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
Between 1961-2018 there have been 70 players that have played at least 10 games in left field for our Minnesota Twins. However, to qualify for this list which ranks them in Baseball-Reference WAR order the player must have played left field in at least 51% of their games while wearing a Twins uniform. This eliminates players like Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison,Tony Oliva, Gary Gaetti, Torii Hunter and Cesar Tovar who played left field at different points in their careers. Dan Gladden is the Twins all-time leader in games played in left field.
September 3 was a busy day for big league debuts in a Minnesota Twins uniform.
Sep 3, 2014; Twins relief pitcher A.J. Achter (58) delivers a pitch in the ninth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Target Field. The Twins won 11-4. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
A.J. Achter (P) – September 3, 2014 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 46th round of the 2010 MLB June Amateur Draft. Closed out a Twins 11-4 win over the White Sox at Target Field with a perfect 9th inning on 10 pitches.
Matt Fox (P) – September 3, 2010 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (35th pick) of the 2004 amateur draft. Fox debuted at Target Field in a start against the Texas Rangers going 5.2 innings (90 pitches) and allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk but got a ND for his efforts. It was his one and only game for the Twins and one of only 4 big league games he would appear in.
The Twins powered up against Matt Garza and company, slamming five home runs in their 11–4 victory over the Brewers. Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario, who each homered twice for Minnesota, became the first Twins duo in just over six years to hit multiple homers in the same game. Michael Cuddyer and Delmon Young each hit a pair of four-baggers for Minnesota on August 3, 2011 at Angel Stadium.
Clutch grand slams for both Dozier and Lamb
Brian Dozier
Brian Dozier also homered for the Twins on Tuesday, with his grand slam turning a one-run deficit into a three-run lead for Minnesota. Jake Lamb replicated that feat for the Diamondbacks later in the night, homering off Dodgers reliever Tony Watson with the bases loaded to give Arizona a 6–3 lead (the D-Backs won by that same score). There was one other day this season in which multiple players hit a go-ahead grand-slam home run with his team trailing at the time. And on that day – June 3 – there were four players that hit home runs of that kind! Those trailing-to-leading salamis were produced by Matt Adams, Kyle Schwarber, Travis Shaw, and Chris Taylor.
Since the June Amateur Draft began in 1965 the Minnesota Twins have selected 72 players in round one, some are their regular first round selections and other are supplemental picks for the loss of a free agent or failure to sign a round one selection.
Over the years the Twins have failed to sign seven first round selections, about 10% of their total first round picks. The seven players that did not sign were four position players and three pitchers. You would think most of these would be high school players that chose to go on to college but that is not the case here, six were college players and only one was a high school player. The last time the Twins organization failed to sign a player was 2000 supplemental pick RHP Aaron Heilman.
The Minnesota Twins have a long history of problems developing starting pitching. Using 100 starts as a barometer, since 1961 the Twins have signed and developed just 11 pitchers in their system that have gone on to get 100 or more starts in a Twins uniform. The only first round pick in the bunch is Pete Redfern, three round tw0 picks, two round three picks, one fourth round pick, one fifth round pick, Brad Radke was an eighth round pick, one 29th round pick and an amateur free agent (Dave Boswell).
Since the June amateur free agent draft started in 1965 the Twins have drafted 31 pitchers in round 1 or as round 1 supplementary/compensation picks. Actually part of the Twins issues with starting pitching relates to spending money or the lack there of. The first two right-handed pitchers drafted by the Twins in round 1 were Dick Ruthven in 1972 and Tim Belcher (first overall pick) in 1983 who both refused to sign with Minnesota and went on to have long careers in MLB. The first left-handed pitcher drafted in round 1 to start any games was Eddie Bane and his Twins career lasted 25 starts. As I mentioned earlier, the draft started in 1965 but the Twins only drafted starting pitching in round 1 twice (Ruthven in 1972 and Bane in 1973) between 1965-1981. The first RHP that they drafted in round 1 that actually started a number of games (45 in Twins career) was Willie Banks who the team drafted in 1987. Since 2000 they have drafted a pitcher in round 1 a total of 17 times.
Starting pitching signed and developed by the Twins since 1961
If you can’t find, sign, and develop your starting pitching, you only have a few options at your disposal, you could make a trade, you can sign a free agent, or you can find one on the waiver wire (ha, ha, ha).
The option I want to write about here is the Twins attempts to trade for starting pitching since the turn of the century, a total of 17 years. Trading for starters hasn’t exactly gone as planned either.
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.
