Twins off to hot start to the season

After a disappointing end to the 2018 season, this year starts off on a good note

Kevin Korbel
Sports Editor

As the Minnesota Twins slowly begin their 2019 campaign, there are many reasons to be excited by this team’s early 4-1 start to the season after matchups with the Cleveland Indians at home, and the Kansas City Royals on the road this season.

One of the biggest reasons to be excited about the team this season is the amount of depth the team possesses this season, with the pitching staff looking the best on paper in years, almost going back to the days where we saw the one-two punch of starting pitchers Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano.

This season, with pitchers Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, and Michael Pineda having a rich background in getting big outings when it matters most, with also Kyle Gibson and Martin Perez rounding out the rotation, the team finally has a reliable set of arms that can come out and pitch when they need it most. 

There bullpen looks to also be very strong this season, with the acquisition of former Angels reliever Blake Parker, and also finally seeing a fully healthy Trevor May pitching for the club this season. 

Relief pitchers Taylor Rogers and Trevor Hildenberger also looks to be reliable arms for the club this season, with Rogers having a low 2.73 ERA to end the season last year.

Twins catcher Willians Astudillo looks to be a diamond in the rough for the club this season. After hitting .355 in 29 ball games to end the year last season, he again has proven that he belongs in the MLB, hitting .667 to begin the season in three games with the club. Nicknamed “El Tortuga” by his teammates, which means tortoise, he’s shown that while he does possess a bigger frame than the average ballplayer, he can rumble around the bases.

The biggest acquisition for the team this season was no doubt former Seattle Mariners slugger Nelson Cruz.

Cruz, who’s coming off a season where he hit 37 homeruns and 97 RBIs, has already been a nice bat to have in the lineup, especially since third baseman Miguel Sano is out with an injury for the next month.

Cruz has the only home run this season through five games on the season, but that hasn’t stopped the team from putting runs on the scoreboard, averaging 4.8 runs per game, which is enough to get a win in the MLB nowadays with the rise in pitching talent.

As the Twins move forward in the season, they hit a tough road opponent this weekend in outfielder and MLB the Show cover athlete, Bryce Harper, and the Philadelphia Phillies. Don’t get your hopes up just yet, but this looks to be a special team in 2019.

Header photo courtesy of the Associated Press.