Torii Hunter‘s solo home run in the ninth inning broke a 6-6 tie and Miguel Cabrera added some insurance with a homer of his own to give the Tigers an 8-6 win at Target Field yesterday. Hunter is the second player to appear in at least 500 games for the Minnesota Twins and then hit a game-winning home run in the ninth inning or later against them. He joins Rod Carew, who connected for a home run in the 15th inning to give the Angels a victory over Minnesota in 1980.
Tag: Rod Carew
200 hits in a season
Last Wednesday Houston Astros 2B Jose Altuve went two for five in the Astros 5-2 win over the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. His single in the seventh inning was his 200th hit of the season. As of today, Altuve, a 2014 All-Star has 206 hits and the hitter closest to him in hits is Indians outfielder Michael Brantley with 180 hits. The 24 year-old five foot six inch second sacker who is in his fourth season with the Astro’s is showing everyone that he is a real good baseball player. In the last 10 seasons MLB hitters have had 200 or more hits on 36 occasions but last year there were none and this season Altuve may well be the only one. Is pitching taking over baseball?
So when was the last time the Minnesota Twins had a hitter with 200 or more hits in a season? Can’t remember? Maybe that is because it hasn’t happened for many a year. The last Twins hitter to have 200 or more hits in a season was 39 year-old DH Paul Molitor back in 1996. The amazing Kirby Puckett did it a total of five times including four in a row from 1986-1989 and he came up just short in 1985 with 199 hits. The Twins now in their 54th season have had only 13 hitters that have gotten 200 or more hits in a single season. The Twins have never had more than one hitter in a season get 200 or more hits but in 1977 Rod Carew had 239 hits and Lyman Bostock came up just short with 199 hits.
Twins hitters with 200 or more hits in a season
| Rk | Player | H | Year ? | Age | G | AB | R | HR | RBI | Pos | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Molitor | 225 | 1996 | 39 | 161 | 660 | 99 | 9 | 113 | .341 | .858 | *D3/H |
| 2 | Kirby Puckett | 210 | 1992 | 32 | 160 | 639 | 104 | 19 | 110 | .329 | .864 | *8/DH45 |
| 3 | Kirby Puckett | 215 | 1989 | 29 | 159 | 635 | 75 | 9 | 85 | .339 | .843 | *8/HD |
| 4 | Kirby Puckett | 234 | 1988 | 28 | 158 | 657 | 109 | 24 | 121 | .356 | .920 | *8/H |
| 5 | Kirby Puckett | 207 | 1987 | 27 | 157 | 624 | 96 | 28 | 99 | .332 | .900 | *8/DH |
| 6 | Kirby Puckett | 223 | 1986 | 26 | 161 | 680 | 119 | 31 | 96 | .328 | .903 | *8/H |
| 7 | Rod Carew | 239 | 1977 | 31 | 155 | 616 | 128 | 14 | 100 | .388 | 1.019 | *3/H4D |
| 8 | Rod Carew | 200 | 1976 | 30 | 156 | 605 | 97 | 9 | 90 | .331 | .858 | *3/4H |
| 9 | Rod Carew | 218 | 1974 | 28 | 153 | 599 | 86 | 3 | 55 | .364 | .879 | *4/H |
| 10 | Rod Carew | 203 | 1973 | 27 | 149 | 580 | 98 | 6 | 62 | .350 | .881 | *4/H |
| 11 | Cesar Tovar | 204 | 1971 | 30 | 157 | 657 | 94 | 1 | 45 | .311 | .725 | *798/5H4 |
| 12 | Tony Oliva | 204 | 1970 | 31 | 157 | 628 | 96 | 23 | 107 | .325 | .878 | *9/8H |
| 13 | Tony Oliva | 217 | 1964 | 25 | 161 | 672 | 109 | 32 | 94 | .323 | .916 | *9/8H7 |
This Day in Twins History – September 10, 1974
Forty years ago today only 3,285 fans witness what turns out to be a wild and wooly game between the Chicago White Sox and the Twins at the Met. Twins starter Vic Albury leaves after 7 with a 3-1 lead and closer Bill Campbell comes in to shut the door in what seems to be a routine ball game. Campbell retires the Whitey’s in the 8th with no scoring but in the top of the 9th all hell breaks loose. Before Campbell can retire a batter he gives up a single, then a double and Brian Downing then steps up to the plate and promptly hits a 3-run home run to tie the game at 4. The next batter singles and manager Quilici has seen enough and he brings in Tom Burgmeier who quickly gives up another single but settles down and retires the next three White Sox without any further damage and the Twins fail to score in the bottom of the ninth so to extra innings we go.
