Tag: Torii Hunter

Torii Hunter comes home

The ever smiling Torii Hunter took over center from Puckett and played in the Dome from 1997 - 2007. He helped the Twins to four division titles and won seven gold gloves with the Twins. Torii hit .324 in 10 playoff games at the Metrodome.
The ever smiling Torii Hunter took over center from Puckett and played in the Dome from 1997 – 2007. He helped the Twins to four division titles and won seven gold gloves with the Twins. Torii hit .324 in 10 playoff games at the Metrodome.

The Twins announced their newest free agent signee on Wednesday and had an introductory press conference the same day but Torii Hunter needs no introduction here in Twins Territory. Hunter was the Twins first round pick in 1993 and he made his big league debut in a pinch-running role with the club at the age of 22 at Camden Yards. He became the Twins starting center fielder in 1999 and kept that job until he left as a free agent after the 2007 season to sign with the Angels. Torii played for the Angels from 2008-2012 before moving on to the Tigers where he spent the last two seasons.

Rumors have been circulating for some time now that the Twins and Hunter had a mutual interest in joining forces again and yesterday it became a reality when the Twins signed the 39 year-old Hunter to a one-year $10.5 million deal that supposedly includes a full no trade clause.

I had written a piece about the Twins/Hunter romance back on November 23 and it was a real head scratcher to me then and it still is today. I know the Twins outfield situation is a mess but I am not sure that throwing $10.5 million to Hunter is the answer. Hunter no longer can play center field and the Twins have stated that Hunter will play right field and Oswaldo Arcia will move to left field. Apparently center field will again be patrolled by Aaron Hicks if he shows anything at all with the bat. The fallback plan would be Danny Santana who apparently will be given a shot to win the shortstop job if Hicks holds on to center field but the Twins aren’t talking about shortstop too much right now. Terry Ryan did say that the focus will now turn to pitching so that means that the club will go with an in-house center fielder. Who ever plays center for a year or two is just a place-holder for Byron Buxton who hopefully can have a healthy and productive season in 2015 and maybe, just maybe get a September call-up for a taste of big league coffee.

If Twins fans are looking forward to seeing the Torii Hunter of old, they will be sorely disappointed. I have always liked Torii Hunter, who doesn’t? The man has a million dollar smile and a personality to match but he will be 40 in July and baseball skills start to erode pretty quickly when you get around the 40 mark. The man is a winner although the World Series has eluded him in his 18 years in the big leagues. The odds of him getting there with Minnesota, at least as a player are slim to none. Hunter said that he wanted to finish his career at home and he calls the Minnesota Twins home so maybe after he hangs up his spikes as a player the organization will have another role for him. Hunter knows how to play the game and hopefully he can teach some of the Twins players what it takes to get that done.

From the Twins perspective this deal fills a couple of needs. First of all it fills a corner outfield role that was in essence vacant. Although the Twins organization will not admit it the Twins team has a no leader and many times has looked like they are just going through the motions. The only players that the Twins have that show any passion at all are Brian Dozier, Casey Fien, and Glen Perkins. Hunter can help with that problem for sure. From the non-baseball side this helps the Twins organization sell some tickets. Hunter has always been a popular player and his coming back to Minnesota may help persuade a few season ticket-holders to re-up for one more season. The Twins are in desperate straits and anything they can do to stop the hemorrhaging of season ticket holders is worth a try. I think the team has a bright future but they need to find a way to hold on to their fan base because once that train leaves the station it takes lots of time and money to get it back

There are some good reasons to put Torii back in a Twins uniform, I just don’t think that signing him will do much for the Twins record in 2015. However, if you look at this signing as an investment for the future, bringing Torii home to Minnesota might make some sense. I hope so because I hate to see anyone waste $10.5 million and I want the Minnesota Twins to learn how to win and play good baseball again before I get too much older.

Welcome back Torii Hunter!

Some real head scratchers

I do not profess to be some baseball expert by any means but I have followed major league baseball since the mid 50’s and I started becoming a serious follower of major league baseball when the Milwaukee Braves beat the New York Yankees in the 1957 World Series in 7 games. To me, baseball is interesting because of its history, its characters and last and certainly not least the fact that on any given day at any given game that you might be lucky enough to attend, that you will see something that you have never seen before. I have been to a lot of games at numerous baseball parks but I still have never seen a no-hitter or a batter hit for the cycle at a game I attended but I have seen many other interesting and historic baseball feats over the years.

