Tag: Kirby Puckett

Play you best players, let them rest in the off-season

When I go to the ballpark or watch a baseball game on TV I always expect the teams best players to be on the field day in and day out during the baseball season. I am old school in that regard and it is disappointing to me when today’s managers rest players so frequently. I believe that players are paid to play and only an injury that does not physically allow them to play should keep them off the field and in the dugout. 

Justin Morneau

Apparently that is not how the Twins play baseball. Coming to the ballpark and playing every day is not how it is done in Minnesota. The last player to play 160 or more games in a season for the Minnesota Twins was Justin Morneau back in 2008, that was 12 years ago. Morneau put together a 218 consecutive games played streak that started on June 28, 2007 and ended on June 20, 2009.  

Zoilo Versalles

Over the years the Twins have had 21 instances when a player has appeared in 160 games or more. Eleven players have accomplished this feat with Zoilo Versalles leading the pack with four such seasons, Harmon Killebrew and Kirby Puckett each did it three times, Cesar Tovar, Leo Cardenas and Gary Gaetti did it twice while Tony Oliva, Roy Smalley, Paul Molitor, Torii Hunter and Justin Morneau each did it once. This past season the Twins “Ironman” was Jorge Polanco with 153 games played.

Looking at just the American League (due to no DH in the National League) this past season there were four players that appeared in 160 or more games and there have been no instances from 1961-2019 where there hasn’t been at least one players appearing in 160 games in a season, excluding strike shortened seasons.

Going back to 1961 the Twins have the third longest streak in the AL without a player appearing in 160 or more games. The last Cleveland Indians player to play in 160 or more games was Grady Sizemore in 2007 and the longest streak in the AL without a player playing in 160 games belongs to the Los Angeles Angels who had Garret Anderson and Troy Glaus qualify back in 2001. I found it interesting that the Texas Rangers who did not begin play until 1972 and play in the very hot Texas temperatures had 13 players play in 160 or more games between 1972-2019.

Recent Minnesota Twins news events

The first thing we do need to do is to congratulate catcher Mitch Garver and DH Nelson Cruz on being named 2019 American League Silver Slugger winners. Garver and Cruz are the first Minnesota Twins teammates to win Silver Sluggers since Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau in 2008.

The last previous winner of a Silver Slugger award was outfielder Josh Willingham in 2012. Kirby Puckett and Joe Mauer have each won the award five times. Garver and Cruz are the seventh and eighth Minnesota Twins players to be awarded Silver Slugger. 

The Silver Slugger Award is awarded annually to the best offensive player at each position in both the American League and the National League, as determined by the coaches and managers of Major League Baseball. The award was started in 1980. A complete list of Twins award winners can be seen here.

Continue reading Recent Minnesota Twins news events

Eddie Rosario joins Twins select 100 RBI club

Harmon Killebrew

From 1961 when the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Twins through the 2018 season, there have been 33 instances of Twins  hitters having 100 or more RBI in a single season. There have only been 17 players during that time period that were members of this select club and the leader of the pack is Harmon Killebrew who accomplished this feat eight times between 1961-1971 and on three occasions he lead the American League in RBI. Killebrew also holds the Twins team record with 140 RBI in 1969.

Eddie Rosario

This year Eddie Rosario joined that select club and it is the first time since 2012 when Josh Willingham had 110 RBI that a Twins player has crossed the 100 RBI threshold. Nelson Cruz is currently sitting with 97 RBI and Max Kepler is at 90 and they could both end up with 100 or more RBI but the injured Kepler is more of a long shot. The Twins have never had more than two players with 100 RBI in a single season. Eight different AL teams have had as many as four players with 100 or more RBI in a single season since 1961. This is a record breaking season for the Twins, maybe they can add another as they wind down the 2018 season.

Brian Dozier just missed joining the club in 2016 with  99 RBI and Kirby Puckett had 99 in 1987 and again in 1995.

