Another Fascinating Thing About Willians Astudillo
Willians Astudillo has captured baseball’s collective imagination — and for good reason.
In an age when the march toward three true outcomes seems inevitable and indomitable, Astudillo arrives as an outlier of outliers, an offensive peformer who never walks or strikeouts, whose batting line would make much more sense if it were produced by a 19th century hitter.
When the Twins called up Astudillo late last month, Jeff Sullivan examined his curious numbers at every professional stop. It is believed Astudillo first appeared in these Web pages as Carson’s “guy” way back in 2016.
Fittingly, Astudillo has not struck out or walked through his first 14 major-league plate appearances.
Said Astudillo of his approach to the Star-Tribune:
“Coaches try to change my approach,” he said. “It’s just who I am. I’m a free swinger.”
Said Twins baseball operations chief Derek Falvey to the Star Tribune:
“I don’t think he gets to [strike] three very often. He’s an aggressive guy. It’s not a secret. I’m not revealing anything the advance work won’t show. He attacks the ball and makes good contact. Sometimes that profile plays well off the bench when you think about different types of guys to bring in the sixth, seventh, eighth inning.”