Tag: Tim Teufel

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.

 

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Achter, Fox, Pridie, Blackburn, Leius, Teufel, Ward, Bass, Soderholm, Brye, & Ollom

September 3 was a busy day for big league debuts in a Minnesota Twins uniform.

Sep 3, 2014; Twins relief pitcher A.J. Achter (58) delivers a pitch in the ninth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Target Field. The Twins won 11-4. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

A.J. Achter (P) – September 3, 2014 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 46th round of the 2010 MLB June Amateur Draft. Closed out a Twins 11-4 win over the White Sox at Target Field with a perfect 9th inning on 10 pitches.

Matt Fox

Matt Fox (P) – September 3, 2010 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (35th pick) of the 2004 amateur draft. Fox debuted at Target Field in a start against the Texas Rangers going 5.2 innings (90 pitches) and allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk but got a ND for his efforts. It was his one and only game for the Twins and one of only 4 big league games he would appear in.

Continue reading Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Achter, Fox, Pridie, Blackburn, Leius, Teufel, Ward, Bass, Soderholm, Brye, & Ollom

Minnesota Twins Top 10 Second Basemen

Here are the Minnesota Twins top 10 second basemen based of the WAR numbers from Baseball-Reference.  To qualify a player must have played at least 51% of his games at second base. The results to I’m sure no ones surprise, is that Rod Carew comes out on top. The Twins current second baseman Brian Dozier comes in third.


Rk Player WAR/pos From To G AB R H HR RBI SB BA OPS
1 Rod Carew 63.7 1967 1978 1635 6235 950 2085 74 733 271 .334 .841
2 Chuck Knoblauch 37.9 1991 1997 1013 3939 713 1197 43 391 276 .304 .807
3 Brian Dozier 18.4 2012 2016 699 2715 422 668 117 346 74 .246 .762
4 Tim Teufel 5.5 1983 1985 316 1080 145 286 27 117 5 .265 .751
5 Rob Wilfong 5.3 1977 1982 554 1591 210 417 22 152 41 .262 .681
6 Steve Lombardozzi 4.0 1985 1988 423 1226 148 286 19 104 13 .233 .652
7 Bob Randall 3.8 1976 1980 460 1325 154 341 1 91 11 .257 .621
8 Luis Castillo 3.7 2006 2007 227 933 138 279 3 67 34 .299 .720
9 Alexi Casilla 3.5 2006 2012 515 1580 210 395 11 147 71 .250 .639
10 Bernie Allen 3.2 1962 1966 492 1595 195 392 32 163 3 .246 .682
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/2/2017.
Lou Whitaker

If you looked at the entire American League during this same time period (1961-current) the top three second basemen are Lou Whitaker at 74.9, Bobby Grich at 70.9, and at 62.4 the still active Robinson Cano. Carew did not make this list because he didn’t play second base most of his career. Yet, neither Whitaker nor Grich are in the Hall of Fame. Hmmm!

 

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

Top Twins DH

Twins inside-the-park home runs are a rarity

From the time the Twins started play in 1961 through yesterday June 14 (2016) the Minnesota Twins have hit 7,462 home runs, 3,746 have been hit on the road and 3,716 have been hit at home. The Twins hit 1,872 home runs at the Metrodome, 1,424 at Met Stadium and 420 at Target Field. The most home runs the Twins have hit on the road have been at the Angels home park where they have hit 257.

Eduardo Nunez 2016Of the Twins 7,462 round-trippers only 50 of them have been inside-the-park home runs. Inside-the-park home runs are relatively rare so I am a bit surprised that when Eduardo Nunez hit the latest one back on June 2 that no one mentioned that it was number 50 in Minnesota Twins history. How rare are they? Only .0067% of Twins home runs are of the inside-the-park variety. So what Twins have hit IPHR’s? We have put together a complete list here for you with the help of Baseball-Reference.