Baseball is a unique game for a whole bevy of reasons such as the fact that there is no clock in baseball, each playing field has its own peculiarities, there are 162 games to be played and that does not count playoffs or spring training, some extremely interesting characters both from the player’s side and the ownership/front-office side, cheating by players has been tolerated even encouraged unless it becomes too blatant, owners have no payroll limitations, free agency has given players the right to work/play where ever they wish for the most part and various other reasons that I haven’t listed here.

MLB players, its owners and baseball fans everywhere actually benefit from free agency. When the last out of the World Series is made and the off-season begins you would think that baseball would go on hiatus as far as the fans are concerned but that is not the case in modern-day baseball. When the playing season ends the free agency season begins and hot stove league baseball remains a hot topic of discussion for true baseball fans even if football, hockey, and basketball seasons are underway and the ballparks are covered with ice and snow. Fantasy baseball is almost a year round event now as its players follow the free agency moves and make their draft plans accordingly. Heck, there are already drafts going on for the 2015 season.

But I am getting side-tracked here, my intent was to do a short piece on “why are these things happening”? Real head scratcher as far as I am concerned. As I said earlier, I am no expert but some of the moves or more accurately stated “proposed moves and /or rumors” by our local Twins team or other MLB teams make me really wonder what the heck these people in baseball are thinking? First off, the average person has no concept of the dollars in play and that it is easy to spend someone else’s money, I realize that. No one really know for instance what the Twins revenue really is and the few people who do surely aren’t going to divulge those secrets. How often do you hear someone say or write “it’s only $5 million, we should do it”.  Or what idiotic owner first brought options into baseball contracts where as they can sign a player for $10 million dollars or they can choose to pay him $1 million to walk away, what is up with that? What bozo pays someone a million dollars not to work for them? MLB does.

So here are a couple of real head scratcher’s for me –

Michael Cuddyer
Michael Cuddyer

Why would former Twins outfielder Michael Cuddyer who will turn 36 before the 2015 season begins turn down a $15.3 million qualifying offer from the Colorado Rockies to sign a two-year deal with the New York Mets for $21 million. Cuddyer missed all but 49 games for the Rockies this season due to injury. Maybe I don’t understand this qualifying offer business as well as I thought I did. As I understand it this process has been in place for three years and 34 qualifying offers have been made and zero have been accepted. Hard for me to fathom turning down $12-$15 million for one year’s work.

Torii Hunter
Torii Hunter

Numerous stories are being written about the Twins pursuing outfielder Torii Hunter who played for Minnesota from 1997-2007 before leaving via free agency. Hunter will be 40 years old this coming July and he just put $14 million in the bank thanks to the Detroit Tigers in 2014. No argument here the Twins outfield is a mess with no center fielder, no left fielder, and Oswaldo Arcia in right is not exactly a gold glover. Still, having said that I don’t understand why the Twins would pay Hunter around $10 million to play for them in 2015. We are talking 15 home runs and 80 RBI and a .280 average but is that worth $10 million or so even now for a team that has little to no chance of achieving the .500 mark? I know that fans still love Torii and he was a good player here for many years but let it go for God’s sake. The man can’t play like he did back in his 20’s. Why do the Twins and their fans always want their former stars to come back home? Haven’t you folks heard the old saying “you can never go home again?”

Wily Mo Pena
Wily Mo Pena

Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press tweets that there is interest between Wily Mo Pena and the Minnesota Twins. The soon to be 33-year-old Of/DH goes about 260 and has played in Japan for the last three season. Pena last appeared in the majors in 2011 with the Seattle Mariners and has never played in more than 110 games in the majors at any point in his career. I could care less that he hit 32 home runs in Japan in 2014, the last thing the Twins need to spend money on is a DH. Rumor or fact, this is just plain STUPID! If the Twins look they will find other positions that need more help then at DH.

Adam LaRoche Let’s move on from the Twins for a bit and see what else is going on in the AL Central. Last year the Chicago White Sox signed first baseman Jose Abreu from Cuba to a $68 million six-year deal and in 2014 the 27-year-old Abreu rewarded them with the American League Rookie of the Year award. Now the Sox go out and sign free agent 1B Adam LaRoche to a two-year deal for $25 million. I hate to repeat myself but what the heck are they thinking? They have numerous holes to fill and they chose to sign another first baseman. I sure hope the Sox know something we don’t because as first glance this is another dumb Sox move.

