Pirhanas Patrol the Middle in Minnesota

by Brad Berreman
Love of Sports Correspondent

When the Minnesota Twins dealt two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana to the New York Mets last offseason, the most major-league ready talent the Twins got back was widely considered speedy young OF Carlos Gomez.

Gomez had some major league experience and was penciled in as the team’s new starting CF, replacing the departed Torii Hunter. Gomez has been starting in CF since Opening Day

2B Alexei Casilla struggled during a brief call-up with the Twins in 2007, hitting just .222 in 56 games with just a .256 on-base percentage. When injuries hit the Minnesota infield this season, the team almost had no choice but to give Casilla the call to the big leagues.

The Twins have had a resurgence of late, winning 16 of 18 games through July 6, and have been led by Gomez and Casilla - the top of the order as catalysts for a suprisingly high scoring offense. The Twins’ rank sixth in all of baseball in runs scored so far in 2008, ahead of teams like the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers.

Gomez is hitting .269 (with a major-league leading 20 bunt singles) to go along with 21 stolen bases so far in 2008.  His 89 strikeouts and resulting fairly low .305 on-base percentage leave a lot to be desired, but Gomez has also been a stellar defensive outfielder in replacement of the multiple Gold Glove-winning Hunter.  With more experience and better patience at the plate, “Go-Go” could be a 50 SB threat in the future.

Casilla has been productive since being called up, hitting .320 with 35 RBIs in 169 at-bats through July 6.  He is also currently on a 13-game hitting streak as of this writing.  Casilla has missed a few games recently with a finger injury, but has not been placed on the DL.  He now seems entrenched as the starting 2B for the foreseeable future.

Gomez and Casilla have set the table well for All-Star 1B Justin Morneau, who ranks among the AL leaders in RBIs. 

The Twins are one of the surprise teams in baseball so far this season, trailing the Chicago White Sox by just one game for the AL Central lead as of July 6.  They start a big series with the Boston Red Sox this week, which could go a long way to telling us how good they really are.  All-Stars Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are the leaders, but “the new piranhas” Carlos Gomez and Alexei Casilla deserve mention too.