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The tone of the newsletter won't change from week to week, but the Twins have won five in a row and the weather is fabulous, so ... summer optimism is here?

Aaron Lavinsky/The Minnesota Star Tribune

Ever since he made his major league debut three years ago, I’ve enjoyed talking to Cole Sands. In a game where confidence can make a difference, Sands is open about how much he still has to learn about his craft, and sometimes he can even sound a little surprised that he has been so successful.

So it didn’t surprise me that Sands was willing to self-analyze the start to his 2025 season, one that hasn’t been bad but includes a few troubling indicators.

Chief among them is a sharp decline in the righthander’s strikeout rate. Last year, Sands struck out 29.1% of all batters he faced, which was second on the Twins behind Griffin Jax and 34th in the majors among pitchers with at least 60 innings.

This year, that rate is 19.7%, a little below average in the big leagues but roughly in line with his previous seasons before his leap forward last year.

“It’s been a little of everything, but I know I’m not executing with two strikes as well as I’d like,” Sands said. “Obviously every pitcher wants strikeouts, but if they’re putting it in play with two strikes, I have to ask myself, was it the right pitch and did I execute it? I’m working hard on that two-strike execution.”

Last season, he built a two-strike count on 168 batters and struck out 85, just more than half. This year, it’s 12 whiffs on 28 chances, not an alarming decline. But his walk rate has jumped to 9.8%, more than double last year’s 4.1, and his velocity is down by 1 mph on each of his pitches.

Again, nothing to panic over, especially since he’s pitched only 14⅔ innings. His groundball rate, by the way, is at a career-high 44%, so even the additional balls in play aren’t necessarily a big threat. Sands, again among the most humble of pitchers, believes it’s part of the natural give-and-take of the game.

“Sometimes the league adjusts and maybe the league is figuring out what I’m trying to do,” Sands said. “Just about every hitter you face has access to reports about what you throw and when. So I’m trying to adjust what they’re adjusting to.”

A former starter, Sands has a bigger repertoire than he normally shows. He is digging into those other options to see if they will help.

“I have a lot of pitches, and it’s usually a great thing. Early on last year, I was using five or six different pitches, but we eventually decided I didn’t need the sweeper, and we stuck mostly to four-seamers, cutters and splitters,” each a variation on his fastball, Sands said. “This year, I started using the sweeper and curveball more in the spring, and I’m carrying them over, trying to mix it up in different counts and be as random as possible.”

He doesn’t sound particularly worried, and his results are improving; Thursday’s inning was his fourth in a row without giving up a run (though it took a Byron Buxton throw to the plate to preserve that string).

His manager isn’t worried, either.

“Cole’s still settling in this year. I’ve talked to him a couple of times already this season,” Rocco Baldelli said. “His headspace is good. He’s where he should be. Last year, he was completely dialed in, threw the ball very, very well almost every time out. He’s getting close. He’s throwing the ball good, but there’s more in there, I think he would agree.”

He does. “It feels like that should be my level, and it’s coming around,” Sands said. “Just keep progressing, that’s my focus.”

474 — Distance in feet of Carlos Correa’s home run in Baltimore on Aug. 10, 2019, while with the Astros.

OK, there’s a story about this one. Correa crushed a 458-foot home run into Target Field’s upper deck on Tuesday, only his second homer of the year but an impressive one. I searched StatCast for home runs he had hit that were longer that that one, and found none longer, and only one that matched the distance — his first home run as a Twin, back in April 2022. So after the game, I asked Correa about that hit and mentioned that it was the longest of his career.

His answer showed how detailed his memory is about his career.

“No, I’ve had three or four longer than that. I once hit one 474 feet, the longest home run ever at Camden Yards,” Correa said, even mentioning that Aaron Brooks was the pitcher. “You better double-check your facts.”

After his four seasons with the Twins, I know better than to doubt Correa, so double-check I did. Sure enough, I discovered I had clicked “Twins” in setting up the search, so the results didn’t include his seven seasons with Houston. The actual results: He had, yes, four longer home runs with the Astros, topped by the one in Baltimore. And yes, it remains the longest home run in that park’s history; the Twins will return to Camden Yards next week.

“When I’m home, Disney Plus dominates my television, along with Netflix Kids, and that’s about it. I just don’t have the ability to follow everything that’s going on, but I try.”

– Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, on whether he's watching the Timberwolves' playoff run with three young children in the house.

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QUESTION: How about writing something about Buxton's strikeouts — 41 in 114 at bats! Third most in MLB! What's up with that? — Greg G., Lincoln, Neb.

ANSWER: Well, it’s 47 strikeouts now, still third in MLB and first in the American League. But I’m not sure that’s as big an issue as you obviously feel, Greg.

