Twinstrivia.com

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Ft. Myers (High A – Florida St. League) outfielder Adam Walker is the Twins
Minor League Player of the Week. In seven games for the Miracle, Walker hit .345 (10-for-29) with three home runs, two doubles and 12 RBI.

In 2013 Walker played in Low-A Cedar Rapids and in 508 at bats hit .278 with 27 home runs with 109 RBI and was not caught once in 10 stolen base attempts. Walker did strikeout 115 times but that is not too bad if you put up those kind of power numbers.

Adam Brett Walker II is 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds of raw power. The physicality runs in the family. He is the son of Adam Walker, who played running back for the Minnesota Vikings in 1987. His mother, Glynis, was a national champion high jumper and volleyball player at Carthage College. Former All-Star infielder Damion Easley is his second cousin . cousin. Walker averaged 13.6 home runs a season and stole 40 bases in 41 attempts during his three years at Jacksonville University. The 22-year-old right-handed batter was drafted by the Twins in the third round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of Jacksonville University and signed for a reported $490K.

An MiLB.com link added on June 5, 2014 regarding a recent Adam Walker posting.

Can Aaron Hicks get “off the interstate”?

Hitting challenged center fielder Aaron Hicks had a game winning hit a week or so ago at Target Field and since that day he is hitting at a .333 clip. Yes, I know that only encompasses 6 games and 22 plate appearances but it is a start. As hard as it may be to watch this 24 struggle with the bat, it is way too early to give up on the athletic outfielder. I hope the Twins keep working with Hicks and let him become the player he can be.

According to the Baseball Glossary a player batting between .100 and .199 is said to be “on the interstate.” The term refers to the fact that a batting average in the .100s can resemble an interstate name (e.g. .195 resembles I-95), especially on older scoreboards where the numeral “1” appears identical to the uppercase letter “I” . A hit to put an average above .200 gets a batter “off the interstate.” A batter whose average is below .100 is sometimes said to be “off the map”. The “Mendoza Line” is another baseball term coined after former shortstop Mario Mendoza, whose batting average is taken to define the threshold of incompetent hitting. That being said, this former Pirate, Mariner and Ranger shortstop managed to stay in the big leagues for all or parts of nine seasons and appear in 686 games. The cutoff point is most often said to be .200 and when a position player’s batting average falls below that level, the player is said to be “below the Mendoza Line”. This is often thought of as the offensive threshold below which a player’s presence in the big leagues cannot be justified, regardless of his defensive abilities.

Since the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Twins in 1961 they have had a total of 373 position players. So how many of these players have had at least 300 at bats in a Twins uniform and not gotten off the interstate? Let’s take a look.

The fearsome Six

Rk	Player	BA	AB	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SO	OBP
1	Drew Butera	.182	490	186	534	38	89	21	2	5	41	94	.230
2	Jerry Kindall	.183	470	187	534	49	86	14	1	7	42	141	.254
3	Aaron Hicks	.193	383	115	438	50	74	15	3	9	35	115	.279
4	Houston Jimenez	.195	384	144	409	33	75	16	2	0	28	45	.231
5	Luis Gomez	.199	362	241	403	36	72	6	2	0	22	40	.246
6	Charlie Manuel	.199	366	223	413	25	73	12	0	4	40	74	.276

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/23/2014.

Since

Current Twins outfielder/1B Chris Colabello in spite of a hot April is on the verge of joining this illustrious list by hitting .213 in 310 at bats and former shortstop Pedro Florimon who is now calling Rochester home has a Twins career mark of .208 in 605 at bats.

For all you Nick Punto bashers out there, he is no where close to making this list. In 1,121 career games spanning 14 seasons Punto is has a .247 career batting average.

UPDATE AS OF MAY 26, 2014 – Aaron Hicks announced today that he is done with switch-hitting and will only bat from the right side going forward. The Twins with no other center field options available have given him their blessing.

Blast from the Past

The Minnesota Twins have had some power hitters over the years and Harmon Killebrew was the greatest of them all. The Twins called Met Stadium home when Harmon played and he hit 262 home runs as a Twin at the Met and added two more when he was a Kansas City Royal.

