Twins that have not jogged around the bases

The home run hitters of baseball have been idolized by baseball fans for years, but what about those “Punch-and-Judy” hitters that just have not been able to put one out over the fence and haven’t even been lucky enough to get an inside the park home run? These guys probably could not hit one out even if you let them stand on second base and hit. A Punch-and-Judy is said of a hitter who tends to hit well-placed but weakly-hit balls for singles. The first reference was made by former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Walter Alston when asked about a home run by Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants. “When he belts a home run, he does it with such authority it seems like an act of God. You can’t cry about it. He’s not a Punch and Judy belter.”

From what I can determine, the player with the most at bats in the big leagues without ever getting a home run is Bill Holbert. Holbert was a catcher who played a little outfield and infield in 1876 and 1878-1888 with six different teams. Holbert is credited with 2,335 official at bats without hitting a single round tripper. But that was a long time ago and if you look at more modern times, the record holder is Tom “Rebel” Oliver, an outfielder with the Boston Red Sox from 1930-1933 who had 1,931 official at bats and 534 hits but not a homer in the bunch.

So let’s see who among Twins position players going back to 1961 with 100 or more at bats were or are true “Punch-and-Judy” type hitters and who had the most official at bats without a four-bagger on their Minnesota Twins resume.

Al Newman

Number 1 on this list is Al Newman. Newman played 2B/SS/3B for the Twins from 1987-1991 when they played in the Metrodome and Al had 1,647 at bats in a Twins uniform and he failed to hit a single home run. Newman also played for Montreal in 1985-1986 and for Texas in 1992. Between those three teams Newman had 2,107 at bats and he had one home run. Newman’s only career home run took place on July 6, 1986 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium off Atlanta Braves starter Zane Smith.

Number 2 on the list is current Twins outfielder Ben Revere. Revere has been with the Twins off and on since 2010 and during those three season he has 809 at bats through August 12, 2012 without a home run to his credit but he has a ways to go to catch up with Al Newman.

Number 3 on the list is SS/2B Houston Jiminez. Jiminez played for Minnesota in 1983-1984 and had 384 at bats in a Twins uni without a single home run. Jiminez also played for the Pirates in 1987 and the Indians in 1988. Jiminez had 411 career at bats without a homer.

Fourth on the list is SS Luis Gomez. Gomez played for the Twins from 1974-1977 and had 362 official at bats without a long ball. Gomez went on to play for the Blue Jays in 1978-1979 and the Braves in 1980-1981 but when his career ended he had 1,251 major league at bats and a “0” in the home run column.

In the fifth spot on this list is another current Twins player, 2B/SS/3B Jamey Carroll. Through today Carroll has 352 Twins at bats and he still has not cleared the fences. Carroll is in his 11th big league season and is playing for his sixth team and he has hit 12 home runs in his 3,326 career big league at bats.

Number six on our list is catcher Junior Ortiz. Ortiz played in the big leagues for 13 seasons with 5 organizations and he did hit 5 home runs in 1,894 at bats but as a Twins catcher in 1990-1991 he had 304 at bats and not a single home run. Maybe that is why he wore the number “0” on his back as a Minnesota Twin?

Lucky number seven on the list is yet another current Minnesota Twins player, fan favorite (NOT) Tsuyoshi Nishioka who has played 2B and SS. Nishioka has 233 big league at bats to his credit and zero home runs.

Eighth on the list is a Liriano, no, not Francisco but 2B Nelson Liriano. Nelson Liriano has 25 home runs in his 11 seasons and 2,216 at bats in the bigs but as a Minnesota Twin in 1990 he came up empty in the home run column in 185 at bats

Ninth we have another catcher, Jose Morales. Morales was with the Twins parts of 2007, 2009-2010 and hit .297 in 158 at bats but none of the long ball variety. Morales spent 2011 in Colorado and had 60 AB’s there but again came away without a home run.

Number 10 on the Twins homerless list is SS/2B Sergio Ferrer. Ferrer had zero home runs in 138 at bats as a Twin in 1974-1975. Ferrer played for the Mets in part of 1978-1979 and had 40 more at bats there with zero long balls.

Eleventh on the Twins homerless list we have 2B/3B Dan Monzon who came up void of any home runs in his 131 career big league at bats in 1972-1973 with the Minnesota Twins.

Our twelfth and final Minnesota Twins position player with 100 or more at bats with zero home runs is catcher Bruce Look. Look spent all of his 118 big league at bats with the Twins in 1968 and he had no luck hitting one out of the park.

