MINNEAPOLIS -- Here’s a secret you may not know about those of us who work in baseball: we often do not know what day of the week it is. When you don’t have a normal Monday to Friday cadence to your work, it can be very easy to say things like, “Wednesday, no, wait, Thursday.”
So when the calendar changes, and you’re reminded that it’s a whole new month, that’s valuable. It’s a time delineator when sometimes those are hard to come by. All of which is to say, with the recent flip from April to May, it seemed like a good time to look at some stats that explain the Twins’ first month-plus of baseball -- seven of them, to be exact.
Infield outs above average: -6, 26th in baseball (entering Saturday)
Reliever strikeout rate: 18.2 percent, second-lowest
These two go hand in hand, and explain quite a lot about what’s gone on in the late innings for the Twins. Minnesota relievers have mostly done a decent job of keeping the ball in the park. What they haven’t done is miss bats (or throw enough strikes). That’s not necessarily disastrous, though it’s certainly not the way teams are typically built in 2026.
But when you combine it with a porous infield defense, it becomes a huge problem. If you’re not going to miss bats, if you’re going to allow a lot of balls in play, you have to turn those balls in play into outs. The Twins have not done a good enough job of that, which compounds the lack of strikeouts and glut of free baserunners.
You saw it again Saturday against the Blue Jays, when Luis García -- who throws hard but relies on ground balls from his power sinker -- gave up the lead on a steady drip of ground balls. The inning got out of hand from there, ultimately leading to the 11-4 loss, but García was not hit hard.
Team batting average: .234, 23rd in baseball
Team walks: 137, sixth
This is a curious combination and says a lot about the Twins' offense. They take very good at-bats. They see the seventh-most pitches per plate appearance in the Majors, grinding out walks, forcing deep counts … and striking out a good bit. It’s part of why they’ve been hard to kill – as manager Derek Shelton proudly pointed out recently, they simply do not throw away at-bats.
What they haven’t done nearly as well is get base hits. And while everybody knows that walks are great, and batting average is overrated, it’s a lot easier to score runs when you’re getting both hits and walks.
Starters ERA: 3.89, tied for ninth in baseball
It was natural to worry about this unit when Pablo López suffered a season ending injury, and again when David Festa was sidelined, and then when Mick Abel joined them on the injured list. A much-ballyhooed (including by me, I’m not casting aspersions here) group of eight starting candidates has been whittled down to the point that one current member of the rotation, Connor Prielipp, wasn’t even on that list of serious candidates at the beginning of camp.
And yet… it’s going really well. Joe Ryan has had a couple of rough starts but overall is having a very strong year. Bailey Ober is basically doing the impossible, pitching effectively in the Major Leagues in 2026 with an 88 mph fastball. Taj Bradley has been a revelation, and Prielipp has been excellent in Abel’s place. Only Simeon Woods Richardson has scuffled. Everything starts with starting pitching, and that’s one area where the Twins are thriving.
Relievers used: 14
This is no surprise, but it’s still worth pointing out. We knew coming into the year that, with a shortage of established top-end relievers, the Twins would be sorting through pitchers. They’ve signed a slew of veterans to fill out the bullpen at Triple-A St. Paul, but none of them has forced the issue. They’ve also suffered multiple relief injuries, most recently to Cole Sands, increasing the already significant degree of difficulty for Shelton and pitching coach Pete Maki.
Four games out of first place, 2 1/2 games out of the Wild Card
No, really. This may be hard to believe with the recent slump, but it’s true. Nobody in the American League, and certainly nobody in the AL Central, is running away with anything. The Twins are a good week away from being in a playoff spot. Losing 13 out of 16 is obviously not what you want, but it’s all still ahead of them if they can find a way to start finishing off wins.