Last July, a happier time when something called Major League Baseball was actually taking place, I wrote a piece singing the praises of Twins catcher Mitch Garver. At that point, Garver was amid a breakout season in which he served as a key member of the Twins’ high-powered offense, aka the Bomba Squad – a unit that piled up an all-time record 307 home runs. Garver contributed about 10 percent of those, totaling 31 and finishing as one of five Twins who hit 30 or more.
Garver wasn’t just a one-trick pony who offered just power last year, either, as he wound up with an outstanding .273/.365/.630 line over his 359 plate appearances. Because he was part of a behind-the-plate timeshare with Jason Castro, Garver made just 93 appearances on the season. That means he hit a homer every three games; he also wound up with a .357 isolated power mark that paced all players who amassed 300-plus trips to the plate (AL MVP Mike Trout and AL Rookie of the Year Yordan Alvarez were his closest competitors).
Speaking of Trout, he has a new teammate in Castro, who will be the Angels’ starting catcher in 2020 if a season ever gets underway. The Twins, meanwhile, are now poised to hand the reins to Garver, whom free-agent addition Alex Avila will back up. Judging by what he did last season, Garver has a chance to end up as the Twins’ most productive catcher since Joe Mauer’s heyday donning the tools of ignorance.
It wasn’t just a matter of Garver posting all-world bottom-line production with the bat last season. He also ranked among Statcast’s top hitters in one important category after another. To name some examples, Garver was in the 85th percentile or better in average exit velocity, hard-hit percentage, expected slugging percentage and expected weighted on-base average (.380, compared to a real wOBA of .405). He was also remarkably consistent, evidenced by a 155 wRC+ in the first half and a 154 mark in the second. Furthermore, the right-handed slugger managed numbers that were easily above average against lefties and righties alike (198 wRC+ versus LHPs, 130 off RHPs).
It’s not easy to find a red flag when it comes to Garver’s 2019 offensive outburst. Adding to his appeal, he performed pretty well behind the plate. Sure, Garver threw out a paltry 16 percent of would-be base stealers (league average was 11 points better), but he did finish a solid 28th in Baseball Prospectus’ Framing Runs Above Average metric and a slightly better 24th as a pitch framer.
All said, the Twins seem to have stumbled on a gem in Garver, who joined the organization as a ninth-round pick in 2013 and who appears to have developed into a formidable all-around contributor. The 29-year-old was quietly one of the reasons the Twins won 101 games and an American League Central title last season. If they’re going to enjoy similar success going forward, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Garver continue to have a big hand in it.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Forgot Avila signed with the Twins. He will help big time with Garver’s development. Twins might actually contend for the WS with that backstop duo.
Whoa! How about the Twins worry about advancing past the first round before World Series talk
Whoa!!! How about the White Sox focus on getting to the playoffs before worrying about the twins playoff chances.
Whole lotta whoa!
Great Led Zeppelin song…
Enough with the whoas already!! Cue always sunny episode
Or AC/DC song
I think Avila could learn a thing or two from Garver, not the other way around.
If they avoid the yanks in the playoffs, they can do some damage.
They probably could, since the Yankees are their Kryptonite, but there’s obviously other very good teams in the American League.
The Central is a joke, loaded with easy wins. Even the Indians started a rebuild when they traded Kluber. The Twins will at least get a WC and I’m on Twitter if you want to DM to setup a friendly wager.
Tigers and Royals are rebuilding and are easier targets for wins.
However, the Indians won 93 games last season without Kluber and a litany of injuries to key players, so his being dealt is hardly a sign of a rebuild.
The White Sox have a potent line up of young hitters with more on the way,no easy wins there.
Sleeping on those two teams because the Twins had a once in a hundred years first half last season is the height of hubris.
Can’t just say it was the first half. The Indians took the lead in the division in the second half. Which lasted about a day and the Twins ended up winning by 8 games.
Agree on the point though. The AL East has the Orioles and Blue Jays at the bottom so not like there are soft spots in other divisions.
Twins have ZERO pitching for the playoffs. From a Central fan
I think the Twins are one of the teams a shortened season threatens the most. Pineda will still have to serve the entirety of his suspension while the Indians and White Sox SPs recover from a few injuries. Also, in a short season, getting hot for 3 weeks means more than it does in a normal season. I believe they’ll still make the playoffs, but I don’t think they’re a lock to win the division like they’d be in a full season.
A short season is the Wild West, if the season is only a couple months then anything could happen. Losing Pineda for a larger chunk of the season does hurt the Twins but a little nitpick, it’s not the entirety of his suspension, just the last 40 or so games left of it. Obviously a short season makes that hurt more.
Ok, fair point on the suspension. I’m hoping the season can still be 100 games. If they start on July 4th and are willing to let the WS play in November at a neutral site (provided it’s not two warm-weather or domed stadium teams), it could still happen. The longer the season, the more likely the Twins win and the Indians and White Sox fight for #2 and a possible WC. Of course, this is baseball, so who knows what will actually happen? This sport always seems to have a few surprises each year; it’s one of the reasons I love it.
Indians, Twins and White Sox seem to be serious playoff contenders.
White Sox will surprise and be in contention all year/
Twins and Indians also have serious talent for playoffs if everything goes well.
Royals and Tigers are still rebuilding.
Many Divisions have their share of rebuilding and struggling teams.
