Congratulations to Johan Santana on his election to the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame even though he is not officially retired. Santana’s induction will take place on August 4 at Target Field.
Minnesota Twins Top 10 Shortstops
I did some of these top 10 rating for catchers, second basemen, and center fielders last off-season so we will continue the series. Here are the Minnesota Twins top 10 shortstops based on the WAR numbers from Baseball-Reference. To qualify a player must have played at least 51% of his games at shortstop. The list kind of shows how weak the Twins shortstops have been over the years. The best season by a Twins shortstop goes back to 1965 when Zoilo Versalles had his American League MVP season, that year he had a WAR of 7.2 .
| Rk | Player | WAR/pos | From | To | G | AB | H | HR | RBI | BB | SB | BA | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roy Smalley | 20.8 | 1976 | 1987 | 1148 | 3997 | 1046 | 110 | 485 | 549 | 15 | .262 | .750 |
| 2 | Greg Gagne | 17.9 | 1983 | 1992 | 1140 | 3386 | 844 | 69 | 335 | 188 | 79 | .249 | .677 |
| 3 | Zoilo Versalles | 15.2 | 1961 | 1967 | 1065 | 4148 | 1046 | 86 | 401 | 251 | 84 | .252 | .686 |
| 4 | Leo Cardenas | 11.1 | 1969 | 1971 | 473 | 1720 | 453 | 39 | 210 | 159 | 10 | .263 | .719 |
| 5 | Jason Bartlett | 8.9 | 2004 | 2014 | 324 | 1082 | 293 | 10 | 92 | 94 | 39 | .271 | .702 |
| 6 | Cristian Guzman | 7.5 | 1999 | 2004 | 841 | 3277 | 871 | 39 | 289 | 166 | 102 | .266 | .685 |
| 7 | Pat Meares | 6.0 | 1993 | 1998 | 742 | 2464 | 653 | 41 | 303 | 95 | 42 | .265 | .682 |
| 8 | Eduardo Escobar | 4.2 | 2012 | 2017 | 574 | 1860 | 474 | 48 | 221 | 119 | 10 | .255 | .704 |
| 9 | Jorge Polanco | 3.1 | 2014 | 2017 | 211 | 749 | 199 | 17 | 105 | 62 | 18 | .266 | .739 |
| 10 | Pedro Florimon | 2.7 | 2012 | 2014 | 210 | 616 | 126 | 10 | 55 | 51 | 24 | .205 | .567 |
It seems like the Minnesota Twins love drafting shortstops in the June free agent draft, since the draft started in 1965 they have drafted 13 shortstops in the first round, none of those draftees are on this top 10 list. That is not to say they never played for Minnesota, they just never played 51% or more of their games at short, I am talking about players like Trevor Plouffe, Michael Cuddyer, and Chuck Knoblauch.
There are no players on the above list drafted by Minnesota, Zoilo Versalles and Jorge Polanco were signed by Minnesota as amateur free agents. You can add shortstops as another position that the Twins don’t seem to draft well.
Twins To 10 Right Fielders
Hrbek strikes again?
Twins walk-off wins – 1961-2017
In the past 57 seasons the Minnesota Twins have walked off their opponents 403 times. Kirby Puckett leads the Minnesota Twins in career walk-off’s wins by delivering the winning run in some manner 11 times, it might have been on a hit, walk, HBP, error or a sacrifice. Second on the list is Harmon Killebrew. I guess that is why these guys are Hall of Fame players.
The Twins have walked off their opponent with a single a total of 196 times. Rod Carew did it seven times and is the leader in this category and it has been done five times by Alexi Casilla, Harmon Killebrew, Brian Harper, Larry Hisle, Kent Hrbek and Jacque Jones.
The Twins have hit 108 walk-off home runs and Justin Morneau leads the pack here with five and is followed Gary Gaetti, Harmon Killebrew, Kirby Puckett, Tony Oliva and Kent Hrbek with four each. One was an inside the park job by Tim Teufel.
The Twins have walked off their opponents with doubles 35 times and Kirby Puckett did it 3 times, the following players each did it twice, Cristian Guzman, Rich Reese, Tony Oliva, Eduardo Escobar, Shannon Stewart, Glenn Borgmann and Tom Brunansky.
The Sacrifice Fly has led to 25 Twins walk-off wins with only Zoilo Versalles and Cristian Guzman doing it more than once.
The Twins have walked-off opponents 12 times on an opposing team error.
The Twins have walked-off their opponent 11 times when they drew a bases-loaded walk.
The Twins have had six walk-off triples and no one has more than one.
The Twins have celebrated a walk-off win six times after a simple ground out.
The Twins have two walk-off wins via getting hit by a pitch (Paul Molitor and Max Kepler).
The first player to deliver a walk-off win was Zoilo Versalles and the most recent to do it is Byron Buxton.
Former Twins players that passed away in 2017
As we start a new year in 2018 I wanted to share a list of former Minnesota Twins players that passed away in 2017
RIP gentlemen and thank you for the great memories, you are a part of Minnesota Twins history forever.
A complete list of deceased former Minnesota Twins players can be found on our “Deceased Twins” page.
Happy New Year!
May 2018 best the best year ever for you and your family.
Stay healthy my friends!
Jerry Kindall dead at 82
Jerry Kindall played major league baseball from 1956 through 1965 but it was not his baseball playing or coaching skills that he is most remembered for, it was his compassion for everyone off the field that brings back the best Jerry Kindall memories.