Raul Ibanez
Raul Ibanez

Joe Maddon opted out of his manager gig in Tampa a couple of weeks ago because things were heading south in Tampa and the Chicago Cubs seem to have a future. That created an opening for a new Rays manager and the three finalist are Kevin Cash, Don Wakamatsu, and Raul Ibanez. RAUL IBANEZ? Where did he come from? Why is he qualified to manage a big league team? The last time I saw him he was playing for the Kansas City Royals in 2014 and now he is a finalist for the Tampa Rays manager job, how do things like this happen? Like I said, a real head scratcher for me.

You can’t make this stuff up but yet it happens in baseball day in and day out.

According to Elias

Torii Hunter as TigerTorii 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.

Does Brian Dozier have a 20/20 vision?

Brian Dozier
Brian Dozier

Twins second baseman Brian Dozier, 27, hit his 19th home run yesterday and he has 16 stolen bases giving him a real shot at becoming just the sixth Twins player (Torii Hunter did it twice) to join the exclusive 20/20 club with 20 or more home runs and 20 or more stolen bases. With about a third of the season left to play, he has an outside shot at becoming the Twins first 30/30 player. No Washington Senators player between 1901-1960 ever accomplished a 20/20 season.

Previous Twins players with 20/20 seasons

Rk Player HR SB Year Age G PA AB R H 2B 3B RBI BB SO BA OPS Pos
1 Kirby Puckett 31 20 1986 26 161 723 680 119 223 37 6 96 34 99 .328 .903 *8/H
2 Torii Hunter 29 23 2002 26 148 604 561 89 162 37 4 94 35 118 .289 .859 *8/HD
3 Larry Hisle 28 21 1977 30 141 620 546 95 165 36 3 119 56 106 .302 .902 *78/D9H
4 Corey Koskie 26 27 2001 28 153 649 562 100 155 37 2 103 68 118 .276 .850 *5/HD
5 Marty Cordova 24 20 1995 25 137 579 512 81 142 27 4 84 52 111 .277 .839 *78
6 Torii Hunter 23 21 2004 28 138 569 520 79 141 37 0 81 40 101 .271 .805 *8D/H
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/23/2014.

A 20/20 season does not seem that difficult but in the last 10 seasons in the American League  only 17 players have accomplished this feat (Grady Sizemore did it four times) and there are some pretty good players on this list. Hopefully the slick fielding Twins second baseman Brian Dozier can join this list this season, it would be a pretty nice feather in his hat. I have no clue why the Twins haven’t signed Dozier to an extension as yet, the price keeps going up.

