TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
According to the Minnesota Twins Game Notes, Jose Miranda has been voted the American League Rookie of the Month for July. He earned his first career monthly award and is Minnesota’s first Rookie of the Month winner since his All-Star teammate Miguel Sano in August 2015. The 24-year-old posted a slash line of .353/.405/.603 with 13 runs scored, 24 hits, two doubles, five home runs and 19 RBI over 20 games played. He recorded three hits in three consecutive games from July 24-27, becoming the first Twins rookie to post such a streak since Danny Valencia logged four consecutive three-hit games in July 2010. He hit .426 with 20 hits during a 13-game span from July 5-27, scoring 10 runs with six extra-base hits and 15 RBI during the stretch. Congratulations to Jose Miranda.
Joe Mauer retires. Click on image to make it larger.
Joe Mauer picked as a catcher 1st overall in 2001 and is retired with a 55.0 WAR all with the Twins from 2004-2018.
Brian Dozier picked as a collegiate shortstop in the 8th round in 2009 and is currently playing for the Nationals. Current career WAR is 23.3 and WAR with Twins from 2012 to 2018 was 23.8.
Denard Span picked as an outfielder in the 1st round (20th overall) in 2002 and is currently not playing. Current career WAR is 26.2 and WAR with the Twins from 2008 to 2012 was 13.2.
Eddie Rosario picked as an outfielder in the 4th round of the 2010 draft and currently playing left field for the Twins since 2015 and has a 10.2 career WAR.
Trevor Plouffe was selected as a shortstop in round 1 (20th overall) of the 2004 MLB draft. Plouffe is not playing this season after being released by the Phillies and has a career WAR of 8.2. When playing for Minnesota from 2010 to 2018 his WAR was 8.6.
Byron Buxton was selected as an outfielder in 2012 with the 2nd overall pick in round 1. Has played center field for the Twins off and on since 2015 and has a career WAR of 8.5.
Jason Kubel was selected as an outfielder in round 12 of the 2000 draft and played for the Twins in 2004, sat out 2005 due to injury and from 2006-2011 putting up a 3.7 WAR before leaving as a FA. Career 4.1 WAR.
Mitch Garver was drafted as a collegiate catcher in the 9th round of the 2013 draft and has been with the Twins off/on since 2017 and has put up a 2.6 career WAR.
Aaron Hicks was drafted as an outfielder in round 1 (14th overall) and played for the Twins on/off from 2013-2015 before being traded to the Yankees. Hicks WAR with Minnesota was 2.3 and he now is up to a 10.2 career WAR with the Yankees.
Danny Valencia was drafted as a collegiate third baseman in round 19 and played for the Twins from 2010 to 2012 before being traded to Boston. Valencia put up a 0.9 WAR with the Twins. I believe Valencia is not playing in 2019 and has a career WAR of 5.6.
Pitchers
Scott Baker – click on image to make it larger.
Scott Baker (collegiate RHP) was a 2nd round pick in 2003 and started for the Twins from 2005-2011 and had a 15.7 WAR. After TJ surgery he pitched for Cubs, Rangers and Dodgers thru 2015 and ended up with a 15.6 career WAR.
Kyle Gibson (collegiate RHP) was a 1st round pick and 22nd overall in 2009 and is currently in the Twins starting rotation (since 2013) with a current career WAR of 9.6.
Glen Perkins (collegiate LHP) was a 1st round compensation pick (22nd overall) in 2004 from the Mariners for signing Eddie Guardado as a FA. Perkins joined the Twins in 2006 and pitched thru 2017. Perkins was a starter in 2008-2009 but ended his career as a closer with a career WAR of 8.7.
Brian Duensing (collegiate LHP) was a 3rd rounder in 2005 and pitched for the Twins from 2009-2015 primarily in relief but he did some spot starting early in his career. Twins WAR was 6.3. Duensing is currently with the Cubs and has a career WAR of 6.2.
Jesse Crain (collegiate RHP) was picked in round 2 in 2002 and pitched in relief for Minnesota from 2004 thru 2010 before moving on to the White Sox where he finished his career in 2013. Twins WAR was 5.4 and career WAR was 11.4.
Jose Berrios (high school RHP) was picked in round 1 and 32nd overall as a compensation pick for the loss of FA Michael Cuddyer in 2012. Berrios is currently in the Twins starting rotation (since 2016) and has a career WAR of 5.2.
