Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli on the Twins roster, playoff vibes and player's families

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There are still some unanswered questions around the Twins roster, but the next month will shake out who plays where and what kind of lineup the team will field. Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli talks to WCCO's Jason DeRusha at spring training and they break down some of those things, plus they start with how players are balancing that all-important family life with life on a Major League roster.

Transcript

00:00We'll talk about baseball, but I want to ask you about the family atmosphere around the

00:05twins because it seems like so many of your players have young babies or pregnancies and

00:11all of this coming down during the season.

00:13I think it's cool.

00:16I think fans today look at it in a different way where they want these players to take

00:20the paternity days, you know what I mean?

00:22That was different from how it used to be, that's for sure.

00:26It's different, and baseball probably still doesn't function quite like a lot of other

00:32places in the world today.

00:35You get more paternity leave than I did back when I had my kids, but I had zero days.

00:40You get three, right?

00:41I think we get, yeah, we get three, well that's the players, and really I think the key part

00:48of this is we try to make this a good environment for the players, and their ability to bring

00:56their children around at certain points in the day I think is great, and I think it's

01:00their memories that they're going to have forever.

01:02Our guys are very focused.

01:04They get their work done, and they work very hard all day long, so when there's a time

01:09to have a little bit of family time at the ballpark, I think they relish it.

01:14What is it like for the guys and for you to have everybody together, back, and ready to

01:20get this thing going?

01:21Yeah, one of the things that I thought was important to talk about today, walking through

01:25just what it feels like to fight your way through a season, go into the playoffs, earn

01:31that opportunity, and then fight for a World Series, the things that you're really playing

01:36for here, and I think one of the key things that I actually did mention was you bring

01:42a community together in a way that you really can't understand until you do it, and that

01:49becomes part of the goal, and becomes the biggest part of the goal, and the guys in

01:54our clubhouse who have done this, Christian Vasquez has done this, Carlos Correa has done

02:00this, I was fortunate to play in a World Series, we didn't win the World Series, but you get

02:04a chance to, it's on the tips of your fingers, this is what it's all about, and communicating

02:10that to the players today, it was enjoyable for me, I liked it.

02:14That is kind of cool, right, because it is bigger than baseball, especially you look

02:19at the impact on downtown Minneapolis, the whole state, the whole region, what it means

02:25when you guys are rocking, it just changes the vibe.

02:28The vibe, when we were in the playoffs a couple of years ago, it was amazing, and it changes

02:33your life, just experiencing it, feeling it, I couldn't believe it around me, rarely do

02:38I slow things down and look around in the ballpark, but that was one of those moments

02:42where I did, so we want to get back there.

02:44That first win, I'm sitting there with my then 16-year-old, my youngest son, and you

02:49look around and it almost makes you tear up, it's just such a family moment, a city, civic

02:56moment, almost unlike, I don't know if there's a parallel, there's something different about

03:01being in a baseball stadium and experiencing it.

03:03Yeah, you have to brace yourself.

03:04We don't know in Minnesota, it's been a while, other than the Twins, that's all we got.

03:08Well, you know what, that's what we're here for, to bring it back, and there weren't probably

03:12too many moments in the first speech where guys are nodding their heads in agreement,

03:16but that's one of the times they do.

03:19You're really changing the hitting approach a little bit this year, new staff that you

03:23have, getting back to more of a contact approach?

03:27Well, we do have a new staff, and I think there will be some adjustments, I don't want

03:31to say we're completely revamping everything we do, I think that would be a little bold,

03:36but we have guys that are very good major league hitters that we don't want them to

03:39change that much, but I do think that bringing things back to a more refined and controlled

03:47idea of what you're trying to do at the plate, just simply hitting low line, if you aim for

03:51a low line drive, so many good things can happen.

03:55If you aim to get big and hit the ball in the air, and hopefully hit a ball over the

03:58fence, there's significantly more things that may not go your way, so you aim small and

04:04you miss small, and hopefully there's a few more line drives being whacked around the

04:08field.

04:09Your pitching staff, you've got to feel good about it.

04:14I do, but that's today, and things change, you never get big and feel too good about

04:20yourself, you stay working hard and keeping your head down, and I think that's the way

04:25to approach something like this.

04:26The pitchers have been doing a nice job for us, Pete Mackey does a great job developing

04:31these guys and programming these guys, so the pitchers, they'll be ready, and we have

04:36a good deep group.

04:37Who's on first, who's on second, do we know what's going on with the infield yet?

04:41Well, we do, we have a better idea now, we brought Ty Frantzen, who's a guy that's done

04:46it in this league for a while, and he's, I think he's planning on making a few adjustments

04:51out there on the field too, but he's a good experienced guy, he's good around the bag,

04:55on the defensive side of things, and he's a guy with some upside with the bats.

04:59So I think you could see Miranda and Julian also contributing over there, Mickey Gasper,

05:04I think there are a lot of guys you could look to that we may see over there, but Ty

05:07Frantzen signing over there helps us out.

05:10Yeah, I think, you know, we didn't know if there was going to be any action, there's

05:13obviously uncertainty with the ownership and all of that, but a commitment by ownership

05:17to say, nope, let's make some moves here.

05:20Yeah, we tend to work a little later in the offseason than maybe some teams, or maybe

05:25even some fans are, you know, looking to do.

05:28But this has all sort of changed over the last five years, right?

05:32It has, and this is how we do it, we've signed some great players at this point in the year,

05:37in the spring, and we did it again, and we brought in some guys that fill some really

05:41good needs, Danny Coulombe, Harrison Bader, we brought in some guys that I think can play

05:45key roles.

05:47For you, how excited are you that you're not back in Minnesota where it's ten below zero

05:53right now?

05:54Well, I live in Rhode Island, it's not Minnesota cold, but it's cold, so I'm used to that,

05:59and grew up playing in the cold as well, so I'm fine with it, but right now, I'm fine

06:04down here, we'll be back soon.

06:07We can't wait to have it back, have you guys back going again.

06:09Have a good camp.

06:11Thanks Rocco.

06:12You got it.

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