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
With the June Amateur Free Agent draft just a month or so away maybe it is time to look back and see who the Twins have drafted this century that has made an impact on the Minnesota Twins major league team. We all know that very few prospects make it to the big leagues and even fewer are stars, here is how the Twins have fared. Keep this in mind before you get overly excited about the Twins picks in this years drafts.
Twins draft choices since 2000
2000 draft – 52 drafted, 30 signed and 5 put on a Minnesota Twins uniform
Best Twins player – Jason Kubel (OF) was a 2nd round selection picked out of high school and debuted on August 31, 2004 and had a career WAR of 4.1. RETIRED
2001 draft – 50 drafted, 33 signed, 3 put on a Minnesota Twins uniform and 1 played in big leagues for another team
Joe Mauer
Best Twins players – Joe Mauer (C) a Minnesota native was the number one overall pick out of Cretin High School and he debuted on April 5, 2004 and played with Minnesota throughout his career that ended after the 2018 season. Won an MVP, six time All-Star, five time Silver Slugger, three time Batting Champion and three time Gold Glove winner. Career WAR of 55.0. RETIRED
Best Twins players – Nick Blackburn was a collegiate right-handed pitcher drafted in round 29 and debuted on September 7, 2007. Blackburn pitched his entire career for the Twins from 2007-2012. RETIRED with a 3.1 career WAR.
Wore a Twins uniform briefly – Jose Morales (drafted as a shortstop but switched to catcher).
Played in big leagues for another team – Kevin Cameron (RHP).
Two major league debuts in a Twins uniform on July 11.
Michael Tonkin
Michael Tonkin (P) – July 11, 2013 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 30th round of the 2008 MLB June Amateur Draft. A nice 1.1 inning debut in a Twins 4-3 loss to Tampa at Tropicana Field.
Rick Renick – (3B/OF/SS) – July 11, 1968 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent in 1965. Debuted at Met Stadium as the starting shortstop and in his first at bat hit a home run off Tigers starter Mickey Lolich off a high fastball into the left field stands. Renick became the first Minnesota Twins player to hit a home run in his first at bat.
I went through the history of the Minnesota Twins June Amateur draft choices to see who the best players were that the club drafted, signed and the player debuted with Minnesota across his chest. The player may or may not have played his entire career with the Twins but the WAR numbers are for their entire careers. Why are they ranked by WAR you may ask? Simple, I know of no other way to rank them, so right or wrong, I have chosen B-R WAR.
Twenty five of the 61 rounds shown have no players that qualified meaning that no one ever drafted in that round has made it to the majors with Minnesota. So if the Twins draft you in one of those rounds in the future, the odds are very much against you. Unless you have followed the Twins since day one, you might not recognize or remember some of these players.
The Minnesota Twins have had 53 players (41 pitchers (nine lefties) and 12 position players) that stood at least 6’5″ tall. The Twins have spent the last few years accumulating tall pitchers but so far the fruits of their labors have not been all that eveident.
The tallest player in major league history, Jon Rauch, played for 11 years with seven different major league teams including a stop in Minnesota from 2009-2010. The right-handed Rauch won an Olympic gold medal for the United States in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The same year, he was also named Baseball America and The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year. Keith Hernandez referred to Rauch as “The Wookiee” during SNY broadcasts in 2006.
Rauch wasn’t exactly the friendliest baseball player around and his grumpy, grouchy, surly and testy personality along with his intimidating size and inked body caused most fans that wanted an autograph to pass and look for the next player to come by.
Here I have put together a list of Minnesota Twins players that stood at least 6’5″ tall.
Also joining the Twins will be Triple-A hitting coach Tim Doherty from September 2-14 while Red Wings Manager Gene Glynn will be with the Twins from September 15-28.
Aaron Hicks
Not much to get excited about here, just think how different things could have been had Byron Buxton. Miguel Sano, and Alex Meyer not been injured this year. Then again maybe we would not have seen Danny Santana and Kennys Vargas step up in the way they have so far this year. It will be interesting to see if Hicks has improved, he did well in New Britain and in Rochester for a while before he cooled off. When Rochester was making a push for a wild-card spot late in the season Hicks was not always a regular in that line-up.
