Top left-handed hitting Twins power hitters

The Minnesota Twins have been known as a home run hitting team over the years. It got me to thinking since I was a left-handed batter when I was young and played ball with the other kids, who makes up the top 10 of Twins left-handed hitting home run hitters over the years.

The Twins leading power lefty, is as many of you might suspect, native-Minnesotan first baseman Kent Hrbek with 293 home runs. Nine Twins left-handed batters have hit 100 or more home runs in a Twins uniform. Just as an aside, there are ten Twins right-handed batters with 100 or more home runs wearing Twins colors over the years. Since the Twins began play they have hit a total of 9,002 home runs. 3,564 have been hit left-handed and 5,438 right-handed.

Nelson Cruz on a record breaking roll!

Nelson Cruz

Stolen from today’s MN Twins GameNotes. This is just crazy, the man is 39 years old. We are lucky to have watched him this year.

ALL ABOUT THE BOOMSTICK: Historic night in Nellyville:

Nelson Cruz has 30 home runs on the season, tied for second most in the AL.

He now has 30 for the sixth straight season. Active players with 30+ homer streaks include Albert Pujols (12) from 2001-12, Edwin Encarnacion (8) from 2012-19, and Miguel Cabrera (7) from 2007-13.

Cruz’s 30 home runs pass Chili Davis‘ 1991 total (29) for the most by a DH in club history, (MLB all-time record is 54 by David Ortiz in 2006).

Current .652 slugging percentage is the highest in club history (next: Killebrew, .606 in 1961).

Three homers last night marked the 12th time in club history:  Bob Allison (’63), Harmon Killebrew (’63), Tony Oliva (’73), Justin Morneau (’07), Max Kepler (’16), Brian Dozier (’16), Eddie Rosario (’17), Byron Buxton (’17), Eddie Rosario (’18), Max Kepler (’19), Nelson Cruz (’19) and Nelson Cruz (’19).

Becomes the 23rd player in baseball history with multiple three-homer games in a season (first in Twins history). The first in MLB history with multiple after turning 39.

After Cruz’s three-homer game July 25 at CWS, he joins Doug DeCinces (8/3 & 8, 1982) and Johnny Mize (7/13 & 20, 1938) as the only players to homer three times within 10 days.

Leads baseball in home runs since ASG (14), next players, Max Kepler and Mancini have nine. Also leads baseball in RBI since ASG (26)

Joins Jason Kubel (2009) as the only two players in club history with four five+ RBI games in a season.

Thanks for the show Boomstick!

Top Twins DH

Paul Molitor (Credit Getty Images)

Between 1973-2018 there have been 275 players that have been the Twins DH in at least one game. However, to qualify for this list which ranks them in Baseball-Reference WAR order the player must have been the DH in at least 51% of their games while wearing a Twins uniform. Tony Oliva is the Twins all-time leader in games played as the Twins DH with 406 and his is also the very first Twins DH but he was the Twins DH in only 24% of his games so he does not qualify for this list

 

Results
Rk Player WAR/pos From To G PA R H HR RBI BB BA OPS Pos
1 Paul Molitor 5.2 1996 1998 422 1885 237 530 23 271 146 .312 .794 *D/3H
2 Chili Davis 5.2 1991 1992 291 1163 147 276 41 159 168 .282 .862 *D/H793
3 Jim Thome 4.5 2010 2011 179 582 69 128 37 99 95 .266 .949 *D/H
4 David Ortiz 2.6 1997 2002 455 1693 215 393 58 238 186 .266 .809 *D3/H
5 Jim Dwyer 0.9 1988 1990 145 385 47 95 6 43 53 .289 .767 *D/H97
6 Tyler Austin 0.3 2018 2018 35 136 18 29 9 24 11 .236 .782 /*D3H
7 Dave Winfield 0.3 1993 1994 220 922 107 222 31 119 76 .264 .760 *D/9H3
8 Randy Ruiz 0.2 2008 2008 22 68 13 17 1 7 6 .274 .693 /*DH
9 ByungHo Park 0.1 2016 2016 62 244 28 41 12 24 21 .191 .684 /*D3H
10 Jose Morales 0.1 1978 1980 290 756 79 200 12 101 56 .297 .764 *DH/327
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/16/2019.

 

Twins Top 10 Catchers

Twins Top 10 First Baseman

Twins Top 10 Second Basemen

Twins Top 10 Third Baseman

Twins Top 10 Shortstops

Twins Top 10 Right Fielders

Twins Top 10 Center Fielders

Twins Top 10 Left Fielders

 

Twins all-opponent team DH

DHEdgar Martinez – What? Not who you thought? You probably forget about this All-Star third baseman turned DH but this man was a hitting machine. Martinez started his career at the hot corner in 1987 but didn’t get a full-time gig until 1990 when he was 27. In 1995 he became a full-time DH after numerous injuries kept him from playing full-time. During his 18 year big league career he won two batting titles, five Silver Slugger awards and was a seven time All-Star.

He appeared in 2,055 games and had a career average of .312 and an OPS of .933. Martinez had 2,247 career hits and 514 of them were doubles and 309 were of the long ball variety.

Edgar found hitting against the Twins to his liking, in 436 PA’s he hit .353 with an OPS of 1.044 with 27 doubles, 25 home runs and 78 RBI and he crossed the plate 80 times. He also walked 58 times and struck out just 60 times. Twins managers had him walked intentionally eight times, more often than any other DH.

