Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Pinto, Casilla, Tiffee, Bowen, Munoz & Webster

As you would expect, a fair number of big league debuts as Twins on September 1, three of them were catchers.

Josmil Pinto (C) – September 1, 2013 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent on February 14, 2006. Debuted at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington in a 4-2 Twins win. Pinto was the starting catcher hitting 8th in the batting order and was 2 for 4 with a double, also scoring once and knocking in a run.

 

Alexi Casilla

Alexi Casilla (2B/SS) – September 1, 2006 – Traded by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to the Minnesota Twins for J.C. Romero on December 9, 2005. First game took place in Yankee Stadium II in a Twins 8-1 loss to New York. Casilla entered the game as a pinch-hitter and drew a walk.

Terry Tiffee (3B/1B) – September 1, 2004 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 26th round of the 1999 MLB June Amateur Draft. Debuted in the Dome in a 4-2 Twins win over the Rangers. Tiffee entered the game in the sixth inning to play 3B and he had 2 at bats and he had a single and a double which knocked in two runs (tieing and winning).

Rob Bowen (C) – September 1, 2003 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 2nd round of the 1999 MLB June Amateur Draft. Bowen debuted as a sub for A.J. Pierzynski in the 9th inning of a 10-2 Twins loss at the Metrodome going 0 for 1.

Pedro Munoz (OF) – September 1, 1990 – Traded by the Toronto Blue Jays with Nelson Liriano to the Minnesota Twins for John Candelaria on July 27, 1990. Debuted at the Dome in the Tigers 9-5 win over Minnesota as the DH hitting in the seven hole. Tough debut going 0 for 4 with 2 strike outs.

Lenny Webster (C) – September 1, 1989 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 21st round of the 1985 amateur draft. Webster debuted in the 9th inning in the Skydome as a defensive replacement at catcher in a Twins 7-3 defeat at the hands of the Blue Jays.

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

Twins switch-hitters from 1961-2015

One of the more frequent questions I get pertains to switch-hitters that played for the Minnesota Twins so I thought I would put together the entire list of Twins players both position players and pitchers that swung from both sides of the plate. In this case I ranked then in order of home runs hit. The list includes Twins pitchers as well as position players.