Baseball America announced today that Byron Buxton is the 2013 Minor League Player of the Year joining Joe Mauer (2003) as the only Twins players to be so honored. The Twins second overall pick in the 2012 draft from Appling County High in Baxley, Georgia is on the fast track to Minnesota. A few days ago the Twins announced that Buxton will be joining the Twins contingent of players heading for the Arizona Fall League where he will join infielders Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler along with pitchers Trevor May, Alex Meyer, A.J. Achter, and Zach Jones playing for the Glendale Desert Dogs.
Buxton started the season at low Class A Cedar Rapids and was promoted in late June to high Class A Fort Myers, Buxton hit a cumulative .334/.424/.520 with 49 extra-base hits, 55 stolen bases and a sparkling 76-to-105 walk-to-strikeout ratio in 125 games. He led the minors with 18 triples, finished second with 109 runs scored, one behind Marcus Semien of the White Sox and 12th in stolen bases. Even more impressive, Buxton ranked sixth in the minor league batting race, 10th in hits (163) and seventh in on-base percentage, despite being a full year younger than any other member of those top-10 lists.
Twins minor league attendance numbers
I enjoy the work that Ballpark Digest does and check their site every day, as a matter of fact I have their RSS feed going to this site whenever they publish anything new. This past Monday they published their 2013 minor league attendance totals and averages for every team as well as how they ranked over all. They also have affiliated attendance by league. Check them out, they are interesting to look at and see how the Twins minor league teams rank.
September Call Ups
The Minnesota Twins announced on September 8th that they have recalled infielder Eduardo Escobar, outfielder Chris Parmelee, left-handed pitcher Scott Diamond and right-handed pitchers Michael Tonkin and Cole De Vries from Triple-A Rochester. Additionally, the Twins have selected the contracts of catcher Eric Fryer and right-handed pitcher Shairon Martis from Rochester. To make room on the Twins 40-man roster right-handed pitcher Sam Deduno and outfielder Wilkin Ramirez have been transferred from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL.
The Minnesota Twins announced after last night’s 13 inning 4-3 loss to the Tampa Rays that they have placed left-handed pitcher Caleb Thielbar on the bereavement list to attend the funeral of his grandmother.
The Twins recalled right-handed pitcher Michael Tonkin from Triple-A Rochester to replace Thielbar on the 25-man roster. The 6’7″ Tonkin is 23 years-old and was selected by the Twins in round 30 of the 2008 June amateur draft out of Palmdale High School in California and signed for an over slot $230,000 bonus. In his sixth season of pro ball, Tonkin has made stops at all the minor league levels and has a career 17-17 record with a 3.09 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP in 340.2 innings. Tonkin has a 9.1 SO/9 and a 2.4 BB/9. Tonkin became a full-time reliever in 2011 in Beloit and has not started any games since. Tonkin started 2013 in New Britain but was moved up to Rochester after 13 appearances.
Tonkin, who wears number 59 made his major league debut in Tropicana Field today a good one when he appeared in relief and pitched 1 and 1/3 scoreless innings with one strikeout (Evan Longoria) and no hits allowed. Tonkin threw just 12 pitches, 8 for strikes, unfortunately for Tonkin and the Twins, they lost their fifth straight game. Tonkin is the 37th player and 19th pitcher that the Twins have used this season.
The Twins announced yesterday that they will have seven players going to the Arizona Fall League Peoria Javelinas this season. The players are catcher Chris Hermann, outfielders Evan Bigley and Nate Roberts along with pitchers Kyle Gibson, Caleb Thielbar, Logan Darnell and Michael Tonkin. Trainer Alan Rail will also be representing the Twins. 13 players on the current Twins roster have participated in the AFL in past years. The roots of the AFL go back to 1992 and that season the Twins participants were Derek Parks, Chip Hale, Jon Henry, Ray Ortiz, Rex Delanuez and Scott Ullger participated as a manager. The reason for the league was to have an easily accessible offseason league where players could be monitored closely and did not have to leave the country. The six clubs in the league are in close proximity to each other so not a lot of travel is required. The rules for participation have changed over the years but currently Major League clubs hold a position draft in August to determine the players who will go to Arizona, most are Double-A or Triple-A players but each club can also send one Single-A player if they wish.