Neither team scores in the 10th but in the top of the 11th inning the White Sox get a single, a sacrifice and another single and take a 5-4 lead but Burgmeier closes the door. Craig Kusick leads off the bottom of the 11th for the Twins with a home run and once again we are tied, this time at 5. The 12th inning is scoreless. In the 13th the White Sox put a couple of hits together off of Burgy and take a 6-5 lead but once again the Twins fight back with walks to Eric Soderholm, Craig Kusick, and a sacrifice/fielders choice by Danny Thompson and the Twins have the bases loaded with one out. Glenn Borgmann singles to left to score Soderholm but Jerry Terrell who was running for Kusick is thrown out at home but the game is tied at 6 apiece. The White Sox escape further damage and the game moves on to the 14th inning. For some reason, Twins manager Frank Quilici brings in St. Paul native Tom Johnson to make his major league pitching debut in the 14th inning in a tie ball game. The rookie pitcher gives up two singles and commits an error and the White Sox push a run across to take a 7-6 lead. In the bottom of the 14h inning the Twins get a single from Soderholm and a double from Tony Oliva and yes, the game is tied at 7 once again. Johnson pitches a 1-2-3 top of the 15th and the Twins come to bat in the bottom of the inning facing future hall of famer, Goose Gossage. Steve Brye strikes out but Rod Carew singles and proceeds to steal second, Larry Hisle steps up and singles to left and Carew scores and the Twins have an unbelievable 8-7 victory. Twins Tom Burgmeier pitched 5 innings of relief and Tom Johnson pitched two innings in his major league debut and won his first major league game in his first big league appearance. The fans sure got their money’s worth in this 4 hour and 7 minute game.
Dozier to join a select group of Twins players
When Twins second baseman Brian Dozier scores his next run he will cross home plate for the 100th time this season and become just the 13th player in Twins history to score 100 or more runs in a single season. Twins players have scored 100 runs or more in a single season 19 times. Our old buddy Chuck Knoblauch did it four times (1992, 1995-1997) and in 1996 he scored an amazing 140 runs. The last player to score 100 or more runs for Minnesota was Michael Cuddyer when he scored 102 runs in 2006. Here is the complete list through September 5, 2014.
| Rk | Player | R ? | Year | G | PA | AB | H | BB | IBB | SB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chuck Knoblauch | 140 | 1996 | 153 | 701 | 578 | 197 | 98 | 6 | 45 | .341 | .448 | .517 | .965 |
| 2 | Rod Carew | 128 | 1977 | 155 | 694 | 616 | 239 | 69 | 15 | 23 | .388 | .449 | .570 | 1.019 |
| 3 | Zoilo Versalles | 126 | 1965 | 160 | 728 | 666 | 182 | 41 | 3 | 27 | .273 | .319 | .462 | .781 |
| 4 | Cesar Tovar | 120 | 1970 | 161 | 726 | 650 | 195 | 52 | 5 | 30 | .300 | .356 | .442 | .798 |
| 5 | Kirby Puckett | 119 | 1986 | 161 | 723 | 680 | 223 | 34 | 4 | 20 | .328 | .366 | .537 | .903 |