 

Twins inside-the-park home runs from 1961-June 2, 2016

Date Batter Opp Pitcher Play Description
1961-07-04 (2) Harmon Killebrew CHW Cal McLish Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1962-04-27 Zoilo Versalles @CLE Dick Donovan Home Run
1963-09-22 Jimmie Hall @BOS Bob Heffner Inside-the-park Home Run to RF
1963-09-28 Vic Power @NYY Whitey Ford Inside-the-park Home Run to RF
1964-07-04 (1) Tony Oliva @NYY Jim Bouton Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1964-08-04 Rich Rollins BOS Bill Monbouquette Inside-the-park Home Run to RF
1964-09-04 Tony Oliva BOS Dave Gray Inside-the-park Home Run to RF
1965-04-22 Zoilo Versalles @NYY Pedro Ramos Inside-the-park Home Run to LF
1965-06-04 Jimmie Hall WSA Howie Koplitz Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1965-06-18 Rich Rollins @NYY Bill Stafford Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1966-06-04 Tony Oliva CLE Tom Kelley Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1967-05-08 Ted Uhlaender WSA Phil Ortega Inside-the-park Home Run to LF
1969-05-13 Rod Carew BAL Mike Cuellar Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1971-07-22 Jim Nettles @NYY Fritz Peterson Inside-the-park Home Run to RF
1972-10-04 Eric Soderholm CHW Ken Frailing Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1974-06-24 Danny Thompson @TEX David Clyde Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1975-06-17 (1) Dan Ford OAK Vida Blue Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1975-09-07 Steve Brye @CHW Claude Osteen Inside-the-park Home Run to RF
1979-05-08 Ken Landreaux TOR Balor Moore Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1979-05-15 John Castino TEX Sparky Lyle Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1980-07-11 Rick Sofield @SEA Glenn Abbott Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1980-08-20 Mike Cubbage TOR Jackson Todd Inside-the-park Home Run to LF
1982-05-28 Tom Brunansky NYY Ron Guidry Home Run
1982-07-19 Tom Brunansky MIL Jerry Augustine Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1982-09-10 Gary Ward @KCR Larry Gura Home Run
1982-09-30 Kent Hrbek @TOR Luis Leal Home Run
1983-09-25 Tom Brunansky @KCR Keith Creel Inside-the-park Home Run
1984-06-23 Randy Bush CHW Tom Seaver Home Run
1984-06-24 Tim Teufel CHW Richard Dotson *WALK-OFF*:*ENDED GAME*:Home Run
1984-09-11 Kent Hrbek KCR Charlie Leibrandt Home Run
1985-07-03 Dave Engle CLE Neal Heaton Inside-the-park Home Run to RF
1986-07-03 Ron Washington BAL Mike Boddicker Inside-the-park Home Run to LF
1986-10-04 Greg Gagne CHW Floyd Bannister Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1986-10-04 Greg Gagne CHW Floyd Bannister Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1987-05-31 (1) Gary Gaetti @DET Jeff Robinson Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1987-09-24 Greg Gagne TEX Charlie Hough Inside-the-park Home Run to LF
1988-07-08 Steve Lombardozzi MIL Bill Wegman Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1988-09-28 Steve Lombardozzi OAK Todd Burns Inside-the-park Home Run to LF
1990-05-26 Gene Larkin BOS Mike Boddicker Inside-the-park Home Run to LF
1991-05-19 Mike Pagliarulo @DET Dan Petry Inside-the-park Home Run to LF
1994-05-17 Shane Mack NYY Jimmy Key Inside-the-park Home Run to RF
1997-04-26 Rich Becker TEX Bobby Witt Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1997-05-25 Pat Meares OAK Ariel Prieto Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1997-08-08 Roberto Kelly NYY Dwight Gooden Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
1999-09-05 Todd Walker @TBD Ryan Rupe Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
2000-07-29 Chad Moeller NYY Ramiro Mendoza Inside-the-park Home Run to LF
2001-07-26 Torii Hunter @OAK Mark Guthrie Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
2007-07-21 Joe Mauer LAA Scot Shields Inside-the-park Home Run to LF
2014-05-20 Kurt Suzuki @SDP Nick Vincent Inside-the-park Home Run to CF
2016-06-02 Eduardo Nunez TBR Matt Moore Inside-the-park Home Run to RF
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/14/2016.