Rk Player HR From To G PA AB H 2B 3B RBI BA OPS Pos
1 Roy Smalley 110 1976 1987 1148 4676 3997 1046 184 21 485 .262 .750 *6DH/53
2 Chili Davis 41 1991 1992 291 1163 978 276 61 3 159 .282 .862 *D/H793
3 Cristian Guzman 39 1999 2004 841 3538 3277 871 142 61 289 .266 .685 *6/HD
4 Butch Wynegar 37 1976 1982 794 3188 2746 697 112 9 325 .254 .682 *2/HD5
5 Gene Larkin 32 1987 1993 758 2670 2321 618 131 12 266 .266 .723 3D9H/754
6 Ryan Doumit 32 2012 2013 269 1066 969 253 62 2 130 .261 .745 2/D9H73
7 Denny Hocking 25 1993 2003 876 2455 2204 556 109 17 215 .252 .661 64H5/9738D
8 Bobby Kielty 23 2001 2003 224 750 631 170 35 3 92 .269 .818 9/8HD73
9 Eduardo Escobar 21 2012 2015 340 1139 1051 275 71 8 111 .262 .710 *6/574HD98
10 Aaron Hicks 20 2013 2015 247 928 819 184 30 6 78 .225 .655 *8/97HD
11 Kennys Vargas 14 2014 2015 111 418 390 101 14 1 55 .259 .707 /*D3H
12 Dave Hollins 13 1996 1996 121 503 422 102 26 0 53 .242 .760 *5/HD6
13 Nick Punto 12 2004 2010 747 2707 2365 587 102 21 194 .248 .648 564/HD879
14 Alexi Casilla 11 2006 2012 515 1764 1580 395 72 14 147 .250 .639 *4/6HD58
15 Pedro Florimon 10 2012 2014 210 682 616 126 23 3 55 .205 .567 *6/HD
16 Matt Walbeck 8 1994 1996 275 1008 946 218 40 1 103 .230 .571 *2/HD
17 Javier Valentin 8 1997 2002 141 435 391 90 19 2 46 .230 .638 *2/HD
18 Danny Santana 7 2014 2015 192 707 666 185 37 12 61 .278 .710 *6/8HD9
19 Brent Gates 6 1998 1999 217 723 639 161 28 2 80 .252 .656 *5/4H3D6
20 Luis Rodriguez 6 2005 2007 206 508 445 108 19 3 38 .243 .651 /54H6D3
21 Orlando Hudson 6 2010 2010 126 559 497 133 24 5 37 .268 .710 *4/D
22 Jim Perry 5 1963 1972 380 681 613 117 17 2 46 .191 .478 *1/H7
23 Terry Tiffee 5 2004 2006 91 256 239 54 13 1 29 .226 .625 /5H3D
24 Orlando Merced 5 1998 1998 63 223 204 59 12 0 33 .289 .767 /*39DH
25 John Moses 4 1988 1990 349 687 620 171 25 7 57 .276 .693 9H/78D31
26 Matt Tolbert 3 2008 2011 247 680 605 139 27 9 54 .230 .607 4/5H6D39
27 Luis Castillo 3 2006 2007 227 1036 933 279 33 9 67 .299 .720 *4
28 Pedro Ramos 3 1961 1961 53 100 93 16 1 0 11 .172 .484 /*1H
29 Marcus Jensen 3 2000 2000 52 164 139 29 7 1 14 .209 .663 /*2HD
30 Dave McKay 2 1975 1976 78 290 263 60 6 1 24 .228 .562 /*5H6D
31 Jose Offerman 2 2004 2004 77 202 172 44 14 2 22 .256 .759 /*DH34
32 Augie Ojeda 2 2004 2004 30 72 59 20 1 0 7 .339 .886 /*46H5
33 Darrell Brown 1 1983 1984 186 602 569 155 15 5 41 .272 .624 *8/H7D
34 Otis Nixon 1 1998 1998 110 500 448 133 6 6 20 .297 .705 *8/H
35 Wally Backman 1 1989 1989 87 337 299 69 9 2 26 .231 .591 /*4HD
36 Tom Herr 1 1988 1988 86 345 304 80 16 0 21 .263 .674 /*4HD6
37 Chris Latham 1 1997 1999 63 154 138 21 2 0 9 .152 .411 /8H79
38 Kendrys Morales 1 2014 2014 39 162 154 36 11 0 18 .234 .584 /*D3H
39 Rob Bowen 1 2003 2004 24 43 37 4 0 0 3 .108 .380 /*2HD
40 Al Newman 0 1987 1991 618 1876 1647 380 59 7 135 .231 .581 465H/D738
41 J.C. Romero 0 1999 2005 327 3 3 1 1 0 0 .333 1.000 *1
42 Joe Mays 0 1999 2005 193 21 15 4 1 0 0 .267 .722 *1
43 Pat Neshek 0 2006 2010 132 0 0 0 0 0 0 *1
44 Pete Filson 0 1982 1986 130 0 0 0 0 0 0 *1
45 Darrell Jackson 0 1978 1982 104 0 0 0 0 0 0 *1/HD
46 Jose Morales 0 2007 2010 74 181 158 47 9 0 14 .297 .725 /*2HD3
47 Tsuyoshi Nishioka 0 2011 2012 71 254 233 50 5 0 20 .215 .503 /*64HD
48 Doug Baker 0 1988 1990 57 100 86 23 5 1 9 .267 .696 /*46HD5
49 Sergio Ferrer 0 1974 1975 56 157 138 36 3 3 2 .261 .648 /*6H4D
50 Nelson Liriano 0 1990 1990 53 211 185 47 5 7 13 .254 .688 /*4HD6
51 Marty Martinez 0 1962 1962 37 24 18 3 0 1 3 .167 .563 /*H65
52 Dan Serafini 0 1996 1998 35 1 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 /*1
53 Larry Milbourne 0 1982 1982 29 106 98 23 1 1 1 .235 .548 /*4H
54 Donnie Hill 0 1992 1992 25 59 51 15 3 0 2 .294 .721 /6H459
55 Chris Pittaro 0 1986 1987 25 34 33 6 0 0 0 .182 .388 /*4H6D
56 Quinton McCracken 0 2001 2001 24 70 64 14 2 2 3 .219 .588 /DH798
57 Jason Ryan 0 1999 2000 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 /*1
58 Tom Lundstedt 0 1975 1975 18 32 28 3 0 0 1 .107 .326 /*2HD
59 Ruben Sierra 0 2006 2006 14 33 28 5 1 0 4 .179 .487 /*H*D
60 Glenn Williams 0 2005 2005 13 43 40 17 1 0 3 .425 .902 /*5H
61 Stan Perzanowski 0 1978 1978 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 /*1
62 Cleatus Davidson 0 1999 1999 12 24 22 3 0 0 3 .136 .273 /*46HD
63 Jorge Polanco 0 2014 2015 9 20 16 5 1 1 4 .313 .950 /*6H
64 David Lamb 0 2002 2002 7 10 10 1 0 0 0 .100 .200 /*6H45
65 Mark Brown 0 1985 1985 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 /*1
66 Luis Quinones 0 1992 1992 3 6 5 1 0 0 1 .200 .367 /*H6D5
67 Eric Hacker 0 2011 2011 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 /*1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/10/2016.

