Twins 20 game winner Dave Boswell passes away

Dave Boswell

Dave Boswell a right-handed pitcher who won 20 games for the Twins in 1969 passed away from a heart attack yesterday at the age of 67.  Born in Baltimore, Maryland on January 20, 1945, Boswell signed with the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent pitcher/outfielder in 1963 after finishing his high school career with a 28-2 record. The New York Yankees offered Boswell the same deal at the Twins did and Boswell wanted to pitch for the Yankees but the Yankees had a very strong pitching staff and Dave and his family decided that Minnesota would offer him his best opportunity.

Boswell started his professional career in 1964 in A ball with Bismarck/Mandan in the Northern League and after going 7-11 with a 3.88 ERA he was moved up to AA Charlotte where he went 4-2 with a 2.85 ERA. The Minnesota Twins called Boswell to the big leagues in September and Dave made his major league debut on September 18 at the age of just 19 against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Boswell did not get a decision that day but his big league career was well on its way. Boswell made the Twins ballclub out of spring training in 1965 and after a few games in long relief, he entered the starting rotation and by the end of May, Boswell had a 2.12 ERA, in 34 innings. Boswell would have remained in the starting rotation, but he came down with mononucleosis and missed about a quarter of the season. When he returned, the Twins moved Boswell to the bullpen where he finished the 1965 pennant winning season. With the Twins only using 3 starters in the 1965 World Series, Boswell made one appearance in the 1965 World Series pitching in relief of Jim Kaat in-game 5. Boswell was in the starting rotation between 1966-1968 and won 36 games. But in 1969 Boswell had a career season going 20-12 with a 3.23 ERA while pitching 256.1 innings. Boswell started game 2 of the 1969 ALCS against the Baltimore Orioles and pitched 10.2 scoreless innings but came away as the losing pitcher when reliever Ron Perranoski game up single to Curt Motton and Boog Powell whom Boswell had walked to lead off the inning scored the only run in the ball game and the Orioles were 1-0 winners. Boswell hurt his arm striking out Frank Robinson to end the 10th inning and according to Boswell that was the reason he walked Powell to lead off the 11th inning. That arm injury was the beginning of the end for Dave Boswell and his big league career. In 1970 Boswell tried pitching through his injury but went 3-7 with a 6.42 ERA and on July 29 Boswell pitched in his last Twins game, a start against the Cleveland Indians that lasted just 2.1 innings when he gave up 7 walks and 3 hits. The Twins released Boswell in April 1971 and he hooked with the Detroit Tigers but he only pitched in 3 games there before being released in late May. Boswell then signed with the Baltimore Orioles and finished the 1971 season there.  Baltimore released Boswell before the 1972 season and amazingly at the young age of 27, Boswell’s big league career was finished.

Although Boswell won 20 games in 1969, he is probably better remembered for a fight that he had with Twins manager Billy Martin at the Lindall A.C. in Detroit. There are a lot of different stories circulating about that fight and we won’t go into them here.

Dave Boswell’s career lasted 8 years and he had a 68-56 record and an ERA of 3.52 and a 1.26 WHIP. Bos struck out 882 batters in his 1,065.1 innings and he gave up only 858 hits. Boswell always gave up fewer hits than innings pitched until he suffered his arm injury late in 1969. Boswell loved playing baseball and he was a good hitter too. Dave hit 4 home runs and knocked in 22 while batting .202 during his career and was used by the Twins as a pinch runner many, many times in his tenure in Minnesota.

Dave Boswell was one of baseball’s real characters and he played baseball the way he lived his life, non stop. Dave Boswell participated in the Twins Fantasy Camps for a number of years and had some health issues for the last year or so. The Minnesota Twins and their fans lost one of their “good ones” yesterday. Thank you for the great memories Dave, we won’t forget you.

I did an interview with Dave a few years back and you can see that Q&A by click here.

A beautiful YouTube tribute to Dave Boswell can be viewed here.

The Baltimore Sun obit for Dave Boswell

Shooter Now: Minnesota Twins ‘character’ Dave Boswell dies

Looking at some recent drafts

2012 first round pick Byron Buxton

The Twins drafted 43 players in the 2012 First Year player draft. With the second overall pick, the Twins selected Appling County High School (Baxley, Georgia) outfielder Byron Buxton who has signed a baseball scholarship with Georgia. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Buxton, a true five-tool prospect, led Appling County to the Class AA state championship. Buxton, also pitched and has a fastball that has been clocked at 99 mph, struck out 18 batters in last week’s clinching game. He is expected to play centerfield in pro ball. Buxton, who said he expects to sign before the July 13 deadline, comes from a middle-class background, his father drives a truck for a living, while his mother works at a school cafeteria. This year’s No. 2 pick has a slotted signing bonus of $6.2 million. The last time the Twins went the high school route with their first round pick was back in 2008 when they took outfielder Aaron Hicks.

