MINNESOTA TWINS NOTES:
THE TWINS: The Twins will open their 63rd season with three games in four days against Kansas City through the weekend…today marks the fifth time in Twins history (since 1961) that they have opened against the Royals (1969, ’74, ’02 & ’17) and third time at Kauffman Stadium (’74 & ’02)…two other times in their history, the Twins opened against Kansas City, but it was when they were the Athletics in 1962 & ’66…following this series, the Twins will travel to Miami for a three-game series from March 3-5…following this trip, Minnesota will open its 14th season at Target Field with three against the Astros (April 6-9) and three against the White Sox (April 10-12).
SPRING CLEANING: The Twins completed their 33rd Spring Training in Fort Myers, FL on Tuesday with a record of 14-15-3…Max Kepler, Trevor Larnach and Jose Miranda tied for club lead in hits (13)…Miranda led in home runs (5)…Willi Castro, Kyle Farmer and Miranda tied for first in RBI (11)…Michael A. Taylor and Mark Contreras tied for team lead in games (17)… Tyler Mahle led the club in innings pitched (17.2), while Joe Ryan was the team leader in strikeouts (20)…additionally, the Twins drew 103,023 in total attendance, which included an unofficial game against the Dominican Republic’s World Baseball Classic squad on March 9. 2022
IN THE REAR VIEW: The Twins finished the 2022 season with a record of 78-84 and in third place of the AL Central, 14.0 games back of the division-winning Cleveland Guardians… Minnesota began the season by going 27-16 through games of May 24, where they were a high-water mark of 11 games over .500…they spent a total of 108 days in first place but went 51-68 after games of May 24…the Twins used a club-record 62 players during the season and tied a club record by using 36 pitchers (also in 2017)…14 different pitchers made a start for the Twins with Dylan Bundy leading the staff at 29.
GRAND OPENING: The Twins opened last season vs. the Mariners at Target Field, losing by a score of 2-1 as Gio Urshela’s solo home run marked the only scoring for Minnesota…the Twins are 27-35 all-time in season openers, 11-13 when opening at home and 16-22 when opening on the road…the Twins have lost their last two season openers and are seeking their first OD victory since a 10-5 win at Guaranteed Rate Field on July 24, 2020 against the White Sox.
Pablo López will become the Twins’ 15th different Opening Day starter since 2005…he will be the second Venezuelan-born starter for the Twins in club history, joining Johan Santana (2006 & ’07)…the last Twins starter to earn a road win on Opening Day was Brad Radke on March 31, 2003 at Detroit…in fact, Radke has the Twins’ last two OD wins on the road for a starter (also 2001) since Frank Viola was the club’s starter and winner on April 8, 1986 at Oakland.
Today will mark López’s first career Opening Day start, giving the Twins five starters in their opening rotation to have made an Opening Day start in their career (credit Elias): Sonny Gray (2014-15 for Oakland & ’20 for Cincinnati), Joe Ryan (2022 for Minnesota), Tyler Mahle (2022 for Cincinnati) and Kenta Maeda (2021 for Minnesota)…the last time the Twins had five pitchers with an OD start on same roster was April 1988: Bert Blyleven, Steve Carlton, Charlie Lea, Joe Niekro and Frank Viola…last major league team to do so was last year’s Colorado Rockies: Ty Blach, Jhoulys Chacín, Kyle Freeland, Chad Kuhl and Germán Márquez.
The roster has six Puerto Rican born players: Willi Castro, Carlos Correa, Jorge López, Jose Miranda, Jovani Moran and Christian Vázquez…marks the first time the Twins have had as many PR players at one time.
ROC SOLID: Rocco Baldelli is entering his fifth season as the skipper, and enters with a career managerial record of 288-258 (.527)…he ranks sixth on the club’s all-time managerial wins list, trailing Tom Kelly (1,140), Ron Gardenhire (1,068), Sam Mele (522), Gene Mauch (378) and Paul Molitor (305)…his .527 winning percentage is second best in club history among man- agers with at least 400 games, trailing only Sam Mele’s .548 mark (522-431 from 1961-67).