But I want to test your memory here, I want to see if you can complete the list of the top 10 visiting player home run hitters at Met Stadium. You don’t have to tell me how many home runs the player hit at Met Stadium, all you need to do is give me his name and I will add the player to the correct spot on the list and fill in how many home runs he hit at the Met and how many games he played there. I will tell you this to get you started, the most home runs hit by a visiting player is 20. I will also start you out by telling you that Sal Bando is number 10 on the list. There are no prizes, this is just a memory exercise. Send me your guesses at jjswol@twinstrivia.com. Have fun!

Player	Home Runs	Games
Reggie Jackson	20	81
Carl Yastrzemski	18	131
Norm Cash	17	87
Al Kaline	16	85
Boog Powell	15	88
Frank Howard	15	54
Elston Howard	14	53
Mickey Mantle	14	49
Willie Horton	13	91
Sal Bando	13	99

Interactive Whiteboards by PolyVision

Great job everyone, thank you!

The June Free Agent Draft is just around the corner

The MLB First-Year Player Draft may not be as popular as the NFL draft but is is still a fun and entertaining event that many baseball fans wait for all year. In the NFL, the players drafted will be putting on that teams colors come Fall but in baseball a draftee might spend years in the minor leagues learning his craft before he ever gets a sniff of a big league clubhouse. There are web sites devoted strictly to the MLB draft and as draft day get closer and closer you can find “mock drafts” showing who your team will draft everywhere, 99.9% of them will be wrong but never the less it is still fun to look at them.

The first draft took place in 1965, it was introduced to prevent richer teams from negotiating wealthier contracts with top-level prospects and therefore, monopolizing the player market. Originally, three drafts were held each year. The first draft took place in June and involved high-school graduates and college seniors who had just finished their seasons. The second draft took place in January for high school and college players who had graduated in December. The third draft took place in August and was for players who participated in American amateur summer leagues. The August draft was eliminated after two years, and the January draft lasted until 1986. Rick Monday became MLB’s first draft pick after being selected by the Kansas City Athletics

MLB will hold day one of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft on June 5th at MLB Network’s Studio 42 in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Draft will be aired live on the MLB Network starting at 7:00 p.m. (ET). As is the case with most events of this type, the MLB talking heads will analyze the up-coming draft in a one hour pre-draft preview show.

The selection order of the First-Year Player Draft is determined by the reverse order
of finish at the close of the previous season. The Houston Astros will have the first overall selection of the 2014 Draft, marking the third consecutive year, and the fifth time in club history, that they hold the top selection (previous: 1976, 1992, 2012, 2013). It marks the first time ever that a club has the top pick in three consecutive years. In addition, the Astros are the third club in history to hold the top selection at least five times, joining the New York Mets and San Diego Padres (five each).

Six clubs, the Toronto Blue Jays (9th and 11th), the Kansas City Royals (17th and 28th), the Cincinnati Reds (19th and 29th), the Cleveland Indians (21st and 31st), the Boston Red Sox (26th and 33rd) and the St. Louis Cardinals (27th and 34th) have two selections in the first round. The Indians, Miami Marlins and Royals each have a league high four selections within the first 68 picks during the opening day of the Draft.

The Draft will once again feature Competitive Balance rounds, which were agreed upon as a part of the 2012-2016 Basic Agreement between MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association. The Competitive Balance rounds give clubs with the lowest revenues and in the smallest markets the opportunity to obtain additional draft picks through a lottery, which was held last July. The 10 clubs with the lowest revenues and the 10 clubs in the smallest markets were entered into a lottery for the six selections immediately following the first round of the First-Year Player Draft (picks 35-41; excluding pick 36, which Miami holds as compensation for an unsigned 2013 selection). The eligible clubs that did not receive one of the six selections after the first round, and all other payee clubs under the Revenue Sharing Plan, were entered into a second lottery for the six picks
immediately following the second round of the Draft (picks 69-74).