| 6 | Chuck Knoblauch | 117 | 1997 | 156 | 716 | 611 | 178 | 84 | 6 | 62 | .291 | .390 | .411 | .800 |
| 7 | Tony Oliva | 109 | 1964 | 161 | 719 | 672 | 217 | 34 | 8 | 12 | .323 | .359 | .557 | .916 |
| 8 | Kirby Puckett | 109 | 1988 | 158 | 691 | 657 | 234 | 23 | 4 | 6 | .356 | .375 | .545 | .920 |
| 9 | Tony Oliva | 107 | 1965 | 149 | 647 | 576 | 185 | 55 | 12 | 19 | .321 | .378 | .491 | .870 |
| 10 | Chuck Knoblauch | 107 | 1995 | 136 | 629 | 538 | 179 | 78 | 3 | 46 | .333 | .424 | .487 | .911 |
| 11 | Harmon Killebrew | 106 | 1969 | 162 | 709 | 555 | 153 | 145 | 20 | 8 | .276 | .427 | .584 | 1.011 |
| 12 | Harmon Killebrew | 105 | 1967 | 163 | 689 | 547 | 147 | 131 | 15 | 1 | .269 | .408 | .558 | .965 |
| 13 | Lyman Bostock | 104 | 1977 | 153 | 660 | 593 | 199 | 51 | 5 | 16 | .336 | .389 | .508 | .897 |
| 14 | Kirby Puckett | 104 | 1992 | 160 | 696 | 639 | 210 | 44 | 13 | 17 | .329 | .374 | .490 | .864 |
| 15 | Chuck Knoblauch | 104 | 1992 | 155 | 707 | 600 | 178 | 88 | 1 | 34 | .297 | .384 | .358 | .743 |
| 16 | Bob Allison | 102 | 1962 | 149 | 613 | 519 | 138 | 84 | 0 | 8 | .266 | .370 | .511 | .881 |
| 17 | Michael Cuddyer | 102 | 2006 | 150 | 635 | 557 | 158 | 62 | 5 | 6 | .284 | .362 | .504 | .867 |
| 18 | Shane Mack | 101 | 1992 | 156 | 692 | 600 | 189 | 64 | 1 | 26 | .315 | .394 | .467 | .860 |
| 19 | Corey Koskie | 100 | 2001 | 153 | 649 | 562 | 155 | 68 | 9 | 27 | .276 | .362 | .488 | .850 |
When Dozier joins this select list he will have the lowest batting average of any Twins player to score 100 or more runs in a season.
According to Elias
Joe Mauer‘s first-inning single was the 1,500th hit of his career and his sixth-inning homer gave the Twins a lead they never relinquished in a 3-1 win over the Astros yesterday. Mauer’s .320 career batting is the highest for any player at time of his 1,500th hit since Albert Pujols reached that milestone in 2008 with a .334 lifetime average. Aside from Pujols, the only player who entered the major leagues in the past 15 years and had a higher average than Mauer’s when he collected his 1500th hit was Ichiro Suzuki (.332).
Mauer become the sixth Twins player to reach the 1,500 hit pinnacle, can you name the other five? Pretty simple I would think for most Twins fans. Here is a table that shows how they compare.
Players with 1,500 or more hits in a Minnesota Twins uniform
| Rk | Player | H | From | To | Age | G | AB | R | HR | RBI | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kirby Puckett | 2304 | 1984 | 1995 | 24-35 | 1783 | 7244 | 1071 | 207 | 1085 | 965 | .318 | .360 | .837 |
| 2 | Rod Carew | 2085 | 1967 | 1978 | 21-32 | 1635 | 6235 | 950 | 74 | 733 | 716 | .334 | .393 | .841 |
| 3 | Tony Oliva | 1917 | 1962 | 1976 | 23-37 | 1676 | 6301 | 870 | 220 | 947 | 645 | .304 | .353 | .830 |
| 4 | Kent Hrbek | 1749 | 1981 | 1994 | 21-34 | 1747 | 6192 | 903 | 293 | 1086 | 798 | .282 | .367 | .848 |
| 5 | Harmon Killebrew | 1713 | 1961 | 1974 | 25-38 | 1939 | 6593 | 1047 | 475 | 1325 | 1314 | .260 | .383 | .901 |
| 6 | Joe Mauer | 1501 | 2004 | 2014 | 21-31 | 1257 | 4693 | 727 | 108 | 664 | 628 | .320 | .401 | .863 |
.
Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew obviously had more hits than you see above but I am only comparing the time they actually played in Minnesota. For all the criticism that Mauer has received the last few years for his lack of power, only Harmon has a higher OPS.
This Day In Twins History – August 8
8/8/1962 – With the score tied at 3 apiece at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, A’s rookie third baseman Ed Charles steals home with two out in the ninth to score the winning run in a A’s 4-3 win over the Twins. Ray Moore and Jerry Zimmerman were the Twins battery at the time.
8/8/1974 – The Royals – Twins game at Royals Stadium is briefly interrupted by President Nixon’s resignation speech. The speech is broadcast after it begins and the next inning is delayed until the conclusion of the speech. The Twins prevail over the host Royals‚ 3 – 2 in 14 innings when Tony Oliva‘s sacrifice fly drives home Rod Carew. Bill Campbell pitches 7 innings of relief for the win.
8/8/1976 – This has nothing to do with the Minnesota Twins but still it deserves to be remembered for its “strangeness”. Thirty-seven years ago, on Aug. 8, 1976, the Chicago White Sox made sartorial history by wearing shorts in a win over the Royals. The Bermudas were the idea of—who else?—owner Bill Veeck. The shorts were worn in a total of three games.
8/8/1987 – The Twins beat the Oakland A’s 9-2 at the Metrodome as Twins pitcher Steve Carlton wins the 329th and final game of his Hall of Fame career. Carlton pitches 8 2/3 innings giving up 2 runs while striking out two batters.
8/8/1988 – The Indians and the Twins were scoreless after 3 innings at the Metrodome with Allan Anderson on the mound for the local nine. In the top of the fourth inning with no one out, the Indians Ron Washington and Willie Upshaw singled to put runners on first and second and then Joe Carter smashed a long drive to the left field corner where Twins outfielder Dan Gladden snagged it for an out and wheeled and fired a strike to Steve Lombardozzi at 2B to nail Washington and then Lombo relayed the ball to Gene Larkin at first to get the runner there by at least 5 feet and completed the unusual 7-4-3 triple play. The Twins went on to win the game by a 7-2 score with Galdden going 3 for 5 with a run scored, a stolen base, and a RBI. Catcher Brian Harper was 4 for 4 but played second fiddle to Gladden on this day.
8/8/1998 – Paul Molitor stole his 500th base in Minnesota’s 6-3 loss to Baltimore to become only the fifth player ever with 3,000 hits and 500 steals. Molitor joined Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins and Lou Brock.
8/8/2004 – The A’s beat the Twins 6 – 5 in 18 innings. It is the second-longest game in the 23-year history of the Metrodome. With the score tied 3 to 3, the A’s score 3 in the top of the 18th off Terry Mulholland to take a 6-3 lead. The Twins come back with 2 in the bottom of the 18th with a Morneau home run but leave Matthew LeCroy stranded on first when Koskie and Cuddyer flyout to end the rally and the Twins hope of a huge comeback victory. The game lasts 4 hours and 57 minutes.
8/8/2005 – One time Minnesota Twins manger (1976-1980) Gene Mauch passes away at the age of 79. Mauch was the seventh manager in Twins history. I think one of my favorite Gene Mauch quotes was “I’m not the manager because I am always right, but I am always right because I am the manager”.
8/8/2009 – The Twins third manager, Cal Ermer passed away at the age of 85 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Ermer replaced the fired Sam Mele in June 1967 with the Twins in sixth place with a 25-25 record. The Twins went 66-46 the rest of the season but lost the American League pennant on the final day of the season. Ermer was fired after the Twins finished in seventh place in 1968 with a 79-83 record.
On this Day in Twins History – June 2, 1986
Officially ending his Hall of Fame career about six months after MLB owners did it for him, Rod Carew announced his retirement. A victim of collusion after the 1985 season, Carew failed to get any suitable offers for what would have been his age-40 campaign. Nine years later, he’d be awarded $782,000 in damages for his lost wages. Carew finished his career with the Angels in 1985 hitting .280 in 127 games. It was the only one of his 19 seasons in which he wasn’t named to the AL All-Star team.
