Tag: Doug Mientkiewicz

The Baseball Codes

I recently finished a baseball book called “The Baseball Codes” written by Jason Turbow with Michael Duca. This is not a new book, it was published back in 2011 and I ran across it at a book sale that I attend on a regular basis put on by a group called Friends of the Library of Hennepin County in Plymouth, Minnesota. Anyway, I ran across this hardcover book and bought it for the price of one dollar.

This book should not be confused with a book called “The Code” written by Ross Bernstein back in 2008 that covers the same subject matter that I also have in my library. Oddly enough, “The Code” has an image on the cover of Nolan Ryan fighting with Robin Ventura and the book that I wanted to bring to your attention “The Baseball Codes” starts out by the author saying in his introduction that his most memorable moment of the 1993 season was the Ryan/Ventura fight. A strange coincidence.

Continue reading The Baseball Codes

Minnesota Twins Top 10 First Baseman

Between 1961-2017 there have been 58 players that have played at least 10 games at first base for our Minnesota Twins. However, to qualify for this list which ranks them in Baseball-Reference WAR order the player must have played first base in at least 51% of their games while wearing a Twins uniform. This eliminates players like Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison and of course Joe Mauer who started playing first base later in their careers. Kent Hrbek is the Twins all-time leaders in games at first base with 1,609.

Kent Hrbek – Hrbek’s work in the field was as good as his work with a bat.
Results
Rk Player WAR/pos From To G AB R H HR RBI SB BA OPS
1 Kent Hrbek 38.6 1981 1994 1747 6192 903 1749 293 1086 37 .282 .848
2 Justin Morneau 23.3 2003 2013 1278 4749 669 1318 221 860 5 .278 .832
3 Don Mincher 8.7 1961 1966 590 1511 220 369 90 265 4 .244 .824
4 Doug Mientkiewicz 6.4 1998 2004 643 2147 273 590 43 266 11 .275 .776
5 Rich Reese 3.2 1964 1973 807 1918 238 498 50 241 16 .260 .711
6 Ron Jackson 2.8 1979 1981 344 1154 150 309 23 138 6 .268 .734
7 John Briggs 1.8 1975 1975 87 264 44 61 7 39 6 .231 .731
8 Vic Power 1.7 1962 1964 301 1197 151 333 26 116 10 .278 .703
9 Scott Stahoviak 1.0 1993 1998 344 1019 135 261 27 119 13 .256 .745
10 Pat Bourque 0.1 1974 1974 23 64 5 14 1 8 0 .219 .593
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/21/2018.

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Twins Top 10 Catchers

Twins Top 10 First Baseman

Twins Top 10 Second Basemen

Twins Top 10 Third Baseman

Twins Top 10 Shortstops

Twins Top 10 Right Fielders

Twins Top 10 Center Fielders

Twins Top 10 Left Fielders

Top Twins DH

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Restovich, Mientkiewicz, Garces, Veselic, Nieson, & Boswell

Major league debuts as Minnesota Twins on September 18th.

Michael Restovich (OF) – September 18, 2002 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 2nd round of the 1997 MLB June Amateur Draft. Started as the Twins right fielder hitting seventh in his debut at Comerica Park but ended up going 0 for 4 in the Twins 2-0 shutout of the Tigers.

 

Doug Mientkiewicz

Doug Mientkiewicz (1B) – September 18, 1998 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 5th round of the 1995 amateur draft. O for 3 with a walk in his debut at Tiger Stadium while playing first base and hitting in the eight hole. The Twins lost this game to the Tigers by a 5-4 score in 11 innings.

Rich Garces (P) – September 18, 1990 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent on December 29, 1987. Pitched a scoreless final inning allowing a hit and a walk at the Dome as the Twins pounded the KC Royals 10-4.

 

Bob Veselic

Bob Veselic (P) – September 18, 1980 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (9th pick) of the 1976 amateur draft (January). Debuted at County Stadium with 4 innings of relief allowing 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk while striking out 2 batters but his team was shutout by the Brewers 5-0 in game 2 of a DH for a sweep.

Chuck Nieson (P) – September 18, 1964 – Signed as an amateur free agent in 1962. Big league debut was at Fenway Park as a reliever in a Twins 7-6 loss to the Red Sox. Nieson pitched one scoreless inning striking out two and walking one. Chuck only pitched in one other big league game which was the next day against the Red Sox again and he gave up his only big league hit, a home run to Frank Malzone. Nieson debuted in the same game as Dave Boswell did.

 

Dave Boswell

Dave Boswell (P) – September 18, 1964 – Signed as an amateur free agent in 1963. Debuted as the starting pitcher in the same game that Chuck Nieson did at Fenway Park and his pitching line was 3 innings pitched, 3 runs on 4 hits and 5 walks with 5 strikeouts but at least he avoided getting the “L”. Boswell’s big league career lasted a lot longer than did Mr. Nieson’s.

 

You can check out other Major League Debuts as Twins that I have done by going here.