The Twins off-season got started with bang yesterday when the Twins announced that six-time All-Star and former AL MVP catcher Joe Mauer was leaving the tools of ignorance behind and moving to first base full-time. The Twins having been saying all along that Mauer was free of his concussion symptoms and that he was their catcher unless they heard differently. But yet GM Terry Ryan needed to know for sure where Mauer was going to play in 2014. Mauer is a foundation player the team needs to build around and they need to know what building blocks they need and the sooner that Mauer made a decision on his future, the sooner Ryan can begin to assemble his team. So I can’t help but wonder how much pressure the Twins applied to Mauer to get him to make a decision on what position he wanted to call home in 2014 and beyond. I know that Mauer is a great player but how many baseball teams have waited on one of their players to tell them where he wants to play?
Mauer said the decision was both difficult but yet easy, I think I can understand what he is saying. Mauer had to be thinking he had a shot at being the Twins catcher for as long as he wanted and that down the line the Hall of Fame would be calling. But then Joe’s life changed when he got married after the 2012 season and before he knew it, he was the father of twins himself. Later in the 2013 season he suffered through a serious concussion and his season ended 6 week earlier then he had planned. Mauer is a proud man and giving up catching, something he has done his entire life had to be hard. But Mauer is also a smart man and he understands that family and health always comes first. Money will never be an issue for Joe and his family but his health could become a problem if he continued to catch. Mix in what his good friend Justin Morneau went through, all the other catcher concussion issues in 2013 and all the recent reports of football players and their problems and Joe really had no choice. Joe Mauer, always the team player and being the good guy he is stepped up and informed the Twins that his decision was made.
The griping is rampant that first base is a power position and it normally is but there have been a number of very good first basemen since 1960 that hit 15 or fewer home runs, knocked in 90 to 111 RBI and hit for a high average. Players like Rod Carew, Keith Hernandez, Mark Grace, and Pete Rose come to mind and they were pretty good players. It will be interesting also to see if moving from a tough position like catcher to an easier position to play like first base actually makes Mauer an even better hitter. Something akin to a pitcher moving from starting to relief and picking up a few MPH on his fastball.
Mauer moving to first base has huge implications on numerous players. I doubt that Justin Morneau entertained thoughts of returning to Minnesota anyway but this move puts an end to that possibility. Chris Colabello might as well call his agent and ask him to pursue a trade. Chris Parmelee instantly became an outfielder and sometimes first baseman. But who is going to replace Mauer behind home plate? The Twins have four catchers on the roster at the present time, Josmil Pinto, Chris Herrmann, Eric Fryer and Ryan Doumit. Each and every one of these guys has some warts, Doumit is a decent hitter but a poor catcher plus he had his own bout with a concussion last season, you have to wonder if he wants to catch any more. Herrmann seems like he has been around for ever but he is only 25 but I don’t think the Twins envision him as a full-time catcher. The 28 year-old Fryer can’t hit a lick and the Twins are the fourth organization that he has played with. That leaves us with Josmil Pinto, 24, who was a September call-up and appeared in 21 games hitting .342 with four home runs. With just 21 big league games under his belt and just 19 AAA games you have to wonder if he is ready to make the jump to the big leagues as a full-time catcher. Mauer only caught 5 games in AAA but Pinto is not Joe Mauer. You also keep hearing that Pinto’s catching skills still need work but you can use that excuse on most any catcher. The Twins could go out and sign a free agent veteran but does a team that lost 96 games two years in a row want to spend money on a veteran catcher? I am not sure I would but there is one catcher that I would sign if the price was right and if he was willing to come back to Minnesota. A.J. Pierzynski would be the one catcher I would be willing to spend a few dollars to sign. Why? Because the man comes to play every day, he can hit, he is a decent catcher that would help the Twins pitching staff, he can teach Pinto what it takes to be a big league catcher and most of all Pierzynski will teach the entire team what it takes to win. The Twins could do a lot worse than signing A.J. for a year or two.
Jason Bartlett
Almost lost in all the Joe Mauer news is the fact that the Twins signed former Twins shortstop Jason Bartlett to a minor league deal. The Twins originally acquired Bartlett from the San Diego Padres in a trade for Brian Buchanan in July 2002. Bartlett played short for the Twins from 2004-2007 but did not earn a full-time gig at short until 2007. Then after the 2007 season then GM Bill Smith sent him, Matt Garza, and Eduardo Morlan to Tampa for Delmon Young, Brendan Harris, and Jason Pridie. Bartlett spent 2008-2010 in Tampa before being traded back to the Padres who had originally drafted and signed him in 2001. Bartlett spent 2011 as the Padres shortstop but injured his knee early in 2012 and missed the remainder of the season and didn’t play at all in 2013. Now that Bartlett feels that his knee is healthy again he wants to play again and the Twins are going to give him that chance.
