Who can hit leadoff for Twins?

The Twins have not had a decent leadoff hitter since Denard Span was traded after the 2012 season and he was a good leadoff man, not a great one. This past season the hitters that Ron Gardenhire sent up to the plate to hit lead off for the Twins were just plain dismal.

Rk	Player	G	OBP	PA	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA
1	Darin Mastroianni	3	.357	14	12	2	3	0	0	1	2	2	.250
2	Alex Presley	27	.339	121	112	9	32	1	11	1	8	21	.286
3	Clete Thomas	17	.312	77	69	12	16	2	5	0	8	21	.232
4	Brian Dozier	74	.310	344	312	40	79	12	44	7	23	63	.253
5	Jamey Carroll	26	.252	120	110	13	21	0	3	1	9	19	.191
6	Eduardo Escobar	9	.182	33	30	4	3	0	1	0	3	4	.100
7	Aaron Hicks	10	.109	46	43	3	2	0	3	0	3	20	.047
8	Chris Parmelee	2	.000	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
9	Wilkin Ramirez	1	.000	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
10	Ryan Doumit	1	.000	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
11	Chris Herrmann	2	.000	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/22/2013.

The Twins could use Brian Dozier to hit lead off again but that is not his ideal spot in the batting order but yet Gardy might not have a choice. All things being equal, if you look a the projected Twins line-up the leadoff hitter should come from center field. But who will play center field for Minnesota in 2014? Unless something dramatic happens it looks like Darin Mastroianni, Alex Presley, and Aaron Hicks will battle it out this spring in Ft. Myers to see will open the season as the Twins center fielder.

Mastroianni spent most of 2013 on the DL and if you look at his major league OBP, it stands at .298 which is not very good but it is a small sample size of just 230 at bats. In the minor leagues Mastroianni had a .370 OBP but that is in the minors. Darin is 28 years old so he is not the Twins center fielder of the future by any means and is best suited in a back-up role but that doesn’t mean he might not start the season in center field.

Alex Presley who the Twins acquired from Pittsburgh last season in the Justin Morneau trade is also 28 and he was OK in that role at the tail end of last season but nothing in his past major league stats indicates that he could put up the same kind of numbers over a 162 game schedule. In the minors Presley had a .352 OBP but again, that is in the minors. He too has a shot at being the Twins center fielder on Opening Day but he too might just be a placeholder.

The ideal man for the job is 24 year-old Aaron Hicks but when the Twins gave him the job in 2013 he hit for a .047 average and his OBP was a microscopic .109 in the 46 plate appearances that Gardy gave him in that role. Hicks would like to get the 2013 season in his rear view mirror and start his major league anew in 2014 but who knows if the Twins brain trust will let him start the season with the Twins in Chicago. The Twins sent Hicks down to prove he belongs in the big leagues after hitting .192 in 81 games and Hicks responded by hitting all of .222 in the 22 games he played in Rochester. The Twins sent Hicks a message by not recalling him in September and Hicks had better come to Florida with a chip on his shoulder and play like a man possessed if he want to be the Twins opening day center fielder because he has something to prove to Gardy and Terry Ryan. Then again, Hicks had a fantastic spring training in 2013 and yet when the season started Hicks flopped big time. Hicks could very well start the season in Rochester and have to beat the Twins door down to prove he belongs in the big leagues with Minnesota. Dozier did it in 2013 and Hicks can do it this year. This team needs Hicks as their center fielder.

Looking back in Twins history to see who the best Twins leadoff hitters have been from a OBP perspective you have to admit that Chuck Knoblauch was the best the Twins have ever had. I know that Knoblauch was a jerk at times and a stuck up snob much of the time but the man played some good baseball for the Twins and it is a joke that he is not in the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame. Hopefully he will get voted in this year, remember that you are voting for him for what he did in a Twins uniform on the ball field, not how he choses to live his life. While you are voting, put a “X” down next to Cesar Tovar too, he also deserves to be in the Twins HOF.

Best OBP hitting lead off with 100 games or more

Rk	Player	Year	G	OBP	PA	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA
1	Chuck Knoblauch	1996	151	.448	699	577	140	197	13	72	45	97	74	.341
2	Chuck Knoblauch	1995	134	.423	620	530	105	175	11	63	45	77	94	.330
3	Denard Span	2009	145	.392	676	578	97	180	8	68	23	70	89	.311
4	Chuck Knoblauch	1997	155	.390	712	608	116	178	9	58	62	84	84	.293
5	Kirby Puckett	1986	128	.375	592	558	103	189	25	77	15	26	74	.339
6	Lenny Green	1962	149	.367	713	609	96	165	14	62	8	87	36	.271
7	Cesar Tovar	1971	142	.364	653	598	90	191	1	41	18	41	34	.319
8	Otis Nixon	1998	107	.360	498	446	71	132	1	20	37	44	55	.296
9	Cesar Tovar	1970	156	.356	721	646	119	194	10	54	30	51	46	.300
10	Jacque Jones	2002	133	.346	606	558	92	169	25	81	6	37	123	.303

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/22/2013.

The 2013 Twins Turkey of the Year is –

It is that time of the year again, time to see who will take home the Twins Trivia 2013 Twins Turkey of the Year award.

The 2013 baseball season has been over for almost a month and in the case of teams like the Minnesota Twins, it ended long before that. The temperatures have gotten colder and snow flakes have been seen over at Target Field but I still find it difficult to rid myself of the bitter taste of yet another wretched Twins season. A season in which the home town team managed to lose 96 or more games for the third year in a row. Not once in franchise history going back to 1901 have any previous Washington Senators or Minnesota Twins teams managed to accomplish what the 2011-2013 Twins have done by losing 96 or more games three years in a row. The 1997-2000 Twins ball clubs who lost 94, 92, 97, and 93 games were pretty dismal but they fell short of the three straight 96 loss mark.

The depressing part of this is that we can’t even blame injuries for the Twins poor play, the team just plain under performed to what were already low expectations. Sure Joe Mauer missed the last 39 games and Josh Willingham missed 33 games and a few other regulars spent a couple of weeks on the DL but that was about it. A number of players that spent time on the Twins DL list didn’t belong in the majors anyway.

When your team plays this bad it should not be that hard to find candidates for this years Twins Turkey of the Year. I had a few minutes the other day and I start compiling a list of possibilities and here is who I came up with off the top of my head in no particular order. Worse yet, I know it is hard to believe but these guys didn’t even make the cut for the final five.

Rich Harden – The Twins signed this fraud in December 2012 and allowed him to rehab his surgically repaired shoulder but Harden requested his release at the end of July when even he could see he would not be pitching in the majors in 2013. The man last pitched in the majors in 2011. I am not sure what it says for the state of baseball today when teams keep giving pitchers like Harden chance after chance. In all or parts of nine big league seasons with three different organizations, Harden has already pocketed $23,586,500 and he has pitched in a total of 170 games and only twice in nine seasons has he ever appeared in more than 25 games. If there was a DL Hall of Fame, he would be right there. He will only be 32 later this month and he still wants to pitch again in 2014.

Joe Benson – The Twins selected Benson in the second round of the 2006 June draft, just a couple of picks ahead of Justin Masterson and Jon Jay. Benson passed on a football scholarship to Purdue and took the Twins $575,000 and started his career in pro ball. Benson finally got the call to join the Twins in September of 2011 and had 71 at bats in 21 games and hit .239 with no home runs and two RBI. The Twins kept trying to hand him a starting outfield spot in 2012 and 2013 but he just could not get the job done. With his propensity to strike out, Benson would have fit right in with the 2013 Twins. In May of 2013 the Texas Rangers picked Benson up on waivers.

Chris Parmelee – This Twins first round pick in 2006 was projected to be a big time home run hitter. Parmelee worked his way up the minor league ladder and got his first taste of big league ball as a 2011 September call-up and he knocked the cover off the ball by hitting .355 with four home runs and 14 RBI in jus 76 at bats. The Twins had high hopes for Parmelee in 2012 and he rewarded them with 5 home runs and a .229 average in 192 at bats. The Twins handed Parmelee the starting right field job in 2013 but by the time the all-star game rolled around he found himself in Rochester. Parmelee finished the 2013 season hitting .228 with 81 strike outs and just 8 long balls in 294 at bats.

Scott Diamond – This 2010 Rule 5 pick-up had a wonderful season in 2012 going 12-9 with a 3.54 ERA in 27 starts and was projected to be the Twins ace going into 2013. After undergoing elbow surgery in late December of 2012 Diamond started the 2013 season on the DL. When he joined the team later in April he was nowhere near the pitcher he was in 2012. Diamond crashed and burned in 2013 going 6-13 with a 5.43 ERA in 24 starts and by August found himself with AAA Rochester.

Josh Willingham – This Twins starting left fielder was born in the Yellowhammer state and goes by the nickname of The Hammer but in 2013 he played more like a toffee hammer then the sledge-hammer that the Twins expected. Coming off a 2012 season when he hit .260 with 35 home runs and 110 RBI Willingham slumped badly in 2013 hitting just .208 with 14 home runs and 48 RBI. Worse yet he played in just 111 games due to a knee injury which eventually needed surgery. The Hammer’s strikeout’ jumped from 27% of his 2012 at bats to 33% of his 2013 at bats.

Eddie Rosario – A fourth round pick in 2010 this Twins minor leaguer was expected to make his big league debut with the 2014 Twins and possibly fight for a starting spot but a week or so ago he announced that he would be suspended for 50 games for violating the minor league drug policy. Rosario claims that the positive test came from some pills he took to help recover from an arm injury but then again everyone that is caught has some excuse. Neither MLB nor the Twins have made an official announcement as yet. Rosario began his career as an outfielder but agreed to switch to second base in 2011. This past year Rosario played for Ft. Myers before being bumped up to AA New Britain. This past Fall the Twins sent him to play in the Arizona Fall League. If this suspension is a fact, this will really hinder Rosario’s climb up the minor league chain towards Target Field. Minor league teams only play around 140 games so missing 50 really hurts.