AL players with 20/20 or better seasons between 2005-2014

Rk Player HR SB Year ? Age Tm G PA AB R H 2B 3B RBI BB SO BA OPS Pos
1 Mike Trout 27 33 2013 21 LAA 157 716 589 109 190 39 9 97 110 136 .323 .988 *87/D
2 Coco Crisp 22 21 2013 33 OAK 131 584 513 93 134 22 3 66 61 65 .261 .779 *8D/H
3 Mike Trout 30 49 2012 20 LAA 139 639 559 129 182 27 8 83 67 139 .326 .963 *87/9H
4 Alex Rios 25 23 2012 31 CHW 157 640 605 93 184 37 8 91 26 92 .304 .850 *9/H
5 B.J. Upton 28 31 2012 27 TBR 146 633 573 79 141 29 3 78 45 169 .246 .752 *8/DH
6 Jacoby Ellsbury 32 39 2011 27 BOS 158 732 660 119 212 46 5 105 52 98 .321 .928 *8/HD
7 Dustin Pedroia 21 26 2011 27 BOS 159 731 635 102 195 37 3 91 86 85 .307 .861 *4/H
8 Jeff Francoeur 20 22 2011 27 KCR 153 656 601 77 171 47 4 87 37 123 .285 .805 *9/H
9 Curtis Granderson 41 25 2011 30 NYY 156 691 583 136 153 26 10 119 85 169 .262 .916 *8/HD
10 Ian Kinsler 32 30 2011 29 TEX 155 723 620 121 158 34 4 77 89 71 .255 .832 *4D/H
11 B.J. Upton 23 36 2011 26 TBR 153 640 560 82 136 27 4 81 71 161 .243 .759 *8/H
12 Shin-Soo Choo 22 22 2010 27 CLE 144 646 550 81 165 31 2 90 83 118 .300 .885 *9/D
13 Alex Rios 21 34 2010 29 CHW 147 617 567 89 161 29 3 88 38 93 .284 .791 *8/HD7
14 Bobby Abreu 20 24 2010 36 LAA 154 667 573 88 146 41 1 78 87 132 .255 .787 *97D/H
15 Shin-Soo Choo 20 21 2009 26 CLE 156 685 583 87 175 38 6 86 78 151 .300 .883 *97D/H8
16 Nelson Cruz 33 20 2009 28 TEX 128 515 462 75 120 21 1 76 49 118 .260 .856 *9/DH7
17 Ian Kinsler 31 31 2009 27 TEX 144 640 566 101 143 32 4 86 59 77 .253 .814 *4
18 Curtis Granderson 30 20 2009 28 DET 160 710 631 91 157 23 8 71 72 141 .249 .780 *8/H
19 Bobby Abreu 20 22 2008 34 NYY 156 684 609 100 180 39 4 100 73 109 .296 .843 *9/HD
20 Grady Sizemore 33 38 2008 25 CLE 157 745 634 101 170 39 5 90 98 130 .268 .876 *8/D
21 Alex Rodriguez 54 24 2007 31 NYY 158 708 583 143 183 31 0 156 95 120 .314 1.067 *5/D
22 Curtis Granderson 23 26 2007 26 DET 158 676 612 122 185 38 23 74 52 141 .302 .913 *8/H7
23 B.J. Upton 24 22 2007 22 TBD 129 548 474 86 142 25 1 82 65 154 .300 .894 *84/DH
24 Grady Sizemore 24 33 2007 24 CLE 162 748 628 118 174 34 5 78 101 155 .277 .852 *8/HD
25 Gary Sheffield 25 22 2007 38 DET 133 593 494 107 131 20 1 75 84 71 .265 .839 *D/79H
26 Ian Kinsler 20 23 2007 25 TEX 130 566 483 96 127 22 2 61 62 83 .263 .796 *4/H
27 Grady Sizemore 28 22 2006 23 CLE 162 751 655 134 190 53 11 76 78 153 .290 .907 *8/HD
28 Johnny Damon 24 25 2006 32 NYY 149 671 593 115 169 35 5 80 67 85 .285 .841 *8D/H3
29 Alex Rodriguez 48 21 2005 29 NYY 162 715 605 124 194 29 1 130 91 139 .321 1.031 *5/6D
30 Grady Sizemore 22 22 2005 22 CLE 158 706 640 111 185 37 11 81 52 132 .289 .832 *8/H
31 Alfonso Soriano 36 30 2005 29 TEX 156 682 637 102 171 43 2 104 33 125 .268 .821 *4/DH
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/23/2014.

UPDATE as of August 21, 2014 – Brian Dozier became just the sixth Twins player to record a 20/20 season of at least 20 homers and 20 stolen bases with his 20th stolen base of the season on Wednesday against the Indians at Target Field.

A hit, a hit, I would do anything for a hit

Oswaldo Arcia
Oswaldo Arcia

Outfielder Oswaldo Arcia is quickly climbing up the leader board on a list he would rather not be a part of. Saying that Arcia is in a slump is an understatement as he battles through an 0 for his last 29 at bats streak. The last time Arcia had a knock that counted was back on June 5th when he had a double off Brewer reliever Rob Wooten at Target Field and that was almost three weeks ago. A couple of more “ofer” games and he could become the Twins (and franchise leader going back to 1914) in at bats without a hit for a position player.  The current leader on the Twins hitless at bats leader board is former catcher Butch Wynegar who had a pretty bad September himself back in 1978 when he went 0 for 38.

UPDATE – Arcia hit a home run in his first at bat against the Angels Garrett Richards on June 25th and his hitless streak finally came to an end at 29 at bats.