Rocco’s staff includes: first base/catching coach Hank Conger (2nd season), quality control coach Nate Dammann (4th season), assistant bench coach/infield Tony Diaz (5th season w/ MIN), hitting coach Rudy Hernandez (28th season in MIN org), pitching coach Pete Maki (4th season), hitting coach David Popkins (2nd season), assistant pitching coach Luis Ramirez (2nd season at ML level), assistant hitting coach Derek Shomon (1st season at ML level), bullpen coach Colby Suggs (2nd season), bench coach Jayce Tingler (2nd season) and third base/outfield coach Tommy Watkins (14th season in MIN org).
ROYALTY CHECK: The Twins and Royals are playing the first of 13 meetings in 2023…they went 12-7 against Kansas City last season, going 4-5 at Kauffman Stadium and 8-2 at Target Field.
The 12 wins were the Twins’ most against any opponent last season…the last time they had as many wins against KC in one season was 2019, when they went 14-5.
Twins outscored the Royals 85-59 last season…after starting the season 0-2, they won 12 of their final 17 against KC.
Twins batters hit .284 (180-for-633) with 31 doubles, three triples, 14 home runs, 65 walks and a .762 OPS vs. KC in 2022.
Starting pitchers went 8-4, 2.55 ERA (98.2 IP, 28 ER) with 20 walks, 85 strikeouts and a .202 (73-for-361) BAA vs. KC in 2022.
Carlos Correa is hitting .361 (39-for-108) with six doubles, six home runs, 16 RBI, 17 walks, a .448 on-base percentage and a 1.031 OPS in 29 games against the Royals since 2019…he enters today with a nine-game hitting streak against the Royals…Correa has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games at Kauffman Stadium, hitting .385 (20-for-52) with a 1.008 OPS in that span.
Jose Miranda is hitting .302 (13-for-43) with two doubles, two home runs, eight RBI, a .375 on-base percentage, a .488 slugging percentage and an .863 OPS in 12 career games vs. KC.
Byron Buxton is hitting .309 (21-for-68) with seven doubles, three home runs, six RBI, 16 runs scored and a .904 OPS in his last 16 games against the Royals, reaching safely in all 16.
C4-EVER MINNESOTA: On January 11, Carlos Correa signed a six-year guaranteed contract through the 2028 season…the deal includes four team options covering the 2029 through 2032 campaigns, each of which can automatically vest based on performance in the previous season…the 28-year-old hit .291 (152-for-522) with 24 doubles, one triple, 22 home runs, 64 RBI, 70 runs scored, 61 walks, a .366 on-base percentage and an .834 OPS in 136 games for the Twins last season…he led all MLB shortstops in OPS (.834), while ranking second among that same group in slugging percentage (.467) and on-base percentage (.366), and third in batting average (.291) and RC/27 (5.84)…Correa also hit .310 (79-for-255) with an .880 OPS in 67 home games, the sixth-highest home average in the AL and 10th best in baseball; it was also the eighth-best home average in Target Field history (since 2010)…after the season, Correa was named winner of the Most Valuable Twin Award, the Bob Allison Award for leadership, the Jim Kaat Award as Twins Defensive Player of the Year, the Mike Augustin “Media Good Guy” Award and the Carl R. Pohlad Outstanding Community Service Award.
ALLOW ME TO RE-INTRODUCE MYSELF: The Twins open the 2023 season with 15 players on their 26-man roster who were not on the 2022 Opening Day roster: pitchers (7) – Griffin Jax, Jorge López, Pablo López, Kenta Maeda, Tyler Mahle, Jovani Moran and Cole Sands; catcher (1) – Christian Vázquez; infielders (4) – Willi Castro, Kyle Farmer, Jose Miranda and Donovan Solano; and outfielders (3) – Joey Gallo, Trevor Larnach and Michael A. Taylor…of the 26 players on the Twins’ active roster, nine began their professional careers in the Twins organization…nobody is looking to make a major league debut…the oldest player on the club is Caleb Thielbar (36 years, 1 month, 24 days) and the youngest is Jose Miranda (24 years, 9 months, 1 day).