We have spent enough time talking about the nonqualifiers, so without further ado let’s get to the meat of todays festivities. Each and every one of the final five did his best this past season to win the 2013 Twins Turkey of Year award but we can only have one winner here.

The fourth runner-up is pitcher Vance Worley. Worley was a Phillies third round pick in 2008 and pitched in just 5 games for Philly in 2010. In 2011 Worley went 11-3 but in 2012 Worley went 6-9 with a 4.20 ERA in 23 starts.The Twins parted ways with center fielder Ben Revere to acquire the Vanimal from the Phillies in December of 2012. Worley started 10 games for Minnesota including the Twins home opener going 1-5 with a 7.21 ERA before GM Terry Ryan had seen enough and sent Worley to AAA Rochester. Worley was supposed to be a stalwart in the Twins 2013 rotation but he didn’t even make it to Memorial Day in Minnesota. The man talked a good story but he could not walk the talk. In Rochester he spent time on the DL and started just 9 games going 6-3 with a respectable 3.88 ERA but the call to return to Minnesota never came. Worley was the big acquisition by Ryan last off-season and he was supposed to eat innings and stabilize the rotation but he failed miserably in both. The man pitched like a turkey and earned his spot on this list.

The third runner-up is outfielder Aaron Hicks. Hicks was the Twins first round pick (14th overall) in 2008. Hicks slowly worked his way through the Twins system and finally had a breakout season in 2012 with AA New Britain. He so impressed the Twins brass that during that off-season they traded both of their center fielders, Denard Span and Ben Revere for pitching help and Hicks became the front-runner to be the Twins Opening Day center fielder in 2013. Hicks rewarded the Twins organizations faith in him by having a great spring training hitting .370 with four home runs (three in one game) and 18 RBI along with 3 stolen bases. But when they started playing for real Hicks got off to a horrendous start getting two hits in his first 48 at bats and worse yet, he struck out 20 times. The Twins had no one else to play center so they kept sending him out there everyday until he pulled a hamstring on a June 9th. At that point Hicks was hitting .179 with 6 home runs but he also struck out 56 times in 190 at bats. While rehabbing in Rochester Hicks was recalled by the Twins when Willingham went on the DL. On August 1st Hicks was still hitting .192 with the strike outs continuing to pile up and GM Ryan sent him packing to Rochester and Hicks never again put on a Twins uniform for the rest of the season. I really don’t like picking on rookies and the Twins probably did Hicks a disservice by having him in the major leagues without a single AAA at bat but the Twins were in desperate circumstances and so they threw Hicks in the deep end of the pool and he was just plain in over his head. But Hicks didn’t earn his was on this list because he couldn’t hit, he is here because his attitude left a lot to be desired at some points this year. There were times when he failed to run out ground balls, on some of his home runs he stood at home plate and admired it, and in the field he sometimes played so casually that runners took extra bases on him without too much effort. To me he looked like a player that thought he was a star now that he had reached the major leagues and he quit working and was just coasting along. A little humble pie should be on Aaron Hicks Thanksgiving table this year and hopefully he will become the player that we all hoped he could be. If he doesn’t show solid improvement this season he should look at sharpening his already strong golf swing and consider the pro golf tour.

Our second runner-up is pitcher Anthony Swarzak. Swarzak did not make this list because of how he did on the mound, he made the list in spite of having a career year in 2013. Swarzak appeared in a career high 48 games and threw 96 innings and posted a 3-2 record with a career best 2.91 ERA. So why was he invited to the Twins Turkey of the Year banquet? Swarzak is here because on January 25th while attending TwinsFest 2013 he and his teammates thought they would have a little fun and started practicing their wrestling moves and Swarzak ended up with two broken ribs. The non-injured participants were not identified and GM Terry Ryan said that he appreciated that Swarzak come forth and fessed up. I am sure that childish behavior like this goes on all the time in baseball locker rooms as Kent Hrbek can certainly attest to when he broke his ankle during some horseplay in the Twins clubhouse in September of 1990. With the Twins desperate for pitching this was a stupid move on the part of Swarzak and possibly cost him a chance to join the Twins starting staff. Swarzak missed most of spring training and did not pitch in a single ST game. Swarzak started the season on the DL but was activated on April 7th and went on to have his best year. Sometimes baseball players have some let’s say “unusual beliefs” and this Twins long reliever fits right in with that group with his passion and interest in Sasquatch, otherwise known as Bigfoot. He’s obsessed with it,” said fellow reliever Brian Duensing. “He believes they’re real. He really wants to find one. He is adamant that they are around.

Our runner-up turns out to be hitting coach Tom Brunansky. This former Twins player got into coaching in 2010 with the GCL Twins and the Twins quickly moved him up the ladder with stops at AA New Britain in 2011, at AAA Rochester in 2012 and in 2013 he became the Twins hitting coach. A number of Twins minor leaguers loved him as a hitting coach but in his one season in Minnesota he has shown nothing that indicates that he is a big league hitting coach if you go by the teams hitting numbers. The 2013 hitters were with a couple of exceptions the same players as the Twins sent to the plate in 2012 but yet Brunansky turned these hitters in to as Sid Hartman might say, real stiffs. Lets take a look at a couple of hitting categories and compare 2013 to 2012. The 2012 Twins hit .260 and under Bruno the 2013 Twins hit .242, fourth worst in team history. The OBP in 2012 was .325 and it was .312 this past season, only five Twins teams have done more poorly. The 2012 team scored 701 runs and in 2013 they scored 614, only the 1968 Twins played in 162 games and scored fewer (562) runs. The crowning achievement for Bruno was his teams 1,430 strike outs, a franchise record going back to 1901 and the next closest number was 1,121 by the 1997 Twins bunch. The 2012 boys went down swinging 1,069 times. But on the plus side he did increase the number of home runs from 131 to 151. It is hard to understand how the Twins justified renewing the man for 2014 who just by looking at the numbers, might be the worst hitting coach in team history. I am thinking he will be on a short leash in 2014 and if Twins hitters get off to another miserable start Dave Engle‘s brother-in-law will be looking for work and Joe Vavra will get his job back.

The entire Twins organization had another bad year and that makes three in a row. You can say what you want and dissect it a thousand different ways but the only way to measure success for any baseball team is in terms of wins and losses. If you don’t win, your season has to be considered a failure and you are not doing your job, it really is as simple as that. In baseball, like in life there are really no moral victories and I am tired of hearing that “the boys really got after it”, I want to see the win column increase and the loss column decrease.

In addition to being bad on the field the Minnesota Twins organization was equally bad off the field. Spring Training 2013 was year 2 of “Value” and “Premium” pricing and the tickets ranged from $13 for a “value” lawn ticket to $43 for a “premium” Dugout Box seat. In 2012, three of the 16 (18.8%) home games were designated as “premium”, in 2013 six of the 18 (33.3%) of the home games were classified as “premium” games. 2013 was the first time in a number of years that the Twins had not raised their spring training ticket prices at Hammond Stadium from the previous season but they doubled the number of their “premium” games so yes, they pocketed more money from ticket sales. YES, $43 to watch a ST game. How in the world can the Twins who were coming off of back-to-back 90+ loss seasons, dropping payroll, charge $43 to watch a team that will not even have big leaguers playing most of the time?

The 2013 regular season brought even more changes in Twins ticket pricing for Twins fans. The variable ticket pricing plan that was instituted in 2006 with two tiers jumped to three tiers in 2009 and jumped to five tiers in 2013 as the Twins came off back-to-back 96+ loss seasons. The tiers are called “extra value”, “value”, “select”, “premium” and “elite”. Six of the nine “elite” games were against the Yankees and White Sox, I wonder how they were chosen as the “elite” games. Oh, by the way, the Twins record for “elite” games was 1-8. When you look back at the 2013 season how many of the games that the team played should have been classified in any of these five categories? According to Team Marketing Report the average MLB ticket price in 2013 was $27.73 and the Twins 2013 average ticket price was the 13th highest of the 30 big league teams at $32.59. To bad the Twins play was not that good, I can’t wait to see the Twins 2014 ticket prices.

Then on April 8th the Twins sent out a Press Release – Early Entry Program Coming to Target Field. The press release went on to say that early entry tickets will be sold on a walk-up basis at the main Target Field Box Office beginning 30 minutes before the early entry time for that game. Tickets will cost $15 dollars, and sales will be limited to the first 60 fans. Fans will also be required to have a normal entry ticket to the game, and will not be allowed to exit and reenter the ballpark after batting practice. When the Twins fans and the press saw this release the reaction in blogs, Twitter and sports talk shows went wild and it wasn’t positive.

Then a couple of hours later Twins corporate communications senior manager Chris Iles sent out another press release retracting the whole “early entry” offer from this morning. “My apologies as I sent a release out prematurely earlier today. The early entry program outlined in the release was not fully vetted across the Twins organization. To that end, please disregard the earlier release as the Minnesota Twins will not be offering an early entry program as stated earlier today. There will be no change in policy regarding gate opening times and season ticket holders will continue to be given early access priority as part of the Sweet Spot program. On behalf of the Twins, we apologize for a lack of internal communication which led to the premature release of this misinformation”.

