Tag: Dan Naulty

Twins tall drinks of water

The Minnesota Twins have had 53 players (41 pitchers (nine lefties) and 12 position players) that stood at least 6’5″ tall. The Twins have spent the last few years accumulating tall pitchers but so far the fruits of their labors have not been all that eveident.

The tallest player in major league history, Jon Rauch, played for 11 years with seven different major league teams including a stop in Minnesota from 2009-2010. The right-handed Rauch won an Olympic gold medal for the United States in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The same year, he was also named Baseball America and The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year. Keith Hernandez referred to Rauch as “The Wookiee” during SNY broadcasts in 2006.

Rauch wasn’t exactly the friendliest baseball player around and his grumpy, grouchy, surly and testy personality along with his intimidating size and inked body caused most fans that wanted an autograph to pass and look for the next player to come by.

Here I have put  together a list of Minnesota Twins players that stood at least 6’5″ tall.

Jon Rauch and Joe Mauer
Jon Rauch and Joe Mauer
Rk Player Ht From To Age G Pos
1 Jon Rauch 83 2009 2010 30-31 76 /*1
2 Alex Meyer 81 2015 2016 25-26 4 /*1
3 Mike Smithson 80 1984 1987 29-32 128 *1
4 Michael Tonkin 79 2013 2016 23-26 122 *1
5 Mike Pelfrey 79 2013 2015 29-31 64 /*1
6 John Candelaria 79 1990 1990 36-36 34 /*1
7 Walt Bond 79 1967 1967 29-29 10 /*H7
8 Kyle Gibson 78 2013 2016 25-28 96 /*1
9 Jim Hoey 78 2011 2011 28-28 26 /*1
10 Michael Restovich 78 2002 2004 23-25 61 /H97D
11 Dan Naulty 78 1996 1998 26-28 97 /*1
12 Mo Sanford 78 1995 1995 28-28 11 /*1
13 Dave Winfield 78 1993 1994 41-42 220 *D/9H3
14 David West 78 1989 1992 24-27 63 /*1
15 Greg Booker 78 1989 1989 29-29 6 /*1
16 Jeff Little 78 1982 1982 27-27 33 /*1
17 Mike Poepping 78 1975 1975 24-24 14 /*9H
18 Cotton Nash 78 1969 1970 26-27 10 /*3H7
19 Garry Roggenburk 78 1963 1966 23-26 60 /*1
20 Frank Sullivan 78 1962 1963 32-33 31 /*1
21 Phil Hughes 77 2014 2016 28-30 71 /*1
22 Pat Light 77 2016 2016 25-25 13 /*1
23 Joe Mauer 77 2004 2016 21-33 1589 *23D/H9
24 Trevor May 77 2014 2016 24-26 102 *1
25 Kennys Vargas 77 2014 2016 23-25 147 /*D3H
26 A.J. Achter 77 2014 2015 25-26 18 /*1
27 Jared Burton 77 2012 2014 31-33 203 *1
28 Tyler Robertson 77 2012 2013 24-25 42 /*1
29 Carl Pavano 77 2009 2012 33-36 88 /*1
30 Kyle Waldrop 77 2011 2012 25-26 24 /*1
31 Bobby Keppel 77 2009 2009 27-27 37 /*1
32 Garrett Jones 77 2007 2007 26-26 31 /D3H79
33 LaTroy Hawkins 77 1995 2003 22-30 366 *1
34 Todd Sears 77 2002 2003 26-27 31 /*3HD
35 Matt Kinney 77 2000 2002 23-25 22 /*1
36 Mark Redman 77 1999 2001 25-27 46 /*1
37 Scott Stahoviak 77 1993 1998 23-28 344 *3/H5D9
38 Greg Hansell 77 1996 1996 25-25 50 /*1
39 Dave McCarty 77 1993 1995 23-25 167 /*379H8D
40 Erik Schullstrom 77 1994 1995 25-26 46 /*1
41 Bill Krueger 77 1992 1992 34-34 27 /*1
42 Steve Shields 77 1989 1989 30-30 11 /*1
43 George Frazier 77 1986 1987 31-32 69 /*1
44 Curt Wardle 77 1984 1985 23-24 37 /*1
45 Mike Walters 77 1983 1984 25-26 46 /*1
46 Greg Wells 77 1982 1982 28-28 15 /*3DH
47 John Verhoeven 77 1980 1981 27-28 69 /*1
48 Paul Hartzell 77 1979 1979 25-25 28 /*1
49 Jeff Holly 77 1977 1979 24-26 39 /*1
50 Dick Woodson 77 1969 1974 24-29 129 *1
51 Pete Hamm 77 1970 1971 22-23 23 /*1
52 Stan Williams 77 1970 1971 33-34 114 *1
53 Don Williams 77 1963 1963 27-27 3 /*1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/21/2016.

