Month: June 2017

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Guardado & Jimenez – June 13

Two players again today making their major league debuts as Minnesota Twins on June 13 but 10 years apart.

 

Eddie Guardado

Eddie Guardado (P) – June 13, 1993 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 21st round of the 1990 amateur draft. “Every Day” Eddie debuted as a starter but even though the Twins scored four times for him in the bottom of the first inning, Guardado could not get out of the fourth inning at the Dome against the A’s. Eddie can still be found in the Twins bullpen today, as the bullpen coach.

 

Houston Jimenez

Houston Jimenez – (SS) – June 13, 1983 – Signed as a Free Agent with the Minnesota Twins on October 28, 1980. Jimenez went 1 for 5 in his debut at the Dome with a double off Steve Renko in his second big league at bat.

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Is the Falvey and Levine draft plan conservative or are they risk-takers

The big day has finally arrived and no one has leaked who the Minnesota Twins will pick with the first pick in the 2017 June Amateur draft. Maybe the Twins don’t know that themselves as yet? But when that pick is announced we will finally get some insight into the Twins long-term plans that Derek Falvey and Thad Levine have been keeping under the covers.

There appears to be no consensus number one player to select but the top three seem to be Hunter Greene a RHP/SS from Notre Dame HS in Sherman Oaks, California, Kyle Wright a RHP from Vanderbilt and Brendan McKay a LHP/1B from Louisville. Naturally everyone has an opinion on what Minnesota should do and no matter who they pick, half the fans will say they are dead wrong and the other half will say they got the next coming of Babe Ruth.

So here is another opinion of what the Twins should do, it is out of the box thinking but I think this is a real opportunity for the Twins to get a step ahead of the rest of MLB and show that they are leaders and not followers. Both Hunter Greene and Brendan McKay are two-way players, pitchers and position players but they differ in the fact that Greene is coming out of high school and McKay is coming out of college. Most teams want Greene as a RHP and McKay as a 1B but no RHP out of high school has ever been selected number one and who wants to burn the first overall pick on a collegiate 1B? To my way of thinking picking a two-way player doubles your risk, not only might you pick the wrong player but you might also choose the wrong position for him.

I want the Twins to take a player that can help them sooner than later, I think the Twins should select RHP Kyle Wright from Vanderbilt and persuade him to sign for a bit less money so that the Twins can use those dollars for other picks in this draft. How do you convince Wright to take less? You tell him he will be the number one pick in the draft and that you will sign him to a big league contract, put him on the Twins 25 man roster, give him a Twins uniform and put him in the Twins bullpen. 

You are talking about an experienced collegiate pitcher and a Twins bullpen that in a word, “stinks”. What have you got to lose by doing this? What better way to learn the ropes than by pitching out of a big league bullpen? The twins are not a playoff team anyway, let Wright learn but pitching out of the Twins bullpen and use him to help attract fans to the stands, everyone wants to see the top pick in the draft pitch, a guy that goes from college to the bigs. 

Baseball could show other athletes that you don’t have to spend the next 3-5 years in the minors riding buses if you become a baseball player. These guys have been playing baseball their entire life, give them their due and give them a shot, if some make it right away so much the better, if they need more seasoning then so be it.

I know that some of you think I’m nuts and that service time should not be wasted, but is it really? You have a ton of money invested here, why not see if you can get a return on it right away? Let’s see what the Minnesota Twins are made of.

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Kinnunen & Arrigo on June 12

Two players, both pitchers made their big league debut wearing the uniform of the Minnesota Twins on June 12.

Mike Kinnunen (P) – June 12, 1980 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 10th round of the 1979 amateur draft. Mike struck out his first big league batter but than a walk and a home run by Champ Summers became part of his debut. Kinnunen appeared in 21 games for Minnesota without getting a win, a loss or a save, as a matter of fact he didn’t get any wins, losses, or saves in his entire 48 game career. Mike held the MLB record for this stat until a few years ago when it was broken.