I receive e-mails about Buxton fairly regularly, and they always surprise me a bit. OK, most of them are about his injuries, not an issue so far this year. But after a decade with the Twins, it seems pretty clear that Buxton is the most important player on the team, the best defender and arguably the best hitter.

I understand the frustration, given that Buxton’s speed would seem to translate to more hits if he put the ball in play more, and his .306 on-base percentage is an odd fit for the leadoff spot. But he’s always been a strikeout guy — it just wasn’t as noticeable given that he played only about half the games or less in a typical season due to injury. His strikeout rate this year, 32.6%, is unremarkable, since it’s the fifth time he’s been above 30%.

But this is the important point: About five years ago, Buxton transformed himself into a power hitter, and it’s made him even more valuable, even with the strikeouts.

As a side note, 22 major league players entered Thursday’s games with nine homers, which Buxton has, or more, and while Buxton has 47 strikeouts, seven other sluggers have more than 40. Interestingly, the player with the fewest strikeouts to go with nine or more home runs? Jorge Polanco with 11 whiffs, as the former Twins All-Star is enjoying a brilliant bounceback year so far in Seattle.

Buxton leads the Twins in hits, triples and homers — his nine home runs are at least five more than any other teammate — and his .846 OPS is bettered only by the injured Matt Wallner.

He was also riding a seven-game hitting streak, in which he went 12-for-30 (.400) with four extra-base hits (and nine strikeouts), and even though it was broken with his 0-for-2 on Thursday, he still walked twice and scored both times.

I guess my point is, Buxton has flaws, like any player. But I’d advise focusing on how much Buxton is helping the Twins. It’s way more fun.

Aaron Lavinsky/The Minnesota Star Tribune

Trevor Larnach was happy about his third-inning single on Tuesday, and with good reason. It was the first of five hits for the Twins that inning, and he scored the first of their five runs, eventually leading to a 9-1 victory over the Orioles. And it extended a modest but encouraging hitting streak to four games.

“I loved the swing. It kind of tells me where I’m at,” Larnach said. “Got the inning started, that was a positive. Made some good decisions on the bases, that was a positive.”

It had one other note of significance, too. It was the first time that Larnach, a member of Oregon State’s 2018 College World Series champions, had collected a hit with Adley Rutschman, MVP of that championship tournament, standing behind him as the Orioles catcher.

“That definitely makes it interesting,” Larnach said. “We talk a little bit out there, but not too much — with the [pitch] clock, you only have a few seconds.”

That Beavers team has so far sent six players to the major leagues, including Rays righthander Drew Rasmussen, White Sox lefthander Brandon Eisert, Guardians outfielder Stephen Kwan, former Cubs infielder Nick Madrigal, now with the Mets, and of course, Rutschman, the first overall pick in the 2019 draft and a two-time All-Star with the Orioles.

Though Larnach has been with the Twins since 2021 and Rutschman debuted in 2022, this week’s series is only the second time the Oregon State products have faced each other in the majors, a total of five games. They haven’t done a lot in those head-to-head meetings; Larnach is 3-for-18 (.167) and Rutschman 2-for-15 (.133), though Larnach homered on Thursday to tie the game that the Twins went on to win.

But Larnach said it’s always fun to see his ex-teammates and relive their biggest collegiate moment.

“Most of the guys I went to college with, I’m generally still in touch with. More than half of them were at my wedding, so that speaks for itself,” Larnach said. “They’re all great dudes, man. It’s not just on-field, we bonded plenty off the field in college, too, and still do.”

San Francisco Giants at Twins

Three-game series at Target Field

All games on 830-AM and 102.9-FM

Friday, 7:10 p.m., Apple TV+: Giants RHP Jordan Hicks (1-3, 6.03 ERA) vs. RHP Chris Paddack (0-3, 5.57)

Saturday, 6:15 p.m., Fox (Ch. 9): RHP Logan Webb (4-2, 2.61 ERA) vs. RHP Joe Ryan (2-2, 2.93)

Sunday, 1:10 p.m., twins.tv: RHP Landen Roupp (2-3, 4.89 ERA) vs. RHP Pablo López (3-2, 2.18)

Minnesota Star Tribune file photo

Ken Landreaux doubled in the seventh inning on May 30, 1980, to extend his hitting streak to 31 games, a Twins record that still stands. There have only been 37 hitting streaks of 30 or more games in major league history.

THIS WEEK IN TWINS HISTORY: On May 13, 1989, Kirby Puckett tied the major league record with four doubles in a game, two off Dave Stieb and two off Tom Henke in a 10-8 victory over Toronto before an announced 29,712 at the Metrodome. Puckett finished 4-for-5 with three RBI as he became the 35th player with four doubles in a game and the first since the Blue Jays' Damaso Garcia did it June 27, 1986.

Phil Miller, reporter

Chris Miller, editor

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