{"id":77792,"date":"2025-08-15T01:56:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T01:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=77792"},"modified":"2025-08-15T01:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T01:56:07","slug":"minnesota-twins-ryan-jeffers-says-he-can-handle-heat-of-increased-catching-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=77792","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Twins\u2019 Ryan Jeffers says he can handle heat of increased catching duty"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div data-testid=\"article-body-item\">\n<p>Jeffers has never started more than 81 games in a season at catcher, though his DH workload has gradually increased. He entered Tuesday hitting .315 as the designated hitter this season with an .867 OPS, making it more tempting than ever for Baldelli to put him in the lineup on his \u201cdays off.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"article-body-item\">\n<p>Which is OK with Jeffers.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/ybmedia\/image\/upload\/c_crop,e_improve,h_1125,w_2000,x_0,y_60\/c_fill,f_auto,h_900,q_auto,w_1600\/v1\/m\/4\/d\/4dc45c3d2a51522f43f11556174c5df4a29871e4\/aug-6-2025-detroit-michigan-usa-minnesota-twins.jpg\" alt=\"Twins' Ryan Jeffers drew a lot of interest at trade deadline | Yardbarker\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"article-body-item\">\n<p><em>\u201cThis is my best season at the plate. I\u2019m more comfortable than ever. You look at my numbers, I\u2019m hitting the ball harder and more often than ever,\u201d said Jeffers, whose hard-hit rate, as calculated by MLB Statcast, is at a career-best 44%. His home run power is down a bit \u2014 just eight this year, after hitting 21 a year ago \u2014 but he has already eclipsed his career high in walks, and after posting a 12-game hitting streak this month, his career high in hits will fall in the next week or so.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"article-body-item\">\n<p>But can he handle the August heat?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"article-body-item\">\n<p>\u201cIf I can handle last weekend\u201d at Target Field, when humidity registered above 90%, Jeffers said, \u201cI can handle anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Praise for Gasper<\/h2>\n<div data-testid=\"article-body-item\">\n<p>Baldelli had a few words of praise for Gasper\u2019s work behind the plate, too, since the 29-year-old rookie has mostly played first and second base with the Twins.<\/p>\n<p>Gasper got his first start there Sunday, breaking Jeffers and V\u00e1zquez\u2019s 440-game streak in which one of them started every game. He also started Tuesday, throwing out <b>Trent Grisham<\/b> at second base in the second inning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christian V\u00e1zquez is out after a surgical procedure on his shoulder, meaning that Ryan Jeffers figures to get more time as a backstop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":77793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Minnesota Twins\u2019 Ryan Jeffers says he can handle heat of increased catching duty - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=77792\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minnesota Twins\u2019 Ryan Jeffers says he can handle heat of increased catching duty - 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