The Tony Oliva mural along one wall of the Legends Club
First of all, Happy Birthday, Tony Oliva! Oliva was one of my boyhood idols and I love that he remains part of the Twins family. He’s actually scheduled to be in Cedar Rapids next weekend and I’m looking forward to that.
Tonight, Kevin Correia goes to the mound. He seems to have been having a little trouble with the home run ball the last few starts, so let’s see if that trend can be reversed tonight.
Well that wasn’t exactly overwhelming force, but a 3-2 win is still a win!
The M&M guys were the only Twins with multiple hits and the team was only 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position, but all that really matters is that our guys scored more runs than their guys.
Kevin Correia did give up another home run, but overall a six-inning start where you only give up two runs is pretty good these days. The bullpen closed things out successfully the last three innings.
In the end, everyone in the GameChat at the end of the game (that would be me) agreed that Correia earned BOD honors.
A number of this year’s Cedar Rapids Kernels have had to make an adjustment to wearing a Kernels uniform this summer after playing last season for the Beloit Snappers, who were the Minnesota Twins Midwest League affiliate during the eight prior years. It no doubt felt a little odd to some of them.
But to Tyler Grimes, who was the Snappers primary shortstop much of last season, the change in geographic location was far from the most drastic of the adjustments he’s had to make.
Tyler Grimes (9) shares a light moment in the on deck circle with Kernels team mate Niko Goodrum
A couple of weeks before the Snappers’ season ended, Grimes was informed by the Twins minor league field coordinator, Joel Lepel, that the organization intended to convert him to catcher during the fall instructional league. Grimes said he hadn’t caught since Little League.
“At first, I didn’t know how to take it,” Grimes said during an interview on Saturday. “There was a lot of things going through my head. I just didn’t know how I was going to approach it when I got down there, at first.
“I got down there and everything started working out and I started to like it more and more. But it was tough, don’t get me wrong.”
And now, how does Grimes feel after spending dozens of games behind the plate in the catchers’ gear that ballplayers have long dubbed, ‘the tools if ignorance?’
“It’s been a tough transition, but here in July I can honestly say I enjoy going out there each night that I catch and I’m having fun with it. It’s like a new love for the game. I’ve got a new challenge and I’m always up for a challenge.”
That challenge has had some down sides, of course.
“My body, I’ve got to take care of it differently. I wasn’t used to taking ice baths, but I’ve been in the ice bath a lot,” Grimes said with a bit of a smile.
As a shortstop, Grimes had some responsibility for communicating with his fellow infielders, but he’s learned those responsibilities pale in comparison to what he’s had to take on as a catcher. Being the team’s “quarterback” behind the plate hasn’t always come naturally to him.
“Yeah, it was a little mind-boggling for me at first,” Grimes admitted. “(Lepel) is always on me, ‘hey you need to be more talkative and let those guys know.’ I wasn’t used to that. I’m not really like that. I’m not too loud out there on the field. I kind of let my game play itself and keep my mouth shut.”
But Grimes feels that part of his game is progressing. “That’s coming more in to everything now, I think. At first, it was position for blocking and other mechanics. Now I’m getting used to that more and more. I’ve still got a lot to work on and I do every day. But the talking side of it, and getting to know your pitchers, is starting to come more and more.”
Grimes literally takes a very professional approach to his new responsibilities.
“It’s a tough thing when (pitchers) aren’t hitting their locations or not hitting the vicinity that you think it’s going to be. You’re trying to call a curve ball and those guys are trying to throw it for a strike and it’s in the dirt.
It’s your job to block the ball. At these levels, now, you need to block the ball. We’re not in college or high school, this is our job, this is what we’re paid to do. So I take a lot of pride in blocking now. Even if it looks bad or weird, I’m going to do whatever I can to throw my body at it.”
His manager, Jake Mauer, likes the progress Grimes has made this season.
“He’s progressing pretty good, starting to receive the ball better, throws great,” said the manager. “His game-calling has gotten better. If we can get him to receive a little bit better on the low pitch, which a lot of catchers have trouble with.”
