Twins all-opponent team shortstop

Shortstop – Cal Ripken was the Orioles second round selection (48th overall) in the 1978 June amateur draft. With the Twins first round pick (16th overall) in that same draft the Twins chose shortstop Lenny Faedo. But don’t feel bad because in the first round the Orioles chose infielder Robert Boyce who only reached as high as “A” ball.

You might think that picking the shortstop for this team would be easy but you would be wrong, it was difficult and I almost selected Omar Vizquel but finally decided on Ripken primarily because of his power and ability to show up and play every day. The numbers that Ripken and Vizquel put up against Minnesota were almost identical except in power and speed. They were both great players.

Ripken a Hall of Famer was the 1982 ROY award winner beating out Kent Hrbek and Wade Boggs. During his 21 year career he was a two-time MVP, 19 time All-Star (every year except his rookie season), 8 time Silver Slugger, and a 2 time Gold Glove winner not to mention a host of other awards.

But what did Ripken do against Minnesota that earns him the right to be a part of the Twins all-opponent team? Well, he went to the plate 725 times and had a .307 average with 197 hits, 47 doubles, 24 home runs, 105 RBI, with an OPS of .874. Not too shabby for a shortstop, plus the Twins decided to give him 15 IBB to make sure he didn’t do even more damage.

Looks like it is time to look at the outfielders.

 

Our previous selections for the Twins all-opponent team

Catcher – Ivan Rodriguez

First Baseman – Paul Konerko

Second Baseman – Lou Whitaker

Third Baseman – Wade Boggs

 

The Twins all-opponent team second baseman

Second BaseLou Whitaker was the Tigers fifth round in the 1975 draft and went on to become the 1978 AL Rookie of the Year, a five-time All-Star, a four-time Silver Slugger winner, and a three-time Gold Glove winner. Sweet Lou played in the big leagues for 19 years, all with the team that drafted him and in his 2,308 games, all but 32 (DH) were as a second baseman.

Whitaker played 162 games against the boys from Minnesota hitting .298 with an OPS of .832. His 172 hits included 34 doubles, seven triples and 14 home runs. Whitaker walked off the Twins twice, both times with singles off of closers Mike Marshall and Ron Davis. To show the respect that Twins managers had for Whitaker, you don’t need to look any further than the 10 IBB that Twins pitchers issued to Whitaker. Whitaker is one of only 15 players to have been given 10 or more IBB by Twins pitchers since 1961.

The runner-up for this spot is Roberto Alomar who put up similar numbers against the Twins over the years. I could have gone either way with these two players, one is a Hall of Famer and the other should be a Hall of Famer. Whitaker has a career WAR of 74.9 and Alomar has a WAR of 66.8. To be honest and fair, I see each player with a strike against them in the fact that one spit in an umpires face and the other didn’t stand for the national anthem. I know it has nothing to do with their play against the Twins but this Twins all-opponent team is strictly my opinion, my list and it is what it is. You are always welcome to express your opinion as well.

The unapproachable greatness of Sweet Lou

 

Our previous selections for the Twins all-opponent team

Catcher – Ivan Rodriguez

First Baseman – Paul Konerko

Minnesota Twins Top 10 Second Basemen

Here are the Minnesota Twins top 10 second basemen based of the WAR numbers from Baseball-Reference.  To qualify a player must have played at least 51% of his games at second base. The results to I’m sure no ones surprise, is that Rod Carew comes out on top. The Twins current second baseman Brian Dozier comes in third.


Rk Player WAR/pos From To G AB R H HR RBI SB BA OPS
1 Rod Carew 63.7 1967 1978 1635 6235 950 2085 74 733 271 .334 .841
2 Chuck Knoblauch 37.9 1991 1997 1013 3939 713 1197 43 391 276 .304 .807
3 Brian Dozier 18.4 2012 2016 699 2715 422 668 117 346 74 .246 .762
4 Tim Teufel 5.5 1983 1985 316 1080 145 286 27 117 5 .265 .751
5 Rob Wilfong 5.3 1977 1982 554 1591 210 417 22 152 41 .262 .681
6 Steve Lombardozzi 4.0 1985 1988 423 1226 148 286 19 104 13 .233 .652
7 Bob Randall 3.8 1976 1980 460 1325 154 341 1 91 11 .257 .621
8 Luis Castillo 3.7 2006 2007 227 933 138 279 3 67 34 .299 .720
9 Alexi Casilla 3.5 2006 2012 515 1580 210 395 11 147 71 .250 .639
10 Bernie Allen 3.2 1962 1966 492 1595 195 392 32 163 3 .246 .682
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/2/2017.
Lou Whitaker

If you looked at the entire American League during this same time period (1961-current) the top three second basemen are Lou Whitaker at 74.9, Bobby Grich at 70.9, and at 62.4 the still active Robinson Cano. Carew did not make this list because he didn’t play second base most of his career. Yet, neither Whitaker nor Grich are in the Hall of Fame. Hmmm!

 

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

Top Twins DH