What I find interesting about the Twins signing the 34 year-old Bartlett is that he only plays short. Bartlett has played ever inning of his big league carer at short except for one inning back in 2004 when he moved over to second base for the Twins. This does not Bartlett much of a candidate for the utility man role. That means that the Twins are bringing Bartlett to push Pedro Florimon for the starting shortstop job. Florimon was rated one of the leagues better fielding shortstops but hitting .221 in 134 games has left a lot to be desired. Every team including the Twins claims to value defense, particularly up the middle, but in reality offense trumps defense. Particularly with a team like the Twins who had trouble scoring runs, you sacrifice some defense to score some runs. If Bartlett is healthy and shows that he can still hit, he could well be the starting shortstop when the Twins open the 2014 season.
Put me down under the confused column. Why would the Twins pick up Erik Komatsu? I have no problem sending Clete Thomas packing as he had 28 at bats in a Twins uniform and he hit .143 and he struck out 16 times, enough said. But why pick up Komatsu who is a Cardinals Rule 5 pick-up in December of 2011? Komatsu grew up in California and graduated from Adolfo Camarillo High School where he was a teammate of Delmon Young. Komatsu was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 8th round in 2008, missed most of 2009 with a concussion and hamstring issues and was traded to the Washington Nationals in July 2011. Komatsu has 348 minor league games under his belt and he hit .302 but he has never played above AA ball. I know he can play all three outfield positions and he has stolen 57 bases in the minors but he also got caught 24 times. It’s not like Komatsu is a corner outfielder with power potential. If the Twins don’t keep Komatsu on the roster they need to offer him back to the Nats. Why would the Twins want a player like this? If you want to replace Thomas why not pick up one of your own minor league players? What kind of message does this send to your own minor leaguers? Do the Twins think so little of their own minor league players that they feel they need to pick up players like Clete Thomas and Erik Komatsu? Put yourself in Ben Revere’s or Rene Tosoni’s shoes, what are they thinking? If the Cardinals thought that Komatsu had potential why didn’t they strike a deal with Washington and keep him? The only reason he made the Cardinals team this year anyway was due to all the injuries the Cardinals outfielders suffered. I would like to know why a player from another organization that hasn’t played AAA ball can play in Minnesota but when it comes to their own players they would prefer they get AAA experience first. Don’t tell me about Parmelee, I know he has no AAA experience but the Twins are hardly playing Parmelee this season anyway. I know this team is playing poorly and need some changes but a fourth/fifth outfielder is hardly the answer here unless………. the Twins know they are going to move some players soon and go into full rebuilding mode sooner than later. If that is the case, then the Twins can keep Komatsu on the roster all season and this move might make some sense. I just don’t know if Terry Ryan and the Twins brain trust knows where they are going, they seem to wander aimlessly so far this season grasping at straws.
Now that the Twins and everyone else have started their exhibition season, we fans once again have box scores to read so we can track how our favorite players are doing. We all know that what a hitter does in spring training games means very little in the grand scheme of things but the fact that a player is playing and getting at bats can mean a lot. The hitters need to shake off the rust and get their timing down. I don’t think it is so much how well the hitter is hitting as it is getting time in the batters box facing live pitching and getting at bats. I am not saying that you should not be concerned if a hitter goes 1 for 25 but at the same time you should not get too excited if a players hits 12 home runs in spring games either.
I think Gardy, the Twins and most of the other baseball teams have fallen into some bad habits over the last few years and maybe go too easy on the veteran players as far as getting their at bats in and have kind of left it up to the individual players to decide when they should play in these exhibition games. How often have you gone to a spring training game and find that the visiting team has only brought 2 or 3 regulars and one of them is probably a pitcher. This is an accepted practice now days and that is a bunch of crap in my humble opinion and it is not good for the fans or the players. Just because a player has been in the big leagues for a few years does not mean that he needs less at bats to get regular season ready. It all comes down to the fact that they don’t want to take those long bus rides, that is a bunch of hoey. Most of the games are within a couple of hours driving distance and yet todays players would rather stay back at camp than take that bus trip and get their 2 or 3 at bats in a game situation. If game situations are not that important, then why are exhibition games played at all, why don’t team just stay home save the money and play intra squad games? I have no problem with a player not playing if he is injured but at the same time that these guys are not playing they say they are healthy and working on preparing for the regular season. If you look back over the spring stats from the last few years you will see that the most at bats that a player usually will get during the spring is around 65 and most of the regular players average between 50-60 at bats in the spring games. Yes, I know injuries come into play, but let’s take a look at what last years at bat counts were for the Twins regulars:
Mauer – appeared in 8 games and had 20 at bats (15 and 45 in 2010)
Morneau – appeared in 11 games and had 33 at bats (17 and 50 in 2010)
Nishioka – appeared in 20 games and had 58 at bats
Casilla – appeared in 22 games and had 50 at bats
Valencia – appeared in 24 games and had 65 at bats
Cuddyer – appeared in 8 games and had 21 at bats
Span – appeared in 21 games and had 62 at bats
Young – appeared in 18 games and had 48 at bats
Kubel – appeared in 22 games and had 53 at bats
I will be interested to watch the games this spring and see how many at bats the Twins starting line-up actually gets. If you want to follow the Twins spring stats, you can find them here.