Mason Melotakis

As of June 10th the Twins have signed 10 of their 43 picks including their second round pick LHP Mason Melotakis. According to a Twins source, they expect to sign 25-30 of their 43 picks and spend somewhere between $12.5-$13 million this year. Here is how the rest of their draft selections breakdown.

Position College High School Bats Right Bats Left Switch Hitter LHP RHP
C 3 3 5 0 1 n/a n/a
1B 1 0 1 0 0 n/a n/a
2B 2 0 2 0 0 n/a n/a
SS 0 1 1 0 0 n/a n/a
3B 1 0 1 0 0 n/a n/a
OF 4 4 7 1 0 n/a n/a
P 20 4 n/a n/a n/a 8 16
TOTALS 31 (72%) 12 (28%) 17 1 1 8 16

Picking 30th, the Twins drafted 52 players in the 2011 First Year player draft. The Twins selected Levi Michael a switch-hitting shortstop from North Carolina with their first pick. The Twins signed 33 of their 52 (63%) picks in 2011 and spent just under $5.9 million. Here is how the rest of their draft selections break down.

Position College High school Bats right Bats left switch hitter LHP RHP
C 2 0 2 0 0 n/a n/a
1B 0 0 0 0 0 n/a n/a
2B 0 2 1 0 1 n/a n/a
SS 5 1 5 0 1 n/a n/a
3B 0 1 1 0 0 n/a n/a
OF 4 2 3 3 0 n/a n/a
P 23 12 n/a n/a n/a 17 18
TOTALS 34 (65%) 18 (35%) 12 3 2 17 18

 

In 2010 the Twins signed 31 of 50 (62%) of the players they drafted.

In 2009 the Twins signed 23 of 51 (45%) of the players they drafted.

Let’s take a peek at the American League from 2009 through 2011 and see how many drafted players have actually been signed by the teams. It is really no surprise that MLB dropped to 50 rounds in 2012 as a very low percentage of the players drafted in rounds 41-50 were signed anyway. Between 2009 and 2011 only 3 first round picks chose not to sign and they were the first rounders for Texas and Tampa in 2009 and Toronto in 2011. If you are going to be drafted and want to sign, you have to hope that the Mariners draft you because they have the highest signing percentage while the Yankees have the lowest signing percentage. Only the Yankees at 46%, the Reds Sox at 48%, the Rangers at 50%, the Indians at 53%, and the Orioles at 56% have a lower signing percentage than the Twins 57% . Who would have thought that?

TEAM 2011drafted/signed 2010drafted/signed 2009drafted/signed Totals
Twins 52/33 50/31 51/23 153/87(57%)
Tigers 49/33 51/33 50/25 150/91(61%)
White Sox 50/33 51/34 52/39 153/106(69%)
Indians 50/27 50/27 50/26 150/80(53%)
Royals 50/33 50/37 49/27 149/97(65%)
Yankees 50/23 50/26 49/20 149/69(46%)
Rays 60/48 53/38 50/25 163/111(68%)
Orioles 50/22 49/39 50/22 149/83(56%)
Red Sox 53/30 52/24 50/20 155/74(48%)
Blue Jays 55/38 52/38 52/32 159/108(68%)
Angels 49/39 55/43 54/30 158/112(71%)
A’s 49/30 50/33 49/25 148/88(59%)
Mariners 51/44 50/38 52/29 153/111(73%)
Rangers 51/25 53/38 51/15 155/78(50%)
719/458(64%) 720/479(67%) 709/358(50%)
Published
Categorized as MLB Draft

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

 

Beloit outfielder/second baseman Eddie Rosario is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for June 2-8. Rosario, 21, batted .450 (9-for-20) with three doubles, one home run, had three RBI, six runs scored, one walk and three strikeouts in five games for the Snappers. Rosario was the Twins fourth round pick in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft out of Rafael Lopez Landron (PR) High School, this marks his second Twins Minor League Player of the Week honor, after earning his first, July 1, 2011.

Rosario is learning to play 2B after spending all of his time in the outfield in 2010-2011. The sweet swinging left handed hitting Rosario is 6′ and only goes 170 but he has some serious pop in his bat hitting 21 out of the park in 2011 in only 270 at bats in Elizabethton. In ony his third season, Eddie has a career .312 batting average.

UPDATE as of June 13, 2012 – Eddie Rosario was hit in the face yesterday by a line drive during batting practice and has at least one facial fracture. The current expecatation is that he could be on the DL for 6 weeks.