So what happened? Twins President Dave St. Peter said the release was sent prematurely and hadn’t been approved by higher-ups in the organization. “It was released before it ever should have been. It’s hard to believe, but it was not pulled down because of fan reaction,” St. Peter said, adding this: “Our organization made a mistake.” We’re looking at ways to add more access to batting practice, but I’m not sure charging incrementally is the way to go about that.” When asked again if this 180 degree turn had anything to do with the roughly 95 to 99 percent of people who thought the plan was a bad idea and made their voices heard on Tuesday. “I heard from a few fans,” St. Peter said. “I know this: I know we provided a tremendous level of entertainment to the world of Twitter this afternoon. I don’t know if that’s good news.”

Dave St. Peter, a native of North Dakota became the fourth president in Minnesota Twins team history in November 2002 and has done great job in that role over the years. Dave has always been willing to help anyone that asks and he is one of the few MLB team presidents that I know of that is willing to make his e-mail address available to the general public and respond to your e-mail personally as quickly as he can. Although I am not a Twitter user, St. Peter is and I have heard that he is very active there.

Dave St. Peter needs one of these for his desk.

Having said that, I am disappointed in how St. Peter handled to the pay for batting practice issue this season, my perception is that Dave St. Peter threw Chris Iles under the bus and did not take responsibility for the problem and then was less than honest about the reason for the change of heart. I also have the perception that a baseball teams president should be more of the face of the franchise to the general public then Dave St. Peter has recently shown. I know that Dave St. Peter shows up at many events but I am talking more about taking responsibility for the actual play of the team. I know that running the team is not his job, he has people for that like GM Terry Ryan and manager Ron Gardenhire but St. Peter is the team president, as President Harry Truman one said “The Buck Stops Here.” The way I see it Dave St. Peter should stop spouting the normal baseball clichés and step forward and admit that “I am responsible for the state of this baseball team and I will do all I can to fix it.” The first part of that process is to instruct his GM to sign some players that will make this team more competitive. I know that it might be difficult to get good players to play for a team that is as bad as the Twins have been for three years but money speaks volumes and if the Twins have to over pay to get them, so be it. After all, Twins fans have been over paying to watch this team play for several years, now it is your turn to hand over your wallet. Another step might be to revisit ticket prices both for spring training games and for the regular season. The team has sucked for several years, maybe the organization should give the fans a break on ticket prices until things get better instead of bragging that you didn’t raise the ticket price but fail to mention that you have moved to five tier ticket pricing from three with higher prices for those two new tiers. For some reason Dave St. Peter’s name never comes up when members of the organization such as the GM, the manager or the pitching coach are criticized for their performance, the president of the Minnesota Twins appears to be the Teflon man. The entire Twins organization probably earned this award but we need the leader of this organization to step up and accept responsibility. 2013 was not a good year for another president we all know but for your performance this year Mr. Dave St. Peter you are our 2013 Twins Turkey of the Year winner.

Previous Twins Turkey of Year Winners

2012 – Twins owner Jim Pohlad

2011 – Catcher Joe Mauer

2010 – Infielder Brendan Harris

2009 – Pitcher Glen Perkins

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

And leading off for the Twins…..

The Twins just can’t find a leadoff hitter this season. After trading both Denard Span and Ben Revere this past off-season, manager Gardenhire has been searching high and low to find someone who can fill that role. The Twins have tried 6 players leading off the game and they have all failed miserably but since someone has to hit first, Gardy has given that job to 2B Brain Dozier since July 2. During those 29 games Dozier has 135 PA’s and is hitting .258 with a .306 OBP. Not exactly all-star caliber production but it is what it is.

Twins leadoff hitters in the games first at bat

Rk	Player	Year	G	OBP	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OPS	TB	HBP	ROE
1	Clete Thomas	2013	16	.313	16	14	5	3	0	0	0	0	2	3	.214	.527	3	0	1
2	Eduardo Escobar	2013	7	.286	7	6	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.167	.452	1	0	0
3	Jamey Carroll	2013	25	.280	25	23	3	5	1	0	0	0	2	3	.217	.541	6	0	1
4	Brian Dozier	2013	51	.235	51	48	5	9	0	3	1	1	1	7	.188	.610	18	2	0
5	Aaron Hicks	2013	10	.200	10	8	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	6	.000	.200	0	0	0
6	Darin Mastroianni	2013	2	.000	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	0	0	0

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/8/2013.

How does 2013 compare to how the Twins leadoff hitters has done over the years? I know this is not probably going to shock you but the 2013 team is on a historically bad pace and if thing don’t improve quickly, this will finish as the worst OBP for a leadoff hitter in their history, even worse than the 1982 Twins who finished 60-102. A good leadoff hitter is nice to have but it certainly does not guarantee that you will be in the playoffs or even play .500 ball for that matter.

Historical Twins teams leadoff hitters in the games first at bat

Rk	Year	G	OBP	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OPS	TB	HBP	ROE
1	1995	144	.507	144	120	34	49	10	2	3	3	20	21	.408	1.107	72	4	0
2	1996	162	.481	162	133	37	49	8	1	5	5	21	20	.368	1.038	74	8	2
3	1992	162	.414	162	144	41	49	9	2	5	5	16	27	.340	.948	77	2	5
4	1970	162	.407	162	151	40	55	9	3	1	1	11	10	.364	.891	73	0	0
5	1994	113	.398	113	95	25	27	6	1	4	4	18	16	.284	.893	47	0	1
6	1987	162	.383	162	141	29	41	10	0	3	3	20	23	.291	.808	60	1	3
7	1977	161	.379	161	143	37	43	5	3	1	1	18	12	.301	.777	57	0	5
8	1997	162	.370	162	140	38	38	4	2	3	3	20	23	.271	.763	55	2	0
9	2009	163	.362	163	142	26	38	4	1	3	3	21	19	.268	.735	53	0	1
10	1990	162	.358	162	151	37	47	6	2	2	2	8	23	.311	.775	63	3	3
11	1976	162	.358	162	148	33	44	6	1	1	1	14	10	.297	.730	55	0	1
12	1966	162	.358	162	150	28	46	8	3	0	0	9	24	.307	.758	60	3	2
13	1973	162	.352	162	146	27	41	8	3	2	2	16	24	.281	.770	61	0	2
14	2005	162	.352	162	150	19	45	6	1	1	1	10	17	.300	.725	56	2	2
15	1969	162	.352	162	146	36	41	9	1	3	3	15	11	.281	.770	61	1	4
16	1998	162	.352	162	150	24	45	7	2	2	2	10	28	.300	.765	62	2	2
17	1971	160	.350	160	149	21	45	6	1	0	0	10	5	.302	.706	53	1	2
18	2002	161	.348	161	153	29	48	12	2	11	11	8	33	.314	.982	97	0	4
19	1975	159	.346	159	143	24	39	9	0	0	0	16	14	.273	.682	48	0	1
20	1999	161	.342	161	147	29	41	9	2	5	5	13	24	.279	.811	69	1	1
21	1978	162	.340	162	146	28	39	7	0	2	2	16	23	.267	.696	52	0	1
22	1980	161	.335	161	151	28	44	6	2	2	2	10	11	.291	.733	60	0	3
23	1967	164	.335	164	150	36	41	12	2	2	2	12	17	.273	.755	63	2	2
24	1989	162	.333	162	143	32	35	4	1	1	1	17	17	.245	.641	44	2	3
25	1986	162	.333	162	151	28	43	5	2	6	6	8	23	.285	.797	70	3	1
Rk	Year	G	OBP	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OPS	TB	HBP	ROE
26	2004	162	.333	162	153	24	45	6	0	6	6	8	16	.294	.784	69	1	1
27	2000	162	.327	162	149	32	40	10	4	3	3	13	27	.268	.777	67	0	1
28	1993	162	.321	162	153	21	43	1	0	1	1	7	20	.281	.628	47	2	3
29	2010	162	.321	162	144	28	34	9	1	1	1	16	18	.236	.654	48	2	2
30	2007	162	.321	162	147	23	37	4	1	0	0	15	17	.252	.614	43	0	4
31	2006	162	.321	162	145	22	35	4	0	1	1	17	21	.241	.611	42	0	2
32	2001	162	.321	162	146	19	36	7	3	4	4	15	24	.247	.739	61	1	0
33	1968	162	.321	162	147	27	37	7	0	2	2	10	13	.252	.661	50	5	1
34	1962	163	.319	163	143	29	32	5	1	1	1	17	13	.224	.613	42	3	1
35	1961	161	.317	161	148	25	38	9	0	1	1	13	18	.257	.655	50	0	2
36	2011	162	.315	162	148	29	37	3	3	1	1	14	22	.250	.646	49	0	2
37	1972	154	.312	154	142	25	36	3	1	0	0	9	9	.254	.600	41	3	3
38	2003	162	.309	162	153	28	41	9	1	6	6	9	28	.268	.766	70	0	3
39	1964	163	.307	163	151	31	38	9	2	3	3	9	23	.252	.704	60	3	0
40	1985	162	.302	162	149	25	36	6	1	0	0	13	18	.242	.598	44	0	2
41	2012	162	.302	162	152	22	39	9	1	1	1	10	15	.257	.651	53	0	0
42	2008	163	.301	163	147	25	33	5	1	2	2	16	27	.224	.614	46	0	2
43	1974	163	.301	163	148	25	34	5	1	3	3	12	19	.230	.638	50	3	5
44	1963	161	.298	161	154	24	41	8	2	5	5	7	15	.266	.740	68	0	1
45	1984	162	.296	162	154	27	40	2	1	1	1	7	17	.260	.601	47	1	1
46	1979	162	.296	162	150	22	36	4	1	0	0	12	16	.240	.576	42	0	1
47	1981	110	.291	110	103	17	25	1	1	1	1	7	16	.243	.592	31	0	0
48	1983	162	.290	162	153	24	38	5	0	4	4	8	19	.248	.650	55	1	2
49	1991	162	.278	162	149	23	32	3	1	3	3	12	21	.215	.587	46	1	1
50	1988	162	.272	162	155	25	37	8	0	5	5	7	19	.239	.659	60	0	2
Rk	Year	G	OBP	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OPS	TB	HBP	ROE
51	1965	162	.265	162	153	29	34	13	1	2	2	8	31	.222	.625	55	1	3
52	1982	162	.253	162	151	12	30	2	0	0	0	11	29	.199	.465	32	0	0
53	2013	111	.252	111	101	16	18	1	3	1	1	8	20	.178	.529	28	2	2

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/8/2013.

