With the team’s starting pitching woes, the Twins will need to generate much more offense to compete. Much has been said about Aaron Hick’s struggles, and it certainly appears that he needs more seasoning in the minor leagues.
Hicks has shown an inability to hit the other way, is late on good fastballs, and fooled frequently on off-speed pitches. This is expected from someone who has never played in AAA, but the team hasn’t has a replacement option in center field with Darin Mastroianni, 27, sidelined for most of the season.
Suddenly out of nowhere, forgotten journeyman, Antoan Richardson, 29, is tearing
it up in the minor leagues. He is a switch-hitting center fielder with great speed and a career minor league on-base percentage of over .400.
Richardson, who is from the Bahamas, started the year in AA and hit .336 with 14 stolen bases before getting called up to AAA. In 30 at-bats, he owns a remarkable .500 on-base percentage and can obviously smell the best opportunity of his major league career, making a run for it the best he can. He could be a possible sleeper.
Brian Dozier is hitting .205 in 122 at-bats, and could soon be replaced by proven veteran, Jamey Carroll. Carroll is hitting .304 in just 54 at-bats, but might be the only current Twin capable of batting leadoff on a winning team. Dozier has drawn rave reviews for his defense, but Carroll is just as handy, more experienced and deserves a chance if the team really wants to win.
The Twins have a good deal of depth at first base and designated hitter, but its hard to ignore Chris Colabello, 29, who is putting up historically awesome numbers for AAA Rochester. In just his second professional year, the righthanded hitting first baseman is hitting .360 with 12 home runs, 38 RBI and a remarkable 17 doubles in 172 at-bats. On a Twins team struggling for offense, they may need to get creative to get this guy up to the big leagues, fast.
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