Category: General Blogging

This is a general blogging category.

It’s starting to get exciting over at the ballpark

The weather has been cool, wet and windy here in SW Florida since the calendar rolled over to 2016 but the last few days have been sunny and in the mid 70’s here and the population of Twins players and Twins wannabees is growing by the day. I stopped by the  CenturyLink Sports Complex again yesterday and was surprised at how many players had already shown up and how many fans were out watching the players go through their paces.

 

Max Kepler
Max Kepler

The players that show up this early come and go, some show up every day and others show up now and then. Miguel Sano was out here on  my first visit but I have not seen him the last two times I have been out here. Yesterday I saw Max Kepler for the first time this spring and he said that he just arrived the day before. I was shocked when I first saw Max because he was not the baby-faced player I had gotten used to seeing, he was sporting a beard and mustache or maybe I should say he was trying to grow a beard.

Byung Ho Park
Byung Ho Park

Byung-ho Park is working out every day but he does not seem to have the same crowd of press members following him like Tsuyoshi Nishioka did when he first signed with Minnesota. Park and Nishioka appear to have taken totally different approaches to their integration into the Twins organization, when Nishioka was here and working out prior to spring training he worked out on his own with his interpreter and seldom if ever joined the rest of the players. Parker is just the opposite, he works out with the rest of the players and he is willing to spend time with the fans signing autographs, something Nishioka didn’t seem to be real excited about. I don’t know if Park will make the team but in my eyes he is already way ahead of Nishioka when he joined the Twins and spring training hasn’t even officially started.

I continue to be amazed at how many fans mention how great the CenturyLink Sports Complex and the Minnesota Twins organization is as compared to the Boston Red Sox and JetBlue Park, their spring training home. The Twins allow their fans to wander all over the grounds and inter-act with the players and the Red Sox are all about security and limit access to everything and everybody. It is not just the fans that have this opinion, it is members of the local press here also.

Pitchers and catchers report this week-end, I can’t wait. The Twins were much improved in 2015 so you would think that there would be fewer questions and fewer roster spots up for grabs this year but I don’t think that is the case and it all revolves around Miguel Sano. Can Sano play right field? If not, all kinds of options can come into play. I have all kinds of questions. Is Byung Ho Park ready for MLB? What if Byron Buxton does not win the CF spot? Do you buy he has to prove the job belongs to him or does he have to prove he can’t handle it? What about the bullpen? Are the Twins still looking for a proven left reliever? Is Glen Perkins healthy? Are Oswaldo Arcia, Danny Santana, and Kennys Vargas still in the Twins plans? Max Kepler and Adam Walker are coming fast, will they start to call Minneapolis home this summer? When will Jose Berrios join the Twins starting rotation? Did the Twins make a good move in giving up Aaron Hicks? So many questions and so little time to get them answered, you can bet that Twins spring training this year will be one of the most exiting ever.

When I was out at the ballpark I once again took some pictures that you view in the 2016 Spring Training pictures link on the right hand side of the page. I hope you enjoy them.

 

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.

Checking out to see who is at the ballpark

Last week I stopped off at the CenturyLink Sports Complex for a couple of hours to see what was going on if anything and to see what players may have already shown up to get a jump on spring training. I have not been out earlier this year because the weather here in SW Florida has been a bit strange this year. A couple of weeks ago we had a tornado about a mile from the condo in Cape Coral and a few days later they had another tornado touch down in Ft. Myers not too far from Page Field. Cape Coral which is just across the river from Ft. Myers has had almost 13″ of rain in January and they average under 2″ of rain, so it has been a wet January. February has started out cool and windy (for this area anyway) with temperatures in the low to mid 60’s and our average is 75 for this time of the year.

Adam Walker signs for a fan.
Adam Walker signs for a fan.