Let’s take a look at some of the Twins best ever leadoff hitters and see who had the best years and when they had them. I don’t think there is much question that Chuck Knoblauch was the best leadoff hitter the team has ever had.

Best Twins leadoff hitters in the games first at bat

Rk	Player	Year	G	OBP	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OPS
1	Chuck Knoblauch	1995	134	.500	134	111	32	44	9	2	2	2	19	20	.396	1.068
2	Chuck Knoblauch	1996	151	.497	151	125	36	49	8	1	5	5	18	19	.392	1.089
3	Cesar Tovar	1970	156	.417	156	145	39	54	9	3	1	1	11	10	.372	.913
4	Chuck Knoblauch	1997	155	.374	155	134	36	37	4	2	3	3	19	21	.276	.777
5	Jacque Jones	2002	132	.364	132	124	27	40	10	2	11	11	8	26	.323	1.065
6	Denard Span	2009	143	.364	143	125	20	34	4	0	2	2	18	17	.272	.716
7	Cesar Tovar	1971	142	.359	142	133	19	42	6	1	0	0	8	4	.316	.735
8	Denard Span	2010	151	.338	151	133	27	33	8	1	1	1	16	17	.248	.684
9	Lenny Green	1962	149	.315	149	133	25	31	5	1	1	1	13	13	.233	.624
10	Kirby Puckett	1985	160	.300	160	148	25	36	6	1	0	0	12	18	.243	.597
11	Zoilo Versalles	1965	155	.258	155	148	27	33	12	1	2	2	6	30	.223	.616

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/8/2013.

Here we are looking at the Twins best players leading off in any inning. I know a good leadoff hitter is important but when you look at the numbers over an entire season and the number of times that the leadoff hitter actually leads off any inning, I think you will find that none of them even average two leadoff plate appearances a game. I think the best you will find on the list below is about 1.97 per game.

Rk	Player	Year	G	OBP	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OPS
1	Chuck Knoblauch	1996	152	.462	288	242	65	87	15	5	8	8	35	38	.360	1.024
2	Chuck Knoblauch	1995	136	.458	240	202	52	72	13	5	4	4	32	32	.356	.988
3	Shane Mack	1992	133	.413	213	189	52	64	14	1	7	7	19	34	.339	.948
4	Kirby Puckett	1986	147	.385	270	253	58	87	12	2	10	10	13	29	.344	.911
5	Cesar Tovar	1970	156	.376	303	277	67	88	17	4	3	3	23	17	.318	.817
6	Denard Span	2009	144	.369	260	230	43	66	6	1	4	4	30	38	.287	.743
7	Chuck Knoblauch	1997	156	.368	272	242	59	70	9	3	4	4	27	34	.289	.768
8	Cesar Tovar	1971	147	.365	271	257	49	85	12	3	0	0	13	10	.331	.766
9	Denard Span	2010	151	.361	277	242	50	65	12	3	1	1	32	37	.269	.716
10	Zoilo Versalles	1966	130	.347	236	217	36	63	14	2	1	1	15	31	.290	.735
11	Jacque Jones	2002	135	.345	232	220	49	68	18	2	13	13	12	49	.309	.931
12	Lenny Green	1962	151	.336	298	268	52	70	12	2	5	5	26	18	.261	.712
13	Cesar Tovar	1968	142	.333	255	234	43	64	13	3	3	3	14	14	.274	.726
14	Zoilo Versalles	1964	137	.322	242	225	42	61	12	3	8	8	14	27	.271	.780
15	Kirby Puckett	1985	161	.320	300	282	42	78	10	3	1	1	18	31	.277	.664
16	Dan Gladden	1988	130	.315	248	230	46	60	12	1	6	6	17	29	.261	.715
17	Cesar Tovar	1967	136	.311	241	223	48	57	11	3	2	2	15	16	.256	.670
18	Cesar Tovar	1972	131	.311	238	221	43	57	8	1	0	0	14	15	.258	.614
19	Zoilo Versalles	1965	157	.285	284	267	54	64	20	3	2	2	14	47	.240	.645

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/8/2013.

A little of this and a little of that

When I listened to the Twins radio broadcast of their game against the Astros on Sunday while waterproofing my deck I found it amusing that Dan Gladden and Cory Provus seemed to be making fun of the Astros high strikeout total this season. I guess they both forgot that the Twins batters are no slouches themselves when it comes to not making bat contact. As of this morning Astros batters have struck out 1,034 times in 110 games, that averages out to 9.4 KO’s per game. The White Sox follow with 925 strike outs, the Red Sox have 909 strike outs and the Twins are next with 902 strike outs for an average of 8.4 per game. Had Willingham not gotten injured and Hicks played a full season in Minnesota the Twins might put up a serious challenge to Houston. Even without Willingham and Hicks the Twins are on pace to strikeout 1,356 times this season and blow away their previous team strikeout record of 1,121 that the 68-94 Twins of 1997 set.

On the good news side we have the Twins grounding into a total of only 60 double plays, the fewest in the league. The Orioles have the next fewest with 68.

Although the Twins seldom hit into double plays, stealing bases is not one of their strength’s as they have pilfered just 36 bases, only the Tigers with 29 and the Mariners with 35 have less.

The Twins OBP this season is .312. The Tigers and the Red Sox at .345 have the best OBP and as you might guess the Astros .299 trail the pack. The league average is .320. The Twins best ever OBP was .357 in 1996 while a .299 OBP in 1968 is the lowest full season OBP in Twins history.

Opposing batters have found Twins pitchers to be their league favorites as they have compiled a .278 batting average against Minnesota’s chuckers. Oddly enough, Twins pitchers have only given up 102 long balls ranking second best in that category behind the 86 given up by the Tigers.

There was a lot of speculation leading into the July 31 trading deadline that a number of Twins would be calling a new zip code home. When the trading deadline passed the Twins had made only one trade and he wasn’t even on the Twins 25 man roster at the time when GM Terry Ryan sent catcher Drew Butera to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a player to be named later or cash. The non-waiver Major League trading deadline has been July 31st since the 1986 season. Apparently that date is not necessarily circled in red on the Twins calendar of things to do. As a matter of fact, between 2000-2013 no team has made fewer trades in July then the Twins have. In the past 14 July’s the Minnesota Twins have consummated 15 trades.

July trade activity by club from 2000-2013

39 – Pirates, Padres

37 – Red Sox

36 – Cubs

35 – Dodgers

31 – Yankees

29 – White Sox, Indians, Rockies

28 – Royals

27 – Reds, Giants

26 – Orioles, Astros, Mets, Rangers

25 – Phillies

24 – Mariners

23 – Diamondbacks, Braves

21 – Marlins, Brewers, Cardinals

20 – Nationals/Expos

17 – Tigers, A’s, Blue Jays

16 – Rays

15 – Twins, Angels

Back on July 15 the Twins sent Oswaldo Arcia, Eduardo Escobar and Chris Parmelee down to Rochester and the next day called up catcher Chris Herrmann and infielder Doug Bernier. Herrmann has been with the Twins off and on but it was a long-awaited return to the big leagues for Bernier who saw action in just two games in a brief stay with the

Colorado Rockies back in 2008. Bernier has been in the minors since 2002 and has over a 1,000 minor league games under his belt. Though his primary position is shortstop, Bernier has played all over the diamond including pitching a couple of times but he has not ever squatted behind the plate. Bernier has spent time in the Yankee and Pirates organizations before hooking up with the Twins this past February. Todate Bernier has appeared in 10 games for the Twins and is hitting .261. It appears that the Twins will be letting Jamey Carroll go after this season or possibly trading him in a waiver deal this month and are auditioning for a new utility infielder. So far Bernier appears to be able to handle the role and I am sure he will be much cheaper than Carroll not to mention 6 years younger.

The Twins also recalled 27-year-old left-handed starter Andrew Albers from Rochester. Albers was originally drafted by the San Diego Padres in 2008 but shortly thereafter injured his elbow and had to undergo Tommy John surgery missing all of 2009 and then was released by the Padres. Albers spent 2010 pitching in an independent league in Canada and showed enough promise to be signed by Minnesota prior to the 2011 season. This year Albers was 11-5 with a 2.68 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP in Rochester. Albers has pitched 132.1 innings this year in 22 starts allowing 124 hits while striking out 116. Albers is expected to make his major league debut against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see what Albers can do in the big leagues, he has not had an ERA over 3.75 on any team he has pitched for. Albers will be wearing number 63.

Manager Ron Gardenhire needs 20 more Twins victories in the remaining 54 games to reach the 1,000 win plateau as the Twins skipper. With his position at risk, it would be a real shame if Gardy can’t get those 20 wins. I hope he gets those wins and many more as the Twins manager.

Twins Minor League Standings as of August 5

AAA Rochester is 63-54 and in 1st place

AA New Britain is 54-60 and in 5th place 16.5 games out

High A Fort Myers is 67-41 and won first half title but is currently in 4th place in the second half at 22-19 but only 1.5 games out

Low A Cedar Rapids is 67-43 and won the first half title and is leading the second half with a 27-15 record.

