Minnesota Twins: Torii Hunter’s no longer an outfield option
The Minnesota Twins have been overachieving this season; there is no doubt about that. Torii Hunter helped get the Twins off to the solid start, but have your realized how bad that he has been since July?
Mike Berardino crunched the stats going into Saturday’s contest against the Houston Astros.
Torii Hunter since July 1 (entering tonight's game):
— Mike BerardinoNDI (@MikeBerardino) August 30, 2015
165 PA
.166/.224/.298
.522 OPS
.173 BABIP
2 2B
6 HR
20 RBI
9 BB
37 K#MNTwins
The night before this drought began in Cincinnati, Hunter made a long run for a Marlon Byrd foul pop. Did something to his hip on that play.
— Mike BerardinoNDI (@MikeBerardino) August 30, 2015
I could make a joke about how the old-man Torii Hunter hurt his hip playing a young man’s game, but it’s getting to the point that I feel bad for the former All-Star and Gold Glove winner.
Hunter is 40-years-old and it looks like his 40-year-old season should be his last.
As much as I personally was not a fan of the signing this offseason, looking back I can see how the signing makes some sense. Coming into the season, the Twins really didn’t have a lot going for them in the outfield. Centerfield was up in the air, Oswaldo Arcia is hot and cold and there wasn’t anyone that you could say was concretely better than an aging Torii Hunter.
Now it has become clear that Hunter is not needed. Right now, if everyone was healthy, Hunter should be an odd man out for the Twins. Eddie Rosario has done more than enough to keep himself in the starting outfield, Byron Buxton is one of the main cogs of the future and he is going to be in centerfield for years to come and it looks like Aaron Hicks has finally figured it out.
Hicks is outing playing Hunter. Who thought we’d ever say that.
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It’ll be interesting to see what will happens when Hicks is activated and ready to play again. Personally, I’d rather see Hicks in right than Hunter and leave Hunter as a potent pinch hitter.
Look at the stats that Berardino posted on Twitter. Hunter isn’t doing great at the plate, but he still has hit six home runs. That’s the best role for Hunter right now.
It’s hard to see someone who used to be so darn good for the Twins fall on this hard of times, but Father Time catches up to us all. Sometimes that happens on a big stage.
Next: Sano hits the ball real hard!