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
Target Field has been open since been open since 2010 and the Minnesota Twins have played 13 seasons of baseball there and complied a .475 won/lost percentage since they started call TF as their home. The team has lost 100 more games than it has won in the Target Field era and made the playoffs four times although they were always eliminated in the first round.
I just wanted to take a look at the Twins best players over the 13 years and give you a chance to reflect on some of your memories from those players both good and bad. To do this I am using the WAR numbers from Baseball-Reference and I am looking for the best position player and best pitcher from each particular season.
Back on December 19 in 2006 pitcher Brad Radke announced his plans to retire after 12 season of wearing the colors of the Minnesota Twins. That got me to wondering where the Twins pitchers with the most starts for Minnesota came from.
Jim Kaat had 422 starts with the Twins and was signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent in 1957 long before the draft was instituted and was one of the original Minnesota Twins in 1961. Debuted August 2, 1959 with the Senators.
Brad Radke had 377 starts with the Twins and was an eighth round pick in the June amateur draft in 1991. Radke debuted on April 29, 1995 in three not so stellar innings of relief and started every game that he appeared in after that.
Bert Blyleven had 345 starts with the Twins after being drafted by Minnesota in round three of the 1969 June amateur draft. Bert debuted on June 5, 1970 and all his appearances but three were starts.
Frank Viola had 259 and just one relief appearance with the Twins after being selected in round 16 of June 1978 amateur draft. Sweet Music debuted on June 6, 1982.
Jim Perry had 249 start for Minnesota after being acquired in a trade on May 2, 1963 from the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Jack Kralick.
Dave Goltz had 215 starts for the Twins after drafted in the round five of the 1967 June amateur draft. The Rothsay, Minnesota native debuted on July 18, 1972.
Kyle Gibson had 188 starts with Minnesota after being drafted 22nd in round one of the 2009 June amateur draft. Gibson debuted on June 29, 2013.
Kevin Tapani had 180 starts in 181 appearances in a Twins uniform after being acquired in a trade from the New York Mets in the Frank Viola trade on July 31, 1989. Tapani had debuted with the Mets on July 4, 1989.
Camilo Pascual had 179 starts with Minnesota and was signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent prior to the 1952 season long before the draft was instituted and was one of the original Minnesota Twins in 1961. Pascual debuted on April 15, 1954.
Johan Santana had 175 starts with the Twins after being drafted by the Florida Marlins from the Houston Astros in the 1999 rule 5 draft and then being traded to the Twins for Jared Camp who the Twins had originally drafted in the Rule 5 draft that year. Santana debuted on April 3, 2000.
When the Minnesota Twins take on the Oakland A’s on March 26 in the 2020 season opener it will be the beginning of a new decade, their third this century. From 2000-2009 the Twins posted a record 863-758 for a winning percentage of .532 as they played out their final years in-doors at the HHH Metrodome.
In the current decade from 2010-2019 the Twins have played outdoors in their new digs at Target Field but their play has not matched their new outdoor surroundings as they have played at a winning percentage of .472 as they won 765 games and lost 855.
In spite of the Twins mediocre play in a decade in which they managed just four winning seasons they still averaged 2,438,495 fans per year but most of that can probably be attributed to the new ballpark they opened in 2010. So who were the best Twins players that fans got to see over the last ten seasons? Let’s take a look at who I have as the best player at each position with a strong assist from the WAR numbers from https://www.baseball-reference.com/ .
Joe Mauer retires. Click on image to make it larger.
Joe Mauer picked as a catcher 1st overall in 2001 and is retired with a 55.0 WAR all with the Twins from 2004-2018.
Brian Dozier picked as a collegiate shortstop in the 8th round in 2009 and is currently playing for the Nationals. Current career WAR is 23.3 and WAR with Twins from 2012 to 2018 was 23.8.