Taylor Rogers (collegiate LHP) was picked in round 11 in 2012 and has been a reliever in the Twins bullpen since 2016 and has posted a career WAR of 4.6.
Kevin Slowey (collegiate RHP) was picked in the 2nd round and 73rd overall in 2005 and was used primarily as a starter for Minnesota from 2007-2011 and had a 4.4 WAR. He finished his career with Miami 2013-2014 with a career WAR of 4.7.
Nick Blackburn (collegiate RHP) wasn’t picked until round 29 (857th overall) in 2001 and spent his entire career with Minnesota from 2007-2012 and put up a 3.1 career WAR.
Pat Neshek (collegiate RHP) was picked by the Twins in round 45 in 1999 but didn’t sign and was again picked by the Twins in 2002 in round 6 and was a Twins relief pitcher from 2006-2010 with a year off in 2009 for TJ surgery and posted a WAR with the Twins of 3.0. Since then Neshek has pitched for six other big league organizations (currently with Philly) and has a career WAR of 10.9.
Some observations
Seven of the ten position players on the list were drafted out of high school.
Just one of ten pitchers on the list was drafted and signed out of high school.
Only five of the ten position players on the list are first round picks.
Three of 10 pitchers are first round picks.
Position players on the list not picked in round 1 were selected in rounds 4, 8, 9, 12, and 19.
Pitchers on the list not selected in round one were picked in rounds 2, 2, 2, 3, 6, 11, and 29.
Seems like the Twins should draft position players out of high school and pitchers out of college.
With the June Amateur Free Agent draft just a month or so away maybe it is time to look back and see who the Twins have drafted this century that has made an impact on the Minnesota Twins major league team. We all know that very few prospects make it to the big leagues and even fewer are stars, here is how the Twins have fared. Keep this in mind before you get overly excited about the Twins picks in this years drafts.
Twins draft choices since 2000
2000 draft – 52 drafted, 30 signed and 5 put on a Minnesota Twins uniform
Best Twins player – Jason Kubel (OF) was a 2nd round selection picked out of high school and debuted on August 31, 2004 and had a career WAR of 4.1. RETIRED
2001 draft – 50 drafted, 33 signed, 3 put on a Minnesota Twins uniform and 1 played in big leagues for another team
Joe Mauer
Best Twins players – Joe Mauer (C) a Minnesota native was the number one overall pick out of Cretin High School and he debuted on April 5, 2004 and played with Minnesota throughout his career that ended after the 2018 season. Won an MVP, six time All-Star, five time Silver Slugger, three time Batting Champion and three time Gold Glove winner. Career WAR of 55.0. RETIRED
Best Twins players – Nick Blackburn was a collegiate right-handed pitcher drafted in round 29 and debuted on September 7, 2007. Blackburn pitched his entire career for the Twins from 2007-2012. RETIRED with a 3.1 career WAR.
Wore a Twins uniform briefly – Jose Morales (drafted as a shortstop but switched to catcher).
Played in big leagues for another team – Kevin Cameron (RHP).
The following players made their major league debuts in a Twins uniform.
Danny Valencia
Danny Valencia (3B) – June 3, 2010 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 19th round of the 2006 MLB June Amateur Draft. Who can complain about a 1 for 3 debut in the big leagues?
J.T. Bruett
J.T. Bruett (OF) – June 3, 1992 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 11th round of the 1988 amateur draft. Born a Badger, then became a Gopher and a Minnesota Twin.
Third base is known as the “hot corner”, because the third baseman is relatively close to the batter and most right-handed hitters tend to hit the ball hard in this direction. Now days the third base position is expected to provide power. There are fewer third basemen in the Baseball Hall of Fame than there are Hall of Famers’ of any other position.
The Twins have had their share of good players at that position and the list below shows Twins players that have played in at least 200 games and played at least 51% of their games at third base from 1961 through 2016. Current Twins third sacker Miguel Sano will be moving up this list very quickly.
Gary Gaetti has always been one of my all-time favorite Minnesota Twins. I enjoyed watching him play third base and the man got his uniform dirty, he went all out all the time. Plus, he was a very good hitter. If I was asked for my Twins top 10 list, he would be near the top.
