Twins slugger Chris Colabello is one of those people you cheer for. He's a great guy, generous with his time. He's a great teammate. He's a great story. What he still needs to prove, despite his impressive performance in early April, is that he is a big-league hitter.

On April 23, Colabello went 2-for-6 with a homer and four RBI. At that moment, he was becoming one of the best stories in all of baseball, if not all of sport — a former independent league grinder who had finally found success in the majors.

Since that day, Colabello is 8-for-69 (a .116 batting average) with one double and one home run.

The fear in the Twins' organization is that opposing pitchers, forced to dissect Colabello's swing because of the threat he posed, have found his flaws and are working him over. If Colabello can't adjust to the adjustments pitchers have made against him, he might not last long in the big leagues, even if his RBI total remains impressive.

Maybe he's just in a slump. But he'll have to prove that's all it is if he's going to regain his status as a heartwarming story.

Souhan on Sports: startribune.com/sports