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The MLB June amateur draft is far from a science

2016 DraftThe 2016 MLB will take place June 9, 2016 in Secacus, New Jersey and the Minnesota Twins will have the 17th selection this year. There are already numerous mock drafts being published but as normal they are all over the board, so what else is new. Here is a list (with pictures) on MLB.com of their proposed top 100 2016 prospects.

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.

Continue reading The MLB June amateur draft is far from a science

According to Elias

The Twins entered the top of the ninth inning with a 2-0 lead over the Tigers. J.D. Martinez‘s three-run home run off Glen Perkins turned that lead into a 3-2 deficit before the Twins rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for the win. It’s been over 30 years since the Twins won a game in which they led entering the top of the ninth inning; fell behind in the top of the ninth before rallying in the bottom of the ninth for the win. The Twins last such win occurred on April 13, 1984 against the Mariners. Minnesota saw a 2-1 lead disappear when Alvin Davis and Ricky Nelson hit back-to-back home runs off Ron Davis to open the top of the ninth inning. The Twins rallied in the bottom of the ninth on RBI singles by Tim Teufel and Tom Brunansky for the win.

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.

Oliva, Tony 6

Rk Player H Year Age G AB R 2B 3B HR RBI SB BA
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
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/10/2014.

Who will be the next Twins rookie to join this list?

Will Dozier become top Twins 2B home run slugger?

Tim TeufelTwins second baseman Brian Dozier has put on a nice power display this season while playing a position that is not expected to hit for power, at least not for the Minnesota Twins. The most home runs hit by a keystone position player was back in 1973 when Davey Johnson hit 43 long balls for the Atlanta Braves. The only other 2B to hit 40 or more home runs in a single season is Ryne Sandberg who hit 40 for Chicago’s Cubbies in 1990. The most home runs hit by an AL 2B was 39 by Alfonso Soriano of the Yankees back in 2002. No Twins 2B has come close to those kind of power numbers and the Twins top long ball hitting 2B is Tim Teufel who hit 14 in 1984. Here is a list of Twins second baseman that have hit 10 or more home runs in a single season while playing at least 75% of their games at second base.

 

Rk Player HR Year Age G AB R H 2B 3B RBI BB SO HBP SB BA OBP OPS
1 Tim Teufel 14 1984 25 157 568 76 149 30 3 61 76 73 2 1 .262 .349 .749
2 Rod Carew 14 1975 29 143 535 89 192 24 4 80 64 40 1 35 .359 .421 .919
3 Chuck Knoblauch 13 1996 27 153 578 140 197 35 14 72 98 74 19 45 .341 .448 .965
4 Brian Dozier 12 2013 26 103 380 51 92 25 4 48 35 81 5 9 .242 .312 .736
5 Todd Walker 12 1998 25 143 528 85 167 41 3 62 47 65 2 19 .316 .372 .845
6 Bernie Allen 12 1962 23 159 573 79 154 27 7 64 62 82 0 0 .269 .338 .741
7 Chuck Knoblauch 11 1995 26 136 538 107 179 34 8 63 78 95 10 46 .333 .424 .911
8 John Castino 11 1983 28 142 563 83 156 30 4 57 62 54 1 4 .277 .348 .751
9 Luis Rivas 10 2004 24 109 336 44 86 19 5 34 13 53 1 15 .256 .283 .715
10 Tim Teufel 10 1985 26 138 434 58 113 24 3 50 48 70 3 4 .260 .335 .734
Brian Dozier
Brian Dozier

It will be very interesting to see what happens next with Brian Dozier. Dozier has been playing great on defense and showing signs of becoming a better hitter. Hitting lead-off is not Dozier’s strong suit due to his poor OBP but since Gardy has no one else to fill the role, Dozier has been doing his best. Dozier is only 26 and in only his first full big league season so he still has a lot to learn but in my eyes he has earned the position. The question is if he can keep it since the Twins having been grooming Eddie Rosario for that role ever since they moved Rosario from the outfield a couple of years ago. Rosario may well be the better hitter long-term but you need a good defender at 2B and right now Dozier seems to fit the bill.