The Twins trials and tribulations with finding starting pitching

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

Brad Radke
Rk Player GS From To Age G W L IP ERA
1. Brad Radke 377 1995 2006 22-33 378 148 139 2451.0 4.22
2. Bert Blyleven 345 1970 1988 19-37 348 149 138 2566.2 3.28
3. Frank Viola 259 1982 1989 22-29 260 112 93 1772.2 3.86
4. Dave Goltz 215 1972 1979 23-30 247 96 79 1638.0 3.48
5. Scott Baker 159 2005 2011 23-29 163 63 48 958.0 4.15
6. Scott Erickson 153 1990 1995 22-27 155 61 60 979.1 4.22
7. Dave Boswell 150 1964 1970 19-25 187 67 54 1036.1 3.49
8. Nick Blackburn 137 2007 2012 25-30 145 43 55 818.2 4.85
9. Allan Anderson 128 1986 1991 22-27 148 49 54 818.2 4.11
10. Pete Redfern 111 1976 1982 21-27 170 42 48 714.0 4.54
11. Roger Erickson 106 1978 1982 21-25 114 31 47 712.0 4.10
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/20/2016.

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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.

Continue reading The Twins trials and tribulations with finding starting pitching

Should the Twins President, GM and Manager keep their jobs?

When the Minnesota Twins hired Hall of Famer Paul Molitor to manage the Twins starting with the 2015 season they had to know that they were swimming up-stream and that the baseball gods were against them. The list of “modern” MLB Hall of Fame players that tried their luck as managers is relatively short and none of them have turned out to be Hall of Fame managers.

Frank Robinson

Robinson, Frank ExposFrank Robinson may have been the best of the skippers that had Hall of Fame on his resume. Robinson managed four different teams (Indians, Giants, Orioles, Expos/Nationals) over 16 seasons from 1975-2006. Robinson took over the Orioles manager duties in 1988 after they had an 0-6 record and he managed them to 15 more consecutive losses before they won their first game of the season after an 0-21 start. The next season (1989) Frank Robinson was selected as the AL Manager of the year after leading his team to a second place finish and a 87-75 record. Although he may have been the best manager of the Hall of Fame group, he finished his managing career with zero playoff appearances. His career mark as a manager was 1,065-1,176 (.475).

Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra managed for all or parts of five season with two New York clubs, the Yankees and the Mets. Although his career managing record was 484-444, he did take both the Mets and Yankees to a pennant.

Bob Lemon

Bob Lemon managed for all or parts of eight seasons between 1970-1982 and had a lifetime managing record of 430 and 403 with the Royals, White Sox  and Yankees. He does have two pennants and a World Series championship on his resume but in both of these cases he took over the job during the season and never managed a team to a pennant from start to finish.

Ted Williams

Ted Williams managed the Washington Senators from 1969 through 1972 when he called it quits. He led the Senators to a 86-76 record in his first season (1969) as the Senators skipper but in 1970 his team was 70-92, in 1971 the team was 63-96, and in 1972 he was 54-100. Do you see a trend here? His career mark as a manager was 273-364 (.429) and zero play-off appearances.

Ryne Sandberg

Ryne Sandberg took over as skipper of the Phillies 44 games into the 2013 season and left after a 26-48 start to the 2015 season. Sandberg had a 119-159 mark as a skipper during his Phillies tenure.

Paul Molitor

Paul Molitor
Paul Molitor

Paul Molitor was hired to be the Twins manager prior to the 2015 season and todate his record as a manager stands at 94-113 (.454). Molitor took over a team that had not won more games than it lost since 2010 and in 2015 he led them to a 83-79 record. At first glance does not seem that bad over all, but, there is always that but.  In May of 2015 the Twins were 20-7, if you subtract that month Molitor managed the team to a 63-72 record. This year Molitor’s record is 15-35, the team is playing at a lousy .300 winning percentage but even that starts to look good when you look at their road record of 7-20 (.259). You want to see more? The Twins are 0-6 against the White Sox, 0-6 against the Tigers, and 1-5 against the Royals but on the positive side they are 4-2 against the Indians. A record of 5-19 in your own division does not cut it, it is totally unacceptable even if you are playing just for fun and the Twins are certainly not playing for the fun of it.

Continue reading Should the Twins President, GM and Manager keep their jobs?

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

Santana suspension shock to Twins and to Twins fans

I was out on the back fields of the CenturyLink Sports Complex on Friday afternoon watching the Twins AA and AAA teams take on the Red Sox AA and AAA teams. Both games started about 1 PM but I was particularly interested in the AA Chattanooga game and was surprised to see Mark Hamburger start the game for Doug Mientkiewicz ‘s gang. I was disappointed that Miguel Sano was not playing but Byron Buxton, Adam Walker, and Max Kepler all played. Once of the hardest hit balls in that game was a bullet line drive over the head of the Red Sox minor leaguer center fielder off the bat of Max Kepler who was DHing in this game. I had asked Max earlier how his arm was doing and he said it was good but obviously management is still not ready to play him in the field, at least they didn’t on this particular day. Kepler has a beautiful level swing and line drives just shoot off his bat, with his size if he applied some lift to the ball he would hit a bunch of home runs.

