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
One of the more frequent questions I get pertains to switch-hitters that played for the Minnesota Twins so I thought I would put together the entire list of Twins players both position players and pitchers that swung from both sides of the plate. In this case I ranked then in order of home runs hit. The list includes Twins pitchers as well as position players.
You can make a strong case that Mickey Mantle was the best switch-hitter in the AL as he hit .300 (with 500 or more PA’s) or more nine time and Victor Martinez who remains active today has hit. 300 eight times as has Bernie Williams. Roberto Alomar did it seven times.
The Twins have not had as much luck with their switch-hitters, the only Twin to hit .300 (.302) or better with at least 500 plate appearances was Cristian Guzman in 2001. It kind of makes you wonder if switch hitting is worth the effort. From 1901 to 1960 the Washington Senators never had a switch-hitter that hit .300 or better with at least 500 PA’s.
6/24/1955 – Harmon Killebrew hit his first major league homer, off Billy Hoeft at Griffith Stadium, but the Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators 18-7. Here is what dcbaseballhistory.com wrote about this event. “The visiting Tigers pounce to a 13-0 lead in the top of the 5th, when 3B Harmon Killebrew boots a grounder. In the bottom of the frame, Killebrew would bat and work a 2-2 count against Detroit southpaw Billy Hoeft. Tigers catcher Frank House tells Killebrew that Hoeft’s next offering would be a fastball. Hoeft delivered that fastball and Killebrew rocketed the ball out of the park for his first major league home run. Killebrew would later say that, of all the home runs he hit at Griffith Stadium, the home run off Hoeft was the longest he ever hit in Griffith.”
6/24/1968 – In a one game series, the Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 1-0 in County Stadium in Milwaukee in a game called after 5 innings due to rain. The reason the game was played in Milwaukee was that in 1968, Bud Selig, a former minority owner of the Milwaukee Braves who had been unable to stop the relocation of his team three years earlier, contracted with the Allyn brothers who owned the White Sox to host nine home games (one against each of the other American League clubs) at Milwaukee County Stadium as part of an attempt to attract an expansion franchise to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Frank Jackson of The Hardball Times did a nice blog earlier this year on the Milwaukee White Sox that is well worth your read.
6/24/1977 – Ralph Garr of the White Sox homered off Minnesota’s Paul Thormodsgard in Minneapolis. It came in the third inning with two men on and no one out. Jim Essian, the runner on first, thought the ball might be caught by the Twins’ right fielder, Dan Ford, so he retreated towards first base. Garr was watching the flight of the ball and passed Essian after rounding the bag. He was credited with a single and two runs batted in.
6/24/1984 – 2B Tim Teufel gives the Twins a 3-2 win over the White Sox with a three-run inside-the-park walk off home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth at the Metrodome.
6/24/1989 – Twins outfielder John Moses is asked to pitch at Fenway Park in an 11-2 loss to the Red Sox. John threw one scoreless inning giving up a walk but only faced 3 batters with the team turned a double play behind him. John is the fourth Twins position player to pitch and this is the fifth occurrence of a Twins position player pitching for the Twins.
In baseball, a switch-hitter is a batter that bats either from the right side or the left side depending on if the pitcher is right or left-handed. Most curveballs break away from batters hitting from the same side as the opposing pitcher making such pitches often harder to hit than those from the other side. History tells us that most right-handed batters hit better against lefty pitchers and left-handed batters hit better against right-handers. This so-called platoon benefit is why managers use pinch hitters and LOOGY’s and why some players want to become switch-hitters.