Gaetti played in the Metrodome from 1982 – 1990. Gary took a “liking” to the Dome the first time he played there by going 4-4 and hitting 2 home runs. Gaetti was an All-Star in 1988 and 1989 and was the 3B on the 1987 World Championship team.
I went through the history of the Minnesota Twins June Amateur draft choices to see who the best players were that the club drafted, signed and the player debuted with Minnesota across his chest. The player may or may not have played his entire career with the Twins but the WAR numbers are for their entire careers. Why are they ranked by WAR you may ask? Simple, I know of no other way to rank them, so right or wrong, I have chosen B-R WAR.
Twenty five of the 61 rounds shown have no players that qualified meaning that no one ever drafted in that round has made it to the majors with Minnesota. So if the Twins draft you in one of those rounds in the future, the odds are very much against you. Unless you have followed the Twins since day one, you might not recognize or remember some of these players.
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.
As 2014 is coming to an end it is a good time to look back on another Twins season, their fourth in a row without post season play. But you have to be a winner to make post season play and the Twins have been anything but a winner the last few years. It has been a toss-up when you try to determine who has been more inept, the Twins players on the field or the ownership and Twins executives that sit behind their desks and make the decisions that determine the experience that Twins fans will have to live with during the up-coming season.
The Twins have had many losing seasons over the years and the real core Twins fans complained but they accepted the team they had and they looked forward to the next season with renewed hope for more wins “next year”. But it is seems different now, I am not sure why, maybe the fans are more passionate, maybe it is social media that allows Twins fans to better express their frustrations but today’s Twins fans are just plain mad and disgusted with the caliber of play their home team has displayed since the 2010 ended. Hopefully the Minnesota Twins organization feels some of the passion that Twins fans have and will start to look at the product from the fans perspective and see what they can do to make the fans experience a little more fun and and not so tough on the wallet.
Since the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season and became the Minnesota Twins the team has played 8,617 regular season games, winning 4,274, losing 4,335 and playing to a tie on eight occasions in 54 seasons of play. Boy, how time flies by, I still remember that 1961 season.
Looking back at Twins history they have two World Series winners and a third World Series appearance in which they lost game seven to Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers. In addition to the 8,617 regular season games the team has played a total of 64 post season games winning 25 and losing 39. Their last post season appearance was in 2010 and that brief playoff run lasted just three games when they were swept by the New York Yankees 3 games to zip. The teams last post season win was back in 2004 (if I am not mistaken that is about 10 years ago, YIKES!) when they beat the Yankees in game 1 of the ALDS series before losing the next three games.
So let’s take a look at the hitting and pitching statistics of the Minnesota Twins in post season play. Let’s see who stood out under the bright lights of post season play and who couldn’t or didn’t deliver when the pressure was on. The names you will see below will bring back many memories, some good, some bad, some sad and in some cases you will say “who in the hell is so and so, I don’t remember him”. But it is fun looking back.
Since the Twins started play in 1961 through the 2014 season a total of 751 players have put on a Minnesota Twins uniform and appeared in a game either as a hitter or a pitcher. Only 162 of them or 21.57% have appeared in a Twins post season game over the 54 seasons the Twins have called Minnesota home.
I was going to head over to Hammond Stadium on Saturday but it was raining and the wind was blowing so I decided to wait until Sunday and catch the Rochester versus New Britain and Ft. Myers versus Cedar Rapids games. I got there a few minutes before the games started at Noon on a beautiful sunny Sunday in Ft. Myers. Hammond Stadium sat empty and the crowds at each minor league field were small and the players sitting in the stands that were not suited up for these games easily out numbered the fans.
Kyle Gibson
The Twins left Kyle Gibson behind in Ft. Myers so he could pitch in one of these games and sure enough he was the starting pitcher for New Britain. The first two innings went smoothly for Gibson but in the third inning the Red Wings hit Gibson all over the field as he gave up 6 hits and 5 earned runs. In that inning it appeared that everything he threw to the plate was hit hard and Gibson would throw the pitch and high-tail it over to back up third base. To me Gibson looked really frustrated and appeared to have lost his composure. He calmed down after that but an inning or so later he took a hard shot off his left shin but chased the ball down only to throw it wildly to first base. After five innings it was decided that Gibson had enough and he left the game having given up 8 hits and 5 runs. Not exactly what Gibson or the Twins were looking for.
