG T. He needs to stay healthy and put together some AB's consistently.

[weimy froob]

So am I hearing correctly that new pitcher Anthony DeSciafani is having arm issues? If so isn't that just great?

Twins starter Anthony DeSclafani ‘feeling good’ as he tests elbow

The chances of St. Paul’s Louie Varland making the Twins’ Opening Day major league roster rest largely on the health of Anthony DeSclafani’s right elbow.

That elbow, DeSclafani said just minutes after finishing a 35-pitch bullpen session on Friday at Hammond Stadium, is once again feeling good.

Varland, who is unlikely to break camp with the Twins unless there is an injury among Minnesota’s projected starting five in the rotation, started and pitched three scoreless innings in the Twins’ 6-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Meanwhile, about 100 miles south at the team’s complex, DeSclafani was back testing out his elbow.

The veteran DeSclafani was briefly shutdown after experiencing some soreness in his elbow following a live batting practice session earlier this spring. Friday marked his second bullpen and third time off the slope — he threw a 10-pitch touch-and-feel session — and he walked away pleased by how he felt.

“The training staff has done a good job of just helping me get back to feeling good,” he said.

The Twins will map out a plan for DeSclafani soon and assess how he’s feeling on Saturday as they plot his path forward. Saturday is particularly important considering the first time he felt soreness wasn’t during the live batting practice but the day after, he said.

“It was more of that night/the next day soreness that was kind of what put everything on hold,” DeSclafani said. “I was like ‘Alright, I need a couple days.’ I think that’s always — that’s how it’s going to be when you’re coming back from injuries or stuff like that.”

As for how much time he thinks he needs to get ready for the reason — the season begins on March 28 but he wouldn’t be needed until early April — the right-hander said he still thinks he has plenty of time to build up and get into game action.

“First and foremost, it’s going to be health over ramping up too quickly,” he said. “I’m putting my health first. … I still think I have plenty of time to ramp up to be ready for whenever they need me.”

[Hoop Dreams]

Buxton just went deep.

[Hoop Dreams]

Buxton just went deep.

And now a three-run triple.