Denard Span picked as an outfielder in the 1st round (20th overall) in 2002 and is currently not playing. Current career WAR is 26.2 and WAR with the Twins from 2008 to 2012 was 13.2.
Eddie Rosario picked as an outfielder in the 4th round of the 2010 draft and currently playing left field for the Twins since 2015 and has a 10.2 career WAR.
Trevor Plouffe was selected as a shortstop in round 1 (20th overall) of the 2004 MLB draft. Plouffe is not playing this season after being released by the Phillies and has a career WAR of 8.2. When playing for Minnesota from 2010 to 2018 his WAR was 8.6.
Byron Buxton was selected as an outfielder in 2012 with the 2nd overall pick in round 1. Has played center field for the Twins off and on since 2015 and has a career WAR of 8.5.
Jason Kubel was selected as an outfielder in round 12 of the 2000 draft and played for the Twins in 2004, sat out 2005 due to injury and from 2006-2011 putting up a 3.7 WAR before leaving as a FA. Career 4.1 WAR.
Mitch Garver was drafted as a collegiate catcher in the 9th round of the 2013 draft and has been with the Twins off/on since 2017 and has put up a 2.6 career WAR.
Aaron Hicks was drafted as an outfielder in round 1 (14th overall) and played for the Twins on/off from 2013-2015 before being traded to the Yankees. Hicks WAR with Minnesota was 2.3 and he now is up to a 10.2 career WAR with the Yankees.
Danny Valencia was drafted as a collegiate third baseman in round 19 and played for the Twins from 2010 to 2012 before being traded to Boston. Valencia put up a 0.9 WAR with the Twins. I believe Valencia is not playing in 2019 and has a career WAR of 5.6.
Pitchers
Scott Baker – click on image to make it larger.
Scott Baker (collegiate RHP) was a 2nd round pick in 2003 and started for the Twins from 2005-2011 and had a 15.7 WAR. After TJ surgery he pitched for Cubs, Rangers and Dodgers thru 2015 and ended up with a 15.6 career WAR.
Kyle Gibson (collegiate RHP) was a 1st round pick and 22nd overall in 2009 and is currently in the Twins starting rotation (since 2013) with a current career WAR of 9.6.
Glen Perkins (collegiate LHP) was a 1st round compensation pick (22nd overall) in 2004 from the Mariners for signing Eddie Guardado as a FA. Perkins joined the Twins in 2006 and pitched thru 2017. Perkins was a starter in 2008-2009 but ended his career as a closer with a career WAR of 8.7.
Brian Duensing (collegiate LHP) was a 3rd rounder in 2005 and pitched for the Twins from 2009-2015 primarily in relief but he did some spot starting early in his career. Twins WAR was 6.3. Duensing is currently with the Cubs and has a career WAR of 6.2.
Jesse Crain (collegiate RHP) was picked in round 2 in 2002 and pitched in relief for Minnesota from 2004 thru 2010 before moving on to the White Sox where he finished his career in 2013. Twins WAR was 5.4 and career WAR was 11.4.
Jose Berrios (high school RHP) was picked in round 1 and 32nd overall as a compensation pick for the loss of FA Michael Cuddyer in 2012. Berrios is currently in the Twins starting rotation (since 2016) and has a career WAR of 5.2.
Taylor Rogers (collegiate LHP) was picked in round 11 in 2012 and has been a reliever in the Twins bullpen since 2016 and has posted a career WAR of 4.6.
Kevin Slowey (collegiate RHP) was picked in the 2nd round and 73rd overall in 2005 and was used primarily as a starter for Minnesota from 2007-2011 and had a 4.4 WAR. He finished his career with Miami 2013-2014 with a career WAR of 4.7.
Nick Blackburn (collegiate RHP) wasn’t picked until round 29 (857th overall) in 2001 and spent his entire career with Minnesota from 2007-2012 and put up a 3.1 career WAR.