A couple of days ago the Double-A New Britain Rock Cats announced that the team had three players named to the Eastern League Season Ending All-Star Team, first baseman/DH Chris Colabello, outfielder Aaron Hicks and third baseman Deibinson Romero were all named to the team which was announced from the Eastern League office. Congratulations to all three players.
Samuel Deduno
We went to the Twins /Mariners game yesterday and the Twins and Samuel Deduno won 10-0. It was a warm and muggy Wednesday evening game and my wife was playing Twingo and before the first inning was over all she needed was a “base on balls” to be a Twingo winner. With Jason Vargas pitching for Seattle with a 2.3 BB/9 and Samuel Deduno pitching for the Twins with a 7.9 BB/9 I thought that would be the least of her issues but it took her until the third inning before she finally got that BB when Vargas walked Trevor Plouffe in the bottom of the third and she became a Twingo winner for the second game in a row. Who would have thought it would be tough finding a walk with Deduno pitching? Samuel Deduno pitched a superb game last night going 7 innings only allowing 2 hits with no walks. 68 of his 98 pitches were strikes, an amazing number for Deduno. I enjoy watching Deduno pitch, he does not have the best command but he knows how to get out of trouble and I hope he keeps getting better.
Denard Span
Then there is outfielder Denard Span. I used to real enjoy watching Denard Span play baseball but now that Span has been in the big leagues for a couple of years I see him as a malingerer. Span is not making superstar money but he is making $3 million this year, and will make $4.75 million in 2013, $6.5 million in 2014, $9 million in 2015. For that kind of money I expect Span who is still only 28 years of age to play in at least 155 games per season and since he became the full-time center fielder in 2009 he has appeared in 145, 153, 70 games and so far this season in 108 games. That does not cut it for me, if you are my regular center fielder I expect your butt in the line-up day in and day out regardless if the team is winning or losing. You get paid to play, not to sit on the bench belly aching that you are not 100%. Who is ever feeling perfect day in and day out? No one. If you worked for me in a regular job Denard, you would have been put on notice a long time ago and if you didn’t starting showing up ready to work day after day you would find yourself on the unemployment line. If I was one of Span’s teammates I would be pretty unhappy with Span and his lack of desire to play. When he does play, I am not sure that Span is willing to do what it takes to win. In my opinion a player of Span’s ability and experience should be stealing at least 25-30 bases a year and yet when he is on base he stands there and waits for someone to knock him in. Is he afraid that he will get hurt if he tries to steal a base? If I was GM Terry Ryan I would trade Span in a heart beat. Now that I am reasonably sure that Ben Revere can play center field at the big league level I get what I can for Span. I trade Span before the rest of the baseball world realizes that Span only plays when he is feeling great and his team is winning. Denard Span is part of the problem on this Twins team, he is not part of the solution. If I am building a team I want players that want to play day after day, I don’t need someone with a low pain threshold that would rather sit than play if he is not feeling 100%. Now I see that the Twins have recalled Matt Carson and put Span on the DL and there is a chance Span is done for the season. What a shocker…..
Speaking of injuries, who is making the decisions for the Twins on who stays on the roster and who goes on the DL? For the second year in a row we have players that seem to be day-to-day for a week or more. Why should Gardy manage with one hand tied behind his back because he has players sitting on his bench that can’t play that day but claim they will be ready tomorrow? I am tired of tomorrow’s, either you play or you find yourself on the DL, it seems simple enough to me, what am I missing here.
Twins Minor League Player of the Week is Beloit pitcher Michael Tonkin. The 22 year-old 6’7″ Tonkin made three relief appearances for the Snappers, tossing 5.2 scoreless innings, with no hits allowed, no walks, 12 strikeouts and two saves. The right-hander is in his fifth season in the Twins organization after being the Twins’ 30th round pick in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft out of Palmdale High School in California.
In his minor league career, Tonkin has pitched in 100 games starting 25 and has a 14-14 record, 9 saves with a 3.28 ERA, a 8.5 SO/9 ratio and a 1.24 WHIP.