Rookie Elizabethton is 19-23 and in fourth place 8.5 games behind

Rookie GCL Twins are 19-19 and in third place 2 games behind

DSL Twins are 27-26 and in fourth place 7.5 games behind

Almost at the All-Star break

The break for the 2013 All-Star game at Citi Field is just around the corner and it can’t get here quickly enough for the Twins who are mired in another losing streak and are now in New York to face the Yankees. The Twins have not won a series in New York as long as Gardenhire has managed the Twins and that started back in 2002.

Speaking of Gardy, the pressure seems to be mounting for the ballclub to fire him before his contract ends after this season. I find it humorous that Twins fans that have been clamouring for the organization to bring up the “young guys” and let them play and learn the game are now getting frustrated because the team is not winning. I don’t know what fans expected, young players are going to make some dumb plays, lose their focus at times and play bad baseball as they learn to hit, pitch and win in the big leagues. For some fans, the solution is simple, fire the manager and the pitching coach. I think if you fire Gardenhire now you will be making a change for the sake of making a change. No one the Twins could name as the new skipper is going to speed up the learning process for these young players, they have to play and gain experience and that takes time and games played.

The rest of this season will be very interesting as more youngsters get called up and the learning process continues. Personally I hope that Gardenhire and GM Terry Ryan can weather this storm and turn the Twins into a winning team again, I really think they are the right people for the job if the Twins hope to beat the MLB betting odds and make the playoffs in the next year or two. No manager could have fielded a winning team with the players that the organization put in Twins uniforms the last few years, Gardy has earned the right to show us what he can do with some good young players in his dugout.

The hopes of the franchise rest on the shoulders of some of these young players like Dozier, Florimon, Plouffe, Hicks, Arcia, Pressly and Gibson already with the club and others that have yet to see Target Field for the first time like Sano, Buxton, Rosario, Meyer, Kepler and several others. It may take a few years but if the players in the Twins system are as good as everyone says they are, Twins fans might once again be wagering a few dollars on the local nine when they are betting MLB World Series.

Twins striking out at a record pace in 2013

The Twins played their 50th game of the season last night when they beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-1 at Target Field and their record now stands at 22-28. Last night they struck out 7 times, the night before they struck out 14 times in 14 innings and the day before that they struck out 7 times. I don’t know how many of you have noticed but Twins batters are striking out at a record-breaking pace.

The 1997 Twins struck out a team record 1,121 times in 5,634 at-bats. That equates to batters striking out once every 5.03 at-bats which also is a team high. If you spread that out over the 162 games they played that season it comes out to 6.92 strikeouts per game. That 1997 Twins team finished with a 68-94 record under manager Tom Kelly. That team had two hitters strike out more than 100 times, Rich Becker had 130 and Terry Steinbach contributed 106.

This years Twins have struck out 418 times in 1,718 at-bats through 50 games. That means that batters are striking out once every 4.11 at-bats, almost a full at-bat worse than they have ever done. If you prorate that over 162 games at their current pace, they will strike out 1,354 times in 5,566 at-bats which blows away their 1997 high water strikeout mark. If you look at it at a strikeouts per game, their current running rate is 8.36 KO’s per game. Again blowing away their historic worst 1997 mark of 6.92 KO’s per game.

Excluding any strike shortened season, the 1978 Twins struck out the fewest times. That group of hitters struck out just 684 times in 5,522 at-bats or once every 8.07 at-bats. That comes out to only 4.22 strikeouts per game. Danny Ford led that team in strikeouts with 88 and no one else had more than 70.

The most strikeouts that a Twins batter has had in a single season is 145 and both Harmon Killebrew (1969) and Bobby Darwin (1972) share that honor. Killebrew led the Twins in strikeouts seven times and Gary Gaetti is next on the list having led the team in strikeouts six times. This years team is on pace to have five hitters with 100 or more KO’s, Josh Willingham, Aaron Hicks, Joe Mauer, Chris Parmelee and Brian Dozier all have a solid shot. Both Willingham and Hicks are on pace to set a new Twins season high strikeout mark with 159 and 147 respectively.

Things can certainly change as some of these young hitters hopefully improve as the year moves along but if their play to date is any indication, you had better hang on to your hat if you are sitting near home plate when the Twins are batting because some of those whiffs may send your hat flying.

Twins losing streak reaches eight

Today was the first time this season I did not watch a single inning of the Twins game. My modem and router went on the blink and so I spent most of the day troubleshooting that issue and getting a replacement so I could get back on the internet.

The Twins lost in Atlanta today 8-3 and it marked their eighth loss in a row. The team is playing really poorly right now and it is hard to find any silver linings or moral victories. Moral victories are meaningless anyway, all that counts is wins and the Twins can’t find a win to save their life right now. The Twins starters keep allowing the opposition to score first and it just sucks the life out of the team and to be honest it really makes watching a Twins game a real chore. I love baseball and the Twins and I will keep watching but I want to see a team that is showing some life and making some progress towards being a competitive team and right now this bunch of players wearing the Twins uniform is doing nothing for me. These players realize they are not a very good team and they are playing to their expectations.

The Twins management stubbornly hangs on to their statement that the team is doing all it can to win but I think that management is starting to realize that a major rebuild is in order here. The other day they sent starter Pedro Hernandez down and brought up reliever Caleb Thielbar to help with all the extra innings the bullpen has had to throw. Reports are that Samuel Deduno will be brought up to start in Detroit on Friday and he will probably takes Vance Worley‘s spot on the roster since he was the second starter in the last few days to change his address to Rochester. The Twins will need to make another roster change in a couple of days to get a starter to pitch on Monday in Milwaukee and you have to think that Kyle Gibson might be the guy. Trevor Plouffe took a knee to his head on Tuesday night at second base, reminiscent to Morneau getting hurt in Toronto a couple of years ago and the Twins called up last weeks Twins minor league player of the week 1B/OF Chris Colabello to fill in for Plouffe while he recuperates on the 7 day concussion DL. You can sense that the Twins will be making roster changes frequently as the season approaches the 50 game mark in the next week.

I have always liked Ron Gardenhire as a manager and Terry Ryan as the GM but right now it appears to me that they have no plan and the Twins look like a “Chinese fire drill” and the team seems to be in a death spiral. Gardy appears to be grasping at straws and trying to go with who ever was hot the day before and making them a regular part of the line-up. Mr. Ryan seems to be missing in action when he should be leading the charge to make this team better. This team is going nowhere this year! Put the young guys in the line-up day in and day out and let them make their mistakes and learn the game until they get so sick of losing that they start playing the game the right way. Gardy keep pulling players like Chris Parmelee and Brian Dozier and putting them on the bench when they struggle and he would do the same with Aaron Hicks if he had anyone that could play center field. You only hurt the long-term future of the Twins when you don’t let these guys play every day. Jamey Carroll is a utility player and a good one but I should not be seeing his name in the line-up 3 or days in a row unless he is filling in for an injury like with Plouffe.

You won’t hurt fan interest by going with the young guys, everyone knows the team isn’t going anywhere so bring us the future and let’s see what and who we can look forward to watching in the next few years. I can take short-term pain for long-term gain but if major changes are not made to this team soon we are doomed to watching a team that has no wins, no hope and no future. You kill a fan base by taking away their hope, I hope that is not where the Twins are taking us.

No one said that running a baseball team was easy but that is what Gardy and Mr. Ryan signed up for and they get paid the big bucks to make the Twins a winning baseball team. I know these gents are up to the task, but we need to see some results soon boys!

The road to Minnesota is long and hard

The 2013 MLB draft is coming up on June 6-8 and baseball fans everywhere are excited about the draft and can’t wait to see what great players their teams will draft. Some fans will agree with the home towns team picks and others will complain loud and hard about how clueless the picks may have been. Certain fans spend a lot of time studying who is available to be picked and who will drop to their favorite team when it is their turn to pick. There are even fans out there that are more interested in the minors then they are in their major league team. I enjoy following the Twins minor league teams too but unless I lived in one of their minor league cities, I don’t understand the love affair with minor league players because if the player you are cheering for does well, he moves up the ladder and you no longer get to watch him play.

From 1965 when the free agent draft first started until 2012 each professional team has drafted about 50 players each year and signed what, maybe half of them? In 2012 MLB changed the June amateur free agent draft from 50 rounds to 40 rounds. Some of the players drafted are labeled “can’t miss” prospects while others will be long-term projects, they may come out of high school, junior college, or out of a 4 year college. Some of the picks may eventually find their place to the Hall of Fame one day while others may never even get a sniff of a major league spring training invite. Regardless where they come from, they all have the same dream, to get paid for playing a game they love. The road to the big leagues is a long and torturous one and most of the players that start this long hard journey will fail. The odds are long but as long as there is a chance, there will be players willing to sacrifice everything to get there. Players are often willing to risk it all, including their future health and a long life by taking drugs just to wear a major league uniform.

Feel free to get excited about Twins draft picks in 2013 but remember that the road to Target Field is long and bumpy and full of potholes that can take a player out of action for a day, a week, a month, a year, and maybe forever. Most importantly, no matter how good the player may be, it is unlikely that they will wear a Minnesota Twins uniform before their fourth year of professional baseball unless they are a collegiate pitcher. Miracles can certainly happen but history tells us that if Joe Mauer couldn’t get here in quicker than his fourth year, then the odds are pretty slim.

How many get drafted and signed?

I am not sure that most fans understand how few draftees actually ever get the opportunity to put on the major league uniform of the team that drafted them. To give everyone a better understanding of how few make it and how long the road can be I spent some time looking at the Twins drafts for the last 15 years (1998-2012). During this time period the Twins have drafted about 758 players (about 50 a year) and they sign maybe half of them. In the case of the Twins from 1998-2012 they have signed 372 players, 49.08% to pro contracts.