When I got to the ballpark there were a couple of people buying spring training game tickets as I headed towards the back fields where I would expect to find the action if there was going to be any. You couldn’t help but hear the music blaring from the minor league clubhouse and there was probably about a dozen players out on the fields, some running, some doing some infield and others were shagging some fly balls. I didn’t see any throwing but I heard that Glen Perkins had done some throwing before I arrived. As always it is hard for me to identify a lot of these guys because many are minor league players and others may be players from other organizations that live in the area and stop by  to work out. I did see Miguel Sano, Oswaldo Arcia, Adam Walker doing some outfield work but I saw no hitting. I met Buck Britton who is a 29-year-old free agent minor leaguer the Twins signed and plays the infield and some outfield and he has spent most of his career in the Orioles organization but played in AAA for the Dodgers in 2015. Britton has no big league experience.

There was a handful of fans getting autographs and pictures and the players were more than willing to spend time with everyone. Miguel Sano was more than just patient when a couple approached him for pictures and the gentleman stood next to Sano and his wife was supposed to take their picture but she had no idea how to use the cell phone camera. She tried and tried and about five minutes later her significant other had enough and he had her pose with Sano while he took her picture. The entire time Miguel just smiled and tried to be helpful, he was more patient than I would have been. Other than that there was not much else to write home about. I will be back again later this week and see what’s up now that TwinsFest is done and training camp is just a couple of weeks away.

I took a few pictures that you can check out on the right hand side of this page under the title of 2016 spring training pictures. As I said earlier, I did not identify all the players so if you can help out feel free to do so.

Going to work or play every day

I seldom missed a day of school back in Taylors Falls and I continued that practice at work during my working career. The Navy of course reinforced the idea that going to work every day was the only way. I am old school and retired now but back in the day when I worked I took a lot of pride in the fact that I showed up for work day in and day out rain or shine.  I figured I was being paid to work so I showed up day after day. It used to drive me crazy when I knew that certain co-workers stayed home because they were hung-over or just plain didn’t feel like working. There were probably times when it would have been safer to stay home due to the snow or ice but not me, I was off to work.

Working every day carries over to my enjoyment of baseball, I like players that come to play ball each day and don’t take time off because they are tired or have a hang-nail. These players are being paid big bucks to play, not to sit on the bench and rest, they can rest on their own time like the rest of us.

"<strongSo where am I going with this? Today we are going to take a look at the Minnesota Twins players that came to play. Today’s players are playing fewer games then their compatriots did 50 or so years ago for a variety of reasons. The change however; is not as great as I expected to find. When was the last time that a Twins player played in every game that season? That would be Justin Morneau in 2008 when he appeared in all 163 regular season games. Since 1961 and 55 baseball seasons only six Twins players have played in every game and Harmon Killebrew is the only one to do it more than once.

 

Rk Player Year G Age PA AB H HR RBI SB BA OPS Pos
1 Justin Morneau 2008 163 27 712 623 187 23 129 0 .300 .873 *3/D
2 Gary Gaetti 1984 162 25 644 588 154 5 65 11 .262 .665 *5/76
3 Roy Smalley 1979 162 26 729 621 168 24 95 2 .271 .794 *6/3
4 Harmon Killebrew 1969 162 33 709 555 153 49 140 8 .276 1.011 *5*3
6 Cesar Tovar 1967 164 26 726 649 173 6 47 19 .267 .691 5847/69H
7 Harmon Killebrew 1966 162 30 677 569 160 39 110 0 .281 .929 *537/H
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/5/2016.

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Working or playing every day can be tough and everyone gets sick or hurt now and then

Continue reading Going to work or play every day

Swing and a miss from 2000-2015

Strikeouts are up all across baseball the last few years so I thought it would be fun to see who the Minnesota Twins “King of the Whiff” is from 2000-2015. No real shockers on this list but I was a bit surprised to see Joe Mauer so high on the list even though he once had a reputation as a tough guy to strike out.