“He’s come a long ways,” added Mauer. “He wants to catch, which is a good thing. He wants to be good at it, which is better.”
Tyler Grimes
One aspect of the game that Grimes has had considerable success at this season is controlling the running game of the Kernels’ opponents. He has thrown out about 44 percent of opposing baserunners that have attempted to steal a base against him. That’s a percentage most Major League catchers would love to have.
“It always feels good when you throw somebody out,” admitted Grimes. “You can block a ball and everything like that, but once you throw somebody out, it’s kind of like, ‘ok, I’m starting to like this more and more,’ you know?”
Still, it takes a certain kind of fearlessness for a player to willingly adjust from playing a position that’s a relatively safe 100 feet or more away from the hitter to being the guy setting up right behind the hitter. As it turns out, Grimes comes by that trait naturally. He played hockey until a series of concussions forced him to give up that game and focus on baseball.
That’s a fact he may regret letting Joel Lepel in on.
“(Lepel) likes to get on me, which is fine, because I can take it,” Grimes said, smiling. “Ever since then, he’s been like, ‘we’re going to be on you about it because if you’re a hockey player, you’re not scared of nothing.’
“But it is my mentality, catching is my mentality. I just had to get used to it and, like I said, I’m loving it now.”
He may be loving catching now, but there’s little question about which sport was Grimes’ favorite growing up – and it wasn’t baseball.
“We traveled in hockey from Houston to Canada,” Grimes related, concerning his time as a teenage hockey player. “Every spring break we’d go to Calgary and Toronto. Being from Kansas, a lot of people wouldn’t expect that. We actually had a good group of guys and we traveled all over and had fun with it.
“I tell you what, if I didn’t have the concussions that I have, then I probably wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you, to this day,” Grimes admitted.
Shortly after arriving in Cedar Rapids, Grimes had an opportunity to attend a Cedar Rapids RoughRiders United States Hockey League game. Did watching the RoughRiders make him feel like grabbing a stick?
“Oh man,” Grimes responded with a head shake. “I called my dad and said, ‘I’m going to have to leave.’ I ended up leaving because I can’t watch it. I haven’t put on a pair of skates since I was 17 years old.”
The teenage Grimes “retired” from hockey after a championship game.
“My friend actually passed away this past year and they had a little get-together skate and I couldn’t even go to that,” recalled Grimes. “I showed up to the funeral but I couldn’t go to (the skate) because I can’t put on another pair of skates or I’ll be done with baseball and that’s no lie.”
Grimes’ demeanor turns serious when asked about his family and how they keep up with how he’s doing during the season.
“I’m a big family guy. My dad’s my best friend. I’ve got four little sisters and my mom, so it’s a big deal to me,” said Grimes. “I’m really tight with my little sisters. I went to Wichita State and played there and the reason I why I chose there was because I wanted to watch my sisters grow up. Not only do I play for myself, but I play for them and I play for our last name. I take a lot of pride in that.”
Obviously, the Grimes are a tight-knit family.
“I can sit here and tell you everything about my family and tell you how tight we are, but there’s really no words to describe how me and my family are,” Grimes explained. “It’s about being real and that’s how my personality is. I think that’s why I like catching, because if a pitcher needs to hear something or a pitcher needs to tell me something, I’m not going to be afraid to say anything and that’s how I look at it. But yeah, my family is my everything.”
Tyler Grimes
Grimes also is enjoying the time he’s spending with his Kernels baseball family this season, but he’s also quite philosophical about the life of a minor league ballplayer that he’s leading.
“Now that I’m here, you’ve got to enjoy these guys, got to enjoy the clubhouse, because you never know when your last day is going to be,” said Grimes. “Two of my friends just got released last week. It just happens that quick.
“All these fans that come out and support us would do anything to be in our position. You know what, sometimes as players, we get away from how we have it. Minor league baseball is a grind, but at the same time, if it pays off and you get (to the Major Leagues), you’re going to be accepting a pretty good check every two weeks.”
Whether he achieves his goal of playing Big League ball or not, Grimes feels his time in the minor leagues is preparing him for life after baseball.