April 30, 2011 – Damn! I am more upset at watching the Twins lose to Kansas City and Tampa the last few days than the Twins are, what is up with that? After watching the Twins lose again last night at Kansas City, I am convinced the time has come to make some moves. There is an old saying that says that the first thing you need to do when you find yourself in a hole is to STOP DIGGING! This team needs a major shake-up, a wake-up call, but I am not sure exactly what should be done first, there are so many things to do. The Twins need to find a shortstop; Casilla has had his chances time and time again and not delivered, time to move on. I don’t think Plouffe is the answer either but you might as well give him his shot. The bullpen is a mess, no one knows their roles and how long can the Twins baby Nathan? Put him in a 7th or 8th inning role and get on with it. Get some stability in the bullpen again. Liriano will never be the ace pitcher everyone has envisioned, he has the skills but he does not have the demeanor or the ability to use his skills. You have two choices here, turn him into a reliever or trade him at a diminished value. Liriano doesn’t want to be a reliever? Tough, he isn’t pitching like a big league starter right now; he might be just what they need in the bullpen. Put Slowey in the rotation to replace Liriano and give Blackburn a couple more starts to see what he can do. If he can’t get on the straight and narrow, then call up Gibson and plug him in as a starter. As much as I hate to do it, the Twins should play Cuddyer at 2B until Nishioka gets back from his broken leg. An outfield of Delmon, Span, and Kubel works for me or keep Tosoni in the outfield and bat Kubel at DH. If Repko doesn’t start hitting soon I send him down and keep Tosoni as the 4th outfielder. Forget about bringing up Ben Revere, what good is an outfield with both Span and Revere in it? Catching? You just have to make do with Butera and Holm until Mauer can get healthy again. I have to wonder what the real story is with Joe Mauer. Justin Morneau has been just plain abysmal, where is the clutch hitter we used to know? I sure hope that Morneau does not go through with what happened to Jimmie Hall after he was beaned. Valencia? Sure he leads the team in RBI’s but he could be doing so much better. What can’t I shake the feeling that Valencia is developing an attitude and thinks he is a star? Maybe it is all that time he spent hanging around A-rod? Cuddyer? Maybe the pressure of playing for a new contract is getting to him, he has not hit anywhere like he should be hitting, right now he looks like a 7 or 8 hitter at best.
You think I am too harsh here in my thoughts? Come on now, the team is 9-16 after 25 games and 15% of the games are behind them. Only three teams in baseball have won as few as 9 games, the Astros, the Padres and the Twins. I don’t think the Twins are this bad but so far they have done nothing to make you think they can get better in the near future and get back in the Central Division race where they are already 8 games back and the calendar still shows it is April. The team continues to score at a pace of 3 runs a game being our scored 128 to 80, that will not get you many wins with this pitching staff. Right or wrong, Twins management has to be thinking that Joe Vavre might be the easiest scapegoat and send him packing and bring in some fresh blood as a hitting coach. Oh, and let’s not forget our third base coach Steve Liddle in all of this. His approach to sending and stopping runners at 3B hasn’t been much to write home about either.
Ron Gardenhire
When I watch this team play I see no life, no one is having fun out there, it is just a job. At the end of the game they have their heads down as they slowly shuffle down to the clubhouse. Where is the fight in this team? The team plays like they think all they have to do is show up and they will win, the times have changed boys, the times have changed, look at the AL Central standings, it reads Royals, Indians, Tigers, White Sox and the Twins. When is someone going to kick, scream, yell and cuss that this crap has got to stop and get out on the field and lead by example by getting a clutch hit or putting an opposing batter on his butt? Do the Twins have a leader? I have not seen one, but then again Gardy and Bill Smith have not shown much leadership either.