Carew who signed with Minnesota on June 24, 1964 as an amateur free agent ended his career with 3,053 hits. Carew hit .328 with 92 homers and 1,015 RBI in 12 seasons with the Twins and seven with the Angels. He was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1967 and its MVP in 1977, when he hit .388 and drove in 100 runs for the only time in his career. He ended up winning seven batting titles and finishing first in the AL in the OBP four times. Both the Twins and the Angels retired his number 29.
Carew was born to a Panamanian mother on a train in the town of Gatún, which, at that time, was in the Panama Canal Zone. The train was racially segregated; white passengers were given the better forward cars, while non-whites, like Carew’s mother, were forced to ride in the rearward cars. When she went into labor, a physician traveling on the train, Dr. Rodney Cline, delivered the baby. In appreciation for this, Mrs. Carew named the boy Rodney Cline Carew.
During the 1960s, Carew served a six-year commitment in the United States Marine Corps Reserve as a combat engineer. Carew later said that his military experience helped him in his baseball career, explaining that “When I joined the Marine Corps, it was a life-changing event for me because I learned about discipline. When I first came up to the big leagues in 1967, I was a little bit of a hot-head. But after two weeks of war games every summer, I realized that baseball was not do-or-die. That kind of discipline made me the player I became.”
Frustrated by the Twins’ inability to keep young talent, some racist comments by owner Calvin Griffith, and the Twins’ overall penny-pinching negotiating style, Carew announced his intention to leave the Twins. On February 3, 1979 the Twins traded Carew to the California Angels for outfielder Ken Landreaux, catcher/1B Dave Engle, RHP Paul Hartzell, and LHP Brad Havens. Rumors circulated that the Twins completed this trade with the Angels only after a potentially better deal with the New York Yankees in January in which Carew would have moved to the Yankees in exchange for Chris Chambliss, Juan Beniquez, Damaso Garcia, and Dave Righetti fell through at the last-minute. I wonder how baseball history in Minnesota and New York might have changed had that deal gone down?
Baseball Triple Doubles
The other day SABR member Clem Comly who also follows basketball wondered who the “triple doubles” leader might be in baseball history. His search defined a “baseball triple double” as a player that had 2 or more runs, 2 or more hits, and 2 or more RBI in a single game. His used Retrosheet (1913-2014) in his calculations and determined that the all-time baseball leader in triple doubles was Babe Ruth with 247. Lou Gehrig was second with 204, Willie Mays and Alex (A-Rod) Rodriguez were tied for third with 191 and Hank Aaron was fifth with 188.
I though it might be fun to run a similar search for all of baseball during the time period of 1961 through 2014 since 1961 is the year the Minnesota Twins came into existence. I cut the list off at 100 meaning that you had to have at least 100 “triple double” games to make the list. It turns out to be a Whose Who of baseball hitting. You can almost use this list to see who might deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, assuming of course you excluded things like position played, fielding and the whole steroid situation.