PABLO LóPEZ 49
Making his first career Opening Day start and his first start for Minnesota in his sixth major league season (Miami – 2018-22)…also his 95th career appearance (all starts).
Facing Kansas City for the second time in his career…prior start came September 6, 2019 vs. Kansas City with Miami (L, 6.2 IP, 8 H, 2 R/ER, 6 K).
Acquired by the Twins from Miami on January 20, 2023, along with infielder Jose Salas and outfielder Byron Chourio, in exchange for infielder/outfielder Luis Arraez.
CAREER NOTES
• In 2022, set career highs in wins (10), games started (32), innings pitched (180.0) and strikeouts (174) as number two starter for Miami.
• 489 career strikeouts with Miami are 11th on their all-time list and is one of 16 pitchers in Marlins history to reach 500.0 innings pitched.
• In 2021, spent fourth season with Miami, holding opponents to two-or-fewer runs in 15 of his 18 starts and posting a career-low 1.12 WHIP.
• Made first career Postseason appearance October 7, 2020, going 5.0 innings and al- lowing three hits and two runs while striking out seven in a loss to Atlanta in Game 2 of the National League Division Series.
• Recipient of 2020 Marlins Charlie Hough Good Guy Award, which is voted on by the Miami chapter of the BBWAA to recognize a Miami player who fostered a strong relationship with reporters.
• In 2020, spent entire season on active roster and led Marlins in innings pitched (57.1), games started (11), wins (6) and strikeouts (59).
• Made only 21 starts in 2019 after missing over two months on the Injured List with a right shoulder strain, posting a 5.09 ERA in 111.1 innings pitched with 95 strikeouts. • Made major league debut on June 30, 2018 vs. New York-NL and earned first career victory, tossing 6.0 innings with five strikeouts while limiting the Mets to two runs.
• Started 2018 season with Double-A Jacksonville, earning Southern League Midsea- son All-Star honors before being promoted to Triple-A New Orleans.
• Acquired by Miami along with outfielder Brayan Hernandez, right-handed pitcher Brandon Miller and right-handed pitcher Lukas Schiraldi from Seattle in exchange for right-handed pitcher David Phelps on July 20, 2017.
• Spent 2017 season at High-A level in Seattle and Miami organizations.
• Went 6-1, 1.88 ERA (71.2 IP, 15 ER) in 17 appearances (13 starts) for Low-A Clinton (Seattle) in 2016.
• Missed 2014 season following Tommy John surgery on November 11, 2013.
• Made professional debut with Venezuelan Summer League Mariners on May 23, 2013.
• Originally signed by Seattle as international free agent on July 4, 2012.
KANSAS CITY ROYALS NOTES:
SEASON 55: The Royals will begin their 55th season in franchise history today vs. the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium…they are coming off a 2022 campaign in which they went 65-97 (.394) and had 21 rookies appear in a game, including 13 who made their Major League debut…Kansas City is seeking its first winning season since posting four consecutive seasons at .500 or better from 2013-16, including back-to-back American League pennants in 2014-15 and a 2015 World Series championship…in the club’s first 54 seasons, the Royals have won seven division titles, four American League titles (1980, 1985, 2014 and 2015) and two World Series championships (1985 and 2015)…they are one of three franchises that have joined the league since 1969 or later to win multiple World Series, along with the Miami Marlins (first season was 1993, won World Series in 1997 and 2003) and Toronto Blue Jays (first season was 1977, won World Series in 1992-93).