The crowd watching the games was pretty small, the players not playing in either game and sitting in the stands watching the games out numbered the fans by about five to one. As normal GM Terry Ryan, with stop watch in hand was standing between the two fields and keeping an eye on both games. I decided to give the poor guy a break today and not bother him with my questions and comments. About 2 or 2:30 PM I looked over where Ryan had been standing and he was nowhere to be seen. That seemed very unusual to me because Ryan always seems to be out there when games are under way on the back fields, he seldom leaves before the games end. After a couple of hours in the hot sun I decided I had seen enough and headed home myself.

2015 Minnesota Twins Photo DayAround 5:30 PM I sat down on my PC to look at some of the pictures I had taken at the ballpark when I was shocked to see a report that Twins pitcher Ervin Santana had been suspended for 80 games for PED use. There was no chatter about this at the ballpark earlier and news like this would have spread like a wild-fire. Shortly there after Press Releases were flying in every direction. MLB had their PR announcing the suspension, the Twins had their PR statement on the suspension, The Twins sent out another PR on the recall of Aaron Thompson and of course Santana had his own PR through the players union which actually seemed to have a time stamp even before the official MLB PR regarding his suspension. I don’t know how the process works for these kinds of deals but MLB must give the player and team a heads up on what is coming in an upcoming PR and then at the agreed upon time everyone hits the send button on their press releases.

This suspension is a killer for everyone, Santana himself, the Twins team, and of course the fans. Santana loses about $6.5 million, the team loses a good starting pitcher, and the fans lose even more hope in a team that wasn’t expected to be in the playoff hunt but had hopes of at least making a run at .500 baseball.

Now as the new season is about to begin and fans all across Twins Territory prepare to watch their new team strut their stuff in 2015 this suspension strikes clear out of the blue and Twins haters come firing out of the woodwork to blame Ervin Santana and the Twins organization. I am not saying Santana is innocent here but who knows for sure if he took this on purpose or if he indeed did take it without knowing he did so. I haven’t heard any whispers about Santana and PED’s previously so I am willing to give the man the benefit of the doubt here. Still it hurts to lose a pitcher of his caliber for half the season.

How can you blame the Twins organization for this? They obviously would not have gone after Santana and paid him the money they did if they had any idea that something like this would happen. But yet it is another ding on team that has been barely treading water since 2010. The Twins have had their share of bad luck, injuries, and bad decisions by management. Twins fans are grasping for anything that will show them that there is reason for hope but it seems like when the Twins take a step forward they also take a step back and it is hard to get anywhere at that pace. The ballclub is mired in this muck and their only hope is their cadre of young future stars that are banging on the clubhouse door. The Twins have spent the last year or two bragging about the potential of their farm system and most everyone in baseball agrees that the Twins have some young stars in the wings but yet the Twins keep signing mediocre players to play at Target field and keep sending the young guns to Rochester and Chattanooga.

It is like a poker game, you can only bluff so long before you have to put your cards on the table and show us what you got. I think it is a bunch of BS that you can bring up a young player too soon and traumatize him to the point that he will never be the player that they could have been with another year or two in the minors. The guys have played baseball their entire lives and they have had their share of butt-kickings, losses, and lessons learned, another humiliation or two at the big league level won’t kill them. What is the old saying? What doesn’t kill you helps to build your character. Football and basketball have no problems bringing kids straight to the big leagues when warranted, why can’t baseball do more of this? I think it is time for the Twins to bring their young studs to the table and let Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario, Max Kepler, Alex Meyer, Trevor May, and Jose Berrios play some ball at Target Field. Give us Twins fans a reason to come to the ballpark and see something new instead of the same old wait until next year crap. The Twins can’t spend $250 million dollars on player salaries so they have to look for new and creative ways to be competitive, maybe the old tried and proven older methods needs to be tossed out on their ear and some new radical ideas need to be tried.  What have you got to lose? Loyalty and experience are great but if you have young players that appear to be better than what you have on the big league club, why not give the young guns a chance to prove they are what you think and say they are.

So Mr. Ryan, do yourself and all of us Twins fans a favor and bring up these young stars sooner than later because every hit they get at Chattanooga or Rochester is one less hit they will get in Minnesota. If these guys show us they can’t pitch or hit at the big league level then we are ahead of the game, we know something that we didn’t know before. Potential is worth nothing unless it can be realized. Taking Mike Pelfrey from the bullpen and putting him in the starting rotation again isn’t exactly trying something new, how can you expect something new and better when you keep doing the same old things?