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The MLB June amateur draft is far from a science

2016 DraftThe 2016 MLB will take place June 9, 2016 in Secacus, New Jersey and the Minnesota Twins will have the 17th selection this year. There are already numerous mock drafts being published but as normal they are all over the board, so what else is new. Here is a list (with pictures) on MLB.com of their proposed top 100 2016 prospects.

Baseball draft are so different from all the other sports in many ways but the two main differences that stand out is that baseball drafts are more international than other sports and if you get drafted in baseball you can look forward to spend a number of years in the minor leagues before you have the experience and necessary skill sets to play in the major leagues. Sure there have been some players that went directly to the major leagues but they are rare and the last player to do so I believe is RHP Mike Leake who was drafted eighth overall in 2010 by the Cincinnati Reds from Arizona State and now pitches for the Cardinals. The last Twins player to be drafted and go straight to a big league mound was LHP Eddie Bane who also was from Arizona State.

The June amateur draft is exciting for the fans but it is serious business for the MLB teams that have spent lots of time and money watching these young prospects as they try to determine who is the best player available when it comes time to make their selection. Mistakes in a draft can and do haunt teams for many years. There are many ways to mess up a draft choice, the player may not turn out to be as good as you thought, you might have bypassed a star player, you might not be able to sign the player, the player and/or his agent may state they don’t want to play for you, and of course an injury may cut his career short. If everything goes your way you have yourself a baseball player but the odds are stacked against you.

Continue reading The MLB June amateur draft is far from a science

Miracle win it all!

Miracle are 2014 championsOn Monday, September 8, the Ft. Myers Miracle won the first Florida State League Championship in team history three games to one over the Daytona Cubs. Jason Kanzler‘s two-run homer in the eleventh inning propelled the Fort Myers Miracle to the Florida State League Championship in a 4-2, extra inning win over the Daytona Cubs at Jackie Robinson Ballpark in game four on Monday night. The Miracle under manager Doug Mientkiewicz finished the season with an 87-58 overall record and were 4-1 in the playoffs. Outfielder Adam Walker led the 2014 Miracle with 25 home runs and 94 RBI while hitting .246. The pitching staff was led by Matt Tomshaw, Brett Lee, and Jose Berrios who had a combined 30-14 record.

Minnesota’s longest-running Minor League full season affiliate, the Miracle began an association with the Twins in 1993. The 1993 team finished with a 55-79 record under manager Steve Liddle. Players on that team that went on to play in Minnesota were pitchers Brad Radke, Dan Naulty, Scott Watkins, catcher Damian Miller and outfielder Brent Brede.

The team has drawn nearly 120,000 fans in each of the last seven seasons. The Miracle have been top-four in the Florida State League for individual game average attendance every year since 2005. As expected, the Twins and single-A affiliate Ft. Myers Miracle have agreed to extend their Player Development Contract for four years, through the 2018 season.

This is the first league championship that a Twins minor league team has won since the Elizabethton Twins won the Appalachian League title in 2012 and also the first league championship that a minor league team has won under Brad Steil who became the Twins Farm Director after the 2012 season. The last Twins A-Ball team to win a league championship were the 1987 Kenosha Twins (82-58) who were managed by Don Leppert.

Twins minor league teams finished the 2014 season with a combined record of 409-354 for a .536 winning percentage. Of the Twins seven minor league clubs, only the 23-37 Gulf Coast League Twins posted a losing record. 2014 marked the third consecutive season that Twins farm teams have won more games than they lost.

You can learn more about the Twins minor league teams going back to 1961 on our Twins Minor League History page.

Looking at the Twins SO/9 ratio

Minnesota Twins pitchers have finished dead last in the American League in strikeouts the last three years and you all know where the team has finished in the standing during that time frame. When the Twins came into existence in 1961 the SO/9 average in the American League was 5.2 SO/9 and it slowly climbed to 6.1 SO/9 in 1967 but then started sliding down to under 5.0 SO/9 from 1974 to 1983. Since then it started climbing and for the first time in 2012 it went above 7.0 went it hit 7.4 SO/9 and in 2013 it hit 7.7 SO/9 which is a new high water mark.

From 2006 through 2013 only one team in the AL has finished above the .500 mark in the standings when their pitching staff has had under 1,000 strikeouts and guess who that was? It was the 2008 Minnesota Twins team that finished second to the Chicago White Sox in 2008 when Gardy’s boys went 88-75 and lost game 163 in Chicago. When Twins pitchers have 1,000 or more strikeouts the team won less than 79 games only once and that was the 2000 Twins when they finished the season with a 69-93 mark. Twins pitchers have struck 1,000 or more batters only 10 times in 53 seasons and peaked with 1,164 KO’s in 2006 when the team had a franchise high 7.28 SO/9.