Switch-hitting at its best
Switch-hitters have been around for ever it seems and yet according to sources that I have researched, only about 6% of baseball batters have been switch-hitters. You have to wonder if switch-hitting is such an advantage, why haven’t more of baseball best hitters been switch-hitters? The best career batting average for a switch-hitter is .316 by Frankie Frisch and he currently ranks 71st all-time. Some of the best switch-hitters in our era have been Chipper Jones at .306 and Pete Rose at .303. Detroit Tigers DH Victor Martinez has a career average of .302 making him the highest currently active switch-hitter. Switch-hitters have been around for a long time and there have been some pretty good ones over the years, in addition to the players I just mentioned, you have to add players like Mickey Mantle, Eddie Murray, Roberto Alomar, Bernie Williams, George Davis, Lance Berkman, Tim Raines and Chili Davis to the list of switch-hitting greats.
Switch-hitting and the rules
A question often asked is can a batter switch for right to left or left to right during an at bat. The only rule that I can find that seemingly applies is 6.06(b) which states that “A batter is out for illegal action when he steps from one batter’s box to the other while the pitcher is in position ready to pitch.” Based on that, it appears you can switch from one batters box to the other as often as you want as long as you do it before the pitcher gets in his pitching position.
In the Twins 53 years of existence the team has had 62 players that were switch-hitters but not all of them actually batted and we will touch more on that later. The Twins very first switch-hitter was actually a pitcher, Pedro Ramos. Ramos pitched and batted (1 for 4 with 2 RBI) in the Twins very first game when Ramos and the Twins shut out the New York Yankees 6-0 on April 11, 1961 at Yankee Stadium. The first Twins switch-hitting position player to appear in a game was SS Marty Martinez when he had an at bat against the Yankees at Met Stadium on May 30, 1962 in game 2 of a doubleheader. Martinez actually appeared in 3 earlier games as a Twins but was used strictly as a pinch-runner by manager Sam Mele. It wasn’t until 1976 however; that the Twins actually had a regular position player switch-hitting and that year they had two, rookie catcher Butch Wynegar and SS Roy Smalley. The Twins are playing their 53rd season and there has only been one year, 1973 that they have not had a switch-hitter step into the batters box wearing a Twins uniform. On the other hand, they had nine switch-hitters (Cristian Guzman was the only starter) at one time or another on their 1999 team that finished 63-97.
Twins switch-hitting pitchers
Looking at the Twins 62 switch-hitters, eleven of them were pitchers and claimed to be switch-hitters but only Pedro Ramos, Jim Perry, Dan Serafini, JC Romero, and Joe Mays actually set foot in the batters box. The other six, Stan Perzanowski, Darrell Jackson, Pete Filson, Jason Ryan, Pat Neshek, and Eric Hacker were switch-hitters only on the back of their baseball cards because they never batted in a Twins game. Jim Perry actually hit five home runs as a Twin.
Home runs from each side of the plate club
The Twins switch-hitter with the most home runs is Roy Smalley and he hit 163 career home runs and 110 of them were when he was a Minnesota Twin. The “home runs from each side of the plate” club is relatively exclusive but three of the members were Twins. Roy Smalley accomplished that rare feat twice, once against the Boston Red Sox at the Metrodome on May 30, 1986 and once earlier in his career as a New York Yankee in 1982. Chili Davis became the second Twin to join the club when he did it against the Royals on October 2, 1992. Ryan Doumit became the third Twin to do so when too joined the exclusive fraternity against the Royals on July 22, 2012. Chili Davis hit a home run from each side of the plate 11 times in his illustrious 19 year career. Just for comparisons sake, Mickey Mantle did it on 10 occasions.
One oddity that seems to stand out to me is how few of the switch-hitters employed by the Twins over the years actually threw left-handed. If you exclude the 11 switch-hitting pitchers from the list you are left with 51 switch-hitters and only one of the 51 threw left-handed, the other fifty were right-handed. Kind of strange. The lone left-handed position player was John Moses. But keep in mind that John Moses an outfielder by trade, actually pitched in 3 games for the Twins and it gets even stranger.