| Rk | Player | #Matching |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Rodriguez | 191 |
| 2 | Barry Bonds | 184 |
| 3 | Sammy Sosa | 158 |
| 4 | Manny Ramirez | 157 |
| 5 | Albert Pujols | 152 |
| 6 | Ken Griffey | 143 |
| 7 | Jim Thome | 142 |
| 8 | Chipper Jones | 137 |
| 9 | Gary Sheffield | 134 |
| 10 | Vladimir Guerrero | 134 |
| 11 | Frank Thomas | 127 |
| 12 | Jeff Bagwell | 127 |
| 13 | Hank Aaron | 124 |
| 14 | Jim Rice | 123 |
| 15 | Frank Robinson | 122 |
| 16 | Eddie Murray | 122 |
| 17 | Willie Stargell | 121 |
| 18 | Carl Yastrzemski | 120 |
| 19 | Mike Schmidt | 119 |
| 20 | Carlos Beltran | 118 |
| 21 | Billy Williams | 117 |
| 22 | Jason Giambi | 117 |
| 23 | Rafael Palmeiro | 116 |
| 24 | Carlos Delgado | 115 |
| 25 | Dave Winfield | 114 |
| 26 | Juan Gonzalez | 113 |
| 27 | Jose Canseco | 113 |
| 28 | Larry Walker | 112 |
| 29 | David Ortiz | 111 |
| 30 | Mark McGwire | 111 |
| 31 | Albert Belle | 111 |
| 32 | Todd Helton | 109 |
| 33 | Andre Dawson | 109 |
| 34 | Mike Piazza | 107 |
| 35 | Willie Mays | 107 |
| 36 | Reggie Jackson | 107 |
| 37 | Joe Carter | 107 |
| 38 | Willie McCovey | 103 |
| 39 | Jeff Kent | 103 |
| 40 | Andres Galarraga | 102 |
| 41 | Jim Edmonds | 102 |
| 42 | Cal Ripken | 101 |
| 43 | Alfonso Soriano | 100 |
.
The top five highest active players are Albert Pujols with 152, Carlos Beltran with 118, Jason Giambi with 117, David Ortiz with 111 and Alfonso Soriano with 100. Future Hall of Famers? We will have to wait and see.
I also used the same “triple double” criteria to determine who the Minnesota Twins “triple double” leaders are and I used a cutoff of 30 games.
| Rk | Player | #Matching | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harmon Killebrew | 83 | Ind. Games |
| 2 | Kirby Puckett | 82 | Ind. Games |
| 3 | Tony Oliva | 71 | Ind. Games |
| 4 | Kent Hrbek | 57 | Ind. Games |
| 5 | Justin Morneau | 53 | Ind. Games |
| 6 | Joe Mauer | 45 | Ind. Games |
| 7 | Bob Allison | 44 | Ind. Games |
| 8 | Gary Gaetti | 43 | Ind. Games |
| 9 | Torii Hunter | 36 | Ind. Games |
| 10 | Jacque Jones | 35 | Ind. Games |
| 11 | Larry Hisle | 31 | Ind. Games |
| 12 | Michael Cuddyer | 31 | Ind. Games |
| 13 | Rod Carew | 30 | Ind. Games |
| 14 | Tom Brunansky | 30 | Ind. Games |
I am surprised to see Jacques Jones on this list. Larry Hisle only played in Minnesota for five seasons but he put up some nice numbers during his stay here and a lot of Twins fans have no idea who he is.
Twins rookies with 100 or more hits
A quick look at Twins rookies over the years and how many hits they had in their rookie season. To make the list they had to have 100 or more hits in their first season in the big leagues.
| Rk | Player | H | Year | Age | G | AB | R | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tony Oliva (RoY-1st) | 217 | 1964 | 25 | 161 | 672 | 109 | 43 | 9 | 32 | 94 | 12 | .323 |
| 2 | Rich Rollins | 186 | 1962 | 24 | 159 | 624 | 96 | 23 | 5 | 16 | 96 | 3 | .298 |
| 3 | Lew Ford | 170 | 2004 | 27 | 154 | 569 | 89 | 31 | 4 | 15 | 72 | 20 | .299 |
| 4 | Kirby Puckett (RoY-3rd) | 165 | 1984 | 24 | 128 | 557 | 63 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 31 | 14 | .296 |
