Twins' winning April gives hope for season beyond

This year, the Twins did not do a faceplant out of the gate.

In fact, a 7-5 victory at Kansas City on Sunday enabled the Twins to finish April at 12-11. It's the first time the Twins have reached May 1 with a winning record since 2010.

"By no means are we where we want to be," second baseman Brian Dozier said, "but it has been a lot better."

Still smarting from an 103-loss season in 2016, which included an 0-9 start and a 7-17 April record, the Twins arrived at spring training determined to change under Derek Falvey, their new chief baseball officer.

The Twins have seen across-the-board improvement through one month. Even the pitching staff, which had the worst ERA in baseball a year ago, has been reliable — its 3.93 ERA was 10th in the major leagues in April.

There only have been a few games in which the Twins reverted back to last year's rock-bottom form. But overall, young players have taken steps forward and fewer mistakes have been made.

It was a month on which the Twins can build.

The most surprising part of the start might be the defense.

The Twins opened last season with Miguel Sano in right field, which was hard on the eyes. Kurt Suzuki, not known for his defense, was behind the plate. Robbie Grossman was a minor league free agent who ended up playing in the outfield throughout much of the season.

According to the website FanGraphs, the Twins' minus-39 rating in defensive runs saved in 2016 was second-worst in the major leagues. Defensive runs saved is used to help measure overall defensive value. Twins catchers were 29th, shortstops were 28th, right fielders 23rd and third basemen 22nd.

Sano was moved back to third in the middle of 2016, but he looks much more comfortable there this season. Jason Castro, signed as a free agent, took over behind the plate. Molitor has made a priority of using Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton and Max Kepler in the outfield.

The Twins ended April third in MLB in defensive runs saved at plus-11. Twins catchers are 10th, outfielders third, and shortstops (mainly Jorge Polanco) fourth.

"Polanco has worked his tail off," Dozier said. "He has really slowed the game down more than ever, which is huge. He's been making the routine plays and has done a good job. Even communication with me, it has been night and day."

And it has made life easier for the pitching staff.

"Defense had been one of our best assets to this point," Molitor said.

After a month's worth of games, the small sample size argument starts to ... shrink. So the Twins just might be a more disciplined team at the plate.

In April, the Twins tied for first in the majors with 102 walks — and their walk rate of 11.6 percent is tops. The Twins were 21st in walks a year ago. Five players have double-digit walk totals this season, with Sano (first) and Grossman (seventh) among the top 10 in the American League. Grossman doesn't necessarily fit the power-hitting mold of a designated hitter, but his .413 on-base percentage has been a boost to the offense.

Molitor said hitters are more willing to take walks and have improved their two-strike approaches. Now the Twins are getting into opponents' bullpens earlier in games.

Friday, the Twins managed only two hits and two runs off Kansas City's Ian Kennedy. But Kennedy had to leave after 5⅓ innings with 110 pitches thrown because the Twins made him work.

A four-run Twins burst in the eighth inning won the game.

"Each individual is doing a better job of taking upon themselves to be prepared for games," Dozier said. "Trust me, we talked about preparation more than ever during spring training. And I think it is starting to pay off."

One month was nice. Can the Twins back it up?

The bullpen has been mostly reliable (if you forget the 11 runs it gave up Wednesday at Texas).

Pitching has to continue to be a surprise if the Twins are going to build off their start to the season.

"It's a nice boost," said righthander Phil Hughes, off to a 4-1 start despite a 5.06 ERA. "At the same time, it is a long year. We have a long way to go and we know that."

The long-term view is that turnarounds generally don't occur until the pitching staff is fixed.

A handful of pitching prospects in the minors — including righthander Jose Berrios, who is 2-0 with a 1.09 ERA at Class AAA Rochester — eventually will get a chance to contribute. There are several hard-throwing relief prospects, such as Mason Melotakis and Nick Burdi, who should eventually be in the majors.

They don't appear to be the easy mark they were a year ago.