Twins best switch-hitters
So let’s take a look at the Twins top switch-hitters, there is no good way to rank them so I will list here all the Twins switch-hitters that have 1,000 or more plate appearances in a Twins uniform. The chart also shows positions played, games played, home runs and batting average. All the numbers on this chart are their Twins career numbers. Many of these players played for other teams but those numbers are not included here, I am only interested in their numbers as Minnesota Twins for this story.
Some interesting numbers and players on this chart, about half the players were starters and half were utility players. No surprise that Smalley is the leader in home runs or that Chili Davis is second on that list but finding that Cristian Guzman is number 3 in the Twins switch-hitter home run list really surprised me.
A bonus question for you, this Twins switch-hitter had a career .425 batting average albeit in just 43 plate appearances, do you know who he is?
June 24th has been an interesting day in Minnesota Twins history over the years, here are some of the events that occurred on this day.
1955– Harmon Killebrew hit his first major league homer, off lefty Billy Hoeft at Griffith Stadium, but the Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators 18-7. Killebrew would later say that, of all the home runs he hit at Griffith Stadium, the home run off Hoeft was the longest he ever hit in Griffith. Twenty years later, on September 18, 1975 Harmon, wearing a KC Royals uniform hit his last career home run, a blast to left field off Twins hurler Eddie Bane in a Royals 4-3 victory at Met Stadium over the home town Minnesota Twins. In his career, Killebrew smashed 246 home runs at Met Stadium.
1968 – In a one game series, the Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 1-0 in County Stadium in Milwaukee in a game called after 5 innings due to rain. The reason the game was played in Milwaukee was that in 1968, Bud Selig, a former minority owner of the Milwaukee Braves who had been unable to stop the relocation of his team three years earlier, contracted with the Allyn brothers who owned the White Sox to host nine home games (one against each of the other American League clubs) at Milwaukee County Stadium as part of an attempt to attract an expansion franchise to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1977 – Ralph Garr of the White Sox homered off Minnesota’s Paul Thormodsgard in Minneapolis. It came in the third inning with two men on and no one out. Jim Essian, the runner on first, thought the ball might be caught by the Twins’ right fielder, Dan Ford, so he retreated towards first base. Garr was watching the flight of the ball and passed Essian after rounding the bag. He was credited with a single and two runs batted in.
1984 – 2B Tim Teufel gives the Twins a 3-2 win over the White Sox with a three-run inside-the-park walk off home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth at the Metrodome.
1989 – Twins outfielder John Moses is asked to pitch at Fenway Park in an 11-2 loss to the Red Sox. John threw one scoreless inning giving up a walk but only faced 3 batters with the team turned a double play behind him. John is the fourth Twins position player to pitch and this is the fifth occurrence of a Twins position player pitching for the Twins.
Don’t forget to check out This Day in Twins History each and every day.
1961 – Outfielder Dan Dobbek hits the Twins first grand slam home run at Metropolitan Stadium. The unlucky hurler is Kansas City Athletic pitcher Ed Rakow. 1961 was Dobbek’s first and last season in Minnesota and he only had 125 at bats as a Twin hitting .168 with 4 home runs. In January of 1962 the Twins traded Dobbek to Cincinnati for catcher Jerry Zimmerman.
1990 – Twins outfielder John Moses makes his second appearance as a Twins pitcher in Fenway Park in a 13-1 loss to the Red Sox. John pitched one inning allowing two hits and one run. This is the sixth time that a Twins position player has turned pitcher. Red Sox RF anf former Twins player Tom Brunansky has a huge day going 5 for 5 with a double and 2 home runs, scoring three times and knocking in 7 more.
Bobby Korecky
2008 – The Twins beat the Texas Rangers 7-6 in 12 innings at the Metrodome. After blowing a lead, the Twins scored one in the bottom of the 9th inning to tie the score at 6 apiece. The Twins give up their DH in the 10th inning and Twins reliever Bobby Korecky is forced to hit in the bottom of the 11th and delivers a single in what turns out to be the only time that a Twins pitcher has had a base hit in the Metrodome. The Twins end up scoring on a walk-off double by Howie Clark in the 12th inning. Korecky also gets the victory, his first major league win.