Gerry Arrigo

Gerry Arrigo (P) – June 12, 1961 – drafted from White Sox in 1960 first year draft. Only the fifth player in Twins history to make his big league debut wearing Minnesota across his chest. His debut was a start against the Red Sox at Fenway Park with only 2,984 fans in the stands. Arrigo pitched a scoreless first, then in the second inning he allowed a single to Frank Malzone, he hit Jim Pagliaroni with a pitch, Vic Wertz advanced the runners with a ground out to second. Don Buddin drew a walk and Red Sox pitcher Ike Delock singled to plate one run, than Chuck Shilling singled to score two more runs and Arrigo found himself with an unplanned early shower after just 1.1 innings.

 

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Twins Minor League Player of the Week – Nik Turley

Nik Turley

This weeks Twins Minor League Player of the Week is also today’s Minnesota Twins starting pitcher against the San Francisco Giants, left-hander Nik Turley. The 6’5″ Turley will be the fourth Twins pitcher to make major league debut this season following Randy Rosario, Jason Wheeler and Justin Haley. 

Turley tied a Southern League record with the  Chattanooga Lookouts (AA) by striking out eight straight batters on April 25 vs. Tennessee and also set a Frontier Field record by striking out 15 batters in just 6.0 innings in his last start on June 6 for the Rochester Red Wings (AAA) while allowing just 4 hits. The 15 strikeouts were the most by a Red Wings pitcher since 1988.

Between Chattanooga and Rochester, Turley struck out 84 of 204 total batters faced (41.2%). He struck out 45 of 86 total batters faced (52.3%) with the Lookouts.

The now 27-year old Turley was a 50th round selection (1,502 overall) by the Yankees in 2008 and has played in the minor league systems of the Yankees, Giants, Red Sox and the Twins as well as an independent league team. Turley is the first 50th round draft pick to reach the majors since Efren Navarro in 2011, and one of just three 50th round selections
to reach the major leagues since 2000 (also: Jarrod Dyson in 2010). 

In his 10th minor league season Turley has a 48-45 record with a 3.50 ERA. Turley changed the grip on some of his pitches this spring and seemingly has turned his career around. Nik has stated that former Yankee pitcher Bob Turley is a distant relative.

Red Wings pitcher Nik Turley called up to Twins after 15-strikeout game

Twins Minor League Report 06112017

 

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Chargois & Anderson on June 11

The big league debuts as Minnesota Twins on June 11th. These two guys debuts were 30 years apart in more ways than one.

 

J.T. Chargois

J.T. Chargois (P) – June 11, 2016 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 2nd round of the 2012 MLB June Amateur Draft. Pitching in the ‘bigs” isn’t easy as J.T. found out in his big league debut.

Allan Anderson (P) – June 11, 1986 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 2nd round of the 1982 amateur draft. Anderson’s debut was very interesting, he started for the Twins in the Metrodome against Charlie Hough and the Texas Rangers. The Rangers scored single runs in the first and third innings and the Twins scored single runs in the fourth and fifth inning and the game turned into a pitchers duel. Allan Anderson was pulled after 10 innings with the score still tied at 2-2. Anderson had allowed 8 hits and 4 walks and struck out three while allowing the 2 earned runs. The game remained scoreless until the top of the 16th inning when the Rangers broke through for 4 runs off Roy Lee Jackson and the Twins ended up losing 6-2. Texas starter Charlie Hough went 13 inning but he too left with a no decision and Texas reliever Mitch Williams pitched the last three innings to get the win.

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According to ELIAS – Brian Dozier

Dozier delivers

Dozier does damage

Brian Dozier came to the plate yesterday with a runner on second base and two outs in the fifth inning and delivered a two-run homer, the key hit in the Twins’ 3–2 triumph over the Giants. Dozier is batting .348 (8 for 23) this season with two outs and men in scoring position, compared to a .230 average in all other at-bats.

 

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Justin Morneau

Another one of my all-time favorite Twins debuted on June 10th a few years back.

