Breaking a frustrating three-game losing streak on Saturday, the Twins hit six doubles, including two by José Miranda, who now has 14 on the season. Byron Buxton, who doubled on Saturday, got another on Sunday as the Twins scored a pair of key runs in a 3-0 victory.
Why single out the particular significance of two two-hit games?
It turns out there are two reasons.
One: It was a surprise to me when Patrick Reusse mentioned it in Monday Daily Delivery Podcast, that doubles have decreased in Major League Baseball. Although his claim that “no one hits a double anymore” was a bit hyperbole (not that Reusse is prone to that), this is true: MLB teams are on track to hit fewer doubles per game (currently 1.58 ) than in any complete match. season in more than three decades.
Two: The Twins are an outlier. They lead the majors in doubles this season (151, almost two per game) and are on pace to finish with one of the highest number of doubles in franchise history.
So how do we explain seemingly contradictory trends?
Well, the fact that doubles are on the decline in baseball surprised me because I assumed that the recent offensive trend of teams swinging for the fences (or at least emphasizing hard contact) meant there would be many types of extra-base hits of all kinds. .
However, it turns out that This piece has some great explanations. for all types of downtrends. Pitchers are throwing harder and with greater variety. Outfield defense is being emphasized. Wide range outfielders, advanced scouting and a tendency to play deeper outfielders have narrowed the doubles gap. The baseballs themselves are not as lively as they were a few years ago.
Figuring out why the Twins are bucking that trend is a little more complicated. They are on pace for 314 doubles this season, which would put them in the top 10 in team history.
Here’s my feeling: the Twins are putting the ball in play a lot more this season. They are on pace for 1,314 strikeouts, which would be 340 fewer than last year when they set an MLB record and would be their fewest in a full season since 2015. And cutting back on strikeouts hasn’t come at the expense of hitting the ball. hard. They rank ninth in hard hit percentage this season after being sixth last year.
Basically they have a good combination of hitters who hit the ball hard enough to find space, can turn singles into doubles or both.
Those qualities are very rare today.
Here are four more things you should know today:
*Reusse, who is not a big fan of Williams Arena, made a modest proposal on Monday’s podcast about starting over: “Send two fighter jets from Duluth and blow them up because that’s the only way to blow them up.” above.”
*I enjoyed this article about retired KARE-11 host Randy Shaver, who leaves big shoes to fill but also had some interesting thoughts on the media business.
*The same goes for this story by Sarah McLellan about the Plante family.
*Star Tribune columnist Chip Scoggins is expected to join me on Tuesday’s podcast as we continue to catch up on things we missed after a week of vacation.
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