Friday, May 28, 2010 was kind of an odd day in baseball in the fact that two different games had position players pitching, utility player Bill Hall pitched a scoreless inning for the Red Sox in their 12-5 loss to the Royals in Fenway and catcher Kevin Cash pitched the final inning for the Astros in their 15-6 loss to the Reds in Cincinnati, giving up one run. In Minnesota we have to look all the way back to 1990 to see a position player (John Moses) take the mound. A total of four Twins position players have toed the pitching rubber for Minnesota and they have pitched in a total of 7 games. One of these pitching appearances was unusual in that Cesar Tovar started the game on the mound and played each position in sequence as the game progressed. Let’s take a look at how these guys fared.
Julio Becquer (first baseman) – September 10, 1961 at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City in a 13-1 loss to the A’s. Julio pitched 1.1 innings giving up 4 hits, 1 walk and 3 runs. Click here for the box score. Julio also pitched in a game as a Washington Senator in 1960.
2. Cesar Tovar (infielder/outfielder) – September 22, 1968 at Met Stadium in a 2-1 victory over the Kansas City A’s. Cesar started the game and pitched one scoreless inning giving up a walk and striking out future Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson in the process. Cesar went on to play C-1B-2B-SS-3B-LF-CF-RF. This was the only occurrence of a Twins position player pitching at Met Stadium. This is the only instance where a Twins position player pitched and the Twins won the game. Click here to see the box score.
3.Dan Gladden (outfielder) – June 27, 1988 at Anaheim Stadium in a 16-7 Twins defeat. Dan pitched a scoreless 8th inning facing just three batters and throwing 9 pitches. Click here to see the box score.
4. Dan Gladden (outfielder) – May 7, 1989 at Cleveland Stadium in a 12-1 loss to the Indians. Gladden pitched one inning giving up a walk, two hits and one run. Click here for the box score.
5. John Moses (outfielder) – June 24, 1989 at Fenway Park in an 11-2 loss to the Red Sox. John pitched one scoreless inning giving up a walk but only faced 3 batters with the team turned a double play behind him. Click here for the box score.
6. John Moses (outfielder) – May 19, 1990 at Fenway Park in a 13-1 loss to the Red Sox. John pitched one inning allowing two hits and one run. Click here for the box score.
7. John Moses (outfielder) – July 31, 1990 at the Metrodome in a 13-2 loss to the California Angels. John pitched one inning walking 2, giving up 3 hits and 2 runs. Click here for the box score. This was the only occurrence of a Twins position player pitching in the Metrodome. This pitching appearance makes Moses the all-time Minnesota Twins leader in games and innings pitched by a position player with a total of 3 innings in 3 games. To this point Moses is also the only position player in Twins history to appear on the mound twice in the same season but that record does not hold.
8.Michael Cuddyer (outfielder) – July 25, 2011 at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington with the Twins trailing the Texas Rangers 20-3 and having burned through five pitchers, Cuddyer was brought in to pitch the bottom of the 8th inning. Cuddy threw 16 pitches and retired the Rangers on 2 hits and a walk but kept Texas from scoring. Click here for the box score.
9. Drew Butera catcher) – Trailing the Brewers 16-2 on May 20, 2012 catcher Drew Butera was asked to pitch for the Twins in the 8th inning. Butera kept the Brewers from scoring while throwing 17 pitches and only allowed one walk and in the process struck out former Twins outfielder Carlos Gomez. The Twins ended up losing the game 16-4. Butera is only the second Twins position player to pitch and strike out an opposing batter. Click here for the box score. Drew’s father Sal Butera who was also a Twins catcher in 1980-1982 and again in 1987 also took the mound but not when he was with the Twins. Sal Butera pitched a scoreless inning for the Montreal Expos in 1985 and another scoreless inning for the Cincinnati Reds in 1986.