“You meet guys in the clubhouse that you don’t like or you dislike or you love, you have to find a way to get along with everybody,” Grimes went on to explain, “because that’s what’s going to take our team to a winning team or a losing team or a mediocre team. You just never know.”
Grimes believes the Twins organization does a very good job of finding players with character.
“I don’t know how deep (the Twins) go in to background checks, but everybody in our organization is a classy guy. Everybody gets along,” said Grimes. “The friendships that you build, it’s not just towards baseball. You never know if JD Williams is going to own a business or if Joel Licon’s going to be the owner of a hotel and you get put on with him and you guys just keep in touch. It’s just good because it’s more than baseball.
“As much time as we spend together and as much as we get on each others’ nerves, you can’t explain the minor league life to the outsiders. It’s just impossible.”
One thing Grimes could explain, however, was his feelings about playing baseball in Cedar Rapids this season.
“I called my dad after about the first two weeks, and said, ‘I don’t know what the Big Leagues feels like, but this feels like the Big Leagues to me,” Grimes recalled, adding that the host family program was another aspect he appreciates about his Cedar Rapids experience.
Talking about the fan turnout for Kernels games, compared to other places he’s played, Grimes was effusive in his praise for the local support the Kernels fans have shown the team.
“To be able to play in front of an atmosphere like we go out in front of every night, it makes us enjoy what we’re doing,” said Grimes. “I actually feel like a professional baseball player here.”
With the MLB All-Star Game upon us, we don’t have a whole lot of Twins stuff to talk about, so it’s a good time to give something away.
In a fortuitous coincidence, the good folks at A+E Networks Home Entertainment and MLB Productions have offered us some stuff to give away in conjunction with the release of MLB Productions Films on iTunes.
Here are the details that the sponsors would like us to pass along to you, our readers:
Baseball fans are now able to experience their favorite films in an entirely new way, as titles from the Major League Baseball Productions Film & Video Archive are now available digitally. Over 100 titles are now live on iTunes, which already includes hundreds of classic games as well as podcasts and award-winning mobile apps from MLB Advanced Media, including MLB.com At Bat, the top grossing sports app of all-time.
Aside from MLB Bloopers and Prime 9: MLB Heroics, available programming includes The Best of the Home Run Derby and “Prime 9: All-Star Moments;” Official World Series Films dating back to 1947, including the 1969 and 1986 films; the first season of “This Week In Baseball,” which originally aired in 1977; a documentary offering a fresh perspective on Jackie Robinson’s life and career; recent productions including a comprehensive film chronicling every era of World Series play and documentaries created to celebrate notable anniversaries for the Mets, Astros and Red Sox; bloopers titles highlighting the funniest MLB moments; and many other titles. Any of these films can now be downloaded from the iTunes store (www.iTunes.com/MLB). Prices range from $1.99 for individual episodes of “Prime 9” and “This Week in Baseball” to $19.99 for the Official 2012 World Series Film in HD.
In return for that promotional announcement, we’ve got two copies of the Minnesota Twins Magic in Minnesota: Remembering the 1991 World Series Championship DVD to give away.
To be eligible for one of these DVDs, just tell us about your favorite All-Star Game moment… or maybe your LEAST favorite ASG moment… or maybe your FIRST ASG memory. Just tell us something about an All-Star Game that stands out in your memory in the comments section and we’ll put your name in a hat from which we will draw two winners next Sunday, say about noon.
For me, my favorite All-Star Game memory might be Torii Hunter stealing a home run from Barry Bonds.
Then again, the first vivid memory I have of an All-Star Game was Pete Rose barreling in to Cleveland Indians catcher Ray Fosse, back when players still took the game seriously.
Kyle Gibson gets his first start at Yankee Stadium today as the Twins try to accomplish the near-unthinkable… win a series against the Evil Empire in New York.
That said, the guys wearing Evil Empire uniforms resemble the real Yankees about the way Rick Moranis and his minions in “Spaceballs” resembled Darth Vader, et al, in Star Wars. The resemblance is almost more for comedic effect than anything else.
Still, winning would be better than losing. It would be particularly nice to get a W from Captain Cheeseburger.
