Paul Molitor has surprising Twins in tie for first in tough AL Central
You could make a pretty good case that the AL Central is toughest division in baseball right now. You’ve got the Tigers, a perennial powerhouse who have won the division four years in a row. You’ve got the Royals, the defending American League champions. The Indians were a trendy preseason World Series pick by some, and the White Sox retooled in the offseason by picking up Jeff Samardzija and Melky Cabrera.
Yet despite those star-studded teams at the top, as June approaches it is the Minnesota Twins who have been the surprise of the division, racing out to a 28-18 record and a share of first place. The Twins didn’t make any sexy offseason moves unless you count signing 39-year-old outfielder Torii Hunter, or pitcher Ervin Santana who was suspended for 80 games before the season even began.
For a team that has averaged just 66 wins over the last four seasons, the Twins biggest offseason move was hiring Paul Molitor as their new manager. Molitor, a Hall of Famer and Minnesota native, had no previous managing experience but took the task of rebuilding a team that regularly won the division in the early part of this century under Ron Gardenhire.
After completing a sweep of the Red Sox on Wednesday night and extending their win streak to five, it seems the rest of the league is starting to take notice of the Twins.
You won’t find many Twins players on major-league leaderboards. Third baseman Trevor Plouffe is their early WAR leader, Joe Mauer – a career .317 hitter – is batting just .276, but as a team they’ve scored the eighth most runs in the majors. Pitchers Kyle Gibson and Mike Pelfrey are off to fine starts sporting ERAs of 2.72 and 2.77, respectively. But the Twins’ team ERA of 3.94 is only 16th best in the majors.
It’s hard to say whether the Twins are for real or if this is early-season, small sample size luck. They seem to be a team that is a jack of many trades, but master of none. Sometimes being just pretty good at everything can go a long way, just ask the Royals. Last season they were 14th in runs scored, dead last in home runs, 12th in team ERA, and 26th in fielding percentage. Doesn’t sound like a team worth watching, but they rode that all the way to within a game of the World Series.
Maybe Molitor’s miracle Twins can do the same in 2015.
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Ian Denomme is an editor and writer for Yahoo Sports. Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.