The Twins can spew all the “pitch to contact” babble they want but striking out hitters and winning games goes together like peanut butter and jelly. We can only wait and see what the new Twins pitchers can do. Ricky Nolasco has a career 7.4 SO/9 and Phil Hughes is 7.6 SO/9 so they should help improve the Twins sad 2013 6.11 SO/9 team mark.

So looking back all the way to 1961 what Twins pitchers have had the best SO/9 ratio in a given season? The table below shows the highest SO/9 ratio with a minimum of 50 innings. Not many starters on this list.

Joe Nathan
Joe Nathan
Rk Player SO/9 IP Year G GS W L SV SO ERA
1 Joe Nathan 12.51 68.1 2006 64 0 7 0 36 95 1.58
2 Joe Nathan 12.09 70.0 2005 69 0 7 4 43 94 2.70
3 Joe Nathan 11.67 68.2 2009 70 0 2 2 47 89 2.10
4 Juan Rincon 11.63 82.0 2004 77 0 11 6 2 106 2.63
5 Johan Santana 11.38 108.1 2002 27 14 8 6 1 137 2.99
6 Joe Nathan 11.07 72.1 2004 73 0 1 2 44 89 1.62
7 Glen Perkins 11.06 62.2 2013 61 0 2 0 36 77 2.30
8 Francisco Liriano 10.71 121.0 2006 28 16 12 3 1 144 2.16
9 Tom Hall 10.66 155.1 1970 52 11 11 6 4 184 2.55
10 Casey Fien 10.60 62.0 2013 73 0 5 2 0 73 3.92
11 Johan Santana 10.46 228.0 2004 34 34 20 6 0 265 2.61
12 Ron Davis 10.02 64.2 1985 57 0 2 6 25 72 3.48
13 Glen Perkins 9.98 70.1 2012 70 0 3 1 16 78 2.56
14 Joe Nathan 9.84 67.2 2008 68 0 1 2 39 74 1.33
15 Juan Rincon 9.82 77.0 2005 75 0 6 6 0 84 2.45
16 Francisco Liriano 9.81 100.0 2012 22 17 3 10 0 109 5.31
17 Joe Nathan 9.67 71.2 2007 68 0 4 2 37 77 1.88
18 Johan Santana 9.66 219.0 2007 33 33 15 13 0 235 3.33
19 Johan Santana 9.61 158.1 2003 45 18 12 3 0 169 3.07
20 Tom Hall 9.51 129.2 1971 48 11 4 7 9 137 3.33
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/26/2013.

 

Looking over the Twins history here the best Twins career SO/9 ratio’s with a minimum of 100 innings pitched. How many of these pitchers were originally signed by the Twins? That would be eight.

 

Rk Player SO/9 IP G GS W L W-L% SV SO ERA BA
1 Joe Nathan 10.90 463.1 460 0 24 13 .649 260 561 2.16 .186
2 Pat Neshek 10.48 129.2 132 0 11 6 .647 0 151 3.05 .189
3 Johan Santana 9.50 1308.2 251 175 93 44 .679 1 1381 3.22 .221
4 Francisco Liriano 9.05 783.1 156 130 50 52 .490 1 788 4.33 .247
5 Tom Hall 8.52 455.1 139 44 25 21 .543 13 431 3.00 .212
6 Juan Rincon 8.41 441.0 386 3 30 26 .536 3 412 3.69 .248
7 Ron Davis 8.24 381.1 286 0 19 40 .322 108 349 4.51 .264
8 Jared Burton 8.16 128.0 135 0 5 11 .313 7 116 3.02 .216
9 Juan Berenguer 8.15 418.1 211 7 33 13 .717 9 379 3.70 .231
10 Ray Moore 7.95 159.2 126 1 13 10 .565 25 141 4.90 .252
11 Gerry Arrigo 7.93 131.2 54 15 8 7 .533 1 116 4.31 .245
12 Eddie Guardado 7.79 704.2 648 25 37 48 .435 116 610 4.53 .253
13 Dennys Reyes 7.77 126.1 191 0 10 1 .909 0 109 2.14 .238
14 Rick Aguilera 7.60 694.0 490 30 40 47 .460 254 586 3.50 .243
15 Dan Naulty 7.60 111.1 97 0 4 5 .444 5 94 4.61 .234
16 Al Worthington 7.59 473.1 327 0 37 31 .544 88 399 2.62 .221
17 Dick Stigman 7.52 643.2 138 85 37 37 .500 7 538 3.69 .229
18 Dave Boswell 7.51 1036.1 187 150 67 54 .554 0 865 3.49 .217
19 J.C. Romero 7.42 407.2 327 22 25 20 .556 2 336 4.35 .256
20 Mike Trombley 7.36 645.2 365 36 30 34 .469 34 528 4.53 .266
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/26/2013.