TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
The Twins second round pick in this years June amateur draft was right-handed pitcher Nick Burdi. The 6 foot 4 inch 215-pound Burdi used primarily as a closer for the University of Louisville had a 0.49 ERA with 65 strikeouts in 37 innings as a junior for Louisville this past season. He recorded 18 saves in 32 games.
The Twins originally drafted Burdi in 2011 in the 24th round out of Downers Grove South High School in Illinois, outside of Chicago, but he went to school instead. Burdi’s fastball has been clocked above 100 miles per hour.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal Burdi was upset that it took 46 picks to have his name called, telling reporters after the draft that he was “pissed” and would enter professional ball with a chip on his shoulder. Burdi signed with Minnesota on June 24th for $1.218 million (per Baseball America) and was assigned to the Twins Cedar Rapids Low-A team.
Nick Burdi
Burdi made his first appearance with the Kernels this past Sunday when he entered the game against the Clinton LumberKings in the top of the ninth with his home team leading 4 to 0. Burdi walked the first four batters he faced and was relieved by Jared Wilson who proceeded to give up four hits and a walk and when the smoke cleared the LumberKings had put a “7” on the board and the shucked Kernels ended up losing the game 7-4.
Burdi’s line for the game? Zero innings pitched, four walks, four runs, all earned and an ERA of infinity. A game I am sure that Burdi will never forget. Hopefully the man with a chip on his shoulder will take this game for what it was, a learning experience. Good luck in the future Nick, your humble pie is on the way.
The 20-year old Jorge Polanco‘s stay in the big leagues with the Twins is expected to end today when the Twins are expected to send him back to the minor leagues. Polanco was called up from the Ft. Myers Miracle of the High A ball Florida State league on June 26th making Polanco the fifth Twins player to make the mammoth leap to the big leagues from class A ball.
Jim Manning
The first player in this exclusive group was 18-year old right-handed pitcher Jim Manning who was called up very early in 1962 from the class A Charlotte Hornets in the Sally League. Manning was only in his second year of pro ball after having signed with Minnesota as a free agent in 1961 and pitching in just 12 games for the Wytheville Twins in the Appalachian League in 1961. Manning became the youngest Minnesota Twins player to appear in a big league game when he debuted in relief on April 15, 1962 at the age of 18 years and 268 days against the Los Angeles Angels at Met Stadium in a 6-3 Twins loss. Manning appeared in four more games for the Twins before being sent down to the minors and to never again put on a big league uniform.
Butch Wynegar
The second Twins player to make the jump from class A to the majors was catcher Butch Wynegar. Wynegar was a Twins second round pick in 1974. Harold Wynegar, better known as Butch spent the 1975 season playing for the class A Reno Silver Sox and made the 1976 Twins team out of spring training and was a major leaguer from the day he made his big league debut on April 9, 1976 at Arlington Stadium at the age of 20 years and 26 days.
Player number three was non other than Twins Hall of Fame and Minnesota native first baseman Kent Hrbek. Hrbek, a 17th round pick in the 1978 draft for the Twins was playing in his third season of pro ball for the class A Visalia Oaks after stops in Elizabethton in 1979 and Wisconsin Rapids in 1980 when the Twins called him up in August 1981 and he made his debut at Yankee Stadium at the age of 21 year and 95 days on August 24, 1981. Hrbek never returned to the minors again. SABR Bio on Hrbek.
Jim Eisenreich
Player number four was another Minnesota native, outfielder Jim Eisenreich who was drafted by the Twins as a 16th rounder in 1980. Eisenreich spent time in Elizabethton and Wisconsin Rapids in 1980 and 1981 before coming north with the Minnesota Twins after making the club in spring training in 1982. Jim debuted at the Metrodome on April 6, 1982 at the age of 22 years and 353 days. Eisenreich was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome and chose to retire causing him to miss all of the 1984 and 1985 seasons before making a comeback with the Kansas City Royals and going on to enjoy a very productive 15 year career with five major league teams although only 48 of his 1,422 big league games were spent in a Twins uniform. Eisenreich SABR Bio.
But getting back to Mr. Polanco, though he never had a chance to play in Target Field in front of home town fans during this call-up the switch-hitting shortstop garnered a loyal following among Twins fans that are looking to see him in the big leagues once again. Polanco appeared in four games getting seven plate appearances that included getting two walks and two hits and three RBI’s. His hits were a double and a triple. MLB ProspectWatch did a little blog on Polanco that you might want to check out. I think the most interesting part of the blog was the Baseball Prospectus scouting report on Polanco.