PLAY BALL!: The Royals are 20-34 all-time on Opening Day but have won five of the last eight openers after losing six straight from 2009-14…the Royals beat the Guardians, 3-1, on Opening Day last season, thanks to an RBI double in the 8th by Bobby Witt Jr., his 1st career hit in his Major League debut…today’s season opener marks the seventh time in the last nine years that the Royals will begin the season at home, and they are 5-1 in their last 6 Opening Day games at home dating back to 2015, with the only loss coming in 2018 vs. the White Sox.
This will be the fifth time the Royals will begin the season vs. the Twins…they are 2-2 in their previous meetings, including losses in 2002 and 2017 and wins in 1969—the 1st game in team history—and in 1974.
ROSTER RUNDOWN: The Royals announced several transactions to set their 2023 Opening Day roster this morning…they selected the contracts of outfielders Jackie Bradley Jr. and Franmil Reyes and infielder Matt Duffy…left hander Richard Lovelady was traded to the Braves for cash considerations…additionally, left hander Jake Brentz was placed on the 60-day Injured List as he continues to recover from left elbow surgery, and outfielder Diego Hernandez was recalled and placed on the 60-day IL with a dislocated right shoulder… outfielder Drew Waters was placed on the 10-day IL retroactive to March 27 with a left oblique strain, and lefthanded pitcher Daniel Lynch was placed on the 15-day IL retroactive to March 27 with a rotator cuff strain… left-handed pitcher Angel Zerpa was placed on the 60-day IL on March 15 with left shoulder tendinopathy.
The Kansas City Royals 26-man Opening Day roster includes 15 players who made the Opening Day roster in 2022, including pitchers Scott Barlow, Kris Bubic, Taylor Clarke, Dylan Coleman, Amir Garrett, Zack Greinke, Carlos Hernández, Brad Keller and Brady Singer; catcher Salvador Perez; infielders Hunter Dozier, Nicky Lopez and Bobby Witt Jr.; and outfielders Kyle Isbel and Edward Olivares.
Five players made the Opening Day roster this season for the first time in their career, including pitcher Jose Cuas, catcher MJ Melendez and infielders Nate Eaton, Michael Massey and Vinnie Pasquantino.
Six players will be making their Royals debuts with their 1st appearance this season, including pitchers Aroldis Chapman, Jordan Lyles and Ryan Yarbrough, infielder Duffy and outfielders Bradley Jr. and Reyes.
Zack Greinke made the Opening Day roster for the 17th time in his career and is making his 7th career Opening Day start today.…this marks his 6th Opening Day start in the last eight seasons, which matches Max Scherzer, Aaron Nola and Madison Bumgarner for the most Opening Day starts by a pitcher in the Majors since 2016.
Salvador Perez is making his 9th career Opening Day start at catcher, most in franchise history at that position…Salvy’s 9 career Opening Day starts (at any position) are tied with Royals Hall of Famer Mike Sweeney for the 7th most in franchise history.
VS. TWINS: The Royals will host the Twins today on Opening Day for the fifth time in franchise history and first since 2017…the Royals 413 wins all-time vs. the Twins are their most vs. any opponent, but they went 7-12 vs. Minnesota last season to lose the season series for the first time since 2019…the Royals swept the Twins in their most recent meeting, a 3-game set here at Kauffman Stadium from Sept. 20-22, 2022, their first sweep of the Twins in two years.
The Royals and Twins will play 13 games against each other in 2023 as part of Major League Baseball’s balanced schedule…excluding 2020, the 13 games this year will be the fewest between these two teams in a single season since 2000 (12)…the Royals will travel to Target Field for a 4-game set from April 27-30 and for 3 games from July 3-5, and they’ll host the Twins back here at Kauffman Stadium from July 28-30.