 

Twins career OBP and OPS leaders

Twins Career OBP Leaders

Joe Mauer

Rk Player OBP PA From To G AB H HR BB IBB SO BA OPS
1 Joe Mauer .401 5578 2004 2014 1298 4833 1540 109 676 115 660 .319 .860
2 Rod Carew .393 6980 1967 1978 1635 6235 2085 74 613 99 716 .334 .841
3 Chuck Knoblauch .391 4573 1991 1997 1013 3939 1197 43 513 19 453 .304 .807
4 Chili Davis .385 1163 1991 1992 291 978 276 41 168 24 193 .282 .862
5 Harmon Killebrew .383 8018 1961 1974 1939 6593 1713 475 1321 152 1314 .260 .901
6 Matt Lawton .379 3150 1995 2001 771 2672 739 72 408 31 335 .277 .808
7 Steve Braun .376 2830 1971 1976 751 2429 689 35 356 24 285 .284 .757
8 Shane Mack .375 2434 1990 1994 633 2161 668 67 200 5 381 .309 .854
9 Corey Koskie .373 3257 1998 2004 816 2788 781 101 385 39 647 .280 .836
10 Doug Mientkiewicz .367 2505 1998 2004 643 2147 590 43 300 23 308 .275 .776
11 Kent Hrbek .367 7137 1981 1994 1747 6192 1749 293 838 110 798 .282 .848
12 Lyman Bostock .366 1577 1975 1977 379 1436 456 18 112 12 138 .318 .812
13 Paul Molitor .362 1885 1996 1998 422 1700 530 23 146 23 186 .312 .794
14 Bob Allison .361 4643 1961 1970 1236 3926 999 211 641 25 842 .254 .840
15 Kirby Puckett .360 7831 1984 1995 1783 7244 2304 207 450 85 965 .318 .837
16 Lenny Green .359 1754 1961 1964 485 1514 406 27 204 5 113 .268 .742
17 Denard Span .357 2671 2008 2012 589 2354 669 23 254 6 321 .284 .746
18 Luis Castillo .357 1036 2006 2007 227 933 279 3 85 0 86 .299 .720
19 Earl Battey .356 3161 1961 1967 853 2762 768 76 328 35 315 .278 .765
20 Shannon Stewart .354 1523 2003 2006 333 1373 404 29 120 7 172 .294 .772
21 Larry Hisle .354 2764 1973 1977 662 2437 697 87 251 19 478 .286 .811
22 Josh Willingham .353 1364 2012 2014 324 1132 263 61 184 9 347 .232 .799
23 Tony Oliva .353 6880 1962 1976 1676 6301 1917 220 448 131 645 .304 .830
24 Roy Smalley .350 4676 1976 1987 1148 3997 1046 110 549 31 606 .262 .750
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/13/2015.

To qualify for this Twins career OBP leaders list the player had to have a minimum of 1,000 plate appearances as a Minnesota Twin and have a OBP equal to or greater than .350 . The players above made the cut, anyone on this list surprise you? Joe Mauer is the Twins career OBP leader and yet he still takes a lot of abuse for his hitting. I think we need to appreciate Joe Mauer for the hitter he is. Just missing the cut, Lew Ford

 

Twins Career OPS Leaders

Harmon Killebrew

Rk Player OPS PA From To G AB H 2B 3B HR BB BA OBP SLG
1 Harmon Killebrew .901 8018 1961 1974 1939 6593 1713 232 21 475 1321 .260 .383 .518
2 Chili Davis .862 1163 1991 1992 291 978 276 61 3 41 168 .282 .385 .476
3 Joe Mauer .860 5578 2004 2014 1298 4833 1540 309 22 109 676 .319 .401 .459
4 Shane Mack .854 2434 1990 1994 633 2161 668 119 24 67 200 .309 .375 .479
5 Kent Hrbek .848 7137 1981 1994 1747 6192 1749 312 18 293 838 .282 .367 .481
6 Rod Carew .841 6980 1967 1978 1635 6235 2085 305 90 74 613 .334 .393 .448
7 Bob Allison .840 4643 1961 1970 1236 3926 999 167 41 211 641 .254 .361 .479
8 Kirby Puckett .837 7831 1984 1995 1783 7244 2304 414 57 207 450 .318 .360 .477
9 Corey Koskie .836 3257 1998 2004 816 2788 781 180 13 101 385 .280 .373 .463
10 Justin Morneau .832 5350 2003 2013 1278 4749 1318 289 16 221 501 .278 .347 .485
11 Tony Oliva .830 6880 1962 1976 1676 6301 1917 329 48 220 448 .304 .353 .476
12 Don Mincher .824 1762 1961 1966 590 1511 369 73 9 90 220 .244 .341 .483
13 Jimmie Hall .815 2102 1963 1966 573 1885 507 73 16 98 191 .269 .334 .481
14 Lyman Bostock .812 1577 1975 1977 379 1436 456 78 26 18 112 .318 .366 .446
15 Larry Hisle .811 2764 1973 1977 662 2437 697 109 23 87 251 .286 .354 .457
16 David Ortiz .809 1693 1997 2002 455 1477 393 108 3 58 186 .266 .348 .461
17 Matt Lawton .808 3150 1995 2001 771 2672 739 163 13 72 408 .277 .379 .428
18 Chuck Knoblauch .807 4573 1991 1997 1013 3939 1197 210 51 43 513 .304 .391 .416
19 Josh Willingham .799 1364 2012 2014 324 1132 263 55 2 61 184 .232 .353 .446
20 Marty Cordova .799 2620 1995 1999 628 2322 643 139 14 79 233 .277 .348 .451
21 Michael Cuddyer .794 4555 2001 2011 1139 4072 1106 239 35 141 411 .272 .343 .451
22 Paul Molitor .794 1885 1996 1998 422 1700 530 102 17 23 146 .312 .362 .432
23 Gary Ward .794 1681 1979 1983 417 1543 439 80 20 51 115 .285 .333 .461
24 Torii Hunter .793 4894 1997 2007 1234 4492 1218 259 26 192 319 .271 .324 .469
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/13/2015.