Across town from where the Yankees and Twins are playing, Twins prospects Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton will be playing in the annual Futures Game at 1:00-ish at Citi Field. Sano is starting at 3B for the International team and Buxton is starting on the bench for the USA team.
I’ll be watching the Kernels take on the Bowling Green Hot Rods at 2:00 here in Cedar Rapids.
If you can’t find any baseball to watch today, you just aren’t trying hard enough! – JC
Well, HOT DAMN!! We just took a series IN New York! We haven’t done that since 2001!!!
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Yankees game without the usual umpiring fiascos… what’s UP with that anyway!?! seriously? I want it on the record that I despise horrible umping even when we WIN. Gah.. just gives them all a bad name and most of them don’t need the help!
But there was a lot of good things about today’s game – people stepping up and having good games all over our lineup. Let’s start with the rookie getting a W in NY. Yep. So that happened. Gibson did well and even though he only went 5 innings, let’s just put that down to the fact that it’s pretty darn miserably hot – there and here.
Florimon, Carroll and Dozier all had fantastic games – I’m really pleased with all of them and Morneau seems to finally have clicked again although his numbers and his actual plate appearances were kind of an odd thing. He was 3/5 but all the ones he hit hard were out – the rest were just weird or ridiculous misplays. The smile on his face during the post-game interview tells me he’ll take it.
My last mention of the day is Trevor Plouffe who filled the DH position today – he seemed to like it getting 3 runs and 2 hits today and just by that additional run, manages to earn today’s BOD!
Additional Note: Twins are sending Parmelee, Arcia and Escobar down to start getting more AB’s and better swings during this All-Star break. They are bringing up a few young folk including Hermann.
You know, you look at the line up the Yankees are putting out there right now and you just can’t believe that’s a New York Yankees team. It’s just as hard to understand how the Twins simply can’t beat them.
Maybe Sam Deduno hasn’t had time to figure out he’s not supposed to beat any team wearing pinstripes in Yankee Stadium.
The losing streak is OVER! Both of them, even! 6 game losing streak AND 6 consecutive losses to the Yankees. It feels good to have the boys on the winning side of things this time.
That being said, we still haven’t solved the RISP problem – the boys just decided if they weren’t going to have the guy behind them bring them home, they were just going to have to get home on their own – 3 homeruns in today’s game from Plouffe, Doumit and Florimon! It was great to get the long ball though because it was such a morale booster!
And what is it about the officiating at Yankee Stadium?!?!?! Gardy got tossed after a HORRIBLE (not even close or rational) call at 1B. Clete Thomas was called out for interference/leaving the base path. You know what is funny about that call? Video is really great to show if a runner ever does that.. and sure enough, never happened. No clue where that call came from – even Overbay looked a little surprised. Gardy was more than surprised of course – and as Ron Coomer predicted the moment the call was made, Gardy was tossed for explaining to the ump exactly the relative positions of his head and his ass.
Maybe that was what was necessary because the 1-1 tie didn’t last long after that..
The real story for today is Samuel Deduno. He really kept the Yankees off balance – like he did when he faced them last time in Minnesota on July 4th. At least this time, his colleagues gave him the win! 7 solid innings with only 1 earned run is just about the best we have seen from any of our pitchers lately! So today, he earns our BOD!
If you had told me before the season started that the line up the Twins are using tonight would be something they’d be using in July, I’d have said, “that team must be in trouble.” And they are.
It looks a lot like the kind of “B” line up that Gardy has been known to trot out there for a day game after a night game. But the day game is tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the Rays swapped out their RF and their C and otherwise went with the same line up as the first game of the series.
Anyway, let’s hope Kevin Correia can get some guys out tonight. – JC
Actually, this was NOT a bad game of baseball – this was a pretty well duked-out pitchers duel and you know darn well we come into that gun fight with a knife. BUT the boys actually did a pretty good job at defense – Aaron Hicks was on FIRE! (and something tells me he’ll be feeling the efforts in the morning.)
Sadly, we just couldn’t hold it and they won with a walk-off in the 13th. Sad that there were hardly any fans there to see that kind of game.