BALANCED SCHEDULE: For the first time since Interleague play was introduced in 1997, Major League Baseball has adopted a balanced schedule starting in 2023, in which the Royals will play all other 29 teams…they’ll play a total of 52 games vs. American League Central opponents, 64
games vs. teams from the American League East and West and 46 Interleague games, including 4 vs. St. Louis and 3 vs. all others…following their 2-game set at Busch Stadium from May 29-30, the Royals are scheduled for back-to-back off days on May 31-June 1, before beginning a 3-game homestand vs. Colorado…this will mark the first time that the Royals will have scheduled back-to-back off days since April 6-7, 2016…another scheduling quirk later in the season will come after the Royals host the Cardinals for 2 games from Aug. 11-12…on the following day, Sunday, Aug. 13, the Royals have a scheduled off day, which will be the first known originally scheduled off day on a Sunday in Royals history.
PACE OF PLAY: In addition to the balanced schedule, another big change for the 2023 season is the new pitch timer rules, which provided stunning results during Spring Training…in 453 games that lasted 9 innings across both leagues this spring, the average time of game was 2 hours, 34 minutes, and only 40 of those 453 games (8.8%) lasted at least 3 hours…Kansas City played 33 Cactus League games and 31 of them lasted 9 innings with an average of 2 hours, 31 minutes, slightly below league average…the other 2 games were shortened by rain…the Royals longest game of the spring was a 3-hour affair on March 11 vs. Milwaukee and their shortest 9-inning game was Sunday’s contest in Mesa vs. the Cubs, in which they finished in 1 hour, 57 minutes…in the 2022 regular season, the Royals average time of game was 3 hours, 3 minutes, which tied for the 4th-fastest in the Majors.
SPRING KINGS: The Royals went 19-13-1 in Spring Training, finishing a half-game behind the 18-11-2 Angels for the best record in the Cactus League…the Royals 19 wins, however, were tops among all 30 Major League teams, and if you count their win over Great Britain on March 9, the Royals had 20 exhibition wins for the fifth time in franchise history, following 2015 (20), 2013 (25), 2011 (20) and 1999 (22)…the Royals started 14-2 this spring, but finished 5-11-1.
The Royals ranked among the Major League leaders this spring in several offensive categories, including 1st in slugging percentage (.476), runs (182), doubles (76) and total bases (523), 3rd in OPS (.808) and tied for 3rd in home runs (44)…these totals do not include the Royals 8-1 win over Great Britain on March 9, nor did that win count toward the official Cactus League standings.
TODAY’S STARTERS: RHP ZACK GREINKE (4-9, 3.68 ERA IN 2022)
ZACK GREINKE is entering his 20th season in the Majors in 2023, becoming the 157th player in Major League history to appear in parts of 20 seasons, according to Elias…he is a six-time All-Star, a six-time Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner and was named the American League Cy Young Award winner in 2009 with the Royals.
He is one of three pitchers in Major League history with at least six Rawlings Gold Gloves and six All-Star selections, along with Greg Maddux and Bob Gibson.
Among active pitchers, Greinke ranks 1st in starts (514), innings (3247.0), 2nd in wins (223) and 3rd in strikeouts (2,882)…he is one of three pitchers in Major League history to win a Cy Young Award, a Rawlings Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger Award, along with Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser.
BACK TO ZACK: Zack returned in 2023 for the second straight year to Kansas City, where he spent the first seven seasons of his Major League career, after being selected by the Royals 6th overall in the 2002 Draft…Greinke is the 33rd player to play for the Royals, leave the organization and later return…he missed time due to two stints on the Injured List in 2022, limiting him to only 137.0 innings, the 4th fewest in his career behind the shortened 2020 season (67.0 IP), 2006 (6.1 IP) and 2007 (122.0 IP)…he did, however, rank 2nd among Royals starters with a 3.68 ERA (56 ER in 137.0 IP).
OPENING DAY ROYALTY: Greinke is making his 7th career Opening Day start today and 6th in the last eight seasons…his 6 Opening Day starts since 2016 are tied with Max Scherzer, Aaron Nola and Madison Bumgarner for the most among all pitchers during that time…Greinke also started on Opening Day in 2010 and 2022 with Kansas City, 2016-17 and 2019 with Arizona and in 2021 with Houston.