To qualify for this Twins career OPS leaders list the player had to have a minimum of 1,000 plate appearances as a Minnesota Twin and have a OPS equal to or greater than .790 . AJ Pierzynski just missed the cut at .788 . Number three on this list is Joe Mauer and we continue to bash him for not hitting more home runs.

Twins hitters with best BB per PA %

Today we take a look through Minnesota Twins history and see what hitters were most likely to draw a walk during their Twins career. To make this list the player had to play in at least 162 games in a Twins uniform. IBB are included.

Harmon Killebrew

NAME BB PA % OF TIME WALKED PER PA GAMES
1. Harmon Killebrew 1321 8018 16.47% 1939
2. Jim Thome 95 582 16.32% 179
3. Chili Davis 168 291 14.45% 291
4. Bob Allison 641 4643 13.81% 1236
5. Bobby Kielty 102 750 13.60% 224
6. Josh Willingham 184 1364 13.49% 324
7. Craig Kusick 187 1398 13.38% 473
8. Matt Lawton 408 3150 12.95% 771
9. Steve Braun 356 2830 12.58% 751
10. Don Mincher 220 1762 12.49% 590
11. Glenn Borgmann 177 1423 12.44% 442
12. Joe Mauer 676 5578 12.12% 1298
13. Doug Mientkiewicz 300 2505 11.98% 643
14. Corey Koskie 385 3257 11.82% 816
15. Bobby Mitchell 82 694 11.82% 183
16. Kent Hrbek 838 7137 11.74% 1747
17. Roy Smalley 549 4676 11.74% 1148
18. Lenny Green 204 1754 11.63% 485
19. Butch Wynegar 358 3188 11.23% 794
20. Chuck Knoblauch 513 4573 11.22% 1013

Interactive Whiteboards by PolyVision

I noted earlier that IBB were included in the table above, so here are a couple of trivia questions for you.

1. Four Twins drew 100 or more IBB during their Twins career, can you name them?

2. I played in 618 Twins games and had 1,876 plate appearances but no opposing pitcher ever saw fit to give me an intentional free pass, who am I?

Twins and post season play

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.

 Hitting in Post Season (had at least one PA)

