Twins look for more leadoff production

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins would like to see more production out of their leadoff spot, as Minnesota's leadoff hitters have combined for an MLB-worst .191 average and .238 on-base percentage entering play on Saturday.

Most of those struggles came when rookie Aaron Hicks began the season as the club's leadoff hitter and hit just .047 (2-for-43) with a .109 on-base percentage in 10 games.

The Twins have been using Brian Dozier and Jamey Carroll atop the lineup since Hicks lost his job as leadoff hitter on April 16. Dozier is hitting .283 with a .313 on-base percentage in 14 starts as leadoff hitter, while Carroll is hitting .250 with a .308 on-base percentage in five games.

"Dozier goes through a little bit of a cycle where he gets a couple hits and gets on base and then has a couple games where the swing starts coming off and he starts hitting the ball up in the air," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "So with him, he just needs to keep the ball out of the air a little better and he'll be fine.

"Jamey Carroll takes a lot of pitches and good things like that. But really, we just don't have a prototype leadoff guy. So we just have to ad-lib with that and hopefully find somebody who can put a good swing on it and get on base."