By the way, did you ever wonder why 2B is called the keystone position? Here is a nice explanation I found – It’s because first, second and third base can be connected to form an arch (think of the curved cut of the grass around the infield, for example) 2nd base is at the middle or top of the arch, and the stone that is put into the top of the arch is called a keystone. Ergo, the keystone position.

Did you know?

Seattle Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez ranks 2nd in the AL with 158 strikeouts this season, but did you know that he has recorded at least 150 strikeouts in each of his last 8 seasons, all in his age 27 season or younger? Hernandez joins Hall of Famers Bert Blyleven (1971-78) and Walter Johnson (1908-1915) as the only pitchers to accomplish this.

Brian Dozier
Brian Dozier

Brian Dozier hit his 9th home run of the season yesterday. Did you know the last Twin 2B to hit double-digit home runs was Luis Rivas who hit 10 in 2004? The most home runs hit by a Twins player that played 2B at least 75% of the time is 14, a first accomplished by Rod Carew in 1975 and duplicated by Tim Teufel in 1984.  Dozier has a shot at breaking that record this season. It will be very interesting to see what happens with Dozier who has Twins prospect Eddie Rosario right on his tail. Dozier is playing good defense and showing some power with the bat and his 37 RBI are not too shabby either but his .303 OBP works against him.

It is all over but the shouting if the scoreboard shows the Twins trailing after 7 innings this season. Their record? 3-46.

We will close with a couple of trivia questions for you. Only one Twins player has hit a home run in his first two major league games, name him.

One more, this former Twins player was the batter who hit the foul ball in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS at Wrigley Field that Cubs fan Steve Bartman prevented Cubs left fielder Moises Alou from catching with the Cubs leading 3-0 and five outs away from clinching the pennant. He eventually walked and scored as part of the Marlins’ eight-run inning. Who was he?

 

This Day in Twins History – June 24

6/24/1955 – Harmon Killebrew hit his first major league homer, off Billy Hoeft at Griffith Stadium, but the Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators 18-7. Here is what dcbaseballhistory.com wrote about this event. “The visiting Tigers pounce to a 13-0 lead in the top of the 5th, when 3B Harmon Killebrew boots a grounder. In the bottom of the frame, Killebrew would bat and work a 2-2 count against Detroit southpaw Billy Hoeft. Tigers catcher Frank House tells Killebrew that Hoeft’s next offering would be a fastball. Hoeft delivered that fastball and Killebrew rocketed the ball out of the park for his first major league home run. Killebrew would later say that, of all the home runs he hit at Griffith Stadium, the home run off Hoeft was the longest he ever hit in Griffith.”

6/24/1968 – In a one game series, the Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 1-0 in County Stadium in Milwaukee in a game called after 5 innings due to rain. The reason the game was played in Milwaukee was that in 1968, Bud Selig, a former minority owner of the Milwaukee Braves who had been unable to stop the relocation of his team three years earlier, contracted with the Allyn brothers who owned the White Sox to host nine home games (one against each of the other American League clubs) at Milwaukee County Stadium as part of an attempt to attract an expansion franchise to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Frank Jackson of The Hardball Times did a nice blog earlier this year on the Milwaukee White Sox that is well worth your read.

6/24/1977 – Ralph Garr of the White Sox homered off Minnesota’s Paul Thormodsgard in Minneapolis. It came in the third inning with two men on and no one out. Jim Essian, the runner on first, thought the ball might be caught by the Twins’ right fielder, Dan Ford, so he retreated towards first base. Garr was watching the flight of the ball and passed Essian after rounding the bag. He was credited with a single and two runs batted in.

6/24/1984 – 2B Tim Teufel gives the Twins a 3-2 win over the White Sox with a three-run inside-the-park walk off home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth at the Metrodome.

6/24/1989 – Twins outfielder John Moses is asked to pitch at Fenway Park in an 11-2 loss to the Red Sox. John threw one scoreless inning giving up a walk but only faced 3 batters with the team turned a double play behind him. John is the fourth Twins position player to pitch and this is the fifth occurrence of a Twins position player pitching for the Twins.