It’s the top of the seventh inning and his team is leading by two runs. There are two outs, but the bases are loaded with opposing base runners.
It’s the kind of situation the best relief pitchers almost seem to relish coming in to face.
Kernels relief pitchers Tyler Jones (35) and Steve Gruver (R)
Lefty Steve Gruver and right-hander Tyler Jones have been among the most reliable bullpen arms in the Midwest League this season and have presented a formidable lefty-righty combination out of the Kernels bullpen.
Gruver was one of eight Kernels named to the Midwest League All-Star Game in June and on Friday night it was Gruver who entered the game with two outs and the bases loaded, determined to protect that two-run Kernels lead.
Gruver would like to forget the moments that followed, as Tyrone Taylor launched a grand slam home run off a pitch that found its way too close to the middle of the plate and put the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers up by an 8-6 score.
Gruver finished the final 2 1/3 innings of the game for Cedar Rapids and the Kernels scored once in the eighth inning, but it wasn’t enough, as they lost to Wisconsin 8-7.
The next day, on Saturday afternoon, before the Kernels took on the Lumber Kings in Clinton, Gruver, who was drafted by the Twins out of the University of Tennessee in the seventh round of the 2011 First Year Player Draft, talked about the life of a professional relief pitcher.
Jim Crikket: Steve, this is your second year in the Midwest League and you spent time in Beloit last year both as a part of their starting rotation and pitching out of the bullpen, correct?
Steve Gruver: Most of the year, I started and then toward the end of the year, actually right around this time, I went to the bullpen.
JC: Was that primarily to limit the number of innings on your arm? I know they had a few guys that pitched in both roles last year.
Gruver: There were a few, but mainly for me, my velocity started dropping a little bit and I had a few bad outings in a row. So I was just trying to get back in to not thinking and just trying to throw hard and get my velocity back up a little.
JC: Coming in to this year, did the Twins tell you that this is your role, working out of the bullpen, or did they tell you to be prepared for anything again?
Gruver: It was kind of be prepared for anything. They don’t really let you know too much. They want you to be prepared for anything. They want you to be able to be versatile and come out in any role so I’ve kind of kept it open and like there was a chance to do anything really.
JC: Do you have a particular preference, now that you’ve done both? Is there one role you prefer over the other?
Gruver: I enjoy both. I’m not too picky, as long as I’m pitching. I try to treat every inning as just one inning at a time, whether I’m trying to go six or seven that day or just one. I try and look at it the same, whether I’m starting or relieving.
JC: The preparation between games has to be a little different, though, right?
Gruver: There’s differences in the preparation between the two and I try and keep that the limit of the differences. But there are definitely differences there.
Starting, you have four or five days in between each start, so it’s a little bit more logistical, I guess, in how you prepare. You have a little bit more of a plan going through each day, on what you do each day in your bullpens in between when you pitch.
When you’re in the pen, you kind of have to let it fly. You never know. You could pitch two, three days in a row sometimes. So you don’t have those days in between to throw pens and work out as much. You kind of have to have somewhat of a loose routine when you’re coming out of the pen, compared to a starter routine, which would be very strict and kind of a more day-to-day basis.
JC: As a starter, your pitching coach can work with you in between starts, maybe work on a new grip for one of your pitches. How do you go about making those sorts of adjustments as a reliever when you don’t know whether you’re going to have to pitch that night or not?
Gruver: You have to limit your pitches. You have to really be diligent in what you do and every pitch has to matter when you’re in a relief role.
When you’re trying to get that extra work in, you have to use every pitch. I may only throw 10 pitches in my bullpen when I go out, but I try and make sure every pitch counts and I have a plan for each pitch so that every time I throw, I’m getting something out of it.
JC: What about the mental approach to relieving, as opposed to starting? Out of the bullpen, you have to be prepared to go in either to start an inning or with guys on base.
Gruver: I enjoy that. I enjoy having that excitement, especially when you come in with guys on base. It’s a do or die situation and it kind of gets you focused, it gets you excited and it kind of gets your heart rate up a little bit.
Starting is different. Starting, you have to be a little bit more under control. You’re starting the game and you know that you’re the one the team is counting on to get through the long innings.
