LEARNING CURVE
Three prominent members of last year’s Lookouts have experienced growing pains during their first full seasons with the Minnesota Twins:OF BYRON BUXTON› Hitting just .189 with 51 strikeouts in 36 games entering Wednesday night.OF MAX KEPLER› Batting .244 in 28 games but has hit an impressive .381 in his past six contests.OF MIGUEL SANO› Hitting .235 with 11 home runs in 50 games but has been out since May 31.
The Chattanooga Lookouts spent last season as the Class AA affiliate of one of the most surprising success stories in Major League Baseball.
This season, Chattanooga's parent club has the worst record among the 30 big league teams.
A year after challenging for an American League playoff spot before finishing with an 83-79 record, the Minnesota Twins have continually sputtered. Minnesota lost its first nine games this spring and was 22-48 entering Wednesday night's home matchup against Philadelphia.
"It's been a lot different," Lookouts second-year manager Doug Mientkiewicz said. "I've caught some flak for a lot of our guys going up there and struggling, but a lot of first-year guys in the big leagues struggle. Last year was a culmination of a lot of things - (Twins manager) Paul Molitor was new, and you can't say enough about what (right fielder) Torii Hunter brought to the table every night and to that clubhouse.
"Going into this year, I think the expectations were a little overhyped given that we have so many players in their first full years in the big leagues."
The Lookouts finished the first half of their Southern League season with a 36-34 record and open the second half tonight at AT&T Field against the Jackson Generals. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.
Chattanooga began last season with two of the top 15 prospects - Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano - in all of the minor leagues. Buxton and Sano helped Chattanooga go 43-25 in the first half before they were called up to the majors, and Max Kepler joined them in September after the Lookouts won their first Southern League title since 1988.
Buxton and Kepler struggled at the start of this season and were sent down to Triple-A Rochester in late April, but each has returned, with Kepler hitting a robust .381 in the past week. Sano hit 18 home runs last season in 80 games, ranking fifth among all rookies, and had 11 in 50 games this season before straining his hamstring May 31.
Sano has missed more than three weeks but is scheduled to play for Rochester on Friday.
"We could use him," Twins general manager Terry Ryan told reporters earlier this week, "but we're not going to do anything prematurely just because we're struggling."
Mientkiewicz talks and texts with his former players who are now in Minnesota. He is happy to offer advice because he went through the same thing when he got to the majors.
The Twins were a wretched 63-97 in 1999, when Mientkiewicz played his first full season, but they were 85-77 in 2001, when the first baseman hit .306 and won a Gold Glove Award. Minnesota then made three straight playoff appearances and went on to make six in a nine-year stretch.
"A lot of our guys from last year are struggling because there isn't much veteran leadership," Mientkiewicz said. "I know we didn't have any when I was a rookie with the Twins, but our group that I played with never lost sight that we had won at every level in the minor leagues and that sooner than later we're going to return the favor and that we were not going to apologize for it.
"In the early 2000s, we became the darlings of baseball. We had a low payroll but were getting to the playoffs every year, and I see a lot of similarities in that group and the group that just left here. We're definitely taking it on the chin right now, but we believe in our young guys, and once they get their feet wet and it becomes a game for them again, we'll be successful."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.