If you go all  the way back to the Twins start in 1961 you will see that Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew holds the Twins all-time strike out title with 1,314 whiffs and that equates to striking out once in every 6.10 plate appearances. However, the recently retired Hunter struck out once every 5.60 plate appearances if you look at his entire Twins career. At the rate Joe Mauer is striking out, he could replace Hunter as the 2000 to current Twins King of the Whiff this season.

 "<strong

Rk Player SO G PA R H HR RBI BA OPS
1 Torii Hunter 897 1231 5020 687 1241 205 755 .269 .792
2 Justin Morneau 839 1278 5350 669 1318 221 860 .278 .832
3 Michael Cuddyer 805 1139 4555 606 1106 141 580 .272 .794
4 Joe Mauer 772 1456 6244 817 1697 119 755 .313 .845
5 Jacque Jones 674 881 3439 438 881 123 432 .278 .781
6 Jason Kubel 591 798 3022 346 729 105 442 .269 .783
7 Corey Koskie 565 688 2834 394 671 89 377 .278 .838
8 Trevor Plouffe 522 639 2565 297 568 84 310 .245 .728
9 Brian Dozier 455 544 2374 318 503 75 247 .240 .726
10 Nick Punto 440 747 2707 311 587 12 194 .248 .648
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/19/2016.

During this same time period Adam Dunn went down swinging a total of 2,379 times or once every 3.50 PA’s. That’s 2,379 KO’s and 1,631 hits on the resume.

CenturyLink Sports Complex upgrades continue

CenturyLink Sports Complex sign 2I was a little surprised this morning when I was reading the Ft. Myers News-Press Sports section and saw the following headline: Upgrades Underway. Ace News-Press reporter David Dorsey wrote that there was still funding left over from the big 2014-2015 Century-Link Sports Complex remodel and the Twins decided to make use of some of that money for some additional updates.

The biggest change for the fans is the new shaded canopy that covers an area of the field facing concourse on the third-base side. In addition, a permanent serving area is being added to the sky deck as is some additional weather protection for the baseline concession areas. The cost for these changes is $346,531 and it is part of the original $48.5 million in funding so the Minnesota Twins won’t have to spend a dime.

The players get new infield grass but the money for this project comes out of the routine maintenance budget. You can see the entire story in the News-Press (with pictures) here.

Don’t forget that Twins spring training tickets go on sale tomorrow morning.

Some historical Twins pitch to contact pitchers

The pitchers on this list had to have pitched at least 25 innings during their stay in Minnesota and it is sorted in “on base %”  (OBP) order.

Johnson, Adam ML debut 07162001

Rk Player OBP IP From To G GS W L SV H BB SO ERA BA
1 Adam Johnson .450 26.1 2001 2003 9 4 1 3 0 40 14 17 10.25 .360
2 Brett Merriman .445 44.0 1993 1994 34 0 1 2 0 54 37 24 8.39 .314
3 Bryan Oelkers .437 34.1 1983 1983 10 8 0 5 0 56 17 13 8.65 .376
4 Sean Bergman .436 68.0 2000 2000 15 14 4 5 0 111 33 35 9.66 .374
5 Jason Marquis .434 34.0 2012 2012 7 7 2 4 0 52 14 12 8.47 .371
6 Vance Worley .427 48.2 2013 2013 10 10 1 5 0 82 15 25 7.21 .381
7 Greg Harris .415 32.2 1995 1995 7 6 0 5 0 50 16 21 8.82 .355
8 Steve Carlton .411 52.2 1987 1988 13 8 1 6 0 74 28 25 8.54 .332
9 Sidney Ponson .409 37.2 2007 2007 7 7 2 5 0 54 17 23 6.93 .335
10 Scott Klingenbeck .408 77.0 1995 1996 28 7 1 3 0 111 34 42 8.30 .339
11 Bob Gebhard .408 39.0 1971 1972 30 0 1 3 1 53 24 26 6.00 .317
12 Erik Bennett .402 27.1 1996 1996 24 0 2 0 1 33 16 13 7.90 .306
13 John Pacella .402 51.2 1982 1982 21 1 1 2 2 61 37 20 7.32 .299
14 Dan Perkins .401 86.2 1999 1999 29 12 1 7 0 117 43 44 6.54 .326
15 Jack Savage .397 26.0 1990 1990 17 0 0 2 1 37 11 12 8.31 .339
16 Pedro Hernandez .392 56.2 2013 2013 14 12 3 3 0 80 23 29 6.83 .338
17 Mike Lincoln .391 97.0 1999 2000 26 19 3 13 0 138 39 42 7.70 .335
18 Erik Schullstrom .387 60.0 1994 1995 46 0 0 0 1 79 27 34 6.00 .317
19 Dan Schatzeder .386 54.0 1987 1988 40 1 3 2 0 72 23 37 5.50 .321
20 Danny Fife .385 56.1 1973 1974 14 7 3 2 0 64 33 21 5.43 .286
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/30/2015.