Twins position players with hitless streaks lasting 25 at bats or more

Butch Wynegar
Butch Wynegar
Rk Name Strk Start End Games AB ? R H SO BB
1 Butch Wynegar 1978-09-04 1978-09-23 12 38 1 0 8 6
2 Charlie Manuel 1969-07-20 1970-04-09 27 36 1 0 12 6
3 Jerry Zimmerman 1967-05-26 1967-06-11 12 35 0 0 10 2
4 Tom Nieto 1987-09-11 1988-04-13 11 32 1 0 8 4
5 Bobby Mitchell 1982-04-27 1982-05-10 12 31 0 0 3 7
6 Gene Larkin 1988-09-17 1988-09-28 10 30 0 0 5 5
7 Randy Bush 1984-08-17 1984-09-07 14 29 2 0 7 6
8 Oswaldo Arcia 2014-06-13 2014-06-22 8 29 1 0 12 2
9 Greg Gagne 1991-06-21 1991-07-02 9 28 1 0 7 1
10 Mike Ryan 2005-07-17 2005-08-13 10 27 1 0 7 3
11 Steve Lombardozzi 1988-08-27 1988-09-24 10 27 0 0 3 0
12 Greg Gagne 1987-09-01 1987-09-11 9 27 1 0 8 2
13 John Roseboro 1968-04-18 1968-04-28 9 27 1 0 3 4
14 Marty Cordova 1998-09-01 1998-09-12 8 27 1 0 5 4
15 Rich Becker 1996-04-07 1996-04-29 11 26 2 0 7 6
16 Jason Kubel 2014-05-20 2014-06-06 9 26 0 0 12 5
17 Torii Hunter 2000-05-20 2000-08-01 9 25 0 0 6 1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/25/2014.

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"<strongTwins Hall of Fame shortstop Greg Gagne made the list twice, ouch. If you included pitchers on the list you would find the hitting challenged Twins starter Dean Chance sitting at number one on the list with a hitless 0 for 52 streak that lasted 23 games from April 13 to July 23, 1967.

Come on Oswaldo, get a hit because this is not a record I want to see get broken!

Did you know?

  • When Minnesota Twins pitcher Yohan Pino will made his Major League debut Thursday night at 30 years, 175 days old at Target Field against the Chicago White Sox. He became the oldest Twin (since 1961) to make his big league debut. Yohan became the 49th starting pitcher in Major League history since at least 1914 to make his Major League debut at age 30-or-older, and just the 14th since 1982. Starters making their Major League debut at age 30-or-older have won each of their last three starts and four of the last five. Since 1982, teams are 7-6 in the 13 occurrences. The 13 pitchers have combined to go 6-4 with a 3.36 ERA (27 earned runs in 72.1 innings) with
    26 walks and 52 strikeouts.
  • Twins second baseman Brian Dozier has hit 15 home runs while swiping 15 bases this
    season, stealing his 15th earlier this week. It marks the 15th time in Club history and 12th different player with the previous ?ve being Torii Hunter in 2007 (28 homers/18 steals), Lew Ford in 2004 (15 homers/20 steals), Hunter in 2004 (23 homers/21 steals), Hunter in 2002 (29 homers/23 steals) and Corey Koskie in 2001 (26 homers/27 steals). Dozier accomplished the feat in his 68th game which is the fastest ever by a Twin and fastest in baseball since Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers did it in his 68th game.
  • Upon Further Review – Through 1,073 games played this season (through
    Wednesday), Major League Baseball has had 541 replay reviews, which have taken an average of one minute and fifty-one seconds.

*541 Replay Reviews
*130 Confirmed
*153 Stands
*251 Overturned
*7 Record Keeping
*1:51 Average Time

  • Through June 18th the American League has a 79-68 record in Interleague play and is hitting .255 and their pitchers have a 3.80 ERA. National League batters are hitting .254 and their pitchers have a 3.78 ERA.
  • The CWS (College World Series) Legends Team includes former Twins Todd Walker, Eddie Bane, and Dave Winfield (former Minnesota Gopher as well).
  • In baseball, a quality start is a statistic for a starting pitcher defined as a game in which the pitcher completes at least six innings and permits no more than three earned runs. The quality start was developed by sportswriter John Lowe in 1985 while writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer. The most quality starts in a season for a Twins pitcher since 2003 is 25 by Johan Santana in 2004. If you use the QS formula going back to 1961, then Bert Blyleven‘s 31 QS in 1972 would be the leader.

