Tag: Max Kepler

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

 

Max Kepler The New European Home Run King

Single-Season European Home Run King Max Kepler
Max Kepler

With his 33rd home run, a two-run shot last night, Max Kepler now owns the MLB single-season record for most homers by a European-born player. The Berlin, Germany native surpassed Glasgow, Scotland-born Bobby Thomson, who hit 32 home runs for the 1951 New York Giants. Thomson’s final homer in ’51 was the legendary “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” to clinch the NL pennant.

 

Bobby Thomson

Thomson played in the big leagues for 15 seasons from 1946-1960 for the New York Giants, Milwaukee Braves, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles and 246 career home runs. Kepler has 89 career home runs but has played in 1,247 fewer games than Thomson.

 

Nelson Cruz on a record breaking roll!

Nelson Cruz

Stolen from today’s MN Twins GameNotes. This is just crazy, the man is 39 years old. We are lucky to have watched him this year.

ALL ABOUT THE BOOMSTICK: Historic night in Nellyville:

Nelson Cruz has 30 home runs on the season, tied for second most in the AL.

He now has 30 for the sixth straight season. Active players with 30+ homer streaks include Albert Pujols (12) from 2001-12, Edwin Encarnacion (8) from 2012-19, and Miguel Cabrera (7) from 2007-13.

Cruz’s 30 home runs pass Chili Davis‘ 1991 total (29) for the most by a DH in club history, (MLB all-time record is 54 by David Ortiz in 2006).

Current .652 slugging percentage is the highest in club history (next: Killebrew, .606 in 1961).

Three homers last night marked the 12th time in club history:  Bob Allison (’63), Harmon Killebrew (’63), Tony Oliva (’73), Justin Morneau (’07), Max Kepler (’16), Brian Dozier (’16), Eddie Rosario (’17), Byron Buxton (’17), Eddie Rosario (’18), Max Kepler (’19), Nelson Cruz (’19) and Nelson Cruz (’19).

Becomes the 23rd player in baseball history with multiple three-homer games in a season (first in Twins history). The first in MLB history with multiple after turning 39.

After Cruz’s three-homer game July 25 at CWS, he joins Doug DeCinces (8/3 & 8, 1982) and Johnny Mize (7/13 & 20, 1938) as the only players to homer three times within 10 days.

Leads baseball in home runs since ASG (14), next players, Max Kepler and Mancini have nine. Also leads baseball in RBI since ASG (26)

Joins Jason Kubel (2009) as the only two players in club history with four five+ RBI games in a season.

Thanks for the show Boomstick!

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.
 

.

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

Should Max Kepler be traded for pitching?

Max Kepler

I am not one to usually comment about trade rumors but this one peaked my interests because it involves one of the Twins starting outfielders, Max Kepler. Rumor has it that the Tampa Rays have stated they are interested in Kepler in any trades for Rays pitchers like Chris Archer or Jake Odorizzi, both right-handed.

I have been a Kepler fan since the Twins signed him back in 2009. Kepler made his big league debut as a September call-up in 2015 and appeared in just three games but became a regular in 2016. Kepler, who will turn 25 in a few days has appeared in 263 games, mostly in right field and hit 36 home runs and posted a .239 average but has sometimes struggled against lefties. Defensively Kepler is above average and plays in center now and then. I am a bit baffled so far by Kepler’s average because this guy should be hitting closer to .300 but he has changed his swing working to get more elevation, I am not sure this is the right approach for Kepler who has a great level swing and will hit around 20 home runs just because he is that strong. Kepler has a history of needing a bit of time to adapt to new leagues and he could have a break-out year in 2018, then again he might not and his value will tank.

The Twins tasted the playoffs in 2018, maybe a little earlier than they should have and now everyone thinks they are well on their way but the Twins have serious starting pitching deficiencies and so far have done nothing to fix that problem and just yesterday they announced that Ervin Santana had surgery on his pitching hand and will be out 10-12 weeks. That means that by the time he comes back and gets in pitching shape the season will be 1/3 over.

Odorizzi

So what do you do? Possibly mortgage the future by trading Kepler for Chris Archer or Jake Odorizzi? Odorizzi who will turn 28 in late March has pitched in the big leagues for the last six seasons and was originally a Brewers first round selection in 2008 but was traded to the Royals in the Zack Greinke trade and then traded to Tampa in the Wil Myers trade. Odorizzi made $4,1 million last year and will not be a free agent until 2020. Odorizzi strikes out 8.2 batters per nine innings and would be a great fit in the Twins rotation.

Archer

Archer is 29 and also has pitched in the big leagues for six seasons, all for Tampa and his history is similar to Odorizzi but he was a fifth round pick by the Indians and traded to the Cubs who then traded him to Tampa in the Matt Garza deal in 2011. Archer is a two-time All-Star who strikes out batter at a clip of 9.7 per nine innings. He is signed through 2020 for about $14 million with team options for 2021 and 2022 for $20 million. 

If I am going to trade for one of these guys and I have a choice, I take Chris Archer but I would love to see either one of these guys in the Twins rotation and as much as I like Kepler I would trade him for either one of these pitchers straight up. Why? Because the Twins have a history of finding and developing hitters, pitchers not so much. It is about time the Twins pushed some of their chips to the middle of the table and take some calculated risks. You have a known weakness, you at least have to try to fix it. Sitting back and waiting is not the answer. It is time for Derek Falvey and Thad Levine to show us their hand.