So between these 12 position players we have 4,821 Twins at bats and not a single home run in the group. Isn’t it strange that three players (numbers 2, 5, and 7) on this list are currently playing for the 2012 Twins? That completes a look at the position players with 100 or more at bats with zero home runs on their Twins resumes. The two Twins pitchers with the most at bats as Twins with zero home runs are Mudcat Grant who had 298 regular season at bats in a Twins uni with no homers. We all know about the Mudcat’s home run in-game 6 of the 1965 World Series against the Dodgers and Grant did hit 6 home runs in his 14 year big league career but he did not hit any for the Twins. The other pitcher is Bert Blyleven who had 451 career at bats with zero home runs and 235 of these at bats were as a Minnesota Twins pitcher.

UPDATE AS OF SEPTEMBER 4, 2012 – Jamey Carroll homered against the Chicago White Sox pitcher Hector Santiago at US Cellular Field in the fifth inning of yesterdays game to end his Twins streak of 412 consecutive at bats without a home run. This streak of 412 homer less games moves him up to number 3 on the Twins list behind Al Newman and Ben Revere.

CORRECTION as of September 5, 2012 – It was brought to my attention that I missed outfielder Jason Tyner who had 442 Twins at bats before hitting a home run off Jake Westbrooke at Jacobs Field on July 28, 2007. Todate Jason Tyner career home run count stands at 1. This would put Tyner number 3 on the Twins list.

However; the original intent of my story was to list the Twins with the most at bats that had zero home runs on their entire Twins resume and not really to list the most consective Twins at bats without a homer, thus Jamey Carroll and Jason Tyner really would not belong on this list.

Twins minor league player of the week

 

Esmerling Vasquez

Rochester right-handed pitcher Esmerling Vasquez is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. In 11.2 innings Vasquez went 2-0, with a 0.00 ERA, allowed four hits, five walks and 10 strikeouts in two relief appearances. Vasquez pitched 4.0 scoreless innings of relief, August 4 at Toledo, then 7.2 scoreless innings of relief, August 9 vs. Scranton-Wilkes/Barre. Vasquez, 28, joined the Twins organization after being claimed off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks on September 27, 2011.

Primarily used as a reliever, Vasquez has started 5 games this season. Vasquez has appeared in 28 games for Rochester putting up a 7-5 mark with a 3.10 ERA. In 81.1 innings he has allowed 61 hits and struck out 50 but he has walked 25 batters. Vasquez has previous big league experience appearing in 141 games for Arizona in 2009-2011.

Did you know?

Francisco Liriano

That former Twins pitcher Francisco Liriano who frustrated Twins management and a lot of Twins fans and is now pitching for the Chicago White Sox holds the second longest streak in MLB of games started since 1990 without giving up a home run? You better believe it, between May 26 and August 12 of 2010  Frankie started 15 games, won 7, lost 4 and had a no decision in 4 games. During these 15 games, Liriano faced 397 batters, pitched 93.2 innings, gave up 88 hits and struck out 108 while walking 29 batters and had a 3.27 ERA. Good numbers to be sure but not spectacular and I guess it tells us when a starter gives up a home run it is not the end of the world. Liriano’s streak ended when he gave up a long ball to the White Sox Andruw Jones on August 18. Liriano only gave up 9 home runs in 31 starts in 2010 with 3 of those coming on his last start of the season on September 30th.

The longest homer less streak since 1990 belongs to the Mets Sid Fernandez who started 16 games in 1992 between June 22 – September 20 without giving up a 4 bagger. Actually, if Liriano had not given up 2 home runs to the Red Sox (Beltre and Youkilis) on May 20, 2010 he would have had a streak of 25 homerless games going back to September 27, 2009 when he gave up a long shot to the Royals Yuniesky Betancourt of all people.

Moving on to another subject, hitting home runs. Through August 9th the Twins have scored 499 runs and hit 99 home runs. Only 152 of the runs scored or 30.46% occurred because of the home runs, the fifth worst in all of baseball. Only the Padres, Giants, Dodgers, and Royals have scored a lower percentage of their runs via the long ball. The Yankess have the highest percentage of runs scored via the home run with 50.56% and the Padres have the lowest at 26.12%.

According to Elias

From Elias: The Indians snapped an 11-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the Twins yesterday afternoon. It marked the first time since the Twins moved to Minnesota that they lost to a team on an 11+ game losing streak. Minnesota was 8-0 in those games since 1961 prior to Wednesday.

Indians outfielder Shin-Soo Choo went 4-for-4 with two RBI to help lead the Indians to a win over the Twins on Wednesday. Choo entered the game with a .220 career batting average in 246 at bats against Minnesota, the second lowest average against the Twins among active players with 200-or-more at bats ahead of only Brandon Inge (.206).

