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May 13, 2012

Thoma: Twins are back to ‘I don’t know’ at third base

By Edward Thoma Free Press Staff Writer

— Danny Valencia is 27. He has more than 1,000 major league plate appearances.

Theoretically, this should be his peak time, as good as he gets.

In reality, he’s back in Triple A wondering where the hits are. (Valencia was hitting .190/.204/.290 when the Twins demoted him; he also went hitless Saturday, his first game with Rochester. Entering Sunday, he hasn’t had a hit on any level this month.) And the floundering Twins have another hole at third base.

There is probably no position so prone to lengthy organizational droughts as third base. It’s an odd position — defensively, it doesn’t factor in a large number of plays, yet it is fairly demanding athletically.

There are few short throws for a third baseman, so he needs a strong and accurate arm. The position is known as the hot corner for a reason, so he needs the reflexes and courage to deal with line drives and occasional bat shards. And he needs the agility to simultaneously come in for the bunt and cover the base on a steal attempt.

Of course, if you can do all those things well on defense, you can probably get by at shortstop. And if you can get by at short and HIT, you’re probably going to play short.

So third base winds up a compromise position, a place where a manager either tries to get by with a flawed defender who can hit or a capable glove who doesn’t add much to the offense. 

Valencia, when he came up in 2010, fit the first category. This year he has fit neither. With his production slipping in each of his three seasons, it appears unlikely that he will be part of the next good Twins team.

The organization’s long-term plan for the position is clearly Miguel Sano, who is crushing pitches and scattering spectators in the low-A Midwest League. The 19-year-old Dominican has 10 home runs and 11 errors for Beloit.

As a hitter, he’s too good for the league. As a defender, he’s a work in progress.

Sano isn’t arriving in Target Field this year, and most likely not in 2013 either. For now, the Twins are left hoping that Valencia can regain enough form to do something in the majors — and filling the lineup gap with guys who can’t hack it at shortstop.

Can’t handle the Plouffe

Ron Gardenhire said after the Valencia demotion that he would “mix it up” at third base.

But juggling playing time has not been a Gardenhire strength. He generally prefers to pick a starter and ride him for a while, and the first three starts post-Valencia all went to Trevor Plouffe.

Plouffe is not a particularly good bet to stick there. The Twins’ biggest issue with him at short was his inaccurate throwing; third base won’t mask that shortcoming.

Meanwhile, dinking around with him in the infield further delays their outfield experiment with him.

The theory is that reducing his defensive responsibilities will elevate his offense. The reality is that they have increased his defensive responsibilites — Plouffe has now played five different positions this season — and he entered Sunday hitting .130.

I’m dubious about Plouffe to begin with, but if the organization seriously believes there’s a player there, they have to stop whipsawing him.



Edward Thoma is a Free Press staff writer. He is at 344-6377 or at ethoma@mankatofreepress.com. He also has a baseball blog.

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