Justin Morneau

Justin Morneau (1B) – June 10, 2003 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 1999 MLB June Amateur Draft as a catcher. Morneau debuted at the Dome in a 5-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies. Rockies starter Jason Jennings pitched 7.2 innings against the Twins that day and allowed just three hits, Mr. Morneau had two of them. Morneau hit clean-up in his big league debut and was the DH. Hard to believe it has been 14 years.

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According to ELIAS – Ervin Santana

Santana’s 3rd shutout in 13 starts

Ervin Santana

Ervin Santana, for the third straight month, threw a complete-game shutout, limiting the Giants to four hits in the Twins’ 4-0 victory in San Francisco. Santana had thrown a one-hitter against the White Sox on April 15 and a two-hitter at Baltimore on May 23; no other major-leaguer has thrown as many as two shutouts this season. Santana’s total of 91 pitches against the Giants was the lowest in any of the 22 nine-inning complete games in the majors this season, and it was the lowest in a complete-game shutout since Jeff Samardzija used 88 pitches in a one-hit shutout for the White Sox at Detroit on Sept. 21, 2015. 

Rich Robertson

It has been more than 20 years since the last time that a Twins pitcher threw as many as three shutouts in an entire season. Rich Robertson was the last three-timer, back in  in 1996. And to find the last Minnesota pitcher who shut out three opponents within his first 13 starts of a season—which is what Santana has done—you have to go back to 1971, when Bert Blyleven blanked three opponents in his first eight starts.

BONUS: Here is what todays’ Twins Game Notes had to say:

Ervin Santana tossed his third complete game shutout of the season last night against the Giants. He is the first Twin to toss three complete games in a single season since Carl Pavano had seven in 2011 and he is also the first Twin to toss three shutouts
in a single season since Rich Robertson had three in 1996. 

The shutout in Interleague play was the ninth in Twins history (last: Pavano in 2010). Ervin also had a career night at the plate, doubling his career RBI total with three RBI (bases loaded double). He is the first Twins pitcher with three-plus RBI in a single game since Luis Tiant had three on May 28, 1970 vs. Milwaukee, in fact, his three RBI on the season are the most by a Twins pitcher since Jim Kaat (4) and Bert Blyleven (7) in 1972.

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 13 – Twins fire manager Sam Mele, hire Cal Ermer

Sam Mele is fired as the Minnesota Twins manager by owner Calvin Griffith and replaced by 43-year old Cal Ermer. Ermer played just one game in the major leagues for the Washington Senators as a 23-year old in 1947 and has no major league managing experience.

According to reports team owner Griffith felt that Mele had “lost control of his players”. Mele had managed the Twins since June of 1961 when he replaced Cookie Lavagetto and has compiled a 524-436 record and directed the team to the 1965 AL Pennant. 

 

Twins skipper in 1967-1968

Cal Ermer whose given name was Calvin Coolidge Ermer was born 3 months after Coolidge became President. Ermer was appointed as the Twins skipper over coach Billy Martin who many had expected to take over when Mele moved on.

The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

 

Sporting News 06241967 P14

The_Minneapolis_Star_Sat__Jun_10__1967_

The_Minneapolis_Star_Sat__Jun_10__1967_ (1)

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Jacque Jones & Tommy Hall

We have two players that had their big league debuts wearing the colors of the Minnesota Twins on June 9th.

Jacque Jones (OF) – June 9, 1999 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 2nd round of the 1996 amateur draft. Jacques debut was nothing special going 0-4 and making the final out of the game but he went on to have a nice career in Minnesota playing for seven seasons and playing in 978 games.

 

Tommy Hall

Tom Hall (P) – June 9, 1968 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 1966 amateur draft (January). Debuted in relief in a losing cause (7-4) at D.C. Stadium against the Senators going 2 innings, striking out 2, walking 2 and allowing 2 hits but no runs. I always liked Tommy Hall, what amazed me most about him was that in his 10 year career (only 4 in Minnesota) he allowed just 656 hits and struck out 797 in 852.2 innings pitched.

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