Twins career QS leaders from 1961 to present day

Rk Player QS From To G GS CG SHO W L W-L% SV IP SO ERA HR BF BA
1 Jim Kaat 253 1961 1973 468 422 133 23 189 152 .554 6 2959.1 1824 3.28 270 12385 .256
2 Bert Blyleven 218 1970 1988 348 345 141 29 149 138 .519 0 2566.2 2035 3.28 243 10542 .246
3 Brad Radke 208 1995 2006 378 377 37 10 148 139 .516 0 2451.0 1467 4.22 326 10244 .276
4 Jim Perry 156 1963 1972 376 249 61 17 128 90 .587 5 1883.1 1025 3.15 166 7791 .242
5 Frank Viola 144 1982 1989 260 259 54 10 112 93 .546 0 1772.2 1214 3.86 213 7450 .260
6 Dave Goltz 129 1972 1979 247 215 80 11 96 79 .549 3 1638.0 887 3.48 119 6887 .264
7 Johan Santana 112 2000 2007 251 175 6 4 93 44 .679 1 1308.2 1381 3.22 144 5281 .221
8 Camilo Pascual 101 1961 1966 184 179 72 18 88 57 .607 0 1284.2 994 3.31 123 5362 .233
9 Kevin Tapani 98 1989 1995 181 180 19 6 75 63 .543 0 1171.1 724 4.06 109 4897 .270
10 Eric Milton 83 1998 2003 166 165 10 4 57 51 .528 0 987.1 715 4.76 149 4196 .259
11 Scott Baker 76 2005 2011 163 159 4 2 63 48 .568 0 958.0 770 4.15 123 4004 .266
12 Dave Boswell 76 1964 1970 187 150 37 6 67 54 .554 0 1036.1 865 3.49 106 4344 .217
13 Scott Erickson 73 1990 1995 155 153 14 7 61 60 .504 0 979.1 527 4.22 83 4244 .275
14 Geoff Zahn 71 1977 1980 133 126 36 7 53 53 .500 0 852.0 348 3.90 68 3621 .289
15 Nick Blackburn 69 2007 2012 145 137 5 0 43 55 .439 0 818.2 388 4.85 117 3577 .303
16 Allan Anderson 69 1986 1991 148 128 15 3 49 54 .476 0 818.2 339 4.11 87 3474 .282
17 Francisco Liriano 68 2005 2012 156 130 1 1 50 52 .490 1 783.1 788 4.33 76 3341 .247
18 Kyle Lohse 67 2001 2006 172 152 4 3 51 57 .472 0 908.1 561 4.88 128 3982 .285
19 Mudcat Grant 67 1964 1967 129 111 36 10 50 35 .588 1 780.2 377 3.35 88 3227 .260
20 Joe Mays 66 1999 2005 193 146 10 6 48 65 .425 0 946.1 487 4.85 127 4110 .282
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/22/2014.

If you took the list from above and looked at QS%, the Twins career leader is Johan Santana with .640% followed by Bert Blyleven at .632%. Nick Blackburn was not always a fan favorite but his career QS% is .504%, 14th best in team history. Who has the best career QS% in the AL since 1961? That would be Pedro Martinez at .751%. How about the NL you say? That is non other than Sandy Koufax at .782%.

Check out the BA column on the list above, the best is an amazing .217 career BA allowed by the late great Dave Boswell, the man has not gotten his due here in Minnesota and should be in the Twins Hall of Fame. Aren’t statistics fun?

Baseball is such an amazing game, you never know what you will see next and how many times have you watched a game and told yourself, Geez, I have never seen that happen before. How about this one, Brewers score three on one wild pitch.

Indians 3B Chisenhall has a game to remember

Question mark crystal ballLonnie ChisenhallLast night Cleveland Indians third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall had a game for the ages, going 5-for-5 with three home runs and nine RBIs in the Indians’ 17-7 win over the Rangers. Chisenhall was the first player since 1920, when the majors started compiling RBIs, to bat 1.000 in a game with as many as three homers and nine RBIs.

So the question for today is: Since the Twins came into existence in 1961 they have had 54 instances of a Twins batter getting six or more RBIs in a single game. Three former Twins have done it on four occasions. Can you name these three Minnesota Twins hitters?

The answer is Tony Oliva, Torii Hunter, and Jason Kubel

Bonus question: Two Twins catchers have had games where they had seven RBIs in a single game, can you name these catchers?

The answer is Joe Mauer and A.J Pierzynski

No prizes, just testing your Twins history knowledge and your memory. GOOD LUCK!

Baseball Triple Doubles

Triple Double StarsThe 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
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/29/2014.

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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.

2006 - present script logo for BP

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
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/29/2014.

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.

The June Free Agent Draft is just around the corner

2014 draft logoThe MLB First-Year Player Draft may not be as popular as the NFL draft but is is still a fun and entertaining event that many baseball fans wait for all year. In the NFL, the players drafted will be putting on that teams colors come Fall but in baseball a draftee might spend years in the minor leagues learning his craft before he ever gets a sniff of a big league clubhouse. There are web sites devoted strictly to the MLB draft and as draft day get closer and closer you can find “mock drafts” showing who your team will draft everywhere, 99.9% of them will be wrong but never the less it is still fun to look at them.