Some interesting and fun facts about the drafts from 1998-2012

Of these 372 players, 41 (about 11.02%) have reached the big leagues wearing a Minnesota Twins uniform and eight more (about 2.15%) reached the big leagues wearing a uniform of another big league team. That means that as of May 17, 2013, 13.17% of the players the Twins drafted and signed from 1998-2012 have put on a big league uniform. In addition, many of these players big league careers were very short.
Of the 41 players that debuted with the Twins, 20 were drafted out of high school and the quickest to appear in a big league game were C Joe Mauer and OF Ben Revere (both first round picks) in their fourth year of pro ball. On the end other end of the spectrum it took 38th round pick Tommy Watkins until his 10th year of pro ball before he put on the Minnesota Twins uniform. You really have to love baseball to be willing to put in that many years to achieve your goal of putting on a major league uniform. The 20 players drafted from high school were 13 position players, 5 RHP and 2 LHP.
Of the 41 players that debuted with the Twins, 4 were drafted out of junior college and the quickest to debut with the Twins were Rene Tosoni (round 36) and Terry Tiffee (round 26) in year five. The longest wait was for Willie Eyre a RHP who debuted in year eight. The 4 players drafted from junior college were two position players and two RHP.
Of the 41 players that debuted with the Twins, 17 were drafted out of a 4 year college and the quickest to debut were first round picks Matt Garza and Adam Johnson, both RHP who debuted in year two of pro ball. Having said that, Johnson pitched in 9 Twins games before being released and Garza pitched in 26 Twins games before being traded. The quickest 4 year college position players to debut were SS Brian Dozier an eighth round pick and C Chris Herrmann a sixth round pick in year four. First round pick RHP Matt Fox was on the slow and steady road and debuted in his seventh season of pro ball and pitched in just 1 game in a Twins uniform. Six days after he pitched for the Twins the Red Sox claimed him on waivers from Minnesota. The 17 players drafted from a 4 year college were 5 position players, 10 RHP and 2 LHP.
Only two pitchers drafted by the Twins in this time period have started 100 or more games, Scott Baker started 159 games and Nick Blackburn started 137 games.
The most wins in a Twins uniform for a pitcher drafted by the Twins during this fifteen year period is 63 for Scott Baker, second with 43 victories is Blackburn.
The Twins have only drafted three players that made an All-Star team, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau with the Twins and Evan Meek who the Twins released made the NL All-Star team with the Pirates.
The Twins have drafted two league MVP winners (Mauer and Morneau).
The top three home run hitters drafted by Minnesota between 1998-2012 are Justin Morneau with 206, Jason Kubel with 104, and Joe Mauer with 96. You know who is fourth? Trevor Plouffe with 38. Yikes!
The perception is that the Twins draft and “grow” their own players. But, the drafts from 1998-2012 have produced just ten regular position players and six of them are on this years team. 1B Justin Morneau, OF Jason Kubel, C Joe Mauer, OF Denard Span, 3B Danny Valencia, OF/1B Chris Parmelee, OF Ben Revere, 3B Trevor Plouffe, 2B Brian Dozier, and OF Aaron Hicks.
This years Twins staff has 3 pitchers the Twins drafted and signed between 1998-2012 on the current roster and they are Glen Perkins a first rounder out of a 4 year college, Brian Duensing a 3rd rounder out of a four-year college, and Anthony Swarzak a 2nd round pick out of high school.
The draft class of 2006 has produced the most players that have gone on to wear a major league uniform, as of today, seven players have made their major league debut and all were in a Twins uniform.

Drafts year by year

Year	Drafted	Signed	Twins Debut	Other Debut	High School	College
2012	43	27	0	0	0	0
2011	52	33	0	0	0	0
2010	50	31	0	0	0	0
2009	51	24	2	0	0	2
2008	52	24	1	0	1	0
2007	50	22	1	0	1	0
2006	51	19	7	0	3	4
2005	54	20	5	1	1	5
2004	54	25	6	0	3	3
2003	50	27	1	1	0	2
2002	50	18	3	2	3	2
2001	50	30	3	1	2	2
2000	52	25	5	0	4	1
1999	50	23	5	1	4	2
1998	49	24	2	2	1	3
TOTALS	758	372	41	8	23	26

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Details year by year

2012 – zero so far

2011 – zero so far

2010 – zero so far

2009 – Chris Herrmann was drafted in the 6th round as a C after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 9/16/2012 in his fourth year of professional baseball. Herrmann has played in 7 games for the Twins and is currently in their organization.

2009 – Brian Dozier was drafted in the 8th round as a SS after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 5/7/2012 in his fourth year of professional baseball. Dozier is currently the Twins starting 2B.

2008 – Aaron Hicks was drafted in the first round (14th overall) as an outfielder out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 4/1/2013 in his sixth year of professional baseball. Hicks is currently the Twins starting center fielder.

2007 – Ben Revere was drafted in the first round (27th overall) as an outfielder out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 9/7/2010 in his fourth year of professional baseball. Played in 254 games for the Twins before being traded to Philly after the 2012 season.

2006 – Chris Parmelee was drafted in the first round (20th overall) as an outfielder out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 9/6/2011 in his sixth year of professional baseball. Parmelee is currently with the Twins and starting in right field.

2006 – Joe Benson was drafted in the 2nd round as an outfielder out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 9/6/2011 in his sixth year of professional baseball. Still in the Twins system, Benson has 24 games in the books as a Minnesota Twin.

2006 – Tyler Robertson was drafted in the 3rd round as a LHP out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 6/26/2012 in his seventh year of professional baseball. Still in the Twins system, Robertson has 42 games on his Minnesota Twins resume.

2006 – Brian Dinkelman was drafted in the 8th round as a 2B after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 6/4/2011 in his sixth year of professional baseball. Still in the Twins system, Dinkelman has 23 games on his Minnesota Twins resume.

2006 – Jeff Manship was drafted in the 14th round as a RHP after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 8/15/2009 in his fourth year of professional baseball. Manship left the Twins as a free agent after the 2012 season and is currently in the Rockies system and to date has appeared in 41 big league games, all with the Twins.

2006 – Danny Valencia was drafted in round 19 as a 3B after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 6/3/2010 in his fifth year of professional baseball. After playing in 273 games for the Twins he was traded to the Red Sox in August 2012 where he appeared in just 10 games before the Red Sox sold him to the Baltimore Orioles and Valencia is in their system today.

2006 – Anthony Slama was drafted in the 39th round as a RHP after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 7/21/2010 in his fourth year of professional baseball. Still in the Twins system, Slama has 7 games on his Minnesota Twins resume.

2005 – Matt Garza was drafted in the 1st round (25th overall) as a RHP after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 8/11/2006 in just his second year of professional baseball. Garza pitched in 26 games for the Twins before they traded him to Tampa in November 2007. Garza was eventually traded to the Cubs where he is today. Garza has a total of 170 big league games under his belt.

2005 – Kevin Slowey was drafted in the 2nd round as a RHP after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 6/1/2007 in his third year of professional baseball. Slowey pitched for the Twins in 100 games before being traded in December 2012 to the Rockies. The Rockies quickly moved him to the Indians where he spent 2012 in the Indians organization and left as a free agent after the 2012 season to sign with the Marlins where he is currently pitching.

2005 – Brian Duensing was drafted in the 3rd round as a LHP after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 4/10/2009 in his fifth year of professional baseball. Duensing is currently with the Twins and has pitched in 183 games wearing a Twins uniform.

2005 – Alex Burnett was drafted in round 12 as a RHP out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 4/8/2010 in his sixth year of professional baseball. Burnett pitched in 174 games for the Twins before being waived this past March and picked up by Toronto. Toronto waived Burnett after about 2 weeks and the Orioles claimed him and he is currently in their system.

2005 – Rene Tosoni was drafted in round 36 as an outfielder out of a junior college and debuted with the Twins on 4/28/2011 in his fifth year of professional baseball. Tosoni appeared in 60 games for the Twins before leaving the organization as a FA in November 2012.

2005 – Steve Tolleson was drafted by Minnesota in the fifth round as a shortstop after 4 years of college. Tolleson was claimed on waivers by the A’s in February 2010 and made his big league debut with Oakland on 4/28/2010 in his sixth year of professional baseball. Todate Tolleson has appeared 54 big league games with the A’s and Orioles now finds himself in the White Sox organization.

2004 – Trevor Plouffe was drafted in the 1st round (20th overall) as a SS out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 5/21/2010 in his seventh year of professional baseball. Plouffe is currently the Twins starting 3B.

2004 – Glen Perkins was drafted in round 1 (22nd overall) as a LHP after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 9/21/2006 in his third year of professional baseball. Perkins is currently the Twins closer.

2004 – Kyle Waldrop was drafted in the 1st round (25th overall) as a RHP out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 9/5/2011 in his eighth year of professional baseball. Waldrop pitched in 24 games before being granted FA in November 2012. Waldrop is currently in the Pirates organization.

2004 – Matt Fox was drafted in the 1st round (35th overall) as a RHP after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 9/3/2010 in his seventh year of professional baseball. Fox pitched in one game for Minnesota before being claimed on waivers by the Reds Sox in September 2010 where he pitched only 3 times before being waived and claimed by the Mariners.

2004 – Anthony Swarzak was drafted in the 2nd round as a RHP out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 5/23/2009 in his sixth year of professional baseball. Swarzak is currently a Twins reliever.