The Draft will have 40 rounds, and a club may pass on its selection in any round and not forfeit its right to participate in other rounds. Like each of the previous five years, the 2014 Draft will span three days. For day one on June 5th, MLB Network and MLB.com will provide live pick-by-pick coverage during the first round, Competitive Balance Round A, the second round and Competitive Balance Round B. The intervals between selections will last four and a half minutes during the first round and one minute during Competitive Balance Round A, the second round and Competitive Balance Round B. The Draft will resume at 1:05 p.m. (ET) on both June 6th and June 7th via conference call from MLB headquarters in New York City.

June 6th will cover rounds three through 10, and June 7th will cover rounds 11 through 40. Rounds three through 10 will have one minute between selections, and the remainder of the selections will be made without delays.

According to MLB, of the 853 players who were on 2014 Opening Day 25-man rosters,
disabled lists and restricted lists, a total of 650 players were selected in the MLB Draft. As ccould be expected, the earlier picks do in fact show the highest returns of Major League players, as the 143 players chosen in the top 30 selections amounted to 22.0% of the 650 Opening Day players who went through the Draft en route to the Major Leagues. Picks 31-60 generated 12.0% (78) of the players, and picks 61-90 turned out 10.0% (65), picks 91-120 generated 6.9% (46) and picks 121-159 generated 8.6% (56) players. Kansas City’s outfielder Jarrod Dyson is the latest draft pick in the Major Leagues on Opening Day rosters, he was chosen in round 50 of the 2006 Draft by the Royals.

The Twins have five picks in the top 140 owning the rights to the 5th, 46th, 79th, 110th and 140th selections.

Twins Draft History

The Minnesota Twins first selection ever (Round 1 – 9th over-all in 1965) was shortstop Eddie Leon from Arizona University but he chose not to sign with Minnesota. Leon went on to play for three big league teams but never hit it big playing in 601 games over 8 years hitting for a .236 batting average with 24 home runs.

The Twins have had the first pick over-all twice, in 1983 when they selected RHP Tim Belcher from Mount Vernon Nazarene University and again in 2001 when they selected catcher Joe Mauer from Cretin-Derham Hall High School. Tim Belcher chose not to sign with Minnesota but went on to have a long 14 year big-league career with 7 different teams putting up a 146-140 won/lost record. Joe Mauer has been with the Twins since 2004.

The current 25 man Minnesota roster has six players selected by the Twins in round one, RHP Kyle Gibson in 2009 was 21st over-all, outfielder Aaron Hicks in 2008 was 14th over-all, outfielder/Ib Chris Parmelee in 2006 was 20th over-all, 3B Trevor Plouffe in 2004 was 20th over-all, closer LHP Glen Perkins in 2004 was 22nd over-all, and 1B Joe Mauer who the Twins picked number one over-all in 2001.

A number of Twins first round picks have moved on such as outfielder Ben Revere who was 28th over-all in 2007, RHP Matt Garza who was picked in 2005 and the 25th over-all selection, outfielder Denard Span in 2002 number 20 over-all, outfielder Michael Cuddyer in 1997 was 9th over-all, and finally outfielder Torii Hunter who is still playing good ball with the Tigers was selected 20th over-all back in 1993. Hunter is playing in his 18th big league season at the age of 38. How time flies….

The first player to be drafted in the first round by Minnesota and make the Twins roster was outfielder Steve Brye who the Twins selected number one and 17th over-all in 1967. Brye debuted with Minnesota in September of 1970 and appeared in 697 games for the Twins between 1970 and 1978 hitting .258 with 30 home runs.

Five Years Ago – 2009 draft

The Twins selected Kyle Gibson number 1, catcher Chris Herrmann number 6, and 2B Brian Dozier number 8, all were picked after spending time in college. No other players drafted by Minnesota that year have made it to the big leagues.

Ten Years Ago – 2004 draft

The Twins selected Trevor Plouffe number 1-20, Glen Perkins number 1-22, RHP Kyle Waldrop 1-25, RHP Matt Fox 1s-35, RHP Anthony Swarzak in round 2, infielder Matt Tolbert in round 16, outfielder Rene Tosoni in round 34.

