The Twins opened their 162-game regular season Monday at Detroit and among the storylines to follow in 2015 will be the impact of new pitching coach Neil Allen from the Rays organization. If the Twins are going to improve on last season’s 70-92 record, the step forward has to start with pitching.
Last season opponents hit .280 against the Twins, the highest batting average yielded by any team in Major League Baseball. The club’s 4.57 ERA was second only to the Rockies’ 4.84. Allen, 56, has never been a major league pitching coach but he comes from an organization renowned for developing pitchers and having success. Despite a miniscule payroll, the Rays have consistently been among baseball’s best pitching teams. Last season the Rays held opposing batters to a .234 batting average, third best among the 30 teams in MLB.
Allen, who joined the Tampa Bay organization in November of 2006, was the Rays Triple A coach at Durham last season. He wasn’t going to be promoted to the top job with the Rays because Jim Hickey is so revered. An informal poll last year of baseball authorities by the Boston Globe ranked Hickey as the No. 1 pitching coach in the majors.
Allen knows the Rays’ curriculum for pitchers that includes emphasis on throwing changeups to keep batters off balance. The Rays are big too on the importance of getting ahead of batters in the strike count, according to a lengthy April 1, 2013 Sports Illustrated article titled “The Rays Way.” That story talked about the organization’s success, too, in addressing the mental approach to pitching. Twins fans will learn this season how much of the Rays’ success can come north to Minneapolis.
Twins president Dave St. Peter was aware of Allen and the Rays’ reputation before Minnesota hired its new pitching coach last fall. “We were very impressed with Neil’s work and have great admiration for the Tampa Bay organization’s development of pitching,” he told Sports Headliners. “Beyond his ability to teach, his enthusiasm and passion are impressive.”
St. Peter cautions, though, instruction can only contribute so much to success on the field. “I am a believer that managers and coaches can have some impact but at the end of the day it’s up to the players (and their talents),” he said.
Allen replaces longtime Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson. St. Peter pointed out that Phil Hughes, who was so impressive in his debut season with the Twins last year, gives credit to Anderson for helping him experience a turnaround year and win 16 games.
St. Peter said he isn’t aware of Anderson working in baseball at this time. The former coach under ex-Twins manager Ron Gardenhire is living in Florida.
Worth Noting
The Gophers spring football game at TCF Bank Stadium starts at 3 p.m. on Saturday and admission is free. After the game fans can meet players and coaches and receive autographs. Coach Jerry Kill is expected to run an offense versus defense scrimmage on Saturday. The spring game will be telecast live on the Big Ten Network.
The Twins home opener next Monday against the Royals is sold out but tickets remain for the franchise’s other 80 dates at Target Field. “I always say I worry less about the home opener and more about the other 80,” Dave St. Peter said.
The Twins president also said 2015 season tickets will total between 13,000 and 14,000 after being at about 17,000 last year.
Joe Nathan, now 40, didn’t get much of an endorsement from an anonymous scout in Sports Illustrated’s March 30 preview of MLB teams including the Tigers. “Nathan is real hittable right now,” the scout said about the former Twins’ closer. “You lose your fastball when you get older, there’s not anything you can do about it. Now he can’t get away with the same pitches in the same area because he doesn’t have the velocity he used to.”
The Twins, who lost their opening regular season game on Monday to the Tigers, are winless in their last seven openers. The Tigers stole three bases and hit two home runs in the 4-0 win. Nathan, who was booed by Tigers fans in spring training, earned a ninth inning save.
Joe Mauer, who struck out a career high 96 times last season while batting .277, fanned once on Monday. The Twins first baseman, who turns 32 on April 19, had one hit—a ground ball up the middle—in four at bats.
Former Twins pitcher and now team TV analyst Bert Blyleven turned 64 on Monday.
The Gophers are recruiting Menomonie High School shortstop Terrin Vavra, the son of Twins bench coach Joe Vavra. Terrin’s brothers Tanner and Trey were drafted by the Twins in 2013 and 2014 and are in the organization’s minor league system.
How much do the struggling Gophers miss not having the Metrodome available for baseball? Well, eight of the first nine weekends the Gophers have been on the road. That doesn’t change this weekend with Minnesota playing at Nebraska Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The Gophers, 10-17 in nonconference games and 2-7 in the Big Ten, have postponed today’s home nonleague game against St. Thomas.
Steve and Dorothy Erban’s Stillwater-based Creative Charters has openings for its annual Kentucky Derby Experience. The seven day, six night trip package to Kentucky includes farm tours, a visit to the Churchill Downs backside and box seats to the May 2 Kentucky Derby in Louisville. The Erbans are thoroughbred horse breeders. Steve is a former thoroughbred trainer. More about the Derby trip at Creativecharter.com.
The schedule for Round One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is expected to be announced on Sunday. Last night the Wild clinched a playoff spot for a franchise record third consecutive season.
St. Thomas senior goalie Drew Fielding was named the Sid Watson Memorial winner as Division III men’s hockey National Player of the Year. Fielding’s 52 career wins are the most in the MIAC during the last 12 years, and his 19 career shutouts are third most in Division III history.