This Day in Twins History – June 4

outfielder Larry Hisle

1976 – Larry Hisle becomes the third Twins player ever to hit for the cycle as he does so in Baltimore in a 10 inning Twins 8-6 victory.

1982 – Brad Havens and Terry Felton combined to shut out Baltimore 6-0 at the Metrodome, snapping the Twins’ club-record 14-game losing streak. The last-place Twins were 3-26 in the month of May. To boost attendance, Twins president Calvin Griffith promised fans that they could purchase tickets for a future game for a buck if the Twins won the game and broke their losing streak.

2002 – In its 23-2 win over Cleveland at the Metrodome, Minnesota had four players with four hits, four players with at least three RBIs and four players with at least three runs scored. In the seventh inning, the Twins set a franchise record with 10 runs in the frame — Minnesota batted around before making an out. The Twins had a franchise-record 25 hits. The Twins also set a team mark for their largest margin of victory at 21 which broke the mark of 19 set May 20, 1994 in a 21-2 victory over the Red Sox. The Indians matched their most lopsided loss in history — 21-0 to Detroit on Sept. 15, 1901.

According to Elias

Scott Diamond

Scott Diamond allowed three runs, all unearned, in the Twins’ victory at Cleveland to improve his record to 4-1 and lower his ERA to 1.86. Diamond is the third Twins rookie since the franchise relocated to Minnesota in 1961 to win at least four of his first six starts of a season while posting such a low ERA. The others were Jim Hughes in 1975 (5-1, 1.62 ERA) and Francisco Liriano in 2006 (5-1, 1.50 ERA).

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Jason Wheeler

Beloit left-handed pitcher Jason Wheeler is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for May 26-June 1. Wheeler, 21, won both of his starts for the Snappers, going 2-0, 4.84 ERA (13.0 ip, 7 er), allowing 12 hits with five walks and 13 strikeouts. In 11 starts this season, he is 7-1, 3.23 (64.0 IP, 23 er) allowing 67 hits with 15 walks and 46 strikeouts. Wheeler was the Twins eighth round pick in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft out of Loyola Marymount University.

Twins turning DP’s at a record pace

The Twins have turned a Major League-leading 73 double plays this year, turning at least one double play in 38 games and multiple double plays in 23 games. Minnesota is on pace to record 237 double plays, which would set an MLB record, passing the 1956 Yankees’ 213 double plays. The Twins season record for double plays in a season is 203, done in 1979, and is tied for fifth-best in Major League history.

Then again your pitching staff needs to give up a lot of hits and walks to allow so many runners on base in order to get double play opportunities. The Twins pitching remains the worst in the American League as opposing batters are hitting .285 and the Twins pitching staff has a 5.25 ERA with a 1.42 WHIP.

This Day in Twins History

Bert Blyleven

5/31/1976 – With trade rumors running rampant due to how poorly salary negotiations had progressed, Bert Blyleven walked off the mound at the Met in front of 8,379 fans trailing the California Angels 3-1. A number of fans were on Blylevens’ case shouting and singing “bye-bye Bertie” and Blyleven angrily looked up at the hecklers and flashed them the “one finger salute”. That was the final straw for Twins management and Bert along with shortstop Danny Thompson was traded to Texas the next day for pitchers Bill Singer and Jim Gideon, shortstop Roy Smalley III, 3B Mike Cubbage and $250,000.

5/31/1980 – Outfielder Ken Landreaux goes 0-for-4 in Minnesota’s 11-1 loss to the Orioles Scott McGregor, ending his hitting streak at 31 consecutive games. It is the longest streak in the AL since Dom DiMaggio’s 34-game streak in 1949. Ken’s streak started on April 23rd. Landreaux had 49 hits in 125 at bats during the streak for a .392 batting average. This streak remains the team record to this date.

Make sure you check out the “Today in Twins History” page every day.

This Day in Twins History – May 30, 1986

Roy Smalley III

DH Roy Smalley III hits a home run from each side of the plate against the Red Sox at the Metrodome in a Twins 13-5 win and becomes the first Twins batter to ever do so. Smalley ended up hitting 110 home runs for Minnesota in his 10 year two tour career with the Twins. Smalley was the son of former big leaguer Roy Smalley Jr. who had an 11 year career with the Cubs, Braves, and Phillies between 1948-1958 and nephew of former Twins manager Gene Mauch. Smalley is a Twins analyst with Fox Sports North these days.

According to Elias

Josh Willingham

Josh Willingham hit a three-run home run in the ninth inning to give the Twins a 3-2 win over the A’s last night. It was the first time since 1995 that a Minnesota player erased a deficit of two or more runs with a walk-off homer. The last Twins player to do so was Kirby Puckett with a three-run blast in a 7-6 win over the Mariners.