2004 – Matt Tolbert was drafted in the 16th round as a SS after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 4/1/2008 in his fifth year of professional baseball. Tolbert appeared in 247 games as a Twins before being granted FA in October 2011. Tolbert spent a year in the Cubs organization and is now with the Phillies organization.

2003 – Scott Baker was drafted in the 2nd round as a RHP after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 5/7/2005 in his third year of professional baseball. Baker pitched in 163 games for the Twins before sitting out 2012 with TJ surgery. Baker left the Twins after 2012 and signed with the Cubs but is currently on their Disabled List.

2003 – Levale Speigner was drafted in the 14th round as a RHP after 4 years of college and was selected from the Twins as a Rule 5 pick by the Nationals in December 2006 and made his big league debut with Washington on 4/2/2007 in his fifth year of pro ball. The Nats returned Speigner to the Twins in June 2007 but worked a trade with Minnesota and reacquired Speigner a few days later.

2002 – Denard Span was drafted in the 1st round (20th overall) as an outfielder out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 4/6/2008 in his sixth year of professional baseball. Span appeared in 617 games for the Twins before being traded to the Nationals after the 2012 season.

2002 – Jesse Crain was drafted in the 2nd round as a RHP after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 8/5/2004 in his third year of professional baseball. Crain appeared in 376 games, all in relief, before leaving Minnesota and signing a free agent deal with the White Sox where he has pitched ever since.

2002 – Pat Neshek was drafted in the 6th round as a RHP after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 7/7/2006 in his fifth year of professional baseball. Neshek pitched in relief in 132 games for the Twins before being claimed on waiver by the Padres. After leaving the Padres, Neshek was in the Orioles organization before being purchased by the Oakland’ A’s where he is currently pitching.

2002 – Evan Meek was drafted in the 11th round as a RHP out of high school. After 3 years in the Twins system in which Meek had pitched 97 innings and walked 100 batters and struck out 84, the Twins had seen enough and released him in June 2005. Meek hooked on with the Padres and eventually moved on to the Pirates where he made his big league debut on 4/2/2008 in his sixth year of professional baseball. In 2010 he made the NL All-Star team. Meek is currently in the Rangers organization.

2002 – Kyle Phillips was drafted in the 1oth round as a C out of high school but was released by Minnesota in April 2006. Phillips caught on with the Brewers but they too released him and he joined the Blue Jays and made his major league debut on 9/14/2009 in his eighth season of pro ball. In total, Phillips played in 5 games for the Blue Jays in 2009 and 36 games for the Padres in 2011 and is no longer in baseball.

2001 – Joe Mauer was drafted in the first round and first overall as a C out of Cretin-Derham Hall High School and debuted with the Twins on 4/5/2004 in his fourth year of professional baseball. Mauer has appeared in 866 games for the Twins. Mauer has been a league MVP and 5 time All-Star.

2001 – Jose Morales was drafted in the third round as a SS out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 9/8/2007 in his seventh year of professional baseball. The Twins converted Morales in to a catcher in 2003. Morales appeared in 96 games for Minnesota before being traded to the Rockies after the 2010 season. After leaving Colorado, Morales was in the Pirates organization for a while but is not currently affiliated with a major league team.

2001 – Nick Blackburn was drafted in the 29th round as an RHP out of a junior college and debuted with the Twins on 9/3/2007 in his sixth year of professional baseball. Blackburn has pitched in 145 games for the Twins, mostly as a starter. Blackburn is currently rehabbing an injury and is not currently on the Twins 40 man roster.

2001 – Kevin Cameron was drafted in the 13th round as a RHP after 4 years of college and claimed by the Padres in December 2006 as a Rule 5 draftee. Wolfe made his big league debut on 4/5/2007 with the Padres in his seventh year of professional baseball. Cameron’s big league career lasted 69 games from 2007-2009.

2000 – Adam Johnson was drafted in the 1st round and second overall as a RHP after 4 years of college and debuted with the Twins on 7/16/2001 in his second year of professional baseball. Johnson appeared in 9 games for the Twins between 2001 and 2003 and was released by Minnesota after the 2004 season. Johnson played for the Arizona and Oakland organizations but never again reached the big leagues and was out of pro ball after 2006.

2000 – J. D. Durbin was drafted in the 2nd round as a RHP out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 9/8/2004 in his fifth year of professional baseball. Durbin pitched in 4 games for Minnesota before being picked up by the Diamondbacks on waivers in March 2007 where he appeared in one game. Durbin then became a waiver claim of the Red Sox but never appeared in a game there before he was again waived and picked up by the Phillies where he pitched in 18 games. 2007 was the last time that Durbin spent time in the big leagues. Durbin then spent time with the Dodgers organization, played in Mexico, Japan and several independent leagues and was once again signed by the Red Sox this past spring before again being released.

2000 – Jason Miller was drafted in the 4th round as a LHP out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 5/26/2007 in his eighth year of professional baseball. Miller appeared in just 4 games with the Twins and was out of baseball after the 2008 season.

2000 – Josh Rabe was drafted in the 11th round as an outfielder out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 7/17/2006 in his seventh year of professional baseball. Rabe appeared in a total of 38 games as a Twins and was granted free agency after the 2007 season. Played some independent ball in 2008 and then left baseball in his rear view mirror.

2000 – Jason Kubel was drafted in the 12th round as an outfielder out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 8/31/2004 in his fifth year of professional baseball. Kubel played in Minnesota through the 2011 season appearing in 753 games before leaving via free agency after the 2011 season and signing with Arizona where he is still playing today.

1999 – Rob Bowen was drafted in the 2nd round (Expos took Brian Phillips one pick later and the Pirates selected Ryan Doumit 3 picks later) as a catcher out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 9/1/2003 in his fifth year of professional baseball. Bowen appeared in just 43 games before moving on to play for the Padres, Cubs and A’s during his 5 big league seasons and 216 big league games.

1999 – Justin Morneau was drafted in the 3rd round as a catcher out of high school and debuted with the Twins on 6/10/2003 in his fifth year of professional baseball. Morneau was converted to full-time 1B duties in 2001. Morneau has been a league MVP and four-time All-Star and has appeared in almost 1,200 games for Minnesota.

1999 – Travis Bowyer was drafted in the 20th round as a RHP out of a high school and debuted with the Twins on 9/10/2005 in his seventh year of professional baseball. Bowyer pitched in 8 games for Minnesota and in December 2005 was traded to the Marlins for 2B Luis Castillo. Bowyer never pitched for the Marlins and was actually out of baseball for 7 seasons before surfacing with an independent league in 2012.

1999 – Willie Eyre was drafted in the 23rd round as a RHP out of a junior college and debuted with the Twins on 4/6/2006 in his eighth year of professional baseball. Eyre appeared in 42 games for the Twins in 2006 and was granted free agency after the season ended. Eyre went on to pitch for the Rangers and the Orioles.

1999 – Terry Tiffee was drafted in the 26th round as a 1B out of a junior college and debuted with the Twins on 9/1/2004 in his fifth year of professional baseball. Tiffee appeared in 91 games for the Twins between 2004-2006 and in 6 games for the Dodgers in 2008 but has been in the minors ever since.

1999 – Brian Wolfe was drafted in the 6th round as a RHP out of high school and released by Minnesota in May 2005. Wolfe was with the Brewers and Blue Jays organizations and debuted with the Blue Jays on 5/30/2007 in his ninth year of professional baseball. Wolfe’s big league career lasted just 72 games but Wolfe has pitched in Japan since 2010.

1998 – Kevin Frederick was drafted in the 34th round as a RHP after 4 years of college and made his big league debut with the Twins on July 15, 2002 in his fifth year of pro ball. Frederick appeared in 8 games for Minnesota before being waived and claimed by the Blue Jays in March 2003 where he appeared in 22 games but that proved to be the end of the line as far as Frederick’s big league career was concerned.

1998 – Tommy Watkins was drafted in the 38th round as a SS out of high school and made his big league debut with the Twins on August 10, 2007 in his tenth year of pro ball. Watkins appeared in just 9 games for the Twins and moved in to the Twins minor league coaching ranks after the 2009 season.

1998 – Saul Rivera was drafted in the 9th round as a RHP after 4 years of college and waived by the Twins in November 2001 and picked up by the Mets. Rivera debuted with the Nationals on May 25, 2006 in his ninth year of pro ball. Rivera pitched in a total of 249 big league games for the Nats and Diamondbacks between 2006-2010. Out of baseball today.

1998 – Juan Padilla was drafted in the 24th round as a RHP after 4 years of college and traded by the Twins to the Yankees as the PTBNL when the Twins acquired Jesse Orosco in September 2003. Padilla made his big league debut with the Yankees on July 16, 2004 in his seventh year of pro ball. Padilla appeared in 42 major league games between the Yankees, Reds and Mets.

Where do Twins players come from?

I mentioned earlier that the perception is that the Twins draft and groom the majority of their players. Let’s take a look at the players that most people today would consider the Twins top prospects. I will not include anyone here who has made his major league debut with the Twins and I will list the players in no particular order. Let’s take a look to see how the Twins acquired these up-and-coming stars. It just goes to show that the amateur free agent draft in June is not the only way to acquire talented young players.

3B – Miguel Sano – signed as an amateur free agent

OF – Byron Buxton – 1st round draft pick in 2012

P – Alex Meyer – acquired in a trade

P – Kyle Gibson – 1st round draft pick in 2009

P – Trevor May – acquired in a trade

2B – Eddie Rosario – 4th round draft pick in 2010

P – Jose Berrios – 1st round draft pick in 2012

OF – Max Kepler – signed as an amateur free agent in 2009

SS – Daniel Santana – signed as an amateur free agent in 2007

There are many ways to make up a 25 man major league roster, here is how the current 2013 Twins roster was assembled. On the position side, six players were drafted, four were signed as free agents, one was signed as an amateur free agent, one was acquired via a trade and one was picked up on the waiver wire. On the pitching side, four were signed as free agents, three were drafted, two joined the team via a trade, two were Rule 5 selections, and one was acquired via the waiver wire. The Twins line has always been that you grow the majority of your own players and you sign a few free agents to fill some holes. This years roster does not necessarily hold dear to that principal, maybe that is why the Twins will struggle to reach the .500 mark this season.

