Dustan Mohr is aggressive. He runs the basepaths aggresively. He plays defense aggresively. He bats aggresively. He is full of energy and sometimes seems to be a sparkplug for the Twins. However, he also is often way too aggressive. I was amazed when he drew three walks in a game against Cleveland. You see, Dustan Mohr does not like to walk. He is wary of the walk. He is perhaps allergic to the walk. This season (through July 7) he has walked in just 7.7% of his plate appearances. Last season he walked in 7.5% of his plate appearances. Those numbers are very, very low.
I really like watching Dustan play defense as he provides the most awkward diving and leaping catches. While Torii may make a jaw-dropping catch, he is just too graceful for me to connect with his play. Dustan, however, will stumble and slide and stretch and make a difficult catch appear to be even more difficult. Because of his lack of grace, it is much easier to connect with Dustan as a fan. Plus, at some home games they play a montage of his aggressive plays with "Rebel Yell" in the background. It really fits. Sorry, Denny, but Dustan seems to be taking away your song.
In May, Dustan was on fire hitting seemingly coming up with 2 hits in every game. However, in both April and June he was ice cold. I think his streakiness is related to his lack of plate discipline. When you are patient at the plate you will hopefully find a good pitch in each at bat, but when you go up there ready to hack, then often you will swing at a pitch with which you can do absolutely nothing and which will result in an easy out. Thus, the very next time Dustan is hitting well, Terry Ryan needs to trade him that second. His value will fluctuate so much that he definitely will fetch more in terms of prospects while hitting .300 than .270 a week later. Plus, the Twins have such a logjam of corner outfielders with Mohr, Bobby Kielty, Jacque Jones, Mike Restovich, Michael Cuddyer, and Lew Ford all ready for some playing time. Thus, losing Dustan will not be too painful and may help in the long run as someone will benefit from an increase in playing time.