10. On August 5, 2013, the same day that MLB announced that 13 players were suspended for a total of 811 days for violating drug protocols, the Twins found themselves down 13-0 to the Royals at Kauffman in game one of a three game series. In the eighth inning Twins skipper Gardenhire decided to bring in utility infielder Jamey Carroll to pitch. Carroll threw just 9 pitches, seven for strikes and retired the side with no hits, walks, or runs. Carroll became only the seventh position player to pitch for the Twins but it was the 10th time this kind of situation has occurred. John Moses pitched 3 times and Dan Gladden did it twice. Box score.
11. On August 8, 2015 Shane Robinson (outfielder) became the first Twins position player to pitch since Jamey Carroll did it on August 5, 2013 at Kansas City. Robinson came in with the bases loaded and faced four batters – he walked the first batter and retired the next three hitters the last out was a strikeout on Robinson’s infamous knuckle all. Box Score.
Minnesota Twins infielder Eduardo Escobar throws against the Houston Astros in the ninth inning after he was called to pitch in a baseball game Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016 in Minneapolis. The Astros won 15-7. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
12. On August 11, 2016 infielder Eduardo Escobar moved from shortstop to the mound at Target Field in the ninth inning with the Twins trailing the Houston Astros 15-6 and allowed just one hit but no runs as he retired the Astros on 16 pitches. Escobar was the sixth pitcher used by the Twins in the first game of a doubleheader. Box Score.
Catcher Chris Gimenez pitching to the Tigers on April 23, 2017 at Target Field.
13. On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, April 23, 2017 The Twins were losing 13-4 to the Detroit Tigers in the top of the ninth inning at Target Field and Twins reliever Ryan Pressly just could not get the final out so manager Paul Molitor turned to catcher/utility man Chris Gimenez to finish it off. Gimenez took the mound and retired Andrew Romine on four pitches. Over the course of a nine-year career and before Sunday, the backup catcher had taken the hill three times. Catcher Chris Gimenez kept it ‘slow, slow, and slower’ in his fourth career pitching appearance. Some of Gimenez’s pitches might have registered on Gameday as knuckleballs, but keeping the pitches simple was merely part of his strategy. “I just try to locate about 68 to 79 mph and go from there. Let them supply the power. They were all heaters. Just slow and slower. That’s my game. Box score
14. With the Twins being pounded 11-1 at Target Field on Saturday, May 6, 2017 Twins skipper Paul Molitor was once again forced to bring catcher Chris Gimenez to the mound with one out and runners at first and second. Gimenez retired Xander Bogaerts and Nick Benintendi for the final two out of the inning on just four pitches. Box score
15. The Astros showed no mercy and routed the Twins on May 31, 2017, 17–6, completing a three-game sweep in which they scored 40 runs (16, 7 and 17). That is a franchise record for runs scored in a regular-season series of any length. Twins C/1B Chris Gimenez was called upon (moving from 1B to the mound) for the third time this season to pitch and the season is just ending its second month. Gimenez pitched the ninth inning but gave up two runs on a two-run home run to Marwin Gonzalez. Box Score
16. Manager Paul Molitor calls on catcher/1B Chris Gimenez again as the Twins get thrashed at Safeco Field 12-3 and Gimenez delivers a scoreless inning. Box Score 17. Twins fans get to see their back-up catcher Chris Gimenez make his fifth pitching appearance of the 2017 season and fourth appearance in front of the home town crowd as Gimenez pitches 1 inning and gives up 2 runs on 3 hits in a Twins 14-3 loss to the Mariners. Box Score
18. Make that six pitching appearances in 2017 for C/1B Chris Gimenez. Gimenez pitched 1 inning allowing 2 hits but he kept the White Sox off the board which is relatively rare for Twins relievers this season. Box Score
Ryan LaMarre pitching on April 23, 2018 in Yankee Stadium. Credit: Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports
19. The visiting Twins get pummeled by the New York Yankees 14-1 forcing manager Paul Molitor to use outfielder Ryan LaMarre as a relief pitcher. LaMarre went 2/3 of an inning facing three batters, one of which, Tyler Austin hit a home run. LaMarre need just five pitches to get his two outs. This is the second pitching appearance for Ryan who also appeared as a pitcher for the Red Sox in July 2016. Box Score
20. Catcher Willians Astudillo became the Twins fifth pitcher of the day at Target Field when he took the mound on July 14, 2018 to pitch the ninth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays with the Twins trailing 14-6. It took 35 pitches but Astudillo finally retired the Rays but not until they scored five times on five hits, two of which were home runs. Box Score
21. Catcher Mitch Garver made his maiden big league pitching appearance on August 6, 2018 at Progressive Field when he toed the rubber in the eighth inning of a 10-0 shellacking of the Twins by the Cleveland Indians. Garver was the Twins third pitcher of the day and the only one to keep Cleveland off the scoreboard. Garver threw 14 pitches in one scoreless inning allowing just one hit, no walks and not striking out anyone. Box Score
22. On September 2, 2018 shortly after being acquired from the Cubs, manager Paul Molitor again calls on catcher Chris Gimenez to take the mound. With the Twins down 13-2 at Globe Life Park in Arlington to the Texas Rangers. Gimenez has a rough go of it allowing five runs on six hits including two home runs in one inning of pitching in which he throws 29 pitches. Gimenez however; bats in the top of the ninth inning and hits a two-run home run making him the first Twins pitcher to hit a home run since Jim Kaat hit one in 1972. Box Score
23. Twins utility player Willians Astudillo gets a chance to redeem himself on April 16, 2021 when he gets to toe the pitching rubber for the second time in his career. In his last pitching appearance back in 2018 he got roughed up by the Tampa Bay Rays for five runs on five hits but today at Angel Stadium of Anaheim Astudillo was on his game. Throwing just seven pitches Astudillo retired the Angels 1-2-3 in the ninth inning. Box Score
24. La Tortuga (Willians Astudillo) is called on for mound mop-up duty again, his third career pitching appearance on May 17, 2021 at Target Field to help out the Twins who are being pounded by the league leading Chicago White Sox 16-3. Astudillo gives up a home run to rookie Yermin Mercedes on a 3-0 count with two out in the ninth inning to make the final score 16-4. It was the only hit that Astudillo gave up but Twins players were not happy with Mercedes. After the game White Sox skipper Tony LaRussa criticized Mercedes for breaking an unwritten rule and said that it would be taken care of in-house. The next day Twins reliever Tyler Duffey enters the game in the seventh inning to face Yermin Mercedes and his first pitch sails behind Mercedes and the umpires quickly confer and send Duffey to the showers. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli quickly follows Duffey to the clubhouse after he too is ejected. Box Score
25. The Twins are down 14-5 to the Kansas City Royals after eight innings at Kauffman Stadium so Willians Astudillo is asked to slide over to the mound from his third base duties and help out the Twins pitching staff that has already burned through four pitchers after starter Matt Shoemaker retires just one batter out of the ten he faced. Astudillo needs just 12 pitches to retire the side even though he walked a batter and another reached base on an error. This is the third time La Tortuga has taken the mound in 2021 (and it is early June) for the Twins and that kind of tells you how the Twins 2021 season is going. Box Score
26. The Twins are at Fenway Park and the Twins are trailing 12-2 when manager Baldelli calls on Willians Astudillo to take the mound for the fourth time this season. Astudillo throws 20 pitches during his scoreless inning on the mound, he did walk one batter. Video of his pitching appearance can be seen on August 26 OTD in Twins history. Astudillo hit a home run earlier in the game accounting for all the Twins runs. Box Score