Gerald Donald Kindall was born in St. Paul Minnesota on May 27, 1935 and passed away in Tucson, Arizona on Christmas Eve 2017 after suffering a stroke on December 21st.
Kindall signed a $50,000 bonus contract with the Chicago Cubs soon after he led the Minnesota Gophers to the 1956 national championship. He did so, in part, because his parents needed the money. His stepmother, Isabel, incapacitated by multiple sclerosis, had been confined to a wheelchair since Jerry was 12. His father, Harold, drove a truck from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., and then worked a shift at the railroad five nights a week.
Kindall, known as “Slim” played for the Cubs from 1956 through 1961 and then was traded to the Cleveland Indians. On June 11, 1964 he was part of a three-team trade and ended up in Minnesota along with Frank Kostro from the LA Angels. The Angels sent Billy Moran to the Indians and the Twins traded Lenny Green and Vic Power to the Angels.
Jerry Kindall played 62 games for the Twins in 1964 and 125 games for the AL pennant winning Twins in 1965. Kindall played mainly as a second baseman but also filled in at third and at shortstop. Kindall hit under. 200 both seasons but it wasn’t his bat that the Twins liked, it was his glove and passion. The Minnesota Twins released Kindall in April 1966 and Kindall walked away from the game of baseball as an active player and moved to the coaching side where he excelled and managed Arizona to three National championships.
Kindall was elected to the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1991, the University of Minnesota Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995, and the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.
I was lucky enough to interview Jerry Kindall in January 2011 and he spent over an hour on the phone with me. You can listen to his interview here.
Kindall is survived by his wife, Diane, and stepdaughter, Elise Sargent, as well as four children — Betsy, Doug, Bruce and Martha — from his first marriage to the late Georgia Kindall.
RIP Jerry Kindall and thank you for all the great memories.
For Arizona legend Jerry Kindall, compassion for people always won out over baseball
Jerry Kindall, former MLB player and legendary Arizona coach, dead at 82
Ask and you shall receive
I know that a few days ago I blogged that I wanted to see the Twins do something for the here and now versus the future and the Twins must have been listening because they rushed right out and signed 34-year-old left-handed reliever Zach Duke, another former Tommy John surgery survivor for their collection. The Twins must be big believers that you need TJ surgery on your resume to be a big league pitcher or that once you have TJ surgery you can avoid arm injuries for a few years.
I can’t be critical of the Twins signing Duke for a song (slightly over $2 million plus a possible additional $1.5 million in incentives) and who knows, he might be helpful. Zach Duke was a 20th round selection by the Pirates in 2001 and made his big league debut in 2005. Duke spent 2005-2010 with the Pirates and was used strictly as a starter before being moved to the bullpen by Arizona in 2011. Since then Duke has pitched for the Nationals, Reds, Brewers, White Sox and the Cardinals. Since Duke became a full-time relief pitcher, he is 13-11 with a 3.18 ERA in 287 games while striking out 248 batters in 243.2 innings.
So it just goes to show that you have to be careful what you wish for because they just might come true. Now I am hoping to find that the Twins have signed a legit starting pitcher but in my heart I know they will go out and sign a Jason Vargas type of starter.
Merry Christmas
MERRY CHRISTMAS
from all of us to all of you
How long can the Twins keep selling “the future”
According to Twins Notes in todays Star Tribune Sports section the Minnesota Twins have contacted Mike Napoli‘s agent about signing with Minnesota. Napoli would be a bench player with power who can still play first base every now and then. The big reason for signing him according to the Twins is that he would be a clubhouse leader to replace Chris Gimenez who is a free agent.
Clubhouse leadership is a job that is earned, not bought on the free agent market. Why the Twins want to waste their money and a roster spot on a 36 year-old player that hit .193 in 485 plate appearances and struck out 163 times in Texas is beyond me. Kennys Vargas can do what they want Napoli for and he is much younger and cheaper.
The Twins don’t need a clubhouse leader, the Twins need some pitching that can help them in 2018, signing Michael Pineda who is coming off TJ surgery and won’t pitch until 2019 does not help the team now. There have also been reports that the Twins were in on Drew Smyly before he signed with the Cubs and are nosing around Trevor Rosenthal. Both of these pitchers are coming off TJ surgery and likely won’t pitch in 2018 either. What the heck is up with that? Are we collecting injured players who can maybe pitch in 2019?
When does this organization quit talking about what they hope to have in the future and start adding pieces that can help them in 2018? The current group of players is young and talented and could use some help with their pitching staff. I know, I know, they just signed Fernando Rodney a few days to be their closer. The team still needs one or two good starters and another reliever and so far they have done nothing to help that problem.
I am not a huge free agent fan and wouldn’t pay the bucks to sign Yu Darvish or Jake Arrieta but there are a number of pitchers like Gerrit Cole and Chris Archer out there that could be had in a trade for prospects. How about we trade some futures for some pitchers that can pitch now and won’t need to be salary dumps in a few years? I am not getting any younger…
Derek Falvey and Thad Levine have done a lot of talking but so far it has been just that, talk. You don’t get a “W” for talk, you need real live pitchers to get that. How much longer can the Minnesota Twins organization keep selling the future to Twins fans? The future is now Mr. Falvey and Mr. Levine, please act like it.