Twins camp changes: How and why Rocco Baldelli restructured spring workouts

New York Times

19-02-2025

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Only two days in, several prominent veteran players lauded the restructured, fundamentally focused spring training camp run by Twins manager Rocco Baldelli.
Now in year seven as the team's manager, Baldelli and his coaching staff are shaking things up by preparing the position players differently for the regular season.
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Daily practice sessions now begin an hour earlier and position players work together on the same field more frequently. Previously, they separated into smaller groups with a greater focus on individual drills.
With more emphasis on hitting fundamentals and better situational play, the Twins hope working as a group can be a catalyst for improvement.
'It's now mandatory,' shortstop Carlos Correa said. 'With this structure that we have, everybody has to be outside, everybody has to go out for (batting practice). Everybody has to be taking ground balls with the team. Everybody has to run every day because it pushes everybody. That's exactly what we need.'
Asked about the team's late-season collapse and the influence it's having on spring camp, Baldelli clearly would prefer to look forward. He's pleased with the way his players conducted themselves during the offseason and feels their preparation was top-notch. But in surveying the changes to how this camp is being operated, it's hard to not see the fingerprints of a 12-27 stretch that sank the 2024 Twins from a sure postseason team to missing the playoffs.
A year ago, the Twins spent much of their mornings in meetings, taking the field to begin work at 11 a.m., but this spring, they're outside between 10 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. The team's pitchers are preparing as they always have, but position players are now required to stretch, take batting practice, run the bases and work on defensive drills together.
Batting practice under new hitting coach Matt Borgschulte also is structured differently. The first two of five rounds are dedicated to hitting the opposite way. Round three is focused on hitting line drives. Hitters determine how they approach the final two rounds.
Though they finished 10th in the majors in runs scored with an average of 4.6 runs per game, the Twins batted .228/.292/.354 with 31 homers over their final 39 games. The Twins were only 12-36 (.250) in games in which they didn't homer, including 2-16 over the final 39 contests. By comparison, all 30 teams combined for a .316 winning percentage in homeless games, according to STATS Perform. With Borgschulte as hitting coach, the Baltimore Orioles were 13-27 (.325) in games in which they didn't homer.
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'I hope it makes us a better situational baseball team, and I don't necessarily mean the bunting and hitting-and-running type of situational,' Baldelli said. 'I'm talking about thinking along with the games, knowing when to do one thing and knowing when to do another thing, knowing when to shorten up and when that's going to bring us where we need to be.'
Baldelli agreed on Tuesday he's a little firmer with a roster that includes a mishmash of veterans and young position players trying to establish themselves. He provided a glimpse of that taskmaster version of himself at the conclusion of an ugly series sweep at Kansas City last September, calling the team's effort 'unprofessional.' Several key players liked the message they heard from Baldelli then and see similarities in the sterner voice he's using early in camp.
'I think he realizes what we've been doing, we were good, but we weren't able to find the medicine to put everything together,' catcher Ryan Jeffers said. 'The ability to constantly communicate, have fun on the field, go run around in the outfield, shag some balls, run some bases as a unit — you get to have conversations you wouldn't always have if half the team's in the cage, some of the team is in the weight room, some of the team is in the field. … I think there's some value in doing the little things together on the field.'
Jeffers likes the structure of set times for batting practice and how players must communicate with the coaching staff if they want to set up extra work beyond their daily drills. He also thinks it's easier to motivate players on a task like hitting to the opposite field if everyone's participating versus working in smaller groups.
'Seeing other guys (execute drills) in front of you gives you a little more (motivation), 'Now it's my turn,'' Jeffers said.
Carlos Correa taking hacks in the cage. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/etbgpMyR9H
— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) February 17, 2025
Baldelli is pleased with the group's energy in camp. It doesn't hurt to have buy-in from the team's foremost players. Using the analogy of how different it is to putt indoors versus on a putting green in the elements, Baldelli likes requiring his players to take outdoor BP this season, something that wasn't mandatory in the past.
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Though Correa prefers to take most of his BP indoors, he's on board with hitting on the field with teammates. The veteran shortstop also noted that if Baldelli asks him to play in early spring training road games, he'd sign up for that, too.
'Rocco put together a great plan for us to be more structured, be more together, be everything as a unit,' Correa said. 'I appreciate that very much. That's the type of work that I like. … We can see everybody swing and give them cues that might have worked for me. Nothing is as good as during BP. When we are taking ground balls together, I can help and all the guys can help me with things that they see. It just brings everybody together. Closer and closer as opposed to just everybody in the clubhouse on their phone. It's beautiful to watch and I'm glad we are doing it this year.'