27. Trailing the Houston Astros 11-3 after eight innings at Target Field on May 11, 2022 Twins skipper Rocco Baldelli bring in UT player Nick Gordon to make his maiden appearance on the mound. Gordon pitches one scoreless inning (16 pitches) giving up just one harmless single. Box Score
28. Nick Gordon returns to the mound for the second time this season in a White Sox rout over the Twins at Target Field on July 14, 2022. This time Gordon gets roughed up a bit in his one inning (19 pitches) on the mound as he gives up three runs on a walk and four hits one of which was a three-run home run. Box Score
29. Gordon takes the mound for his third career appearance on July 29th against the San Diego Padres and pitches one scoreless inning in San Diego in a 10-1 blowout loss. Box Score
30. On 9/3/22 it is the fourth time that Rocco Baldelli calls on Nick Gordon to do a bit of pitching but this time Gordon lasts just 2/3 of an inning as he gives up 6 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks to the White Sox in Chicago and has to be relieved by Jermaine Palacios, another position player. This is the first time that the Twins have ever used two position players to pitch in one game. Box Score
31. Jermaine Palacios takes the mound to relieve position player Nick Gordon on 9/3/22 and strikes out Adam Haseley for the final out in a 10-0 shellacking by the White Sox in Chicago. Box Score
32. Rocco calls on Jermaine Palacios to toe the rubber one more time on 9/19/22 and Palacios again gets the final out in relief of closer Jorge Lopez as the Guardians whip the Twins 11-4. VideoBox Score
33. Rocco Baldelli calls on Willie Castro to get the final out at Fenway Park in a 11-5 blowout loss to the Boston Red Sox on April 20, 2023. Castro came through by retiring Enrique Hernandez the only batter he faced on a ground out to second. Castro becomes the sixteen different Twins position player to take the bump for Minnesota. Box Score
34. MLB blowout rules were applicable when the Twins were getting blown out at Target Field by the Boston Red Sox on June 20, 2023 so Twins manager called for utility man Willie Castro to make his second appearance on a mound in 2023. Castro peaked out at 54 MPH pitching a scoreless ninth inning allowing just one hit and getting the side out on just nine pitches. Box Score
35. Twins outfielder Jordan Luplow, who had joined Minnesota just one week earlier after being claimed off waivers was asked to take the mound by Rocco Baldelli at Philly on August 11, 2023 in a 13-2 blowout loss. You can watch him pitch here. This is not Luplow first rodeo, it is actually his third pitching appearance and they have all been with different teams. One of his appearances was against the Twins and he gave up a home run to Ron Jeffers. On this day he also gave up a home run to Johan Rojas, his first big league long ball. Luplow threw 11 pitches in his one inning giving up one hit, hit a batter and two runs. Box Score
36. The Twins vs Guardians game on September 4, 2023 was an odd one for sure. In the sixth inning with the Twins up 11-1 and two runners on with no outs at Progressive Field the Guardians brought in catcher David Fry to pitch. Fry ended up pitching the last four innings throwing 64 pitches in a game in which he gave up 10 hits and seven runs. But there is more to the story, the Twins brought in utility man Willi Castro from third base to pitch the ninth inning with a 20-3 lead. Castro in his third pitching appearance of 2023 for the Twins gives up 3 runs on 2 hits. Castro has never had a strikeout in his three pitching appearances. But what is unique about this appearance is that Castro become the first Twins position player to pitch in a game in which the Twins win.
37. Twins utility player Willi Castro slides over from playing shortstop to the mound to get the final out in the Twins 8-2 loss at Comerica Park against the Detroit Tigers. It is Castro’s fourth career pitching appearance.
Seventeen different Twins position players have now pitched on 37 different occasions for the Minnesota Twins.
The Twins have not had as much luck with their switch-hitters, the only Twin to hit .300 (.302) or better with at least 500 plate appearances was Cristian Guzman in 2001. It kind of makes you wonder if switch hitting is worth the effort. From 1901 to 1960 the Washington Senators never had a switch-hitter that hit .300 or better with at least 500 PA’s.
