{"id":84228,"date":"2025-08-27T11:11:58","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T11:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=84228"},"modified":"2025-08-27T11:18:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T11:18:18","slug":"breaking-rocco-baldelli-and-the-twins-have-big-plans-for-the-bases-heres-what-theyre-cooking-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=84228","title":{"rendered":"Breaking: Rocco Baldelli and the Twins Have Big Plans for the Bases\u2014Here\u2019s What They\u2019re Cooking Up"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After years of relying on power, Minnesota is embracing a new brand of aggressiveness.<\/div>\n
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Image courtesy of \u00a9 Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Since\u00a0Rocco Baldelli\u00a0took over as manager in 2019, the Minnesota Twins have been built to slug. That first year, the \u201cBomba Squad\u201d shattered records, launching baseballs into the seats while Baldelli mostly sat back and let the lineup do the heavy lifting. The half-decade since has been marked by attempts to recreate that magic, with lineups stacked with power but lacking speed and athleticism. The result? An offense that too often stalls when the long ball isn\u2019t there.Now, Baldelli and his staff are pushing a new agenda\u2014one that looks nothing like the passive, station-to-station approach of recent years.\u00a0On Sunday\u2019s Inside Twins broadcast, Baldelli pulled back the curtain on the team\u2019s new emphasis on basepath aggressiveness.<\/p>\n

Why Now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Baldelli admitted that the shift had been on his mind for some time, but it wasn\u2019t until bench coach\u00a0Jayce Tingler\u00a0presented the idea that the wheels started turning.<\/p>\n

\u201cJayce Tingler, our bench coach, actually came to me last week and said, \u2018Hey, what do you think about doing something drastic? What do you think about really opening this thing up on the bases,\u2019\u201d Baldelli said. \u201cKnowing that it might get a little wild out there at times, but leaving it in the hands of the players to be more aggressive in every possible way.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Who is the Twins’ best pitching prospect?<\/h3>\n
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The timing, Baldelli explained, felt right for experimentation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought to myself, if we are ever going to do this, there\u2019s no better time than right now to see what it looks like if you allow our players to open it up,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen some great, seen some good, seen some not so good, but overall I\u2019ve been really pleased with what I\u2019ve seen from it. I like this team more aggressive than not-aggressive.\u201dMinnesota has added players to the roster in the second half, like\u00a0Luke Keaschall,\u00a0James Outman,\u00a0Austin Martin, and\u00a0Ryan Fitzgerald. While they have seen various levels of baserunning success, there is more speed on the roster compared to earlier in the season. There\u2019s also nothing to lose in a season heading toward 90 losses. Let the players run wild and see if the team can perform better than expected.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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A Missed Opportunity Earlier?<\/strong>
\nOf course, some fans might wonder if the team waited too long to make such a shift. Outside the team\u2019s 13-game winning streak, the offense struggled to find consistency. However, Baldelli pushed back against that narrative.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always easier to say after the fact that something could have been done,\u201d Baldelli said. \u201cI think at that point, we were actually playing really good baseball. Say we didn\u2019t play well for a week, that I was going to make a massive overhaul to let our players go wild and aggressively on the bases. I don\u2019t think that was the right time to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That restraint, though, may give way to a new identity for this roster, a team that makes opponents uncomfortable by applying pressure on the bases.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Player<\/td>\nSprint Speed (ft\/s)<\/td>\nExtra Bases Taken<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Byron Buxton<\/a><\/td>\n30.1<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James Outman<\/td>\n28.7<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Luke Keaschall<\/td>\n28.5<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Austin Martin<\/td>\n28.3<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ryan Fitzgerald<\/td>\n28.0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kody Clemens<\/a><\/td>\n27.8<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Aggressive vs. Reckless<\/strong>
\nOf course, with freedom comes the risk of chaos. Fans watching from home will wonder: how do you know if it\u2019s aggression or simply recklessness?<\/p>\n

\u201cTruthfully, I\u2019m watching it the same way that fans are watching it,\u201d Baldelli admitted. \u201cI\u2019m used to putting signs on dictating when we do what, and right now, the players are going to have a little more openness and ability and freedom out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fine line, but one Baldelli seems willing to live with as the Twins shift gears. Baldelli was known for his aggressive approach as a player, so it makes sense that that\u2019s the type of team he\u2019d want to manage. For fans looking to spot the difference in this new approach, Baldelli pointed to a handful of cues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot to watch,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe jumps, the leads. It\u2019s going to be the number of times we go out there trying to take extra bases. You do that out of the box and on your initial first couple of steps on the base paths. You should see guys on their toes and trying to make things happen and not just waiting for things to happen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In a season where power production has not come easily, the Twins are looking for an edge. Speed and aggressiveness may not be as flashy as 400-foot home runs, but they can grind down opponents, turn singles into doubles, and manufacture the kind of runs that win close games.<\/p>\n

The \u201cBomba Squad\u201d identity carried Minnesota for a season. If Baldelli\u2019s vision takes hold, this new style might carry them further.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After years of relying on power, Minnesota is embracing a new brand of aggressiveness. Image courtesy of \u00a9 Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images Since\u00a0Rocco Baldelli\u00a0took over as manager in… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":84246,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nBreaking: Rocco Baldelli and the Twins Have Big Plans for the Bases\u2014Here\u2019s What They\u2019re Cooking Up - 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=84228\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Breaking: Rocco Baldelli and the Twins Have Big Plans for the Bases\u2014Here\u2019s What They\u2019re Cooking Up - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After years of relying on power, Minnesota is embracing a new brand of aggressiveness. 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