Twins walk-off wins – 1961-2017

Twins walk-off King
Harmon Killebrew

In the past 57 seasons the Minnesota Twins have walked off their opponents 403 times. Kirby Puckett leads the Minnesota Twins in career walk-off’s wins by delivering the winning run in some manner 11 times, it might have been on a hit, walk, HBP, error or a sacrifice. Second on the list is Harmon Killebrew. I guess that is why these guys are Hall of Fame players.

The Twins have walked off their opponent with a single a total of 196 times. Rod Carew  did it seven times and is the leader in this category and it has been done five times by Alexi Casilla, Harmon Killebrew, Brian Harper, Larry Hisle, Kent Hrbek and Jacque Jones.

The Twins have hit 108 walk-off home runs and Justin Morneau leads the pack here with five and is followed Gary Gaetti, Harmon Killebrew, Kirby Puckett, Tony Oliva and Kent Hrbek with four each. One was an inside the park job by Tim Teufel.

The Twins have walked off their opponents with doubles 35 times and Kirby Puckett did it 3 times, the following players each did it twice, Cristian Guzman, Rich Reese, Tony Oliva, Eduardo Escobar, Shannon Stewart, Glenn Borgmann  and Tom Brunansky.

The Sacrifice Fly has led to 25 Twins walk-off wins with only Zoilo Versalles and Cristian Guzman doing it more than once.

The Twins have walked-off opponents 12 times on an opposing team error.

The Twins have walked-off their opponent 11 times when they drew a bases-loaded walk. 

The Twins have had six walk-off triples and no one has more than one.

The Twins have celebrated a walk-off win six times after a simple ground out.

The Twins have two walk-off wins via getting hit by a pitch (Paul Molitor and Max Kepler).

The first player to deliver a walk-off win was Zoilo Versalles and the most recent to do it is Byron Buxton.

 

Twins clinch their first ever wild card spot

Joe Mauer and Max Kepler celebrate. Courtesy of Dustin Morse

After losing at Cleveland to the Indians 4-2, the Twins retreated to the clubhouse to watch the Angels play the White Sox in Chicago because an Angels loss and the Twins could celebrate their first playoff appearance since 2010 which seems, oh so long ago. The Mighty Whities came through for Minnesota with a extra-inning walk-off 6-4 win as the Angels fifth reliever of the night Blake Parker gave up a two-run walk-off home run to outfielder Nick Delmonico. The corks were popped and the Twins celebrated getting into the 2017 MLB playoffs.

What I find interesting is that while the 2017 Minnesota Twins fought for a wild card that no one mentioned that the Minnesota Twins have never been a wild card participant. All of their previous eleven forays into the playoffs have been as winners of their division.

Their appearance in this years playoffs will be extra special because they will be the first team in MLB history to lose 100 games (103 to be specific) in the previous season and see playoff action the next year. Even stranger when you consider that the Twins did this with a new Chief of Baseball Operations, a new GM but a returning manager in Paul Molitor, not many managers survive to return after losing 103 games.

The team has four games to play, one more this afternoon in Cleveland against the first place Indians and then they fly home to finish off the season with three home games against the Detroit Tigers.

The Twins current record stands at 83-75 with four games to play. It will be interesting to see how the Twins do in their last four games as the World Champion Twins won just 85 games in 1987.

So congratulations to the Minnesota Twins and good luck in the playoffs! A victory over those hated New York Yankees in Gotham (assuming the Red Sox hold on to win the division) would be OH SO SWEET! In a one game series anything can happen.

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Kepler

Major League debuts wearing a Twins uniform on September 27th.

Max Kepler

Max Kepler (OF) – September 27, 2015 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent on July 11, 2009. Kepler debuted at Comerica Park as a pinch-hitter for Torii Hunter and struck out in his only PA in this Twins 7-1 taming of the Tigers.

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

According to ELIAS – Max Kepler

Kepler trades bruise for win

Max Kepler

The Twins beat the White Sox on yesterday afternoon when Juan Minaya hit Max Kepler with a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning. It was the second time since the Twins franchise moved to Minnesota in 1961 that they won a game on a walk-off hit-by-pitch. The other walk-off hit-by-pitch for the Twins was when their current manager, Paul Molitor, was hit by Jeff Montgomery of the Royals in the bottom of the tenth inning on May 1, 1996.

It was the first walk-off hit-by-pitch in the major leagues this season.

According to ELIAS – Byron Buxton

Buxton hits 3 HRs, adds some dash

 

Byron Buxton

Byron Buxton went 4-for-5 with three home runs and five RBIs in the Twins’ 7–2 win at Toronto yesterday. It was the 64th time since 2012 that a player hit as many as three homers in one game. But Buxton was only the second of those players to steal a base in the game. The other was Yoenis Cespedes for the Mets in 2015.

Buxton joins his outfield compatriots Max Kepler (8/1/2016 in Cleveland) and Eddie Rosario (6/13/2017 versus Seattle at Target Field) with three home runs in a single Twins game.

UPDATE 8/27 –  Byron Buxton has been named the AL Player of the Week for the period
ending August 27th. Buxton hit .333 (11-for-33) with nine runs scored, a double, five home
runs, 10 RBI and two stolen bases over eight games played to earn his first career AL Player of the Week Award. Among his AL counterparts, Byron finished first in home runs; tied for first in total bases (27); tied for second in extra-base hits (6) and RBI; fourth in slugging percentage (.818); and tied for fourth in hits and stolen bases. 

This is Minnesota’s third weekly award this season, becoming the second AL Club to do so (also Baltimore Orioles), other Twins to win this season include Miguel Sanó (April 30) and Eddie Rosario (August 13).