Travis Lee fiasco

Travis Lee was a Steve Boras client and was initially drafted as the second pick over-all in the 1996 Major League draft by the Minnesota Twins, but was declared a free agent by MLB through a loophole after the Twins failed to tender him a contract within fifteen days of the end of the draft. He then signed a four-year, $10 million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Lee did not turn out to be the super-star everyone expected him to be but he did play in the big leagues from 1998 to 2006 appearing in 1,099 games hitting .256 with 115 home runs.

Will this years Minnesota Twins first round pick be stud or a dud? It could be years before we know.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

New Britain (AA-Eastern League) first baseman/outfielder Reynaldo Rodriguez is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. In six games for the Rock Cats, Rodriguez hit .462 (12-for-26) with three home runs, six RBI, scored seven runs and had one walk. The 27-year-old is hitting .319 (44-for-138) with 11 doubles, seven home runs, 17 RBI and 27 runs scored in 38 games at New Britain.

The Columbian born 6’0′ 195 pound Rodriguez can play the corner outfield positions and some first base and bats and throws right handed. Rodriguez was originally signed by the New York Yankees in 2006 as an undrafted free agent and played in their farm system for just two years before being released. Rodriguez sat out 2008 and played independent ball in 2009 before the Boston Red Sox took a chance on him prior to the 2010 season and he played in the Red Sox system through the 2012 season before becoming a free agent and signing with Minnesota. Although he only hit .231 for New Britain last season, he did hit 21 home runs.

According to Elias

Brian Dozier delivered a three-run homer to give the Twins the lead for good over the Mariners last night. It was Dozier’s 22nd home run from the leadoff spot since the start of the 2013 season, third most in the majors behind Coco Crisp and Shin-Soo Choo (each with 25).

Dozier has at least 10 home runs from the first slot in the lineup in each of the last two seasons (12 in 2013, 10 in 2014). The last Twins player to do so in consecutive seasons was Shannon Stewart in 2004 (11) and 2005 (10).

Dozier has 11 home runs through the Twins’ 41 games this season. Over the last 25 years, only one other Twins player has hit that many through the team’s first 41 games: Justin Morneau, who did so in 2007 (11), 2009 (12), and 2010 (11).

According to Elias

Brian Dozier hit his tenth home run of the season, his ninth from the first spot in the batting order, in the Twins’ win over the Mariners. Dozier is the second player in Twins franchise history to hit nine or more home runs from the #1 spot in the batting order in the team’s first 40 games of a season. The other to do it was Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett in 1986 (11).

According to Elias

Light-hitting Aaron Hicks delivered a game-winning single in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Twins a 4-3 victory over the Red Sox. Hicks had a .185 batting average at the time of his game-winner, becoming the first player with a career mark below .190 to produce a walkoff hit since 1980 (minimum: 300 at-bats). The last player to do so was Joe Niekro, (former Twins pitcher) a career .159 hitter at the time of his 17th-inning single that gave the Astros a 1-0 win over the Cubs (Aug. 23, 1980).

Twins starter Phil Hughes struck out eight batters without issuing a walk over six innings. It was the first time in 140 major-league starts that Hughes recorded at least seven strikeouts and no walks. For the first time in his MLB career, Hughes has made four consecutive starts without walking a batter.

The Twins entered Thursday’s game against the Red Sox with an all-time record (since 1961) of 4,222-4,263 and needed just one win to match their win total when the franchise was the Washington Senators from 1901-1960, going 4,223-4,864 (46.47%). With their 4-3 victory over the boys from Boston the Minnesota Twins record now stands at 4,223-4,263 for a winning percentage of 49.76%.

This Day in Twins History – May 16

May 16, 1928 – Alfred Manuel “Billy” Martin was born in Berkeley, California. Billy played in the majors for 11 seasons with the New York Yankees, Kansas City A’s, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Braves and finished his career with the Minnesota Twins in 1961. Martin managed the Twins in 1969, the Detroit Tigers in 1971-1973, the Texas Rangers in 1973-1975, the Oakland A’s from 1980-1982, the New York Yankees from 1975-1979, 1983, 1985 and again in 1988. Billy Martin died as the result of an automobile accident on December 25, 1989.