At 39 years, 160 days old, he is the oldest Opening Day starter in Royals history, surpassing his own record set last season…the last pitcher older than Zack to start a game for an American League team on Opening Day was Curt Schilling, who started for Boston in 2007 at age 40 at Kauffman Stadium vs. the Royals.
This will be Greinke’s 3rd Opening Day start as a Royal, tied for the 3rd most in franchise history, trailing Royals Hall of Famers Kevin Appier, who started on Opening Day a club record seven times, and Dennis Leonard (4).
LAST SEASON: Greinke had a 4.64 ERA (40 ER in 77.2 IP) in 15 starts before the All-Star break last season, but pitched to a 2.43 ERA (16 ER in 59.1 IP) in 11 starts after the break…among American League pitchers who made at least 10 starts after the break, Greinke’s 2.43 ERA ranked 9th, but he went just 1-3 during that stretch…Zack’s 2.43 ERA in the second half was his best since 2015 (1.99)…it was the best second half ERA by a Royal (min. 10 starts) since Danny Duffy had a 2.23 ERA (16 ER in 64.2 IP) in the second half of 2014…Greinke endured two stints on the IL in 2022, but upon his return from the first stint on June 29, Zack recorded a 2.95 ERA (26 ER in 79.1 IP) through the end of the season, and allowed 1 earned run or fewer in 9 of his final 15 starts.
MILESTONE MAKER: Greinke reached several milestones in 2022, including making his 500th career start on June 29 vs. Texas, becoming one of
48 pitchers to reach that milestone, one of only 28 in the Expansion Era (since 1961) and the first since CC Sabathia made his 500th start with the Yankees on Aug. 1, 2017…among the group of 28 pitchers with 500 starts since 1961, Greinke’s career win percentage of .613 (223-141) ranks 6th, trailing only Roger Clemens (.658), Randy Johnson (.646), Mike Mussina (.638), Jim Palmer (.638) and Andy Pettitte (.626)…he enters the 2023 season with 514 career starts, including 195 with the Royals (37.9%), which are 9 starts behind Danny Duffy (204) for the 7th most in ranchise history.
Zack has thrown 51,093 pitches in his career, 14th most among all pitchers since 1988 (when data is available)…he trails only Justin Verlander (51,434) among active pitchers on the list, which is led by Hall of Famer Tom Glavine (68,226).
CROWN VISION: Greinke has made 106 starts at Kauffman Stadium, 6th most in the 50-season history of the ballpark…he is one of 10 active pitchers with at least 100 starts in an active ballpark, and he’s the only active pitcher with at least 100 starts at Kauffman Stadium…Greinke went 4-2 in 12 home starts in 2022, increasing his career win total to 41, the 7th most in the 50-season history of this ballpark…his 1.91 ERA (14 ER in 66.0 IP) at Kauffman Stadium in 2022 was the 3rd-best home ERA in the American League (min. 10 starts) behind Justin Verlander (1.64) and Shohei Ohtani (1.82)…it was the 4th-best home ERA in Royals history (min. 10 starts) behind himself in 2009 (1.70), Bret Saberhagen in 1989 (1.71) and Paul Splittorff in 1971 (1.90).
Zack has allowed 2 earned runs or fewer in 17 of his last 19 starts at Kauffman Stadium dating back to Sept. 30, 2010, a stretch in which he owns a 2.21 ERA (27 ER in 110.0 IP), including 6 starts as a visitor from 2012-21…he allowed just 2 home runs in 66.0 innings at Kauffman Stadium in 2022 for a 0.14 HR/9, the best home mark in the Majors (min. 10 starts)…he did not allow a home run in his last 33.1 innings at Kauffman Stadium in 2022, and ended the season on a 30.1-inning homerless streak overall (home or road), covering his last 5-plus starts.
