Scott Baker, Jake Odorizzi, and how pitch-to-contact might have ruined a decent pitcher.
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Remember Scott Baker? He was probably the best homegrown pitcher of the pitch-to-contact Twins in the late ‘00s and early ‘10s. Are we abbreviating decades this century like that now, because it feels weird to type. Anyway, Baker looked good for a few years before flaming out amid injury, but at his peak, today’s Twins could have made him great.
Baker’s pitch mix was pretty standard for the era, roughly 60-65% fastballs in the low 90s, 12-20% low-80s slider, 10-15% curveball, and 5-8% change. At the tail end of his career, he dropped the curve entirely and doubled his slider usage. By then, it was probably too late, and his last appearance in the majors was his age-33 season in 2015. He left the Twins after 2012, and bounced around to the Cubs, Rangers, and finally Dodgers.
During a conference call with reporters on Thursday afternoon, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi expressed interest in acquiring another left-handed hitter, preferably a young player with Minor League options who could compete for the fifth outfield spot during Spring Training.
Hours later, the Giants landed the exact player
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MINNEAPOLIS The Twins again added to their growing bullpen depth on Friday by acquiring right-hander Ian Hamilton off waivers from the Phillies.
Considering the Twins recent track record of pitching development, it should come as no real surprise that the 25-year-old Hamilton is a hard thrower with a promising slider. That offers yet another developing skillset to pitching coach Wes Johnson, who has extracted value from several lesser-known arms over his two seasons with Minnesota and saw great success with slider-heavy Matt Wisler in 2020.
The Twins now have 39 players on their 40-man roster, with the reported deals for Nelson Cruz and Alex Colomé yet to become official. That means Minnesota will need to remove a player from the 40-man as a corresponding move for one of those deals, which are expected to become official next week.
Hamilton comes to Minnesota
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For the last couple years,
Hamilton has been delighting fans on Broadway and Disney Plus. Lets hope that the Hamilton the Twins just acquired is as big of hit as the brainchild of Twins’ prospect Jose Miranda’s cousin. In this case, I mean Ian Hamilton, a (stop me if you’ve heard this before) slider-dependent reliever.
Hamilton was claimed off waivers from the Phillies, but actually picked up all his MLB experience with the White Sox. Yes, that means we picked up two of their former relievers in the last 72 hours. Lets hope these guys are up for a revenge tour. Hamilton pitched for the dread hosiery in both 2018 and 2020. He ended both campaigns with a 4.50 ERA, and generally pedestrian peripheral numbers. The notable thing about Hamilton though is his pitch mix.
SALT LAKE CITY We ve all seen them: guys and gals standing in a river waving a stick, as writer John Gierach aptly titled one of his collections of fishing essays.
But what is it that drives the passion behind the sport of fly-fishing? Is it a sport, a hobby or a way of life?
Why people fly-fish
These questions were posed to fly fishermen on an online forum group with answers coming anonymously. There were not many responses. The few who did respond could not answer the question of whether fly-fishing was a way of life, but they were more forthcoming with answers about the passion behind it.