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Looking back at the pace of play in 2015

Clock tickingOn February 20, 2015, MLB announced a series of initiatives aimed at quickening the pace of play in Major League games, the key changes were:

  • Umpires will enforce Rule 6.02(d), which requires hitters to keep one foot in the box during an at-bat, subject to certain exceptions.
  • Timers will be used to ensure that the game resumes promptly at the end of inning breaks.
  • Managers will no longer come out of the dugout to initiate a replay challenge. A manager will also keep his challenge after each call that is overturned. Last year, a challenge was retained only after the first overturned call.

So how did those changes pan out for you? Did you notice if the pace of play sped up? Did the pace of play speed up at all? I can’t say that I noticed if a game was any quicker or not, I did notice the new rule about stepping out of the batters box because the announcers kept harping on it. I also became aware of the clock between innings when I missed a home run because the game resumed before the television was back to the game from its barrage of commercials.

So I decided to dig in to the matter and see what Baseball-Reference could tell me. That is such a great site for research with a lot of great stuff out there but sometimes I just have trouble figuring out how to get what I want. I am an American League fan so I will spend more time looking at AL data then I will at the NL data. Having said that we will take a look at the National League first.

NL in 2015

RANK TEAM AVG GAME TIME GAMES OVER 3 H
1 Marlins 2h 51m 51
2 Nationals 2h 54m 64
3 Braves 2h 55m 65
4* Mets 2h 56m 59
5 Phillies 2h 58m 63
6* Cardinals 3h 00m 74
7 Padres 3h 01m 81
7 Brewers 3h 01m 82
9 Reds 3h 02m 69
9 Giants 3h 02m 78
9* Cubs 3h 02m 88
12* Dodgers 3h 04m 78
13* Pirates 3h 06m 79
13 Rockies 3h 06m 98
15 Diamondsbacks 3h 10m 91
 The Cardinals won the most games and the Phillies lost the most games. The * indicates a playoff team.

Only five of the twelve NL teams had an average game time of under three hours. If you wanted to take in a quick game you needed to make sure that the Marlins were involved and if you wanted to get more baseball for your buck than you need to make sure that you were watching the Diamondbacks. The difference between the quick pace of Marlins play versus the snail’s pace of the sidewinders from the desert was 19 minutes a game on average.

Comparing AL 2014 to 2015

RANK TEAM 2014 AVG GAME TIME 2014 GAMES > 3H 2015 AVG GAME TIME 2015 GAMES > 3H % IMPROVE IN GAME TIME
1 Blue Jays* 3h 01m 77 2h 53m 65 4.4%
2 Orioles 3h 08m 96 2h 55m 61 6.9%
3 Twins 3h 07m 94 2h 57m 65 5.3%
4 Indians 3h 12m 109 2h 59m 71 6.8%
4 Rays 3h 19m 119 2h 59m 78 10.05%
6 White Sox 3h 08m 95 3h 0m 68 4.3%
6 Angels 3h 15m 69 3h 0m 69 7.7%
6 Royals* 3h 02m 87 3h 0m 70 1.1%
9 A’s 3h 05m 88 3h 01m 71 2.2%
9 Mariners 2h 59m 68 3h 01m 73 -1.1%
11 Astros* 3h 10m 106 3h 03m 84 3.7%
12 Rangers* 3h 07m 97 3h 04m 89 1.6%
13 Red Sox 3h 17m 116 3h 06m 88 5.6%
14 Yankees* 3h 13m 110 3h 08m 92 2.3%
15 Tigers 3h 14m 113 3h 09m 94 2.6%