Jeremias Pineda
On the other field a player that caught my attention was outfielder Jeremias Pineda. Pineda who is scheduled to start the season with Cedar Rapids this year was acquired from the Boston Red Sox in August 2012 in the Danny Valencia trade. The 23-year-old Pineda is a 5-11, 175 pound switch-hitter from the Dominican Republic, signed by the Red Sox in 2011. I am not sure how much of a prospect Pineda really is but on this day he stood out because of his speed and hustle. I watched him hit a hard ground ball to third that he beat out easily because of speed and hustle although the third baseman might have made it a closer play had he not waited on the ball. Later in the game Pineda was on first base when the batter hit a routine double play ball just a few steps to the left of second. The shortstop decided to touch second and then complete the double play by throwing to first. Turns out that was easier said then done as Pineda beat the shortstop to the bag at second. Speed and hustle again and it brought a lot of comments and head shaking from both teams.
It was fun to watch these Twins minor league teams play and learn the game. One player who will remain nameless hit a grounder to third that he apparently thought was foul and he didn’t move out of the batters box, turns out it was fair and the third baseman made an easy throw to first for the out. As the batter sheepishly walked back to the dugout it was easy to hear his manager tell him, “it is Sunday today, we are running them all out today”.
I took a bunch of pictures again today and I hope to get them uploaded later today. Not sure if this is my last visit to Hammond Stadium this year or not but I have enjoyed every minute of spring training here in Ft. Myers., almost time to head for home.
The Twins and GM Terry Ryan keep working to improve the team with Christmas just around the corner and Spring Training just 50 or so days away. Yesterday the Twins announced that they had traded catcher/outfielder Ryan Doumit to the Atlanta Braves for minor league LHP Sean Gilmartin.
Ryan Doumit
The 32-year-old Doumit had spent the last two seasons with Minnesota with mixed results after the Twins signed him as a free agent in November 2011. Known more for his bat than his catching skills, the switch-hitting Doumit put up some nice numbers in 2012 when he hit .275 with 18 dingers and 75 RBI in 134 games however; in 2013 he appeared in 135 games but hit only .247 with 14 home runs and 55 RBI. Doumit suffered some concussion symptoms in 2013 and caught his last game in a Twins uniform on August 29th and was either in the outfield or used as a DH for the remainder of the season. There have been reports that Doumit is no longer interested in catching but those rumors must be false or the Braves are going to get a real surprise.
Sean Gilmartin
On the other side of the deal the Twins procured LHP Sean Gilmartin. Gilmartin was first drafted in 2008 in round 31 by the San Diego Padres but chose not to sign and then became a first round pick (28th over all) of the Atlanta Braves in 2011 and signed for a reported $1,134,000 signing bonus. Gilmartin progressed through the Braves system rapidly and in just his second year in pro ball in 2012 started 7 games for AAA Gwinnett. 2013 was a tough year for Gilmartin who had shoulder problems and really struggled in 2013. In 20 starts Gilmartin put up a 5.06 ERA and 1.43 WHIP in 105 innings at three minor league levels, including AAA Gwinnett but was still recently named the Braves’ tenth best prospect by Baseball America. “Gilmartin is a finesse pitcher who knows how to set up hitters and pitch to his strengths,” wrote the publication in its subscriber-only write-up, noting he projects as a No. 4 starter “His fastball has good movement while sitting in the 89-91 mph range, and he mixes it well with a plus change-up and a low-80s slider with a sharp, late break.” Here is what Mark Bradley at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had to say about the trade and why the Braves let Gilmartin go.
Danny Valencia
In some other news, former Twins 3B Danny Valencia is on the move again. This time he was traded by the Baltimore Orioles to the Kansas City Royals for outfielder David Lough and there is already talk of a platoon with 3B Mike Moustakas but I find that really hard to believe. Since leaving the Twins in 2012 Valencia has already seen action with the Red Sox and Orioles and now hopes to wear a Royals jersey.
Livan Hernandez
Former (2008) Twins pitcher Livan Hernandez also made the news recently when he put up for auction some of his major league memorabilia including his 1997 World Series MVP trophy and World Series ring. Hernandez who last pitched in 2012 earned over $50 million during his 17 year big league career but must be a little short of cash now days. Kind of sad…..
