Twinkies again

In 1982, the Minnesota Twins had a line-up largely comprised of talented AAA players who were put into the Major Leagues in sort of a trial-by-fire.  They showed a lot of pop in their bats and other forms of promise, but still lost 102 games. One of the young players was Tom Brunansky, who hit 20 home runs and struck out 102 times, while batting .272.

Pretty respectable with a lot of upside.

This year's version of a AAA team in Minneapolis is going to finish with fewer than 100 losses, and similarly show some promise and pop in their bats.  "Bruno" is their hitting coach, which would seem to be the right kind of guy to bring these guys to a true Major League level (as Bert Blyleven might say, several times each evening).

The two troubling differences this year are:

1) Many of this year's "AAA" players are not 21-22 years old like the '82 squad
2) This years squad has struck out 1369 times through 157 games, compared with 887 for the whole 1982 season

That's a concerning number, and while it's too soon to tell, it concerns me that perhaps Bruno isn't the guy for the job.  They aren't just striking out a lot; they are doing it ugly. Cookies taken for called strike three. Ugly attempts at check swings on pitches two feet from the strike zone. Swinging horribly late on fastballs.

And worst of all, missing perfectly grooved fastballs by more than an inch or two.

That's about 8.5 strikeouts per game.  That means the average starting pitcher they face would be on pace to strikeout well over 200 batters in a season just by facing the Twins.  Average. And unlike the 1982 Twins, there's not one 20 home run hitter in the bunch this year.

Bruno probably deserves a second year, but I can't help but think they aren't learning much from him.

The joke in '82 was that the Twins set an all-time home attendance record for a AAA club.  This year's club has shattered that mark as well, but no one is laughing.