This Day in Twins History – August 8

1974 – The Royals – Twins game at Royals Stadium is briefly interrupted by President Nixon’s resignation speech. The speech is broadcast after it begins and the next inning is delayed until the conclusion of the speech. The Twins prevail over the host Royals‚ 3 – 2 in 14 innings when Tony Oliva’s sacrifice fly drives home Rod Carew. Bill Campbell pitches 7 innings of relief for the win.

1987 – The Twins beat the Oakland A’s 9-2 at the Metrodome as Twins pitcher Steve Carlton wins the 329th and final game of his Hall of Fame career. Carlton pitches 8 2/3 innings giving up 2 runs while striking out two batters

1988 – The Indians and the Twins were scoreless after 3 innings at the Metrodome with Allan Anderson on the mound for the local nine. In the top of the fourth inning with no one out, the Indians Ron Washington and Willie Upshaw singled to put runners on first and second and then Joe Carter smashed a long drive to the left field corner where Twins outfielder Dan Gladden snagged it for an out and wheeled and fired a strike to Steve Lombardozzi at 2B to nail Washington and then Lombo relayed the ball to Gene Larkin at first to get the runner there by at least 5 feet and completed the unusual 7-4-3 triple play. The Twins went on to win the game by a 7-2 score with Gladden going 3 for 5 with a run scored, a stolen base, and a RBI. Catcher Brian Harper was 4 for 4 but played second fiddle to Gladden on this day.

1998 – Paul Molitor stole his 500th base in Minnesota’s 6-3 loss to Baltimore to become only the fifth player ever with 3,000 hits and 500 steals. Molitor joined Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins and Lou Brock.

2004 – The A’s beat the Twins 6 – 5 in 18 innings. It is the second-longest game in the 23-year history of the Metrodome. With the score tied 3 to 3, the A’s score 3 in the top of the 18th off Terry Mulholland to take a 6-3 lead. The Twins come back with 2 in the bottom of the 18th with a Morneau home run but leave Matthew LeCroy stranded on first when Koskie and Cuddyer fly out to end the rally and the Twins hope of a huge comeback victory. The game lasts 4 hours and 57 minutes.

2005 – One time Minnesota Twins manager (1976-1980) Gene Mauch passes away at the age of 79. Mauch was the seventh manager in Twins history. I think one of my favorite Gene Mauch quotes was “I’m not the manager because I am always right, but I am always right because I am the manager”.

2009 – The Twins third manager, Cal Ermer passed away at the age of 85 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Ermer replaced the fired Sam Mele in June 1967 with the Twins in sixth place with a 25-25 record. The Twins went 66-46 the rest of the season but lost the American League pennant on the final day of the season. Ermer was fired after the Twins finished in seventh place in 1968 with a 79-83 record.

According to Elias

The Twins scored 10 runs in the second inning en-route to a 14-3 victory over the Indians in Cleveland on Monday night. It marked only the fourth time that the Twins scored 10-or-more runs in an inning on the road since the team moved to Minnesota. The Twins scored 11 runs in the tenth inning at Oakland on June 21, 1969, 10 runs in the fourth inning at Detroit on April 30, 1985 and 10 runs in the fourth inning at Oakland on June 28, 1992. Source: Elias

Twins trade Valencia and acquire Jeremias Pineda

Danny Valencia

The Twins announced today that they have traded 3B Danny Valencia to the Boston Red Sox for 21-year-old GCL outfielder Jeremias Pineda.  Valencia, 27, was taken by the Twins in the 19th round of the 2006 amateur draft and he made his big league debut with the Twins on June 3, 2010 at Safeco Field. Valencia hit .311 with 7 home runs in 299 at bats in 2010 and made the Topps All-Star Rookie team he but slumped in his first full season with the Twins in 2011 hitting just .246. In Valencia’s defense, he did hit 15 home runs and knocked in 72 runs for a team that won just 63 games. This season Valencia was hitting .253 at the end of April but the Twins were playing poorly and when Valencia went 0 for 25 in May, the Twins had seen enough and sent him back to AAA Rochester. The Twins recalled Valencia late in July when Trevor Plouffe went on the DL but since was recalled, Valencia has played in 7 games and has gone 6 for 25 with 9 strikeouts.

I think a number of things played a part in Valencia being sent packing. It wasn’t just his hitting that had tailed off but his play in the field had suffered as well. Valencia was considered the leader of the so-called Twins “fun bunch” in 2011 and the perception from the fans and from some members of the Twins organization was that Valencia did not take the game as seriously as he could. Couple that with the fact that Valencia had an air about him that seemed to send a message that he was entitled to be a big league player and that “humility” was a word that Valencia had never learned the meaning of and it was easy to dislike Danny Valencia, even here in Minnesota where Twins players are treated like royalty. To make matters worse, Valencia became a semi-permanent resident of manager Gardenhire’s dog house and once that happens, you might as well have your bags packed cause your address will be changing, it is just a matter of time. The Red Sox have assigned Danny Valencia to AAA Pawtucket.