The Orioles and Blue Jays and to some extent the Red Sox made the AL East weaker in 2019. The Mariners, Angels and Rangers were very bad in 2019 also.
NL had some bad teams last year also including 3 bad teams in the NL West..
So stop with the whining, crying and complaining about the AL East having too many hard games etc…That is BS.
Yankee stadium is a hitters park that inflates the numbers of the home team’s offense. too like Coors Field in Colorado…
AL Central record v. AL East: 77-88
AL Central record v. AL West: 70-95
AL Central playoff victories in 2019: 0
We’ll wait before taking the Central serious.
Succint, to the point, and compelling. Well done, wild bill.
Agreed!
You’re welcome Mo. You could learn a thing or seven.
Leave it to you to return a compliment with an insult. smh. Guess that’s your bran of social networking. Seeing as you had your a** handed to you in our last exchange about my background vs. thetruth’s on the subject of covid, you’d thin you’d tread lightly. I was trying to smooth it over. Nice job.
All you did was post skewed data lmao. You even cited the data incorrectly and ignored obvious problems with the data.
“The death rate among infected people is 5.2% at the moment”
Wrong. The death rate is based off confirmed cases. Not number of infected people. Nobody knows how many people have been,currently are, or will be infected.
“The current % of death IS 5.2%. 685K cases. 35.5K deaths”
Yeah that’s also wrong. You’re attributing the deaths to Corona. You are not factoring in preexisting health conditions. The time institute began combing through Italian deaths as a result of Corona. Last I read they combed through 18% of the deaths. They shockingly found that 99% of the cases they looked at had preexisting health issues such as diabetes or high blood pressure.
Mo, buddy, your hands should be kept to yourself. Anyone can skew or use absurd arguments to come across as smart. The only thing you handed over was your inability to type, proofread or take a good joke.
As for me “thin you’d tread lightly”, I’ll let your words speak for itself. I will calmly, and rightly point out, that you couldn’t smooth things over with anyone due to your combativeness and overall lack of intelligence.
Want to smooth things over? Apologize. If you don’t think you were wrong then there’s no need to smooth things over. Nice work. Again.
I am 100X more well informed about covid than either you wild bill or hosbelion, because my sources are better. Hosebelion, I’ll take the vetted data from the CDC over you any day. Any day. I love it when people who are not properly educated, trained or experienced in a subject like to tangle with the experts as if they are peers. Always amusing.
wild bill, what could I apologize for? For explaining that I am in a far superior position to speak about covid than thetruth? Why would I apologize for something I made clear was so obviously true? You’re nuts.
hOsebEeLion
“You are not factoring in preexisting health conditions. The time institute began combing through Italian deaths as a result of Corona.”
I wasn’t referring to Italian data. I was referring to CDC data for the U.S. It has been vetted by experts, not average schmoes like you. If anything the numbers of deaths are lower than actual since many people dying of lower respiratory causes were not tested for covid (though they have tightened that up).
The death rate among those testing positive for COVID was 5.2% at the time I reported (I haven’t checked since). You just can’t handle it so you spew uninformed nonsense to the contrary.
hOsebEeLion, wild bill
The death rate is currently running 5.3%. 748K testing positive, 39.8K deaths. If you can do simple math and aren’t so ignorant you’ll argue with the experts…
wild bill
You had the stupidity to argue with me about thetruth and me on the subject of covid when you knew nothing about either thetruth or me. I have been tangling with thetruth for weeks so I know him. He’s a 25 year-old know-it-all with two friends who are Med STUDENTS. He got chided for that so he now calls them “actual doctors.” He once even said he has “lots of friends in the medical community.” This is all bogus, made up since he realized his wild covid ideas were not being well-received. He also rests on linking to opinion pieces from non-medical authors. Then he has his own highly regarded common sense. Well common sense tells you to wash your hands. Expertise tells you to do it for 20 seconds. That’s why we listen to experts.
That’s thetruth.
I already explained my background, with a connection through my wife, chair of a medical graduate department with connections to an international community of medical professionals, including those with specialties in virology, infectious diseases, epidemiology, and senior officials at the highest levels of hospital administration. thetruth does not. You do not.
If you were intellectually honest enough you would recognize and respect the difference, rather than asking for an apology to you or thetruth. But you clearly are not intellectually honest.
I watched Pineda warm up in the Mariner’s bullpen during his rookie year. You can stand and watch pitchers warm up there and they’re about 10 to 15 ft. away.The bullpen catcher’s mitt would loudly pop with each pitch. But the last pitch he threw he really let fly and the mitt pop sounded like a firecracker! And the ball was a total blur. High 90’s and maybe 100 mph. He’s a big horse of a dude. I hope he continues his success and stays healthy.
Thank you for letting us know that 31 year old Michael Pineda, who has over 800 Major League innings and has been a relatively know commodity for a decade, throws hard.
Ouch!
What a jackass thing to say.
Comment wasn’t necessary Nebraska.
What ever happened to Turner who was developing in the Twins organization at the same time as Garver. My last memory was that Turner went to the Reds in the Rule 5 Draft.
I believe he is still in the Reds’ system
Stuart Turner? He was released by the Reds last fall and Baseball Reference shows no current team listed…..
Twins must be doing somethimg right with their minor league coaching. Garver is was outstanding in 400 pa. Louis Arraez looks to be an even better hitter. Arraez ia one of my favorites in the game next to Nick Madrigal since these player walk more than k and dont k often.