There are different approaches to it, but both are exciting in their own way.
JC: Which leads us to last (Friday) night. Bases loaded, you come in and second pitch didn’t go where you wanted it to go. At least it didn’t end up where you wanted it to end up.
Gruver: No, it didn’t. The pitch didn’t go where I wanted it to go, either.
I made a bad pitch and he got the best of me on that one.
As a relief pitcher, that’s got to just disappear from your mind, because tonight they may call on you again in the same situation and you can’t go in there thinking about what happened last time.
Even closer to the situation, I had to go two more innings afterward. I had to get out of that situation and tell myself we can still come back. I have to be able to put that behind me and keep going through the game, just in case we score.
We were only down two and still had a chance to come back. If that was still on my mind, I could have given up two or three more runs the next innings and really blown it.
You have to have a very short memory in those situations.
JC: You said you enjoy that aspect of being a relief pitcher, of always being ready. Is that part of it, too, knowing there’s a little bit of a mental challenge to have that short memory?
Gruver: Yeah, that’s definitely something that’s tough for a lot of guys, but it is exciting. When you can push through that, you feel good even in a bad situation like that. You feel good coming out of it, knowing that you got through it.
You really tell yourself it’s not the end of the world. So next time, you might come in a little bit more relaxed and get out of that situation.
JC: There are some who believe that it takes greater mental fortitude to be a late-inning reliever, as opposed to a middle reliever. Do you look at it that way or does it really not matter when you go in to a game?
Gruver: I try not to make it matter. I try and take every inning as the same. Really, you can break it down in to one pitch at a time, even less than an inning. I’m trying to throw that one pitch, whether you’re up five or down five, you’re trying to make that one pitch at a time.
If you’re coming in during the fourth inning, you tend to be either up a lot or down a lot, so there is a little bit less pressure sometimes. You can come in and try to pound the zone a little more, knowing that even if you give up one or two that you’re still going to be in the game or you’re not inherently affecting the game, where coming in in the eighth or ninth, a lot of times the game’s on the line.
But, overall, you try and look at it the same way.
JC: There’s a perception that it may take a guy less time to reach the Big Leagues as a relief pitcher than as a starting pitcher, particularly for a lefty. Does that influence your preference as far as your role or do you even think about that kind of thing?
Gruver: It’s not my decision. I do what they tell me and I’m happy to be in whatever role, as long as I’m still playing. And If I’m moving up, it doesn’t really matter to me what role I’m in.
JC: Tell me a bit about how you’re finding the Cedar Rapids experience this year. Is there anything in particular about playing in Cedar Rapids that stands out to you?
Gruver: I really enjoy the fans. They get behind us a lot. The games are always exciting in that way. It’s always loud and the fans get in to it. When we’re playing well, the fans let us know. It’s fun to hear a loud crowd. When you’re on the field and something good happens, the fans get in to it just as much as you do.
JC: Off the field, do you have hobbies or other interests? What do you enjoy doing when you’re not at the ballpark?
Gruver: I enjoy some movies. I enjoy being outside a lot. Anything I can. Playing other sports, but I really can’t do that in the season. In the season, in the time I’m not at the field, I enjoy some movies.
I enjoy reading a lot, especially with all the road trips we have and all the time on buses, I’m really getting in to some books. I enjoy that a lot.
JC: Do you have a favorite movie?
Gruver: One of my favorites is “Shawshank Redemption.” It’s a classic favorite.
************************************
Speaking of redemption…
On Monday night in Clinton, In Gruver’s first appearance since Friday’s tough loss, Gruver entered the game in the fifth inning with the Kernels trailing Clinton 3-1.
He threw three shutout innings, giving up just two hits and one walk, while striking out three Lumber Kings hitters, while his team mates came back to take a lead and earning Gruver his fifth win of the season.
It’s another early-afternoon game north of the border.
But the big Twins news since Saturday’s game is that Glen Perkins will be joining Joe Mauer at the MLB All-Star Game next week. Perkins was named to the team by manager Jim Leyland to replace White Sox pitcher (and former Twin) Jesse Crain.