Minnesota Twins with 100 or more RBI in a season

 

How can you not like Luis Arraez

Luis Arraez – Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Since being recalled back to Minnesota on June 18, Luis Arraez is hitting .389 (28-for-72) with four doubles, one home run, four RBI, 10 runs scored, seven walks, a .443 on-base percentage and a .929 OPS. Among all rookies with a minimum of 70 plate appearances since that date, he ranks first in batting average, second in on-base percentage and tied for third in hits. Arraez has 37 hits through his first 30 career games, tied for fourth most in Twins history through 30: Kirby Puckett (42 in 1984), Kennys Vargas (40 in 2014), Chuck Knoblauch (38 in 1991), Danny Santana (37 in 2014).

His AB this past Tuesday was certainly one of the best ever seen by Twins fans. The Twins were down 3-2 to the New York Mets going into the bottom of the ninth against Mets closer Edwin Diaz. Diaz struck out Miguel Sano swinging for out one and then had to face Jonathan Schoop and on his second pitch Schoop grabbed his ribs and was removed from the game. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli brought in Luis Arraez to face the hard-throwing Diaz with an inherited 0-2 count. Arraez fouled off four pitches while working the count full before taking a walk bringing the Target Field crown to its feet. Mitch Garver singled but Jorge Polanco struck out for the second out of the inning. Marwin Gonzalez reached first base loading the bases on an infield single and Nelson Cruz stepped to the plate with the bases loaded but on a full count he popped up to the Mets third baseman in foul territory retiring the Twins and giving the Mets a 3-2 victory. The Arraez AB is an AB that will go down in Twins lore as one of the best ever.

Looks like second base is all his (Arraez) but he may have to wait until next season. Jonathan Schoop is a streaky hitter but I think he deserves to keep his job at second through this year and having a player like Arraez on the bench is a real luxury.

Twins leaders with two or more home runs in a game

No surprise here that it is Harmon Killebrew, right?
Results
Rk Player #Matching
1 Harmon Killebrew 35
2 Justin Morneau 20
3 Tony Oliva 18
4 Kent Hrbek 16
5 Bob Allison 15
6 Kirby Puckett 13
7 Gary Gaetti 13
8 Tom Brunansky 11
9 Don Mincher 9
10 Torii Hunter 9
11 Eddie Rosario 8
12 Corey Koskie 8
13 Jacque Jones 8
14 Jimmie Hall 8
15 Brian Dozier 8
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/1/2019.

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Eddie Rosario is climbing this list pretty quickly.

Twins hitters best seasons by position

Although WAR is not always the best answer on how good a player is/was, I find it useful in doing player comparisons. The B-R tool regards a WAR of 2+ as a starter, 5+ an All-Star and 8+ as MVP worthy. Remember too what I am doing here covers position players only, we will leave the pitchers for another day.

Rod Carew

First Base – Having watched the Minnesota Twins for many a year I was pretty sure what Twins player had the best season in team history and when I put Play Index to work, sure enough it verified for me that Hall of Famer Rod Carew and his 1977 season in which he made a run at hitting .400 at the age of 31 stood at the top. If you missed seeing Carew play ball in Minnesota I feel bad for you because you missed out on seeing one of the best baseball players ever. There have been eleven seasons by Twins players when someone had a WAR of 7.0 or greater, Carew had four of them. 

Continue reading Twins hitters best seasons by position

And he goes down swinging!

Harmon Killebrew

We all know that strikeout rates are up all across baseball for the last few years but today we will look at Minnesota Twins batters and their strikeout rates going back to 1961. We used B-R’s amazing Play Index to find what we were looking for.

The top two all time Twins leader in strikeouts are Harmon Killebrew with 1,314 and Joe Mauer with 1,034. Mauer? What the heck? Longevity can do strange things to numbers and the devil is in the details.

Continue reading And he goes down swinging!

Minnesota Twins Top 10 Right Fielders

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 Kirby Puckett, Bob Allison, Torii Hunter and Cesar Tovar who played right field at different points in their careers. Tony O is the Twins all-time leader in games played in right field.

