Category: Awards

The MLB HOF class of 2024

Joe Mauer, Adrian Beltre and Todd Helton elected to Hall of Fame today

Three of the most accomplished hitters of their generation received baseball’s highest honor today.  Adrián Beltré, Todd Helton and Joe Mauer were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., where they will join former manager Jim Leyland — elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee — on the induction stage on July 21. Beltré and Mauer reached the Hall in their first appearance on the ballot, and Helton in his sixth.

Mauer received 76.1 percent of the vote after a 15-year career spent entirely with his hometown Minnesota Twins, who drafted him first overall from a St. Paul high school in 2001. Mauer, 40, is the only catcher to win three batting titles and the only member of this new Hall of Fame class to be a Most Valuable Player; he won the American League honor in 2009, one of four seasons in which he led the Twins to the postseason.

Congratulations to all on a well deserved honor.

Alex Kirilloff named AL player of the week

Alex Kirilloff credit Abbie Parr-Getty Images

Prior to Monday’s 4-3 win in 10 innings over the Seattle Mariners, Alex Kirilloff was named the American League’s player of the week. He earned the honor after batting .345/.394/.793 with three home runs, 10 RBIs, two doubles, a triple, three walks and five runs scored. Kirilloff became the first Twins player to be named player of the week since Byron Buxton last June.

Jose Miranda named AL Rookie of the Month

Jose Miranda

According to the Minnesota Twins Game Notes, Jose Miranda has been voted the American League Rookie of the Month for July. He earned his first career monthly award and is Minnesota’s first Rookie of the Month winner since his All-Star teammate Miguel Sano in August 2015. The 24-year-old posted a slash line of .353/.405/.603 with 13 runs scored, 24 hits, two doubles, five home runs and 19 RBI over 20 games played. He recorded three hits in three consecutive games from July 24-27, becoming the first Twins rookie to post such a streak since Danny Valencia logged four consecutive three-hit games in July 2010. He hit .426 with 20 hits during a 13-game span from July 5-27, scoring 10 runs with six extra-base hits and 15 RBI during the stretch. Congratulations to Jose Miranda.

Congratulations to Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat on selection to HOF

Congratulations to Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat on finally getting that call to the Hall that you should have received many years ago. Well deserved and we all thank you for the wonderful memories. The numbers speak for themselves, nothing more needs to be said on why these two gentlemen belong in the MLB Hall of Fame.

Twins skipper Rocco Baldelli is AL MOY winner

Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was voted as the American League Manager of the Year by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Ballots for each award were submitted before the start of the postseason from two writers in every city, based on the league covered. Of the 30 ballots cast in the AL, Baldelli and New York Yankee skipper Aaron Boone each received 13 first-place votes, but Baldelli pushed ahead with 13 second-place votes, as compared to Boone’s nine, along with two third-place votes. Baldelli’s buddy Kevin Cash, who managed the Tampa Rays finished third in the voting.

The youngest manager in the American League and a rare managerial hire from outside the Twins’ organization, Rocco Baldelli lived up to all the anticipation in 2019, becoming the seventh skipper in Major League history to win at least 100 games in his rookie season as he guided Minnesota to its first division championship since 2010. Baldelli is the Twins’ fourth Manager of the Year Award winner, joining his three most recent predecessors in Tom Kelly (1991), Ron Gardenhire (2010) and Paul Molitor (2017).

 

Jake Odorizzi is American League Player of the Week

Jake Odorizzi

Major League Baseball announced yesterday that right-handed starter Jake Odorizzi was named American League Player of the Week. Odorizzi claimed his first career weekly award, the first for a Twins player since Eduardo Escobar for the week ending June
11, 2018, and the first by a Twins pitcher since Francisco Liriano for the week ending May 8, 2011.

  • Odorizzi went 2-0 in two starts last week without allowing a run over 13.0 innings pitched, permitted six hits and five walks with 15 strikeouts across the two outings.
  • His back-to-back scoreless starts were the first time the former first round draft pick (2008 by Milwaukee) accomplished the feat since July 22-August 3, 2016, when he had a career-best three straight scoreless starts.
  • A full list of Twins AL Player of the Week award winners can be found on page 234 of the Twins 2019 Media Guide.

Twins skipper Paul Molitor wins Manager of the Year award

Twins manager Paul Molitor

Paul Molitor, 61 year-old Minnesota native won the American League Manager of the Year award after his Minnesota Twins became the first team to make the playoffs following a 100-loss season. Molitor won the honor November 14 in voting by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Molitor joins Frank Robinson as the only Hall of Fame players to win a manager of the year award. Molitor finished ahead of Cleveland’s Terry Francona and Houston’s A.J. Hinch in the AL balloting. Torey Lovullo of the Arizona Diamondbacks won the NL award.

Molitor was rewarded with a three-year extension after the 2017 season ended.

 

Byron Buxton first Twins player to ever win Platinum Glove award

Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton was honored as the American League’s top defender on October 10, receiving the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award at the Gold Glove ceremony in New York. Buxton is the first Twins player to win a Platinum Glove, an award established in 2011. The National League Platinum Glove winner was third baseman Nolan Arenado from the Colorado Rockies.

In 2011, Rawlings unveiled the first-ever Rawlings Platinum Glove Award, a new fan-centric platform asking the game’s avid fans who the best defensive baseball player is among that season’s Rawlings Gold Glove Award® winners. To determine the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award winners, fans can only select one player among the Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners from each League.

Rawlings Platinum Glove Award voting – and its open and spirited debate on social media – proved what many believed to be true: fans have a very vocal opinion on who they believe is “the best of the best”, and they understand the defensive nuances enough to back their favorite player’s candidacy from the point-of-view of a scout and an advance analytics sabermetrician.

In 2013, a new sabermetric component from the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award’s new presenting sponsor, the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and its new SABR Defensive Index™ (SDI™) joined the international fan vote to determine the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award winners from each league. The SDI’s ability to accurately compare players from different positions helped establish the “science” behind the evolving Award platform.

Buxton was also named the 2017 Wilson Defensive Player of the Year on Friday. Buxton and Brian Dozier won Gold Gloves for the first time this year.

Byron Buxton and Brian Dozier win Gold Gloves

Congratulations to Byron Buxton and Brian Dozier on their 2017 Gold Gloves awards.

Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton and second baseman Brian Dozier have been named recipients of the 2017 American League Rawlings Gold Glove Award at their respective defensive positions. This marks the first time that either player has earned the award.

The only other Twins second baseman to win a Gold Glove was Chuck Knoblauch in 1997 and the last time a Twins outfielder won a Gold Glove was Torii Hunter in 2007. Previous to Buxton and Dozier winning Gold Glove awards this season, you have to go all the way back to 2010 when Joe Mauer won it as a catcher.

You can view all the previous Minnesota Twins Gold Glove winners on our Twins Awards page.