Friday, June 20

When a player struggles, it’s almost never just one thing. But if you’re looking for a nutshell explanation of Carlos Correa’s disappointing numbers this year, take a look at his walk rate.  

For his career, Correa has walked in more than 10 percent of his plate appearances. Entering Wednesday night, it was barely five percent this season, easily the lowest of his career. Prior to Wednesday night’s 4-2, rain-shortened loss to the Reds, his drop in walk rate from 2024 to 2025 was the largest of any qualified player in the Major Leagues. 

It seems there’s nothing physically wrong with Correa, who sports a .240/.283/.364 line in 2025 after finishing last season at .310/.388/.517. He’s just gotten completely away from the approach that has served him so well for the bulk of his career. 

“It's all about the balance of hitting and controlling the things you can control,” Correa said Wednesday afternoon. “The one thing I'm not controlling very well right now is the strike zone. Once I start doing a better job of that, everything else will fall into place.”

Perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, after addressing the topic prior to Wednesday’s game, Correa showed progress in putting it into action in the evening. He walked in each of his first two plate appearances, tripling his total for June.  

That’s obviously not enough to erase what has been a difficult June for Correa, but it’s a very encouraging sign, because Statcast data support his contention that as soon as he gets his approach right, the results will follow.  

His average exit velocity and launch angle are down a bit this year, but not so much as to explain the change in his overall numbers. It really is largely about swing choices. Correa is not only walking less than ever; he’s swinging at a larger percentage of pitches than ever. And on top of that, his chase rate -- which indicates how often a hitter swings at pitches outside the strike zone -- is up even more drastically. 

It all adds up to a hitter who is not controlling the strike zone after a career of doing just that. 

“He had an unbelievable season last year offensively,” said manager Rocco Baldelli. “So it’s, from the beginning of this year to the end of the year before, you’re talking like a five-month gap. It’s the same guy. Not much has changed with him physically. He’s actually in a better spot than he was at the end of the season in a lot of ways. He has everything that he needs to keep working and keep trying to get that approach back.” 

Part of the difference, Correa explained, is a mechanical issue that has made it harder for him to check his swing. That results in him offering at some pitches that he would rather not swing at.

“I just feel like I've got to figure it out and be more consistent,” he said “I thought May was a great month. Then June, I completely lost it for a little bit there. I'm working with the hitting coaches. We're trying some things today and go from there. But I've got to do a better job of being consistent, especially at this stage of my career.” 

During Tuesday night’s game in Cincinnati, the Twins nearly found themselves in one challenging situation and faced the possibility of another. They got all of their position players into the game, leaving no available hitters on the bench. They also were down to one catcher after Ryan Jeffers left the game due to injury.

Baldelli said his emergency catcher under normal circumstances is Jonah Bride. Primarily an infielder, Bride has played 11 professional games at catcher. However, he was already out of Tuesday’s game by the end, so Baldelli said that in that case, Kody Clemens would have been his backup emergency catcher.

As for the first issue, Baldelli said he’s willing to risk losing the designated hitter occasionally in order to substitute in-game.

“I’m a believer you should use your players during the game,” he said. “I think always leaving players on the side because of a fear that you might have another injury or two, probably leads you to leave things on the table a lot of the time. You end up not giving yourself the best chance to win a game.

"So if it happens once every year, once every other year, where you run out of players and you have to drop the DH into the game and you’ve used everyone and you’re in kind of a tough predicament, I think it’s worth it because there’s a hundred other games where you’re using your players for all their abilities.”

The Twins have two more homestands before the All-Star break, with the first one starting Friday against the Brewers. Saturday’s game brings the latest 6-1-2 Saturday, with discounted concessions at Gate 34 from when gates open until first pitch: $6 drinks, $1 snacks, and $2 food items. And Tuesday’s game against the Mariners is a Dollar-a-Dog Day, with $1 hot dogs at the Hennepin Grille and Taste of Twins Territory stands. For more details on tickets to all games, visit this link. 

As we approach the halfway point of the year, let’s go with some of my favorite songs from the first half of 2025.

Joshua Ray Walker, “Tropicana” 

Little Simz, “Thief” 

Pastel, “Your Day” 

The Murder Capital, “Words Lost Meaning” 

Winona Fighter, “RU Famous” 

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