New Britain (AA – Eastern League) left-handed pitcher Taylor Rogers is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. The 23-year old lefty made one start for the Rock Cats June 25 vs. Altoona, tossing 8.0 innings allowing one run on six hits while striking out 11 but suffered the loss. In 15 starts this season, he has posted a 7-4 record with a 3.90 ERA. Rogers was drafted in the 11th round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of University of Kentucky and signed with the Twins for a reported $100,000 bonus.
Taylor Rogers was named a postseason Florida State League All-Star after compiling an 11-7 record and 2.88 ERA for the Ft. Myers Miracle in 2013. Rogers struck out 83 batters in 130.2 innings and posted a very nice 1.16 WHIP. He ranked second in the Florida State League in ERA and third in wins. His three complete games and two shutouts topped the league. Rogers throws a fastball which is clocked in the low 90’s, a change-up and a slider.
Ft. Myers (High A – Florida State League) pitcher D.J. Baxendale is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. The right-handed pitcher made one start for the Miracle June 18 vs. Bradenton, tossing 6.0 shutout innings with four hits allowed, no walks and five strikeouts, earning the win. DJ (Douglas James) was drafted in the 10th round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of University of Arkansas and signed for a reported $125,000.
The 23 year-old Baxendale finds himself in Ft. Myers again after starting the season in AA – New Britain and struggling with 5.76 ERA and an 0-3 record. Baxendale was promoted to New Britain last season from Ft. Myers but also found tough going then with a 5.63 ERA and a 5-7 record.
Outfielder Oswaldo Arcia is quickly climbing up the leader board on a list he would rather not be a part of. Saying that Arcia is in a slump is an understatement as he battles through an 0 for his last 29 at bats streak. The last time Arcia had a knock that counted was back on June 5th when he had a double off Brewer reliever Rob Wooten at Target Field and that was almost three weeks ago. A couple of more “ofer” games and he could become the Twins (and franchise leader going back to 1914) in at bats without a hit for a position player. The current leader on the Twins hitless at bats leader board is former catcher Butch Wynegar who had a pretty bad September himself back in 1978 when he went 0 for 38.
UPDATE – Arcia hit a home run in his first at bat against the Angels Garrett Richards on June 25th and his hitless streak finally came to an end at 29 at bats.
Twins position players with hitless streaks lasting 25 at bats or more
Twins Hall of Fame shortstop Greg Gagne made the list twice, ouch. If you included pitchers on the list you would find the hitting challenged Twins starter Dean Chance sitting at number one on the list with a hitless 0 for 52 streak that lasted 23 games from April 13 to July 23, 1967.
Come on Oswaldo, get a hit because this is not a record I want to see get broken!
The brooms were at the ready behind the Twins dugout as the Twins took on the White Sox on Sunday afternoon looking for a rare four-game sweep.
The Twins completed a four-game series sweep of the White Sox on Sunday in what was the first series sweep of four or more games in the majors this season. June 22 is the latest date on which a team completed the major leagues’ first series sweep of four or more games in a season since 1938. The White Sox were the first team to fashion such a sweep that year when they won all four games of a series against the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman’s Park from June 27-30.
The sweep of the White Sox was the first-four-game sweep that Twins have ever had at Target Field where the team began play in April of 2010. The last time the Twins completed a four-game sweep was June 2-5, 2011 in Kansas City and the last time they had a four-game sweep at home was at the Metrodome on July 12-15, 2007 against the Oakland A’s.
When Minnesota Twins pitcher Yohan Pino will made his Major League debut Thursday night at 30 years, 175 days old at Target Field against the Chicago White Sox. He became the oldest Twin (since 1961) to make his big league debut. Yohan became the 49th starting pitcher in Major League history since at least 1914 to make his Major League debut at age 30-or-older, and just the 14th since 1982. Starters making their Major League debut at age 30-or-older have won each of their last three starts and four of the last five. Since 1982, teams are 7-6 in the 13 occurrences. The 13 pitchers have combined to go 6-4 with a 3.36 ERA (27 earned runs in 72.1 innings) with
26 walks and 52 strikeouts.
Twins second baseman Brian Dozier has hit 15 home runs while swiping 15 bases this
season, stealing his 15th earlier this week. It marks the 15th time in Club history and 12th different player with the previous ?ve being Torii Hunter in 2007 (28 homers/18 steals), Lew Ford in 2004 (15 homers/20 steals), Hunter in 2004 (23 homers/21 steals), Hunter in 2002 (29 homers/23 steals) and Corey Koskie in 2001 (26 homers/27 steals). Dozier accomplished the feat in his 68th game which is the fastest ever by a Twin and fastest in baseball since Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers did it in his 68th game.
Upon Further Review – Through 1,073 games played this season (through
Wednesday), Major League Baseball has had 541 replay reviews, which have taken an average of one minute and fifty-one seconds.
