Following are graphs and commentary regarding the 2003 season of the Minnesota Twins. Questions or comments can be sent to me at dave@baseballgraphs.com.
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| Move your mouse over this graph to view the status of each team at the season's midpoint (July 1st). |
![]() Fielding Independent Pitching is based on the following formula: (13*HR+3*BB-2*K)/IP. Defense Efficiency Ratio is (Non-catcher putouts/Batted Balls in Play), adjusted for ballpark. Circle sizes in this graph are proportional to the percent of fieldable balls successfully converted into outs by the fielders. |
The Twins' Pitching and Fielding
The Twins had good pitching and a good DER, but their fielding was below-average. Based on where balls were hit, the Twins' expected DER should have been pretty good, but it wasn't quite. This is based on some recent work by David Pinto at Baseball Musings. The Humpdome is a funny place. It's a slightly good environment for batters most of the time (that is, it's a little easier to score runs there) mostly because it's not a good place for fielders. DER tends to be higher for the Twins due to this, and this chart attempts to correct for that home park bias. I'm still working on this, though. And conclusions are elusive. Anyway, only Johan Santana, among Twin starters, had a good DER behind him (.725). Of course, Santana's FIP was outstanding (0.15) and the two stats combined made him the best pitcher on the staff. How to Read this Graph |
Minnesota Twins' Win SharesPlayer Team Pos Hit Field Pitch Sum WS -------- ----- ---- ---- ---- ----- ----- --- A Pierzynski MIN C 14.74 6.84 0.00 21.58 22 C Koskie MIN 3B 15.83 5.28 0.00 21.11 21 D Mientkiewicz MIN 1B 17.15 2.43 0.00 19.58 20 T Hunter MIN OF 10.28 6.14 0.00 16.42 16 J Santana MIN P 0.00 0.00 16.07 16.07 16 E Guardado MIN P 0.00 0.00 14.58 14.58 15 J Jones MIN OF 11.93 2.15 0.00 14.08 14 C Guzman MIN SS 6.28 7.05 0.00 13.32 13 L Hawkins MIN P 0.00 0.00 13.24 13.24 13 B Radke MIN P 0.00 0.00 12.50 12.50 12 M LeCroy MIN DH 11.18 0.50 0.00 11.68 12 K Lohse MIN P 0.00 0.00 11.35 11.35 11 K Rogers MIN P 0.00 0.00 10.74 10.74 11 S Stewart MIN OF 7.31 1.64 0.00 8.94 9 B Kielty MIN OF 7.29 0.69 0.00 7.98 8 J Rincon MIN P 0.00 0.00 6.72 6.72 7 L Rivas MIN 2B 2.48 4.09 0.00 6.57 6 D Mohr MIN OF 3.62 2.41 0.00 6.03 6 R Reed MIN P 0.00 0.00 4.98 4.98 5 M Ryan MIN OF 3.72 0.56 0.00 4.28 4 D Hocking MIN 2B 1.39 2.75 0.00 4.14 4 L Ford MIN OF 3.80 0.27 0.00 4.06 4 J Romero MIN P 0.00 0.00 2.79 2.79 3 C Gomez MIN 2B 0.38 1.95 0.00 2.33 2 J Mays MIN P 0.00 0.00 1.90 1.90 2 E Milton MIN P 0.00 0.00 1.85 1.85 2 G Balfour MIN P 0.00 0.00 1.80 1.80 2 T Sears MIN 1B 1.52 0.20 0.00 1.72 2 M Restovich MIN OF 1.28 0.35 0.00 1.64 2 J Morneau MIN DH 1.20 0.06 0.00 1.26 1 M Fetters MIN P 0.00 0.00 0.96 0.96 1 T Prince MIN C 0.55 0.37 0.00 0.92 1 M Cuddyer MIN OF 0.32 0.53 0.00 0.85 1 C Pulido MIN P 0.00 0.00 0.77 0.77 1 T Fiore MIN P 0.00 0.00 0.75 0.75 1 J Orosco MIN P 0.00 0.00 0.24 0.24 0 A Prieto MIN 2B 0.00 0.12 0.00 0.12 0 J Baldwin MIN P 0.00 0.00 0.12 0.12 0 R Bowen MIN C 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 A Johnson MIN P 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 M Nakamura MIN P 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 B Thomas MIN P 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 |
The Twins' Individual Players
The Twins' offense was powered by five very good hitters in Jones, Hunter, Koskie and those two guys with hard-to-spell names. Compared to position, however, Koskie and Pierzynski and Mientkiewicz were the top offensive contributors, and they were ranked third and second and third at their positions in Win Shares, respectively. One of the best midseason pickups was Shannon Stewart, who contributed nine Win Shares to the Twins' cause and made the lineup that much deeper. Moving Johan Santana to the rotation was perhaps the most critical decision they made all year. The bullpen certainly didn't need him. It was one of the best in the league with Guardado, Hawkins and crew. You can view all American League Win Shares data via the following links:All Players, Top to Bottom Players Ranked by Position Players Fielding WS by Position |
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