| 5 | Kent Hrbek (RoY-2nd) | 160 | 1982 | 22 | 140 | 532 | 82 | 21 | 4 | 23 | 92 | 3 | .301 |
| 6 | Chuck Knoblauch (RoY-1st) | 159 | 1991 | 22 | 151 | 565 | 78 | 24 | 6 | 1 | 50 | 25 | .281 |
| 7 | Bernie Allen (RoY-3rd) | 154 | 1962 | 23 | 159 | 573 | 79 | 27 | 7 | 12 | 64 | 0 | .269 |
| 8 | Luis Rivas | 150 | 2001 | 21 | 153 | 563 | 70 | 21 | 6 | 7 | 47 | 31 | .266 |
| 9 | Rod Carew (RoY-1st) | 150 | 1967 | 21 | 137 | 514 | 66 | 22 | 7 | 8 | 51 | 5 | .292 |
| 10 | Carlos Gomez | 149 | 2008 | 22 | 153 | 577 | 79 | 24 | 7 | 7 | 59 | 33 | .258 |
| 11 | Tim Teufel (RoY-4th) | 149 | 1984 | 25 | 157 | 568 | 76 | 30 | 3 | 14 | 61 | 1 | .262 |
| 12 | Joe Mauer | 144 | 2005 | 22 | 131 | 489 | 61 | 26 | 2 | 9 | 55 | 13 | .294 |
| 13 | Zoilo Versalles | 143 | 1961 | 21 | 129 | 510 | 65 | 25 | 5 | 7 | 53 | 16 | .280 |
| 14 | Marty Cordova (RoY-1st) | 142 | 1995 | 25 | 137 | 512 | 81 | 27 | 4 | 24 | 84 | 20 | .277 |
| 15 | Butch Wynegar (RoY-2nd) | 139 | 1976 | 20 | 149 | 534 | 58 | 21 | 2 | 10 | 69 | 0 | .260 |
| 16 | Bobby Darwin | 137 | 1972 | 29 | 145 | 513 | 48 | 20 | 2 | 22 | 80 | 2 | .267 |
| 17 | Chad Allen | 133 | 1999 | 24 | 137 | 481 | 69 | 21 | 3 | 10 | 46 | 14 | .277 |
| 18 | Jimmie Hall (RoY-3rd) | 129 | 1963 | 25 | 156 | 497 | 88 | 21 | 5 | 33 | 80 | 3 | .260 |
| 19 | Bob Randall | 127 | 1976 | 28 | 153 | 475 | 55 | 18 | 4 | 1 | 34 | 3 | .267 |
| 20 | Tom Brunansky | 126 | 1982 | 21 | 127 | 463 | 77 | 30 | 1 | 20 | 46 | 1 | .272 |
| 21 | Dan Ford | 123 | 1975 | 23 | 130 | 440 | 72 | 21 | 1 | 15 | 59 | 6 | .280 |
| 22 | Ron Washington | 122 | 1982 | 30 | 119 | 451 | 48 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 39 | 3 | .271 |
| 23 | Cesar Tovar | 121 | 1966 | 25 | 134 | 465 | 57 | 19 | 5 | 2 | 41 | 16 | .260 |
| 24 | Ben Revere | 120 | 2011 | 23 | 117 | 450 | 56 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 30 | 34 | .267 |
| 25 | Gary Gaetti (RoY-5th) | 117 | 1982 | 23 | 145 | 508 | 59 | 25 | 4 | 25 | 84 | 0 | .230 |
| 26 | Jerry Terrell | 116 | 1973 | 26 | 124 | 438 | 43 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 32 | 13 | .265 |
| 27 | Bobby Mitchell | 113 | 1982 | 27 | 124 | 454 | 48 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 28 | 8 | .249 |
| 28 | John Castino (RoY-1st) | 112 | 1979 | 24 | 148 | 393 | 49 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 52 | 5 | .285 |
| 29 | A.J. Pierzynski | 110 | 2001 | 24 | 114 | 381 | 51 | 33 | 2 | 7 | 55 | 1 | .289 |
| 30 | Willie Norwood | 109 | 1978 | 27 | 125 | 428 | 56 | 22 | 3 | 8 | 46 | 25 | .255 |
| 31 | Mark Salas (RoY-8th) | 108 | 1985 | 24 | 120 | 360 | 51 | 20 | 5 | 9 | 41 | 0 | .300 |
| 32 | Corey Koskie | 106 | 1999 | 26 | 117 | 342 | 42 | 21 | 0 | 11 | 58 | 4 | .310 |
| 33 | Lyman Bostock | 104 | 1975 | 24 | 98 | 369 | 52 | 21 | 5 | 0 | 29 | 2 | .282 |
| 34 | Dustan Mohr (RoY-8th) | 103 | 2002 | 26 | 120 | 383 | 55 | 23 | 2 | 12 | 45 | 6 | .269 |
| 35 | Steve Lombardozzi | 103 | 1986 | 26 | 156 | 453 | 53 | 20 | 5 | 8 | 33 | 3 | .227 |
| 36 | Rick Sofield | 103 | 1980 | 23 | 131 | 417 | 52 | 18 | 4 | 9 | 49 | 4 | .247 |
| 37 | Denard Span (RoY-6th) | 102 | 2008 | 24 | 93 | 347 | 70 | 16 | 7 | 6 | 47 | 18 | .294 |
Who will be the next Twins rookie to join this list?