Mauer, from St. Paul, and Perkins, from Stillwater, have known one another since Little League and now they’re going to the Big Apple to play in the Big League All-Star Game. How can these players possibly describe that?
“It’s an awesome deal,” said Mauer.
“It’s pretty neat,” said Perkins.
Are these guys from Minnesota or what?
OK, so those aren’t the ONLY words the players used to describe their feelings, but I think those excerpts pretty much said it all in perfectly concise Minnesotan language.
It will be fun to see the two friends represent the Twins at Citi Field in New York. It will also be fun to see some other former Twins, such as Michael Cuddyer and Carlos Gomez, participate in the game.
But, for now, we’ve got this little matter of the Blue Jays. Scott Diamond is on the hill for the Twins.
I won’t be around to join the chat today. My family tells me there’s a birthday in the family this week, so we’re getting together to celebrate that this afternoon. – JC
I have no idea what happened in this game beyond what I see in the boxscore. Diamond wasn’t good. His relief wasn’t any better (at least until Casey Fien finished up in the 9th) and Justin Morneau was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the 8th inning. Not sure what that’s all about. – JC
Cedar Rapids Kernels hitting coach Tommy Watkins knows his way around a minor league field, having spent parts of 11 seasons as a player in the Minnesota Twins minor league system. Toward the end of the 2007 season, he got to live the dream of every player who ever put on a minor league uniform when he was called up to the Big Leagues by the Twins.
Tommy Watkins hitting ground balls to third baseman Travis Harrison
Since 2009, Watkins has been coaching in the Twins minor league organization and this season is his fourth as the hitting coach for the Twins’ Class A affiliate in the Midwest League (the first three coming with the Twins’ then-affiliate, the Beloit Snappers).
Watkins recently sat down and talked about his role with the Kernels and more.
Jim Crikket: This is the first year in Cedar Rapids for you and the team after spending a few years in Beloit. How do you feel things are going here?
Tommy Watkins: Things are going great here. The people are amazing, just like the people in Beloit were pretty amazing. But things have jumped off here pretty well.
The facility is one of the best in the league, especially in our division. In the other division, you’ve got a lot of the newer parks, but we’ve got one of the best parks in our division and we get a lot of Twins fans, which is fun.
For me, the (batting) cage is right outside the clubhouse so if the guys want to get some extra work, we can go right out and get right to it. It’s been fun.
JC: Describe the work you do as the hitting coach. I’ve been told the organization puts a plan together for all the players in the minor leagues. How do you go about implementing that plan with the hitters?
Watkins: Everybody’s different. We have a hit plan that we stick to throughout the organization, but each guy is different with the drills they like to do or things they need to work on. So, like I said, we’ve got a hit plan over the whole minor leagues. Bill Springman (Twins Minor League Hitting Coordinator) put that together for everybody. And then we go through and we get individual hit plans for each guy.
JC: That sounds like a lot of work.
Watkins: It’s a lot of work, but I’m only dealing with twelve or thirteen guys at a time, so it’s not too bad.
JC: I understand the Twins have implemented some kind of “balance” program for the players in Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers. A program Jim Dwyer (the hitting coach for the Fort Myers Miracle, the next level up the Twins organizational chain) recommended. How’s that going?
Watkins: I think it’s good. The guys all take it pretty serious. I just think it’s training your brain. Just like we go out and take BP every day, they get on that balance board to train their brain. It helps with a lot of things, concentration being one of them I think, for me. I’ve even heard a couple guys talk about getting on it to help their golf game to focus and train your brain.
Jimmy (Dwyer), he got in to it big time last year. Just to see the guys do those exercises, he saw a change in their on-field stuff. It’s just like anything, you’ve got to train your body and you’ve got to use your brain to play and I think it helps you focus more.
We’ve even had guys in the dugout doing it during Batting Practice.
JC: I’ve heard that you sometimes serve as a translator for some of the guys from Latin America. I’d think it must be tough as a coach to communicate with players that don’t speak English. Are you bilingual?