Rk Player #Matching PA ? AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP OPS SB
1 Dan Gladden 24 115 104 17 29 6 3 1 15 9 12 .279 .348 .771 7
2 Kirby Puckett 24 109 97 16 30 3 2 5 15 8 17 .309 .361 .897 3
3 Kent Hrbek 24 103 91 10 14 1 0 3 12 11 12 .154 .252 .516 0
4 Greg Gagne 24 96 89 12 19 5 0 4 10 5 22 .213 .271 .675 0
5 Torii Hunter 21 88 80 15 24 8 1 3 8 5 11 .300 .337 .875 2
6 Jacque Jones 18 79 76 6 15 5 0 2 5 1 23 .197 .215 .557 0
7 Michael Cuddyer 21 78 74 5 25 2 1 2 8 4 18 .338 .372 .845 0
8 Corey Koskie 18 78 67 8 15 4 1 1 9 7 21 .224 .321 .679 0
9 Cristian Guzman 18 75 67 9 16 3 0 1 2 5 12 .239 .301 .630 3
10 Doug Mientkiewicz 14 56 53 4 12 1 0 2 6 3 5 .226 .268 .626 0
11 Chuck Knoblauch 12 55 46 8 15 3 0 0 5 7 5 .326 .407 .799 6
12 Harmon Killebrew 13 54 40 6 10 1 0 3 6 14 10 .250 .444 .944 0
13 Tony Oliva 13 53 51 7 16 5 0 3 5 2 10 .314 .340 .928 1
14 Gary Gaetti 12 53 47 9 13 3 1 3 9 3 8 .277 .340 .914 2
15 A.J. Pierzynski 14 50 45 6 14 0 1 2 7 4 4 .311 .360 .849 0
16 Tom Brunansky 12 50 42 10 12 4 0 2 11 8 7 .286 .400 .924 1
17 Shane Mack 11 44 41 4 9 2 1 0 4 2 11 .220 .250 .567 2
18 Luis Rivas 14 43 38 3 6 1 0 0 1 2 9 .158 .195 .379 0
19 Tim Laudner 12 43 36 5 8 2 0 1 6 7 9 .222 .349 .710 0
20 Chili Davis 11 42 35 7 9 2 0 2 6 7 11 .257 .381 .867 1
21 Brian Harper 11 41 39 3 13 4 0 0 2 2 4 .333 .366 .802 0
22 Joe Mauer 9 39 35 1 10 1 0 0 1 4 7 .286 .359 .673 0
23 Shannon Stewart 8 38 35 1 10 2 0 0 2 2 6 .286 .316 .659 1
24 Steve Lombardozzi 11 37 32 5 11 1 0 1 5 4 4 .344 .417 .885 0
25 Jason Kubel 8 32 29 0 2 1 0 0 0 3 13 .069 .156 .260 0
26 Bob Allison 10 30 26 3 2 1 0 1 3 3 10 .077 .167 .397 1
27 Zoilo Versalles 7 30 28 3 8 1 1 1 4 2 7 .286 .333 .833 1
28 David Ortiz 9 29 29 0 8 3 0 0 4 0 10 .276 .276 .655 0
29 Justin Morneau 7 29 29 4 9 3 0 2 4 0 3 .310 .310 .931 0
30 Mike Pagliarulo 11 28 26 5 8 1 0 2 5 1 4 .308 .333 .910 0
31 Matt LeCroy 10 28 26 2 7 0 0 0 1 2 9 .269 .321 .591 0
32 Denard Span 6 28 28 1 10 1 0 0 1 0 2 .357 .357 .750 1
33 Delmon Young 6 27 24 2 5 1 1 0 0 2 6 .208 .296 .630 1
34 Cesar Tovar 6 27 26 2 6 0 1 0 1 1 2 .231 .259 .567 1
35 Randy Bush 11 26 22 5 5 1 1 0 4 3 4 .227 .308 .671 3
36 Frank Quilici 9 26 22 2 4 2 0 0 1 4 4 .182 .308 .580 0
37 Leo Cardenas 6 26 24 1 4 0 1 0 1 1 8 .167 .200 .450 0
38 Don Mincher 7 25 23 3 3 0 0 1 1 2 7 .130 .200 .461 0
39 Earl Battey 7 25 25 1 3 0 1 0 2 0 5 .120 .120 .320 0
40 Nick Punto 6 25 21 0 6 1 0 0 1 3 2 .286 .375 .708 0
41 Don Baylor 7 21 18 3 7 0 0 1 4 1 1 .389 .476 1.032 0
42 Joe Nossek 6 21 20 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .200 .200 .400 0
43 Rich Reese 5 21 19 0 3 0 0 0 2 2 2 .158 .238 .396 0
44 Scott Leius 9 20 18 2 5 0 0 1 2 2 3 .278 .350 .794 0
45 Rod Carew 5 17 16 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 .063 .118 .180 0
46 George Mitterwald 4 16 15 2 5 1 0 0 2 1 5 .333 .375 .775 0
47 Dustan Mohr 7 15 14 4 7 2 0 0 0 1 4 .500 .533 1.176 1
48 Orlando Cabrera 3 15 13 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 3 .154 .267 .421 1
49 Lew Ford 4 14 12 1 3 1 0 0 2 0 3 .250 .357 .690 1
50 Luis Castillo 3 14 11 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 3 .273 .429 .701 0
51 Jim Thome 3 13 10 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 3 .100 .308 .408 0
52 Orlando Hudson 3 13 12 2 4 0 0 1 2 0 2 .333 .333 .917 0
53 Gene Larkin 12 12 11 1 3 1 0 0 2 1 1 .273 .333 .697 0
54 Rondell White 3 12 12 1 5 1 0 1 2 0 0 .417 .417 1.167 0
55 Brendan Harris 3 12 12 1 3 0 1 0 1 0 3 .250 .250 .667 0
56 Al Newman 6 11 9 0 2 0 1 0 1 1 1 .222 .300 .744 0
57 Sandy Valdespino 5 11 11 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 .273 .273 .636 0
58 Danny Valencia 3 11 9 1 2 1 0 0 2 1 3 .222 .273 .606 0
