Author: David Shama

Jim Kaat is one of the more intelligent baseball minds on the planet.  The Hall of Fame pitcher was in the big leagues from 1959-1983 and a broadcaster for 25 years after that while delighting audiences with his knowledge, insights, and honesty.

Kaat, 84, pitched for the Senators-Twins from 1959-1973 and still follows his old team that is struggling in the mediocre American League Central Division.  “Teams are lucky to be in the Central Division in both leagues,” Kaat said while also referring to the National League Central where the Reds have the best record at five games over .500.

The Twins are 39-39 and one game ahead of the Guardians. Kaat, who spoke to Sports Headliners a few days ago from his summer home in Vermont, isn’t forecasting the AL Central Division winner at season’s end.

“I don’t know if I would put money on anybody right now. …I still think the Twins have the personnel to win the division.  They have good starting pitching. But they’re not (the whole team) performing up to what their potential is so far.”

Here was Kaat’s evaluation of the Twins last week: “Well, they have great starting pitching but they’re not maximizing their starters. They take them out so early to go to the bullpen—and they’ve had a couple guys done well—but for the most part the bullpen has not been consistent in terms of nailing down the wins. They’ve got five very capable starters.

“They developed into a team that if they continue (at) this current pace they’ll strike out more times than the (MLB record setting) 2021 Cubs.  But the information they get from on high tells them go ahead and keep swinging for the fences because it’s easier to hit a home run than it is to hit three singles.  But if you look at what (former Twin) Luis Arraez is doing right now over in Miami, you think, boy, you’d love to have him in that leadoff spot setting the table. So they’re kind of a one dimensional (team).

“They (also) make a lot of mistakes on the bases.  As you can see from just looking at the scores every day…they don’t do those little things—advancing runners, and making productive outs to put up an extra run or two on the scoreboard—and they’re losing those close games.

“It’s not an interesting team to watch their players. I (do) love to watch (rookie third baseman) Royce Lewis.  I think he’s going to be a star. I like to watch (eight game winner) Joe Ryan pitch.  But as far as the team, it’s just like home run derby for the most part.”

The Twins’ struggles to score runs are lamented in living rooms and taverns across the state. Veteran right fielder Max Kepler, now in his ninth season with Minnesota, is hitting .207, while slugger Joey Gallo, an offseason acquisition, is at .186.  Shortstop Carlos Correa and DH Byron Buxton, the team’s highest paid stars, are hitting .220 and .207 respectively.  The team batting average of .231 is better than only five other MLB teams and Minnesota’s 799 strikeouts is No. 1 among the 30 teams.

The home run craze is in vogue across the major league landscape so the Twins aren’t alone, but Kaat wishes the team had “table setters,” guys who frequently can get on base.  Any wish list starts with Arraez, who the Twins traded away in the offseason for pitcher Pablo Lopez.

Kaat winced when Minnesota gave up the 2022 American League batting champion. “Yeah, I really did.  I was really shocked at that, and I like Pablo Lopez. …I understand they didn’t think he had a set position to play.  But boy, he was very much like Rod Carew.”

Carew, of course, was a Hall of Fame hitter and former teammate of Kaat with the Twins.  Carew was an okay second baseman but a better fielder later in his career when he played first base. Arraez has settled in at second base for the Marlins.

Arraez, 26, is hitting a gaudy .401  for the Marlins after batting .316 last season.  Carew had a lifetime average of .328.   Neither one is or was a swing for the fences or strike out hitter.  Just the opposite.

Kaat understands the frustrations of Twins fans when they often see their favorites struggle to score even a couple runs in games. “…You can’t get excited about just watching a team and hoping they hit enough home runs to beat the other team.  There’s just not enough action there.”

Baseball has become a power game where hitters not only swing for the fences but also pitchers throw as hard as they can.  Analytics and radar guns have convinced baseball authorities this is the best way to win.  The power style appeals to some fans, probably younger followers in particular.

Analytics dictate decisions before, during and after games.  Kaat sees some value in the new age way of doing things. “I think all the information can be very helpful in sort of evaluating players.  …I think it’s valuable in developing players and in training players.  But once the game starts, I think they have to throw those numbers out the window because everybody feels differently every day.

“…(A hitter) might be 0-10 against this pitcher but if you’re watching that pitcher maybe he’s not the same today.  And this hitter that’s 0-10 today, he’s on a hot streak, he’s been really hitting well.  So, I am going to leave him (the hitter) in there but they go so much by the statistical sheet that they see 0-10, (and decide) well we’re going to take him out. They don’t use the eye test to really make their judgements.”

A lot of Twins fans are perplexed at decisions dictated by analytics.  They’re not on board with pinch hitting for Lewis, or the team’s other promising young hitter, Alex Kirilloff.  Starting pitchers are told to call it a day after five innings or so, and fans not only push back but so too has veteran Twin Sonny Gray.  He’s made his opinion known about pitching deeper into games.

The Twins defeated the Red Sox last Thursday in a game that typified who they are but also had an outlier performance.  Correa got one hit, a home run.  Buxton hit two moon shots over the fence, his only hits in the game.  Those home runs accounted for three of the team’s runs in the 6-0 win.  It was Ryan, though, who delivered the unexpected, pitching Minnesota’s first complete game in five years.  He threw 112 pitches and held the Red Sox to three hits.

In Kaat’s era starting pitchers frequently completed nine innings and didn’t blink at throwing over 100 pitches in a game.  In Kaat’s three 20 win seasons he pitched 46 complete games.  During Kaat’s long career his sturdy arm allowed him to pitch in 898 games and log 4,530.1 innings.

Regardless of whether he was starting a game, Kaat threw every day. Over the years he built up his arm strength while not jeopardizing his health by trying to throw too hard.  He could throw fast balls, but he mixed up his pitches and threw with control.

Kaat and other authorities know a lot of teenage pitchers are being “ruined” by the strain placed on their young arms trying to throw the ball so hard. Elbow surgery is epidemic. “They’re not teaching them to pitch,” Kaat said. “They’re just teaching them to throw.”

Kaat is critical also of how during the season MLB teams bring up pitchers to the bigs and then send them back to the minors over and over.  “…They never really get a chance to develop into as good a pitcher as they possibly could be.  Today it’s so wrong headed the way they’re training and using pitchers, it just makes me sick.”

Teams not only turn over their pitching rosters frequently because of injuries and poor performance but also use a marathon of pitchers in a typical game. Analytics warn against leaving a starter in the game to face the other team’s batting order a third time. Then a parade of relievers begins.

“No, I think they’ve dumbed down pitching,” Kaat said. “It’s just shameful. …We weren’t superhuman and pitched 300 or 250 innings, a lot of complete games. We were trained to do that, and the pitchers today are so much bigger, faster, stronger.  I think more athletic ability and yet they (the decision makers) think they’re preserving their arms by limiting their innings and pitches, and actually what they’re doing is…(not getting) the maximum out of the talent that they have. It’s just sad as a former pitcher to see that.  …”

Kaat pitched as both a starter and reliever over his long career.  As a starter he pitched on as little as three days rest and went deep into games but that’s not the mantra in MLB now. “Throw as hard as you can and when you can’t throw any more, we’ll bring somebody else in,” Kaat said.

Kaat stopped broadcasting games after last season but doesn’t refer to the decision as a retirement—saying he just walked away from the game he has loved for so long.  He “just couldn’t deal with the way the game has turned into a science project.”