The Royals won the most games and the A’s lost the most games. The * indicates a playoff team.

Just like in the NL the AL had five teams in 2015 that averaged under 3 hours a game. The fastest pace games on average were played by the Bluejays and they were about two minutes longer than games by the speedy NL Marlins. The slow-paced Tigers had the longest on average games in the AL but they were a minute quicker than the NL Dbacks. The one team that stands out is the Seattle Mariners who are the only AL team to have played longer games on average in 2015 than they did in 2014. The Rays deserve mention for having been the slowest paced team in the AL in 2014 with games averaging 3h 19m with 119 games over 3 hours and in 2015 they took MLB game pace guidelines to heart and cut 20 minutes off an average game and reduced their games of over 3 hours from 119 to just 71.

When you compare averages for 2014 to 2015 for the entire AL the numbers show that in 2014 a game lasted about 3h 9m and teams played an average of 99 games over 3 hours. In 2015 the average game time dropped to 3h 1m and the number of games over 3 hours dropped to 72. The number of games over 3 hours dropped by a little over 27% but the pace of the game only dropped by just over 4%.

What about of you compare the pace of play in the NL to the AL you ask? The two leagues play a different style of baseball but when all the haze faded away both leagues averaged a 3h 1m pace of play.

I think it is ironic that the only sport that doesn’t use a clock is so worried about how long their games take to play.

Just for fun – The Twins Joe Mauer makes $23 million a year. Let’s say he plays 162 games at 3 hours a game, we come up with 486 hours during the season. But let’s say that with workouts and other things he works a total of 8 hours a day for 162 games, that comes out to 1296 hours. Divide $23 million by 1,296 hours and you get an hourly wage of $17,747 an hour. Oh my goodness! I know that is being over simplistic but still…… I like Joe Mauer but this was just too good to pass up.

I am working on a longer term project that will take a historical look at the Minnesota Twins and their game times over the years so stay tuned for that.

 

Merry Christmas

We at Twins Trivia want to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas !!!

Merry Christmas 2015-animation980by300We hope that you get to enjoy this wonderful holiday with your family and friends and please don’t forget all those that are serving our country and can’t get home this holiday season.

These guys seldom hear “He gone” or “Grab some bench”

The other day I was having lunch and reading my newest Memories and Dreams magazine put out by the Hall of Fame. There are always good stories in this magazine and in this edition there was a short one page article by Marty Appel called A Second Look at Hall of Famer Nellie Fox.

Fox, NellieI am old enough to have seen Nellie play second base for the Chicago White Sox in early 60’s although by then he was on the down-hill side of his amazing career that started back in 1951. Not only was the man a twelve time all-star but he was the American League MVP in 1959.

Fox was one tough dude to strike out, in over 10,000 plate appearances he struck out just 216 times, that is incredible. He once had a record 98 straight games without being retired on strikes.

That got me to thinking about the Twins and how often they strike out. Now days players strike out more frequently then they once did and baseball and teams just kind of wink and say “yes, he strikes out but look at all those home runs”. If Nellie went 98 games with striking out what is the Twins longest streak of games without striking out.