Kernels Hitting Coach Tommy Watkins
Watkins: I like to call it Spanglish. It’s not really Spanish. It’s English mixed with Spanish. All of our guys speak (English) enough. The Twins do a good job of giving the guys classes during spring training and instructional league.
I went down to the Dominican and we had an English teacher down there. So, the Twins do a really good job of trying to help these guys learn English. I think it’s a big part of development and making it to the Big Leagues is learning how to speak the language.
The Twins gave me Rosetta Stone in Spanish. I’ll use it on the bus. It’s pretty good. But I think you learn a lot more by actually dealing with people and talking to people.
JC: During a game, fans can see you motioning to players in the field, moving them around some. Do you have particular in-game responsibilities?
Watkins: I think me and Jake (manager Jake Mauer), we work together on moving the defense around, depending on the batter, depending on the pitcher. We keep a book on what they (opponents) do, so it kind of helps us plan for how we play them defensively. That’s one of the things I do with defense.
When it’s late in a game, we’ll play a guy back in “no doubles,” I’ll let them know that. Or throwing the ball to the cutoff man or whatnot. Just those kind of details.
Hitting wise, I just try to watch their at-bats and see if I can help them out with anything. With approach or maybe a swing they took. A lot of times just trying to see what they were thinking and just get some feedback from them.
The guys are good to work with, all of them. We just talk a lot about approach. I ask them what they see and tell them what I see and try to fix whatever it may be.
JC: Do you get video of your hitters’ at-bats to review with them?
Watkins: We get video of a couple guys every night. Maybe we’ve got a lefty pitching (against us) and we’ll get all the right handed hitters that day. We’ll put it on the video and guys can go back there and take a look at it, analyze it. I have my iPad and sometimes I like to get video on that. They’ve got the video any time they need it. I think they also send it out within the organization so they can see it, too.
JC: You made it to the Major Leagues for a bit as a player with the Twins. Now you’re in your next career as a coach. Is it your goal to work your way back up to that level?
Watkins: I love the coaching part of it and coaching in the Big Leagues is a goal of mine. That’s what I want to shoot for, whether it be managing, coaching third base, first base, whatever it may be. I would love to have a chance to get up there and coach in the Big Leagues.
JC: Just as an observer, the guys seem to really like working with you. It’s got to be easier to coach a guy that you have some sort of rapport with.
Watkins: Yeah it is. We’ve got a bunch of good guys on the team and they get along with each other just as well as they get along with the staff.
JC: They see how you turned Byron Buxton from a nobody in to a prospect like that. It really gives you instant credibility, right? (question posed with a smile and tongue firmly in cheek)
Watkins: (Laughing) Yeah, yeah, right.
JC: That has to give your resume a pretty good shot. “I was Byron Buxton’s hitting coach.”
Watkins: I thank him. He might be able to help me out a lot!
No, but Buxton’s got tremendous talent, as everyone can see. You know, I just tried not to mess him up. When he left, I was like “alright, good.” I was joking with Jim, “hey, Dwyer, don’t mess him up.”
He was a fun guy to watch, man. Easy to coach. You’d suggest something to him, he’d listen and try to work on it. What was good about him was that he could apply it.
A couple times, he’d go 0 for 2 and he’d say, “what am I doing?” I’d say, “you’re alright, you’re OK.” Then the next two he’d hit right up the middle by the pitcher.
I just try to keep all the guys happy and just try to make them feel comfortable. I think that’s the biggest thing. Being comfortable, confident and just trusting in your ability.
There’s a part of me that hopes all of you have something better to do on this holiday than hang out on your computer and chat online about the Twins game with the Yankees, but we’re going to open up the GameChat, just in case.
Babs and Eric are, I believe, planning on attending the game in person. My plans are a bit uncertain at the moment, but there’s a pretty good chance they include spending at least a little bit of time at the ballpark in Cedar Rapids. Game time here isn’t until 5:00 though and it’s looking like a sell-out, so I may have to find a hole in the fence to sneak in through.
Here’s today’s lineup as the Twins try, once again, to win at least one lousy game from the Yankees. Oswaldo Arcia has moved in to the number 3 spot in Ron Gardehire’s batting order. That’s interesting.