Pat Neshek (collegiate RHP) was picked by the Twins in round 45 in 1999 but didn’t sign and was again picked by the Twins in 2002 in round 6 and was a Twins relief pitcher from 2006-2010 with a year off in 2009 for TJ surgery and posted a WAR with the Twins of 3.0. Since then Neshek has pitched for six other big league organizations (currently with Philly) and has a career WAR of 10.9.
Some observations
Seven of the ten position players on the list were drafted out of high school.
Just one of ten pitchers on the list was drafted and signed out of high school.
Only five of the ten position players on the list are first round picks.
Three of 10 pitchers are first round picks.
Position players on the list not picked in round 1 were selected in rounds 4, 8, 9, 12, and 19.
Pitchers on the list not selected in round one were picked in rounds 2, 2, 2, 3, 6, 11, and 29.
Seems like the Twins should draft position players out of high school and pitchers out of college.
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).
The Minnesota Twins have a long history of problems developing starting pitching. Using 100 starts as a barometer, since 1961 the Twins have signed and developed just 11 pitchers in their system that have gone on to get 100 or more starts in a Twins uniform. The only first round pick in the bunch is Pete Redfern, three round tw0 picks, two round three picks, one fourth round pick, one fifth round pick, Brad Radke was an eighth round pick, one 29th round pick and an amateur free agent (Dave Boswell).
Since the June amateur free agent draft started in 1965 the Twins have drafted 31 pitchers in round 1 or as round 1 supplementary/compensation picks. Actually part of the Twins issues with starting pitching relates to spending money or the lack there of. The first two right-handed pitchers drafted by the Twins in round 1 were Dick Ruthven in 1972 and Tim Belcher (first overall pick) in 1983 who both refused to sign with Minnesota and went on to have long careers in MLB. The first left-handed pitcher drafted in round 1 to start any games was Eddie Bane and his Twins career lasted 25 starts. As I mentioned earlier, the draft started in 1965 but the Twins only drafted starting pitching in round 1 twice (Ruthven in 1972 and Bane in 1973) between 1965-1981. The first RHP that they drafted in round 1 that actually started a number of games (45 in Twins career) was Willie Banks who the team drafted in 1987. Since 2000 they have drafted a pitcher in round 1 a total of 17 times.
Starting pitching signed and developed by the Twins since 1961
If you can’t find, sign, and develop your starting pitching, you only have a few options at your disposal, you could make a trade, you can sign a free agent, or you can find one on the waiver wire (ha, ha, ha).
The option I want to write about here is the Twins attempts to trade for starting pitching since the turn of the century, a total of 17 years. Trading for starters hasn’t exactly gone as planned either.
Justin Verlander had a 6.6 pitching WAR, the best in baseball in 2016.
Now that the 2016 regular season is over it is time to take a look at the American League starting staffs and see how the teams acquired their starting pitchers. In this case I am only going to look at pitchers that started 10 or more games for their teams. Several of the pitchers appear on more than one team.
This past season there were 95 pitchers in the American League that started 10 games or more games for their teams. The wild card winning Baltimore Orioles and the worst team in baseball Minnesota Twins each had eight pitchers with at least 10 starts, on the other end of the spectrum the wild card winning Toronto Blue Jays and the 69 win Oakland A’s each had only five starters with 10 or more starts.
May 27 has not always been kind to the Twins over the years.