New draft strategy?

Maybe Terry Ryan and the Twins should change their draft strategy. All the so called draft experts out there are clamoring for the Twins to use their early picks on pitching help and don’t get me wrong, the Twins need good pitching. However; with the Twins poor history of drafting pitchers, maybe they should quit spending their high draft picks on pitchers and focus on drafting position players and then either put them in their line-up or trade them for proven pitching. You need to go with your organizations strength and the Twins scouts seem to find good hitting but pitching, not so much. Then you use Terry Ryan’s trading expertise to swap hitting for pitching. Then again, is the June amateur draft much different then the Powerball tickets I just bought? I spent my money knowing the odds were long but the carrot for the huge payoff was out there but this time I walked away empty handed. Fortunately, each of my Powerball tickets cost $2 and not several million dollars like a number 1 pick will probably cost the Twins. But you can bet your bippy I will try it again.

According to Elias

Aaron Hicks, in Monday’s win against the White Sox, became the first Twins’ rookie in 14 years to hit a home run in each of back-to-back plate appearances of one game. Corey Koskie went deep in consecutive trips to the plate at Tiger Stadium on April 15, 1999.

But maybe even more important was his play in the field. Hicks reached over the center field fence in the sixth inning and snatched a potential game-tying home run by Adam Dunn to end the inning.

Looking back at April

The Twins finished April with an 11-12 mark playing at a .478 winning clip and in the middle of the pack in the Central Division, 3 games behind the division leading Detroit Tigers and just barely ahead of the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox. Everyone would like to see the Twins doing better but when you compare this teams play to expectations going into 2013 you can’t help but be pleasantly surprised. Before the season began I thought that if this team could put up a 74-88 (.457%) mark and improve 8 games over last season I would be satisfied that the team was making progress. The Twins have played most of their April games in questionable weather and you could argue this worked against them but then again you know that the other team was playing in that same weather so that is a wash. The Twins have played 13 of their first 20 games at home and they are slightly above .500 at Target Field at 7-6.

Although I have not yet seen a single game in person at Target Field this year, I have pretty much watched every game on TV from beginning to end. Here are my perceptions of how the Twins have played in April.

Wilkin Ramirez – (B) – has filled the difficult extra outfielder and pinch-hitter bench role well and is hitting .381.

Eduardo Escobar – (A-) – this switch-hitting utility man has already played at SS, 2B, 3B and in LF and is hitting .378 with a home run in 37 at bats. An easy player to like who makes you wonder if he could be good enough to man a regular spot in the Twins middle infield some day.

Jimmy Carroll – (B-) – the Twins forgotten man most of April but he does whatever is asked of him and almost acts like another coach out there for the Twins younger players.

Joe Mauer – (C+) – endured a long hitless streak late in the month but has played almost every day. Not sure exactly what, but something about Mauer just doesn’t look right to me this year. He is not as solid behind the plate this season and he strikes out way more than he has in the past. Almost looks like he is trying to show more power at the expense of average.

Justin Morneau – (C-) – hitting .253 with 2 home runs and 11 RBI’s. Very disappointing showing so far, Morneau used to be a solid RBI guy but that trait seems to have deserted him the last couple of years. We are watching a shell of what Morneau once was.

Pedro Florimon – (C+) – Playing as I would expect him to in his first full year at short. He and Dozier have shown they play well together. Florimon let’s some easy plays get away at times but for the most part has been solid at short. Hitting has been adequate but I was hoping to see more stolen bases from him and he is just starting to run in the last few games.

Josh Willingham – (C+) – Twins top power guy is doing what the Twins pay him to do and is hitting .250 with a team leading 13 RBI. The Hammer is also on pace to get on base 90-100 times via walks. A liability in LF but the Twins will keep sending him out there for his power. Would be nice to see Willingham get hot before the trading deadline because rest assured he will be moved to make room for Oswaldo Arcia sooner than later.

Brian Dozier – (C) – hitting better since he was moved to the lead-off role to replace Aaron Hicks and playing well at 2B. Dozier is hitting only .243 and he is a better hitter then what he has shown so far.

Trevor Plouffe – (D-) – continues to show that he can not hit big league pitching consistently nor can he play 3B. Then again he has shown he can’t play SS, 2B, or the OF either. Gardy can say what he wants to the press but he knows that Plouffe is not the Twins 3B. Things will change here soon. Problem is the Twins have no one to play here while they wait for Miguel Sano.

Oswaldo Arcia – (C ) – This power hitting lefty will make Twins fans forget trading Willingham in no time. Not a solid outfielder but then again Willingham isn’t either and Arcia is only 21 and will be a Twins fixture for years to come. Watch this guy get better every game.

Darin Mastroianni – (D) – has only 9 at bats due to injuries. This utility outfielder is a much better than what he has shown so far this year but he sure seems to get dinged up a lot.

Chris Parmelee (C) – has been disappointing so far and I expect Parmelee to turn it around soon. Parmelee is no speedster but he is a better outfielder then I expected and he finally notched his first home run of the season, maybe that will get him going.

Ryan Doumit – (C-) – disappointing start to 2013, no other way to say it. Doumit has to start producing with the bat.

Aaron Hicks – (D) – The only reason I gave him a D versus an F is his outfield play. I like Hicks and he will be a very good player but he seems in over his head right now. With no one else to play center the Twins keep sending him out there day after day but Joe Benson is starting to show signs of life so we will see how long the Twins patience lasts with Hicks. There is no shame in going back to the minors after a tough start in the big leagues, happens to almost every player. Needs to show his speed more frequently when he does get on base.

Jared Burton – (A) – the man has a 0.96 ERA with 12 KO’s and 2 walks in his 8th inning role, you can’t ask for more.

Josh Roenicke – (B) – Nice addition (stolen from the Rockies) to the relief staff giving up only 9 hits in 12 innings.

Ryan Pressly – (B) – When your Rule 5 selection sticks and has a 1.69 EA in 10+ innings in April you have to pat yourself on the back Mr. Ryan.

Anthony Swarzak – (B) – Got a late start due to his rib issues but has pitched well so far, hope he can keep it up.

Brian Duensing – (B) – doing fine in his current role but it just seems like they could get more out of this lefty then what they do.

Kevin Correia – (A+) – No one had a better month of April then Kevin Correia did. That said, most everyone knows that it is unlikely that Correia can continue pitching like he has without a few speed bumps but you have to enjoy what he is doing with the smoke and mirrors in his pitching arsenal. Keep it up Kevin, you are definitely my Twins player of the month.

Pedro Hernandez – (B-) – the mark may be a little high for this recently recalled Twin but he does what Gardy asks of him and in his two starts he has kept his team in the game.

Casey Fien – (C+) – always looks angry when he is pitching and he shows his emotion, I like that. Fien probably deserves a better mark then what I gave him but he had one real bad outing in early April when he gave up 4 earned runs and these grades are for the month of April. But look at his numbers in 2012, a 0.97 WHIP and this year his WHIP is 0.90 in spite of his bad outing, those are amazing stats.

Glen Perkins – (B) – the Twins closer shuts the door when he is called upon to save the game. The only runs he has given up have been in non-save situations.

Scott Diamond – (B) – another late starter due to surgery in the off-season but he is getting better with each start and there is no Twins starter currently on the team that I have more faith in keeping his team in the game than Diamond.

Vance Worley – (D) – is in my eyes the biggest disappointment on the team. He gives up so many runs in the first and second inning that the Twins are always playing from behind when he pitches. 46 hits in 28.2 innings with 9 walks tells you all you need to know how Worley has pitched. I’m tired of hearing too that “the pitches are coming out of my hand good”, all I care about Mr. Worley is what you put in the “W” column, the one that has a huge goose egg in it now.

Mike Pelfrey – (F) – I know he is coming off TJ surgery but the man says he is ready to pitch and yet he gives up 19 earned in his last four starts. This is unacceptable and one more bad start should cause him to give up his starting spot. Let’s see how long a leash that Pelfrey has.

In the end it is all about winning games and so far the Twins have put 11 in the win column in April. They are playing better than they have in two years and they are more fun to watch but the bottom line for judging any baseball team is how many games they win. There are no moral victories in baseball. When I look at the Twins hitting as a whole in April, I give them a “C” and when I grade the Twins pitching I come up with a “B-” for an overall team grade of “C+”. Just a month of baseball is a short time to judge anybody so I don’t lose sleep over these grades one way or another but yet there are some trends that are beginning to develop, some good, some not so much. Let’s see what May brings the Twins and their fans.

Tag: Aaron Hicks

Who can hit leadoff for Twins?

Best OBP hitting lead off with 100 games or more

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The 2013 Twins Turkey of the Year is –

Previous Twins Turkey of Year Winners

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And leading off for the Twins…..

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A little of this and a little of that

July trade activity by club from 2000-2013

Twins Minor League Standings as of August 5

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Almost at the All-Star break

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Twins striking out at a record pace in 2013

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Twins losing streak reaches eight

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The road to Minnesota is long and hard

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According to Elias

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Looking back at April

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Best OBP hitting lead off with 100 games or more

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Previous Twins Turkey of Year Winners

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

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July trade activity by club from 2000-2013

Twins Minor League Standings as of August 5

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