*541 Replay Reviews
*130 Confirmed
*153 Stands
*251 Overturned
*7 Record Keeping
*1:51 Average Time
Through June 18th the American League has a 79-68 record in Interleague play and is hitting .255 and their pitchers have a 3.80 ERA. National League batters are hitting .254 and their pitchers have a 3.78 ERA.
The CWS (College World Series) Legends Team includes former Twins Todd Walker, Eddie Bane, and Dave Winfield (former Minnesota Gopher as well).
In baseball, a quality start is a statistic for a starting pitcher defined as a game in which the pitcher completes at least six innings and permits no more than three earned runs. The quality start was developed by sportswriter John Lowe in 1985 while writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer. The most quality starts in a season for a Twins pitcher since 2003 is 25 by Johan Santana in 2004. If you use the QS formula going back to 1961, then Bert Blyleven‘s 31 QS in 1972 would be the leader.
If you took the list from above and looked at QS%, the Twins career leader is Johan Santana with .640% followed by Bert Blyleven at .632%. Nick Blackburn was not always a fan favorite but his career QS% is .504%, 14th best in team history. Who has the best career QS% in the AL since 1961? That would be Pedro Martinez at .751%. How about the NL you say? That is non other than Sandy Koufax at .782%.
Check out the BA column on the list above, the best is an amazing .217 career BA allowed by the late great Dave Boswell, the man has not gotten his due here in Minnesota and should be in the Twins Hall of Fame. Aren’t statistics fun?
Baseball is such an amazing game, you never know what you will see next and how many times have you watched a game and told yourself, Geez, I have never seen that happen before. How about this one, Brewers score three on one wild pitch.
Brian Dozier‘s two-out single in the bottom of the ninth on Friday plated Eduardo Escobar with the winning run as the Twins pulled out a 5-4 win over the White Sox in walk-off manner. Even with his game-winning hit, Dozier carries the lowest batting average in the majors among the 117 players who had accumulated at least 40 plate appearances in Late-Inning Pressure Situations-those trips to the plate in the seventh inning or later with the score tied or the team at bat trailing by up to three runs (or, with two or more runners on base, by up to four runs). With his game-winning hit, Dozier raised his LIPS batting average from .081 to .105. (The highest such average among that group? Mike Trout‘s .447.)
A two-hour and 6 minute rain delay before last nights Twins game at Target Field started was no biggie for Twins starter Yohan Pino. After all, he has toiled in the minors for 10 years and waited 30 years and 175 days before making his Major League debut against the White Sox on Thursday.
The right-hander went seven innings, giving up two runs and five hits and one walk while striking out seven, but was lifted after 7 innings with the score knotted at 2-2. His seven strikeouts were the second most in franchise history in a debut, tying him with Darrell Jackson and Bert Blyleven, and trailing only Boof Bonser‘s eight strikeouts set in 2006.
Andrew AlbersAlex McColl
Pino also became the oldest starting pitcher to make a big league debut in Twins history, passing Andrew Albers, who was 27 years and 304 days old when he made his debut with the Twins just last season. The Twins released Albers this past January allowing him to sign with a South Korean team. Albers ended up signing with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization. The oldest pitcher in franchise history to debut in the big leagues was Alex McColl who pitched in his first game for the Washington Senators in 1933 at the age of 39 years and 151 days.
Oldest Twins rookie pitchers to debut in big leagues and have at least one start
If you look at the list of pitchers on the list above you will see that none of them were a starter for the Minnesota Twins for very long and in most cases most of them did not pitch for the Twins or anyone else for any length o time. Les Straker did start two World Series games for the Twins in 1987. History seems to indicate that if you do not debut in the big leagues before your 26th birthday (at least with the Twins), the odds are very much against you. We can hope that Yohan Pino has better luck but don’t bet the farm on it. Kyle Gibson just missed being on this list because his big league debut occurred in 2013 at the age of 25 and 249 days.
The Red Sox entered the bottom of the 10th inning trailing, 1-0, but David Ortiz tied the game with a home run and Mike Napoli followed that up with a game-ending blast in Boston’s 2-1 win over the Twins on Wednesday afternoon. That marked only the third time in the Red Sox franchise history that they hit consecutive home runs – with the first one tying the game, and the second one ending the game. That also happened on July 3, 1940 in a 12-11 win against the Philadelphia Athletics (Ted Williams and Jimmie Foxx) and on June 14, 1999 in a 4-3 victory over the Twins (Darren Lewis and Jeff Frye). Come on, Lewis and Frye had 7,105 career plate appearances between them and they only hit 43 home runs. What are the odds?
It is the first time the Red Sox won a game at Fenway Park after being held without a run through nine innings since June 4, 1995 when they topped the Mariners by a score of 2-1 in ten innings.