My runner-up for DH has to be David Ortiz but there have been numerous other great DH that have beat up on Minnesota over the years like Hal McRae, Harold Baines, Travis Hafner, Frank Thomas, Don Baylor, Victor Martinez, Billy Butler, Jim Thome, Mike Sweeney and of course we can’t leave Paul Molitor off this list. Are you sure that baseball is better without a DH?

 

Our previous selections for the Twins all-opponent team

Catcher – Ivan Rodriguez

First Baseman – Paul Konerko

Second Baseman – Lou Whitaker

Third Baseman – Wade Boggs

Shortstop – Cal Ripken

Left Field – Jim Rice

Center Field – Fred Lynn

Right Field – Magglio Ordonez

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Cuddyer & Dempsey

We have two debuts as Twins for you today, September 23rd, as we approach the finish line. Rick Dempsey played in the big leagues for all or parts of 24 years while Michael Cuddyer played for all or parts of 15 seasons. Those are some good career’s.

 

Michael Cuddyer

Michael Cuddyer (OF/1B/3B) – September 23, 2001 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (9th) of the 1997 MLB June Amateur Draft. Cuddyer debuted at the Dome as the starting DH hitting 8th against the Cleveland Indians. Cuddyer took a walk in his first PA and then went 1 for 2 with a double and a strike out before being lifted for pinch-hitter David Ortiz. At the end of the day the scoreboard shows the Indians with 4 run and the Twins with 2.

 

Rick Dempsey – Credit: Topps

Rick Dempsey (C) – September 23, 1969 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 15th round of the 1967 amateur draft. Debuted at Municipal Stadium against the Kansas City Royals when he replaced John Roseboro as the catcher in the fourth inning. Dempsey went 1 for 2 before he was lifted for pinch-runner Herman Hill in a Twins 6-2 win.

You can check out other Major League Debuts as Twins that I have done by going here.

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Ortiz & Hill

Two players made their major league debuts as Minnesota Twins on September 2.

David Ortiz

David Ortiz (1B) – September 2, 1997 – The Seattle Mariners sent David Ortiz to the Minnesota Twins to complete an earlier deal made on August 29, 1996. Debuted as a pinch-hitter at Wrigley Field and flew out to deep left center field in a Twins 9-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs.

Herman Hill

Herman Hill (OF) – September 2, 1969 –  Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent in 1966. Made his debut at Met Stadium as a pinch-runner for Harmon Killebrew and was caught attempting to steal second base in a Twins 5-2 win over Cleveland.

You can check out other Major League Debuts as Twins that I have done by going here.

According to ELIAS

A one-of-a-kind day for the Indians

Cleveland_Indians_logo.svgAll four members of the Indians starting infield homered on Thursday against the Twins: first baseman Carlos Santana, second baseman Jason Kipnis, shortstop Francisco Lindor, and third baseman Jose Ramirez. But not only that: all three starting outfielders had an assist: left fielder Brandon Guyer, center fielder Rajai Davis, and right fielder Abraham Almonte. No other team in major-league history has had homers from all four of its starting infielders and assists from all three of its starting outfielders in one game.

 

Bull Dozier plowing through American League pitching this week

Brian Dozier homersBrian Dozier had two hits including a homer in the Twins’ loss in Cleveland, and over his last five games he’s collected 10 hits and slugged five homers. Over the last 30 years, the only other Twins players with 10 hits and five homers in a five-game span were Kirby Puckett (1987 and 1995) and David Ortiz (2002).

According to ELIAS

Kepler does something a certain 40-year-old has never done

Credit: Minnesota Twins
Credit: Minnesota Twins

Max Kepler slugged three home runs last night, which may make another active player who began his career with the Twins a little jealous. David Ortiz has hit 528 home runs in the majors and he has never had a three-homer game. Big Papi is one of three members of the 500-home-run club who never hit three in one game, along with Rafael Palmeiro and Gary Sheffield.

Corey Seager went deep three times in a game against the Braves in June. Kepler and Seager are the fourth pair of rookies to each have a three-homer game in the same season. The other tandems to do that were Mark McGwire and Mickey Brantley in 1987, Nick Markakis and Cody Ross in 2006, and Evan Longoria and Joey Votto in 2008.

Update: According to Elias, Max Kepler became the first European-born player in baseball history to homer three times in a game.

 

Kepler hits three homers in Twins’ victory

Box score

Congratulations Max!

According to ELIAS

Dozier streak evokes Twins greats… and Rogers Hornsby

Brian Dozier 2016Brian Dozier extended to 11 his team-record streak of consecutive games with an extra-base hit by belting a fourth-inning home run at Chicago on Thursday. It’s the longest streak by any major-league player since Alex Rodriguez had an 11-game streak overlapping the 2006 and 2007 seasons; and it’s the longest in the majors by a middle infielder since the Hall-of-Famer Rogers Hornsby, like Dozier a second baseman, produced at least one extra-base hit in each of 12 consecutive games in 1928. That was The Rajah’s only season playing for the Boston Braves; his extra-base-hit streak began on May 27, a couple of days after he became the team’s manager in addition to being its second baseman.

Dozier has accumulated 20 hits, including six homers, over his last 11 games. The last four Twins players who produced those totals over an 11-game span were all boldface names: Joe Mauer(2009), David Ortiz (2002), Dave Winfield (1993) and Kirby Puckett (1987).

According to ELIAS

Nunez is 7 for 7 in his two starts this season

Eduardo Nunez 2016Eduardo Nunez contributed three hits to the Twins’ first win of the season yesterday and he is 7-for-7 over his two starts this season. Nunez is the first Twins player since David Ortiz in July 2000 to go 7-for-7 (or better) over a span of two starts.