59 Jason Bartlett 3 11 11 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 2 .273 .273 .636 0
60 Henry Blanco 4 10 8 1 2 0 0 1 2 0 2 .250 .222 .847 0
61 J.J. Hardy 3 10 10 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 .100 .100 .300 0
62 Danny Thompson 3 9 8 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 .125 .222 .472 0
63 Mudcat Grant 3 9 8 3 2 1 0 1 3 0 1 .250 .250 1.000 0
64 Brant Alyea 3 9 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 .000 .222 .222 0
65 Bobby Kielty 7 8 7 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 .000 .125 .125 0
66 Junior Ortiz 4 8 8 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .125 .125 .250 0
67 Jason Tyner 2 8 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 .000 .250 .250 1
68 Jimmie Hall 2 8 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 .143 .250 .393 0
69 Jim Kaat 4 7 7 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 6 .143 .143 .286 0
70 Rick Renick 3 6 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .167 .167 .333 0
71 Denny Hocking 3 6 6 0 3 1 0 0 1 0 1 .500 .500 1.167 0
72 Ted Uhlaender 2 6 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167 .167 .333 0
73 Matt Tolbert 2 6 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .200 .333 .533 0
74 Carlos Gomez 1 6 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000 .333 .333 0
75 John Roseboro 2 5 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .200 .200 .400 0
76 Jim Holt 2 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 0
77 Paul Sorrento 4 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 .000 .250 .250 0
78 Roy Smalley 4 4 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 .500 .750 1.750 0
79 Jim Perry 2 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
80 Paul Ratliff 1 4 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .250 .250 .500 0
81 Dave Boswell 1 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 .000 .000 .000 0
82 Rich Rollins 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 .333 .333 0
83 Jose Offerman 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
84 Tom Prince 2 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 0
85 Phil Nevin 1 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
86 Jose Morales 1 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 0
87 Sal Butera 1 3 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .667 .667 1.333 0
88 Charlie Manuel 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000 .500 .500 0
89 Les Straker 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 0
90 Jack Morris 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
91 Jarvis Brown 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
92 Pat Borders 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
93 Bert Blyleven 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
94 Jerry Zimmerman 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
95 Dick Woodson 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 2.000 0
96 Stan Williams 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 0
97 Frank Viola 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
98 Kevin Tapani 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
99 Mike Ryan 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
100 Ron Perranoski 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
101 Camilo Pascual 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
102 Graig Nettles 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 2.000 0
103 Tom Hall 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
104 Scott Erickson 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
105 Mark Davidson 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
106 Rick Aguilera 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/17/2014.

