Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Ex-Twins Watch: Justin Morneau

Justin Morneau hits a double on Monday in Coors Field.
Justin Morneau's post-Twins career didn't start so well last year, when he struggled to produce any power for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the last month of the season. This year, it's another story.

Entering Monday's games, the Colorado Rockies first baseman had put up a slash line of .344/.371/.609 — and he popped a double in his first at-bat Monday night, his sixth two-bagger of the young season.

It's early, of course. And Coors Field, even with the humidor, remains a boost to hitting numbers.

But Morneau's been productive so far in the Rockies' road games, with a slash line of .324/.314/. 559 outside of Coors. (His home numbers entering Monday: .367/.429.667.) It's interesting, but not necessarily significant, that he has yet to draw a walk on the road, which leads to the rarity of an on-base percentage that is lower than the batting average.

I'm happy to see things going well for Morneau. Once it became obvious that Joe Mauer's catching days were over, there was no reasonable path to Morneau's return to Minnesota, but that's no knock on him or the Twins.

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