"We’re going to keep touching the sausage" - Twins INF Kyle Farmer opens up on hilarious sausage incident that has turned into unlikely rally totem
Kyle Farmer and the Minnesota Twins have a new rallying totem. Baseball players often find unique ways of trying to turn the tides, with many turning hats inside out, putting gloves on their heads, or engaging in any other sort of activity.
Anything that is done before success is often replicated with the intent of turning it into a superstition. That's why the Twins are now touching an old sausage, and it all started with Farmer.
Per reports, Farmer left a summer sausage on a table in the clubhouse. Hitting coach David Popkins then brought it into the dugout during a matchup with the Chicago Cubs. Some success followed, so now the Twins are constantly interacting with this sausage to bring them luck.
Farmer said via Betsy Helfland on X, formerly known as Twitter:
“I guess we’re going to keep touching the sausage. Baseball players are messed up.”
As long as it keeps helping them play well as they try to climb out of the basement to defend their AL Central title, they will keep using this summer sausage. They currently trail the Cleveland Guardians by 5.5 games.
Kyle Farmer looking to turn things around in the early going
Kyle Farmer hasn't had as much luck, even recently with the inception of the rally summer sausage, as his teammates have. He is struggling to get through the first part of the season.
Through 21 games, the infielder has a 24 wRC+. That means he's been 76% worse than the league-average hitter. His .100/.250/.140 slash line doesn't imply a lot more success, either.
His defense has not been able to make up for it, as he's at -0.3 fWAR for the season. His defense has been average (zero DRS at each position he has played in 2024), which doesn't help.
Farmer may need to spend some more time with his summer sausage as he and the Twins continue trying to get back to the heights they saw in 2023, when they won the division handily and earned a playoff series win afterward.