You can make a strong case that Mickey Mantle was the best switch-hitter in the AL as he hit .300 (with 500 or more PA’s) or more nine time and Victor Martinez who remains active today has hit. 300 eight times as has Bernie Williams. Roberto Alomar did it seven times.

Guzman, Cristian 3The Twins have not had as much luck with their switch-hitters, the only Twin to hit .300 (.302) or better with at least 500 plate appearances was Cristian Guzman in 2001. It kind of makes you wonder if switch hitting is worth the effort. From 1901 to 1960 the Washington Senators never had a switch-hitter that hit .300 or better with at least 500 PA’s.

2013 Twins draft summary

 

Kohl Stewart
Kohl Stewart

Each year after the June amateur draft is completed I try to put together a draft summary that shows at a quick glance how the Twins drafted. The Twins first pick (fourth over-all) this year is RHP Kohl Stewart from Houston, Texas St. Pius High School. Stewart is a consensus four-star prospect as a quarterback and has a football scholarship waiting for him at Texas A&M. But according to numerous reports Stewart feels that his future is with baseball and he is expected to sign with the Twins in the next few days. Several reports have Stewart as “the highest ceiling pitcher” in this years draft. Keith Law, ESPN states that: “He hit 96 mph and sat 92-94 consistently, showing a plus slider at 85-88, a hard curveball at 79-82, and even a few change-ups at 83-84 with decent arm speed.” With their second pick the Twins continued taking pitching and selected RHP Ryan Eades from LSU.

When the smoke cleared after three days of drafting the Twins had selected 40 players and will probably sign about 30 of them. Between 1998 and 2009 the Twins signed an average of 23.41 drafted players per year but between 2010 and 2012 they signed an average of 30.33 drafted players per year so it looks like the team realized they need to bring new blood into the organization the last few years.

Although the Twins history in drafting pitching is atrocious, that does not stop them from trying and this year they used 24 of their 40 picks on pitchers. Seven are lefties and 17 throw from the right side. Based on the Twins drafting history, I think I might have a better chance of winning the Powerball then the Twins do of drafting an “ace” pitcher but you have to give them credit for trying. It will only cost me $2 to try to win the Powerball but the Twins will have to shell out about $4.5 million this year to see if they hit the jackpot with Kohl Stewart.

The Twins drafted zero first baseman this year. If you are a first baseman and looking to be drafted, you don’t want the Twins to select you because since 1990 the Twins have drafted and signed only three first baseman that have worked their way up the minor league ladder to wear a Twins uniform. In 1999 the Twins selected Terry Tiffee in round 26 and he played in just 17 games at 1B for Minnesota. In 1995 the Twins picked Doug Mientkiewicz in the fifth round and he played first base in 628 games as a Twin. In 1991 the Twins used their first pick to select Dave McCarty and he played a total of 86 games at first base for Tom Kelly before he was sent packing. Previous to that you had first baseman like Dan Masteller and Steve Dunn. You have to go all the way back to 1978 when the Twins took Minnesota native Kent Hrbek in round 17 to find a top-notch first baseman that the Twins drafted. For those of you wondering about Justin Morneau, he was drafted in round 3 in 1999 but he was drafted as a catcher. It seems a lot easier for the Twins just to “create” first baseman from players that fail to meet expectations at other positions or when size or age catches up with them rather then waste a draft choice trying to find one.

 

 Twins 2013 draft

Position College High School Bats Right Bats Left Switch Hitter LHP RHP
C 3 1 3 1 0 n/a n/a
1B 0 0 0 0 0 n/a n/a
2B 1 0 1 0 0 n/a n/a
SS 2 1 1 2 0 n/a n/a
3B 1 0 0 1 0 n/a n/a
OF 6 1 5 2 0 n/a n/a
P 17 7 n/a n/a n/a 7 17
Totals 30 (75%) 10 (25%) 10 6 1 7 17
rookie card
rookie card