 

Tony Oliva

 

Results
Rk Player WAR/pos G AB R H HR RBI BA OPS
1 Tony Oliva 43.1 1676 6301 870 1917 220 947 .304 .830
2 Tom Brunansky 16.1 916 3313 450 829 163 469 .250 .782
3 Michael Cuddyer 12.8 1139 4072 606 1106 141 580 .272 .794
4 Matt Lawton 11.3 771 2672 423 739 72 384 .277 .808
5 Max Kepler 6.9 419 1446 199 337 56 190 .233 .730
6 Bobby Darwin 5.3 490 1817 210 467 70 282 .257 .735
7 Dustan Mohr 2.5 261 782 111 202 22 85 .258 .726
8 Bombo Rivera 2.5 257 627 85 167 8 64 .266 .699
9 Hosken Powell 2.3 442 1468 192 383 13 127 .261 .671
10 Roberto Kelly 1.8 173 569 80 175 11 84 .308 .808
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/22/2018.
 

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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

Best seasons by Twins position players & pitchers

As the Twins prepare for their 59th season of play in Minnesota we should look back and be thankful for some great seasons these players have given us in the past. I am using B-R Play Index to come up with the ten greatest seasons by Minnesota Twins players over the years and I am once again using WAR as the tool to do this. I think you might be surprised at some of these.

Continue reading Best seasons by Twins position players & pitchers

Know your Twins numbers

0 – The lowest number worn by a Twins player or field staff is 0 (zero), worn by catcher Junior Ortiz back in 1990 and 1991.

3 – Worn only by Hall of Fame Twins player Harmon Killebrew and retired on May 4, 1975.

4 – Hall of Famer Paul Molitor wore the number 4 as a Twins player in 1996-1998 and as a coach in 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2014 and as a manager from 2015-2018. 

6 – Worn by four former Twins players, Billy Consolo, Ted Lepcio, Jim Snyder, and Vic Wertz before Tony Oliva. Tony-O had his number 6 retired on July 14, 1991.

10 – Nine different Twins players wore the number 10 before manager Tom Kelly strapped it on his back from 1987-2001 as the Twins skipper. The Twins retired TK’s number 10 on September 8, 2012.

13 – Ten different Twins players and field staff have worn unlucky number 13, the first player being Bill Tuttle back in 1961 and the last player being Jason Kubel in 2014.

14 – Worn by four players and a manager before Kent Hrbek took the number 14 to glory. Twins retired the number on August 13, 1995.

25 – Hall of Fame and one time Twins player Jim Thome wore the number 25 on his back in 2010-2011.

28 – Worn by 14 different players including Bert Blyleven. The first player to wear the number 28 was Pedro Ramos and the last was Jesse Crain 2004-2010. Bert’s number 28 was retired on July 16, 2011.

29 – The seventh and final player to wear the number 29 was Rod Carew. The Twins retired this number 29 on July 19, 1987.

32 – MLB Hall of Famer and one time Twins player Dave Winfield wore the number 32 in 1993-1994.

34 – Nine players wore the number 34 before Kirby Puckett put it on in 1984 and no one has worn the number since Kirby took it off for the last time in 1995. The number was retired on May 25, 1997.

38 – MLB Hall of Famer and one time Twins pitcher Steve Carlton wore the number 38 in 1987-1988.

42 – Only three Twins players (Gerry Arrigo, Jim Manning and Buzz Stephen) wore the number 42 before the number was retired across MLB in 1997.

47 – Hall of Fame pitcher and one time Twins pitcher Jack Morris wore the number 47 in 1991.

73 – The lowest number that has never been worn by a Twins player or field staff.

83 – In the Minnesota Twins 58 year history Twins players and field staff have worn 83 different numbers.

99 – The highest number worn by a Twins player was 99 and it was worn by Logan Morrison.

Three players were on the active roster for the Twins but never played in a game for the team: Chuck Schilling, who wore number 18, in 1966; Maurice Ogier, who wore number 17, in 1968; and Dave May, who wore number 20, in 1977. Ogier and May never played in the majors.

Information is courtesy of historian and Minnesota Twins official scorer Stew Thornley’s website