Seven guys for the Minnesota Twins are hitting between .245 and .261. That should be good enough to have a winning record. Catcher Ryan Jeffers was hitting .295 to lead the team until he broke a bone in his hand. Orlando Arcia is hitting .281, but that’s 40 points above his career average, so he won’t likely be there for long. Byron Buxton has supplied the power with 29 extra-base hits. They have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to lefty hitters. The Twins have nine guys who can bat left-handed. Let this serve as notice to all you Little League coaches out there who are like the ones who keep telling my son he shouldn’t switch hit. What’s the matter? You can’t teach it so they can’t do it?

The hitting isn’t the problem. The pitching is. Joe Ryan (3.20 Earned Run Average) and Taj Bradley (3.56) have been good. Everyone else is a fifth or sixth starter. The bullpen isn’t much better. Combined, they have a Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched of 1.389. If the starters are giving up runs, the bullpen has to do better than a 4.38 ERA. Yoendrys Gómez (0.68 ERA) has been great, but he only has three saves. Eric Orze (3.64) has been good. I’m sure Minnesota thought Anthony Banda was going to fill the lefty set-up role right out of the chute. His first 15 games were awful. His last 15 have been great (0.68 ERA). It’s odd that his WHIP during the last seven is 1.41.

The good news? Their four best relievers are on the Injury List. Of course, that’s also the bad news. If they can get the pitching straightened out, they have a chance at the division title. They’re only 6.5 back. Marco Rayas, CJ Culpepper, and Kendry Rojas are all pitchers predicted by Milb.com to be called up from AAA. Even middling results would be an improvement. Minnesota looks to be a 78-win team, but could/should? make a late run.