5/27/1964 – In the first game of a doubleheader at Dodger Stadium against the Los Angeles Angels, Twins center fielder Jimmie Hall is beaned by Angel lefty Bo Belinsky as Hall leads off the top of the fifth inning. The Twins end up losing the game 4-1 but come back to win the second game 4-3. Hall ends up with a concussion and tries to come back on May 31st as a pinch-hitter but ends up striking out. Hall sits out several more games and gets back in the line-up on June 4th. Hall hit 33 home runs as a rookie in 1963 but is never really the same player after this beaning. Star Tribune write-up
5/27/1983 – Twins reliever Rick Lysander becomes the first Twins pitcher to lose both games of a double-header at the Tigers beat the Twins 7-4 and 2-1 at Tiger Stadium. Box score Game 1, Game 2
Scott Baker
5/27/2011 – Twins starter Scott Baker threw seven scoreless innings and left with a 5-0 lead at Target Field, but the Los Angeles Angels scored five in the eighth and one in the ninth against the bullpen and defeated the Twins, 6-5. Baker became the first major-league starter in 13 years to fashion a scoreless outing of at least seven innings and leave with a lead of at least five runs, only to see his team lose. As badly as things have gone for the Twins this season, who are now 16-33 and 14.5 games out of first, the loss set a new low. It was the only the second time since the team came to Minnesota in 1961 – and the first time in nearly 40 years – that the Twins have lost a game in which they led by five-or-more runs going into the eighth inning. Since their only previous such loss – 11-9 to the Yankees on July 30, 1971 – the Twins had gone 755-0 in games in which they took a lead of five-or-more runs into the eighth inning! That was the longest winning streak in major league history in games of that type. Box score
Baseball draft are so different from all the other sports in many ways but the two main differences that stand out is that baseball drafts are more international than other sports and if you get drafted in baseball you can look forward to spend a number of years in the minor leagues before you have the experience and necessary skill sets to play in the major leagues. Sure there have been some players that went directly to the major leagues but they are rare and the last player to do so I believe is RHP Mike Leake who was drafted eighth overall in 2010 by the Cincinnati Reds from Arizona State and now pitches for the Cardinals. The last Twins player to be drafted and go straight to a big league mound was LHP Eddie Bane who also was from Arizona State.
The June amateur draft is exciting for the fans but it is serious business for the MLB teams that have spent lots of time and money watching these young prospects as they try to determine who is the best player available when it comes time to make their selection. Mistakes in a draft can and do haunt teams for many years. There are many ways to mess up a draft choice, the player may not turn out to be as good as you thought, you might have bypassed a star player, you might not be able to sign the player, the player and/or his agent may state they don’t want to play for you, and of course an injury may cut his career short. If everything goes your way you have yourself a baseball player but the odds are stacked against you.
The Designated Hitter rule came into play in the American League for the first time in 1973 and pitchers in the AL had to put their bats into storage where they still sit today. Since 1973 very few AL pitchers have had to dust off and apply pine tar to their bats before walking to home plate to try to get some wood on the ball.
Do you know what pitcher got the last hit for the Minnesota Twins before the DH cane into play? How about that last Twins pitcher to bat before the DH?
I guess it was fitting that a Minnesota native Dave Goltz would be the last Twins pitcher to bat at Met Stadium before pitchers were told not to bother to bring their bats to spring training the following season. But back to the last Twins pitcher to get a hit before the DH, it happened in the same game that Goltz had the last pitcher’s at bat in front of only 3,193 fans at Met Stadium. This pitcher finished his 1972 season with a .160 average which was a career best and six RBI. Two of those six RBI came in that last at bat when he hit a double and had two RBI off Chicago White Sox pitcher Dan Neumeier to make the score Twins 10 and the mighty whitey’s 0 in the top of the fifth inning. So who was this guy? You might be surprised. But if you can’t figure it out at least take a guess and then you can look it up in the box score.
Bobby Korecky
After the 1972 season Twins pitchers never got a hit again outside of any post season action until 1997 when Interleague play was introduced. With Interleague play pitchers once again batted in NL parks but the DH was still in play in AL parks. There was one game since the DH started that a Twins pitcher came to bat in a home game and actually had a hit and that was Bobby Korecky back on May 19, 2008 in a four hour 12 inning marathon against the Texas Rangers.
Here is a list of Twins pitchers that have gotten hits since the DH came on the scene in 1973
Note that in 2009 Twins pitchers had no hits. Twins pitchers also had no hits between 1973 and 1996 although four pitchers had plate appearances, but sadly they all culminated with a strike out.