May 16, 1983 – The Twins enter the ninth inning at the Metrodome trailing the Oakland A’s 7-0. The Twins hit four home runs in the bottom of the ninth (Dave Engle, Bobby Mitchell, Gary Gaetti, and Mickey Hatcher and they score 6 runs. They have the tying run on first when Dave Engle who pinch-hit a home run to lead off the rally strikes out to end the game. Hatcher’s home run was also as a pinch-hitter marking the third time in Twins history they have pinch-hit two home runs in the same game. The attendance was only 7,056 and you wonder how many fans were actually still at the Dome to witness this amazing comeback that fell a run short. Boxscore

May 16, 1984 – The Twins sell 51,863 tickets to their 8-7 loss to the Blue Jays, but only 6,346 fans show up for the game. The skewed numbers are the result of a massive ticket buyout plan organized by Minneapolis businessman Harvey Mackay to keep the Twins in Minnesota; if the club does not sell 2.41 million tickets this season it can break its lease with the Metrodome. Taking advantage of reduced prices on the Family Day promotion, Mackay pays $218,718 for 44,166 tickets. Boxscore

May 16, 2010 – Jason Kubel hit a stunning grand slam off Mariano Rivera with two outs in the eighth inning Sunday, and the Twins snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Yankees with a 6-3 victory in Yankee Stadium. Kubel’s third homer of the season and sixth career slam snapped a string of 51 straight converted save opportunities for Rivera at home, tying the major league record set by Eric Gagne with the Dodgers. Nick Blackburn (4-1) allowed three runs and nine hits in seven innings for Minnesota, which picked up its first win against New York since Aug. 13, 2008. The Twins had lost 12 straight overall against New York, counting the sweep in last year’s AL division series. Boxscore

Terry “Bud” Bulling passes away

As I was doing some historical research for this site the other day I was saddened to find out that former Twins catcher Bud Bulling had passed away this past March 8th in Salem, Oregon at the age of 61.

Terry Charles “Bud” Bulling was born on December 15, 1952 in Lynwood, California and was drafted as a catcher by the Minnesota Twins in the 14th round of the June 1974 amateur draft. Ironically the only other player drafted by Minnesota that year that went on to play for the Twins was another catcher that the Twins drafted in the second round, Butch Wynegar.

Bulling worked his way up through the Twins farm system and got his first call to the big leagues at the age of 24 to back up the Twins starting catcher who was none other than Butch Wynegar. Bulling made his big league debut on July 3, 1977 in the Twins 6-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park. In his only at bat that day Bud struck out against knuckleballer Wilbur Wood. Bud spent the remainder of the 1977 with Minnesota as the back-up catcher and appeared in 15 games hitting .156 in 32 at bats while knocking in 5 RBI with his 5 hits. Bulling spent the 1978 season with AA Orlando. In March of 1979 Bulling was purchased from the Twins by the Seattle Mariners.

Bulling spent the 1979 and 1980 seasons in the minors with the Spokane Indians before returning to the bigs in 1981. He caught Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry‘s 300th win in the Kingdome on May 6, 1982 going 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored and an RBI in the 7-3 win over the New York Yankees. After spending all of 1981 and 1982 with the Seattle Mariners Bud started the 1983 season hitless in 5 at-bats and was sent down to the AAA Salt Lake City Gulls where he played out his final season in pro ball. After leaving pro ball Bulling enjoyed spending time and traveling with his mother Iada.

Bud Bulling passed away on March 8, 2014 in Salem, Oregon at the age of 61 after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was survived by his mother Iada Bulling, his son’s Casey and Joshua and his three mullions (nieces) Sheri, Kandi, and Kerri.

Thank you for the memories Bud Bulling and may you rest in peace. We at Twins Trivia and Twins fans everywhere would like to pass on our condolences to the Bud Bulling family and their friends.

I spent a few minutes today talking with Bud’s teammate Mike Cubbage and he shared a story about Bud with me that you can listen to here.

Bud Bulling Obit

Follow up – Mike Cubbage was kind enough to give his bat to the Bulling family so they can treasure it as a family keepsake. What a wonderful thing to do! Here is a nice photo after the family received the bat, the smiles tell you all you need to know.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

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Can Aaron Hicks get “off the interstate”?