.

Pitching in Post Season (faced at least one batter)

Rk Player #Matching W L W-L% ERA GS CG SHO SV IP ? H ER HR BB SO WHIP
1 Jack Morris 5 4 0 1.000 2.23 5 1 1 0 36.1 35 9 1 10 22 1.24
2 Brad Radke 6 2 3 .400 3.60 6 0 0 0 35.0 37 14 6 8 17 1.29
3 Johan Santana 11 1 3 .250 3.97 5 0 0 0 34.0 35 15 2 10 32 1.32
4 Frank Viola 5 3 1 .750 4.31 5 0 0 0 31.1 31 15 3 8 25 1.24
5 Bert Blyleven 5 3 1 .750 3.18 4 0 0 0 28.1 27 10 3 5 23 1.13
6 Mudcat Grant 3 2 1 .667 2.74 3 2 0 0 23.0 22 7 3 2 12 1.04
7 Kevin Tapani 4 1 2 .333 6.04 4 0 0 0 22.1 29 15 1 5 16 1.52
8 Jim Perry 5 0 1 .000 6.75 2 0 0 0 17.1 21 13 6 6 10 1.56
9 Joe Mays 3 1 1 .500 4.76 3 0 0 0 17.0 21 9 4 2 4 1.35
10 Jim Kaat 4 1 3 .250 4.41 4 1 0 0 16.1 24 8 1 4 7 1.71
11 Eric Milton 3 1 0 1.000 1.65 2 0 0 0 16.1 13 3 2 3 9 0.98
12 Scott Erickson 3 0 0 4.91 3 0 0 0 14.2 13 8 4 9 7 1.50
13 Dave Boswell 2 0 1 .000 1.35 1 0 0 0 13.1 10 2 0 9 7 1.43
14 Carl Pavano 2 0 2 .000 4.15 2 0 0 0 13.0 15 6 3 1 12 1.23
15 Carl Willis 7 0 0 2.92 0 0 0 0 12.1 8 4 2 2 5 0.81
16 Kyle Lohse 5 0 2 .000 3.00 1 0 0 0 12.0 9 4 1 2 14 0.92
17 Les Straker 3 0 0 6.94 3 0 0 0 11.2 12 9 1 7 7 1.63
18 Rick Reed 3 0 2 .000 8.18 2 0 0 0 11.0 15 10 6 2 8 1.55
19 Juan Berenguer 7 0 1 .000 5.23 0 0 0 1 10.1 11 6 1 3 7 1.35
20 Jeff Reardon 8 1 1 .500 2.70 0 0 0 3 10.0 12 3 1 3 8 1.50
21 J.C. Romero 12 0 1 .000 5.59 0 0 0 0 9.2 10 6 1 6 7 1.66
22 Juan Rincon 8 0 0 5.19 0 0 0 0 8.2 6 5 1 6 9 1.38
23 Dan Schatzeder 5 1 0 1.000 3.12 0 0 0 0 8.2 6 3 0 3 8 1.04
24 Rick Aguilera 7 1 1 .500 1.08 0 0 0 5 8.1 7 1 0 1 6 0.96
25 Brian Duensing 2 0 2 .000 11.25 2 0 0 0 8.0 14 10 2 2 4 2.00
26 Joe Nathan 6 0 1 .000 4.70 0 0 0 1 7.2 8 4 1 6 9 1.83
27 Francisco Liriano 2 0 0 5.87 1 0 0 0 7.2 7 5 1 4 8 1.43
28 Ron Perranoski 5 0 1 .000 10.29 0 0 0 0 7.0 13 8 0 1 5 2.00
29 LaTroy Hawkins 10 1 0 1.000 6.75 0 0 0 0 6.2 9 5 0 1 11 1.50
30 Mark Guthrie 6 1 1 .500 1.35 0 0 0 0 6.2 3 1 0 4 3 1.05
31 Tom Hall 3 0 1 .000 6.00 1 0 0 0 6.0 6 4 1 4 6 1.67
32 Stan Williams 2 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 6.0 2 0 0 1 2 0.50
33 Boof Bonser 1 0 0 3.00 1 0 0 0 6.0 7 2 0 1 3 1.33
34 David West 4 1 0 1.000 6.35 0 0 0 0 5.2 3 4 1 8 4 1.94
35 Nick Blackburn 1 0 0 1.59 1 0 0 0 5.2 3 1 0 2 3 0.88
36 Al Worthington 3 0 0 1.69 0 0 0 0 5.1 5 1 0 2 3 1.31
37 Eddie Guardado 5 0 0 9.00 0 0 0 3 5.0 10 5 2 2 5 2.40
38 Carlos Silva 1 0 1 .000 10.80 1 0 0 0 5.0 10 6 1 0 1 2.00
39 Camilo Pascual 1 0 1 .000 5.40 1 0 0 0 5.0 8 3 0 1 0 1.80
40 Matt Guerrier 5 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 4.2 1 0 0 1 4 0.43
41 Steve Bedrosian 5 0 0 3.86 0 0 0 0 4.2 6 2 0 2 4 1.71
42 Jim Merritt 2 0 0 2.70 0 0 0 0 3.1 2 1 0 0 1 0.60
43 Jon Rauch 5 0 0 3.00 0 0 0 0 3.0 1 1 0 2 1 1.00
44 Terry Mulholland 1 0 0 3.00 0 0 0 0 3.0 3 1 1 0 0 1.00
45 Dick Woodson 2 0 0 10.12 0 0 0 0 2.2 5 3 0 4 2 3.38
46 Johnny Klippstein 2 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 2.2 2 0 0 2 3 1.50
47 Brian Fuentes 2 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 2.2 1 0 0 0 2 0.38
48 Grant Balfour 2 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 2.2 0 0 0 0 2 0.00
49 Terry Leach 2 0 0 3.86 0 0 0 0 2.1 2 1 0 0 2 0.86
50 Scott Baker 1 0 0 3.86 0 0 0 0 2.1 3 1 1 0 2 1.29
51 Jose Mijares 5 0 1 .000 4.50 0 0 0 0 2.0 1 1 1 2 0 1.50
52 Joe Niekro 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 2.0 1 0 0 1 1 1.00
53 George Frazier 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 2.0 1 0 0 0 2 0.50
54 Dean Chance 1 0 0 13.50 0 0 0 0 2.0 4 3 1 0 2 2.00
55 Michael Jackson 4 0 0 16.20 0 0 0 0 1.2 6 3 0 2 2 4.80
56 Jesse Crain 4 0 1 .000 16.20 0 0 0 0 1.2 7 3 2 1 1 4.80
57 Ron Mahay 3 0 0 5.40 0 0 0 0 1.2 0 1 0 1 2 0.60
58 Keith Atherton 3 0 0 5.40 0 0 0 0 1.2 1 1 0 1 0 1.20
59 Bob Miller 1 0 1 .000 5.40 1 0 0 0 1.2 5 1 0 0 0 3.00
60 Bill Zepp 2 0 0 6.75 0 0 0 0 1.1 2 1 1 2 2 3.00
61 Kenny Rogers 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 1.1 1 0 0 1 3 1.50
62 Tony Fiore 1 0 0 20.25 0 0 0 0 1.1 4 3 0 2 0 4.50
63 Bob Wells 2 0 0 9.00 0 0 0 0 1.0 2 1 0 0 2 2.00
64 Dennys Reyes 2 0 0 9.00 0 0 0 0 1.0 1 1 1 2 0 3.00
65 Pat Neshek 2 0 1 .000 9.00 0 0 0 0 1.0 1 1 0 0 1 1.00
66 Bill Pleis 1 0 0 9.00 0 0 0 0 1.0 2 1 1 0 0 2.00
67 Matt Capps 1 0 0 9.00 0 0 0 0 1.0 2 1 0 0 0 2.00
68 Luis Tiant 1 0 0 13.50 0 0 0 0 0.2 1 1 1 0 0 1.50
69 Joe Grzenda 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
70 Glen Perkins 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 0.1 2 0 0 0 0 6.00
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/17/2014.

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.