Tough break for Sano and Twins fans
Acting GM Rob Antony verified this morning that Miguel Sano, one of the Twins top prospects is out for the 2014 season and will be under-going “Tommy John” surgery sometime next week. Sano has had elbow issues off and on since late last season and had been shut down this past winter but was given the green light in late January to resume baseball activities. Sano made a strong throw on a slow roller during an inter-squad game on Thursday and felt something in his elbow. Sano was removed from the game shortly thereafter and had an MRI on Friday afternoon. This morning Sano learned the results and nows faces surgery and a long and difficult recovery.
This is such a tough break in so many ways for both Sano and the Twins but at least it is a definitive diagnosis and steps can now be taken to get the issue remedied. The moaning has already started among some Twins fans that surgery should have been done right away last fall and that rest seldom corrects these kinds of issues but to me it just makes no sense to have any kind of surgery unless there are no alternatives. All lesser invasive options needs to be exhausted before surgery is selected and I think that the Twins and Sano went about this the right way. For a player that loves playing baseball as much as Sano does, this has to be heart breaking and particularly disheartening when this was probably going to be the year that he first put on a big league uniform. For the Twins who come off three consecutive 90+ losing seasons it hurts when a young up and coming slugger has to lose a year of development. I know I was expecting to see Miguel Sano playing 3B for the Twins at Target Field at some point this season and it just seems like another kick in the gut to many Twins fans that were hoping to see one of the Twins prospects arrive in Minnesota. But many times what appears to be a door closing may actually lead to another opening so now we just have to wait and see what is behind door number two. Good luck Miguel and here is to a swift recovery.
Most of the Twins players had already left for JetBlue to play the Red Sox in the first exhibition game of the season by the time I arrived at Hammond Stadium yesterday so it was a relatively quiet day. I watched players like Aaron Hicks, Josh Willingham, Joe Mauer and numerous others taking batting practice. It was interesting watching BP as Rod Carew and other coaches looked on and gave the hitters situations such as “bases loaded” and then told the hitters where they wanted them to hit the ball. I was amazed at how often these guys put the ball exactly where they were asked to hit it. But thn again this was BP and not a game situation. Later I watched Rod Carew as he had a number of players work on their bunting skills. Some of these hitters looked like they had never been asked to bunt in their life. I can’t help but wonder how players in a big league ST camp can be such poor bunters.
I had a chace to spend a few minutes talking with Bill Springman the Twins minor league hitting coordinator who has had the job since 2007. Springman was fun to talk with about his job, travel and all the former Twins players that he has tutored over the years. Springman loves the Twins organization for many reasons and feels it is one of the best organizations that you can possible work for. One of those reasons is GM Terry Ryan and Springman has great respect for Ryan and how he runs his operation. I am hoping to hook up with Bill again this summer and get his view-point on how the future Twins are doing in the system.
There was just a few players on one of the minor league fields getting in some early workouts but the entire minor league contingent will be arriving in the next few days and soon those fields will be buzzing with activity. It is always fun watching those groups when they start playing games in the next week or so.
The Twins have 64 players in camp, 29 pitchers, 8 catchers, 15 infielders and 12 outfielders. It won’t be long before those numbers start to dwindle.