Jeremias Pineda

In return for Valencia, the Twins received 21 year-old switch-hitting outfielder Jeremias Pineda. Pineda was signed by the Red Sox late in the 2010 international signing period for a reported $10,000 bonus. Pineda only hit .224 in the Dominican Summer League and .140 in the GCL last season. But this season Pineda is one of the older players in the GCL and is hitting a league leading .421 in 133 at bats with 20 runs scored, 22 RBI’s and 14 stolen bases in 21 attempts. Pineda is slight of build at 5’11” and 175 pounds and is known for his speed and his plus throwing arm.

No one knows what the future holds for Valencia or Pineda but sometimes a change of scenery is benefical for all parties.

Did you know?

That going into Sunday’s finale against the Boston Red Sox that the Minnesota Twins are 24-28 on the road this season?

That in their last 9 games the Twins starters have posted a 2.20 ERA while allowing just three home runs and holding opponents to a .204 (46-for-225) batting average against? Starters have pitched 6 or more innings in eight of their last nine starts while getting 8 quality starts. The team has gone 7-2 over that stretch.

That Ben Revere has hit safely in a career-high 18 straight games since July 16, batting .364 (28-for-77) with five doubles, one triple, 10 RBI’s, 13 runs scored and just seven strikeouts? The 18-game streak is the longest since Torii Hunter hit in 23 straight games in 2007.

That the Twins have had four different 15-game hitting streaks this season: Josh Willingham has had two 15-game streaks and Trevor Plouffe had a 17-game streak. The four streaks of 15-plus are the most in baseball so far this season.

That Nick Blackburn is 17-34 in 70 career road starts with a 5.66 ERA in 402 innings?

That catchers Sal and Drew Butera are the first father-son position players to pitch in a major league game? Sal Butera pitched a scoreless inning for Montreal in 1985 and again for Cincinnati in 1986 while Drew Butera tossed a scoreless inning in Milwaukee earlier this season.

That Joe Mauer played in his 1,000th career game earlier this season becoming 17th member of the Twins to accomplish the feat?

That the Twins have not had complete game back to back victories since Joe Mays and Carlos Silva accomplished that feat back on May 19-20, 2005?

That the last Twins player to steal Home was Torii Hunter in Detroit back on May 4, 2002?

That Joe Mauer’s three-run ninth-inning home run off Alfredo Aceves yesterday was Mauer’s first career game-winning homer in the ninth inning or later? The last Minnesota player to hit such a blast at Fenway Park was Ron Washington on May 22, 1983.

 

Twins minor league player of the week

outfielder Matt Carson

Rochester outfielder Matt Carson is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for July 29-August 3. Carson played six games for Triple-A Rochester, batting .367 (11-for-30) with two doubles, seven RBI’s and scored five runs. Carson, 31, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent prior to the season was originally selected by the New York Yankees in the fifth round of the 2002 First-Year Player draft out of BYU. Carson has also spent time in the Oakland and Tampa organizations after leaving the Yankee organization as a fee agent after the 2008 season.

Carson spent some time on the Oakland A’s big league roster in 2009-2010 playing in 46 games while hitting .200 in 100 big league at bats with 5 home runs, 14 RBI’s and stealing 4 bases. At the age of 31 the right-handed hittiong Carson is not really a prospect and is more or less filling out the roster in Rochester.

 

This Day in Twins History – August 3

1969 – Pinch-hitter Rich Reese hit a grand slam to power the Minnesota Twins to a 5-2 victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles and ends Dave McNally’s 15 game winning streak. His two victories at the end of 1968 had given him 17 straight wins.

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1987 – One of my favorite moments in Twins history occurs when Twins pitcher Joe Niekro is caught with a fingernail file on the mound at Anaheim Stadium and is ejected by umpire Tim Tschida during the 4th inning of Minnesota’s 11-3 win over California. He was suspended for 10 games by AL president Bobby Brown, who doesn’t buy Niekro’s story “that he had been filing his nails on the bench and stuck the file in his back pocket when the inning started”. On August 14th, Niekro appears on the “Late Night” show with David Letterman wearing a workman’s belt that contains a power sander, nail file, clothes brush, toenail and fingernail clippers, sandpaper, tweezers, scissors, Vaseline, emery boards, and two bottles of Kiwi Scuff Magic.

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1999 – The Astros and Twins swap catchers, Houston gets George Williams and Minnesota gets Josh Dimmick.