Rk Name Strk Start End Games AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB BA OBP OPS
1 Earl Battey 1965-08-02 1965-09-05 35 110 7 28 9 1 0 18 12 .255 .323 .677
2 Brian Harper 1989-04-11 1989-05-31 28 74 9 17 4 0 3 15 4 .230 .294 .700
3 Glenn Adams 1980-05-24 1980-07-04 27 71 8 23 5 0 0 13 5 .324 .354 .749
4 Sandy Valdespino 1965-07-07 1965-08-15 27 46 7 16 1 0 0 6 4 .348 .400 .770
5 Hal Naragon 1961-08-26 1962-06-05 27 55 1 15 1 0 0 3 5 .273 .328 .619
6 Rich Chiles 1977-07-08 1977-08-21 25 55 6 11 0 0 1 6 7 .200 .302 .556
7 Mickey Hatcher 1983-08-23 1983-09-19 24 90 11 32 4 0 3 15 2 .356 .366 .866
8 Vic Power 1962-04-15 1962-05-20 24 89 10 27 2 0 3 14 4 .303 .333 .760
9 Chip Hale 1996-04-02 1996-05-21 23 26 4 10 3 0 1 6 3 .385 .448 1.064
10 Frank Kostro 1967-06-22 1967-09-17 23 21 3 8 0 0 0 1 2 .381 .435 .816
11 Jerry Terrell 1976-07-25 1976-09-05 21 50 7 14 0 1 0 4 3 .280 .327 .647
12 Leo Cardenas 1971-04-27 1971-05-20 21 76 12 25 5 1 3 13 7 .329 .381 .920
13 Brian Harper 1988-07-03 1988-08-12 20 66 5 25 6 0 2 8 2 .379 .391 .952
14 Dave Meier 1984-08-23 1985-06-10 20 45 5 8 1 0 0 4 2 .178 .213 .413
15 Jose Morales 1979-09-25 1980-05-20 20 39 5 11 1 0 1 5 3 .282 .326 .710
16 Rod Carew 1974-09-29 1975-05-10 20 66 11 26 5 1 0 5 9 .394 .461 .961
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/11/2015.
Credit to Steve's Baseball Photography Pages
Credit to Steve’s Baseball Photography Pages

Are you kidding me, Earl Battey with a 35 game streak of no strike outs during the 1965 pennant race? Wowsers, that is amazing. I sure don’t remember Battey having such a good eye at the plate but when you look at his numbers you will find out he never struck out more than 75 times in a season. Brain Harper is on the list twice, with a 28 game streak and a 20 game streak. I used to love watching Harper bat, he always seemed to make contact and what I remember most about him was how he followed each and every pitch all the way to the catchers glove.

You will notice that the most recent Twins streak of at least 20 games with out striking out goes back to 1996 when Chip Hale had a 23 gamer, today Chip Hale manages the Arizona Diamondbacks.

 

Aoki as a KC Royal in 2014
Aoki as a KC Royal in 2014

Who had the longest streak of this kind in 2015 you ask? That would be Nori Aoki from the San Francisco Giants with a 22 game streak from June 6 to August 5 and that was after he had a 20 game streak from May 5 to May 31. He must have had something in his eye because he struck out once a game on June 1, 2 and 3. That means from May 9 to August 5, Aoki had 187 plate appearances and struck out 3 times. Nice! Aoki just signed to play with Seattle a week or so ago.

How about the Minnesota Twins in 2015? The most games streak with out a strikeout was 10 by catcher Kurt Suzuki.

To me one of the oddest things about the above list is that catchers make up the top three streaks and Jose Morales is a bit further down the list and he played a handful of games behind the plate too. Now in 2015 Suzuki has the longest streak. Why is that?

Is it because catchers just naturally have a better eye for the strike zone? I doubt it. Do catchers learn as the game goes along how the umpire is calling balls and strikes and they can put that information to use? Are catchers skillful enough to do that? Or is it that maybe umpires have a certain degree of empathy for catchers and build friendships with them over time that causes them subconsciously not to call strikes on them as often? You gotta wonder… or is it just a quirk that three Twins catchers are on top of this list?