The first draft took place in 1965, it was introduced to prevent richer teams from negotiating wealthier contracts with top-level prospects and therefore, monopolizing the player market. Originally, three drafts were held each year. The first draft took place in June and involved high-school graduates and college seniors who had just finished their seasons. The second draft took place in January for high school and college players who had graduated in December. The third draft took place in August and was for players who participated in American amateur summer leagues. The August draft was eliminated after two years, and the January draft lasted until 1986.  Rick Monday became MLB’s first draft pick after being selected by the Kansas City Athletics

MLB will hold day one of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft on June 5th at MLB Network’s Studio 42 in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Draft will be aired live on the MLB Network starting at 7:00 p.m. (ET). As is the case with most events of this type, the MLB talking heads will analyze the up-coming draft in a one hour pre-draft preview show.

The selection order of the First-Year Player Draft is determined by the reverse order
of finish at the close of the previous season. The Houston Astros will  have the first overall selection of the 2014 Draft, marking the third consecutive year,  and the fifth time in club history, that they hold the top selection (previous: 1976, 1992, 2012, 2013). It marks the first time ever that a club has the top pick in three consecutive years. In addition, the Astros are the third club in history to hold the top selection at least five times, joining the New York Mets and San Diego Padres (five each).

Six clubs, the Toronto Blue Jays (9th and 11th), the Kansas City Royals (17th and 28th), the Cincinnati Reds (19th and 29th), the Cleveland Indians (21st and 31st), the Boston Red Sox (26th and 33rd) and the St. Louis Cardinals (27th and 34th)  have two selections in the first round. The Indians, Miami Marlins and Royals each have a league high four selections within the first 68 picks during the opening day of the Draft.

The Draft will once again feature Competitive Balance rounds, which were agreed upon as a part of the 2012-2016 Basic Agreement between MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association. The Competitive Balance rounds give clubs with the lowest revenues and in the smallest markets the opportunity to obtain additional draft picks through a lottery, which was held last July. The 10 clubs with the lowest revenues and the  10 clubs in the smallest markets were entered into a lottery for the six selections immediately following the first round of the First-Year Player Draft (picks 35-41; excluding pick 36, which Miami holds as compensation for an unsigned 2013 selection). The eligible clubs that did not receive one of the six selections after the first round, and all other payee clubs under the Revenue Sharing Plan, were entered into a second lottery for the six picks
immediately following the second round of the Draft (picks 69-74).

The Draft will have 40 rounds, and a club may pass on its selection in any round and not forfeit its right to participate in other rounds. Like each of the previous five years, the 2014 Draft will span three days. For day one on June 5th, MLB Network and MLB.com will provide live pick-by-pick coverage during the first round, Competitive Balance Round A, the second round and Competitive Balance Round B. The intervals between selections will last four and a half minutes during the first round and one minute during Competitive Balance Round A, the second round and Competitive Balance Round B. The Draft will resume at 1:05 p.m. (ET) on both June 6th and June 7th via conference call from MLB headquarters in New York City.

June 6th will cover rounds three through 10, and June 7th will cover rounds 11 through 40. Rounds three through 10 will have one minute between selections, and the remainder of the selections will be made without delays.

According to MLB, of the 853 players who were on 2014 Opening Day 25-man rosters,
disabled lists and restricted lists, a total of 650 players were selected in the  MLB Draft. As ccould be expected, the earlier picks do in fact show the highest returns of Major League players, as the 143 players chosen in the top 30 selections amounted to 22.0% of the 650 Opening Day players who went through the Draft en route to the Major  Leagues. Picks 31-60 generated 12.0% (78) of the players, and picks 61-90  turned out 10.0% (65), picks 91-120 generated 6.9% (46) and picks 121-159 generated 8.6% (56) players. Kansas City’s outfielder Jarrod Dyson is the latest draft pick in the Major Leagues on Opening Day rosters, he was chosen in round 50 of the 2006 Draft by the Royals.

The Twins have five picks in the top 140 owning the rights to the 5th, 46th, 79th, 110th and 140th selections.

Twins Draft History

Leon, EddieThe Minnesota Twins first selection ever (Round 1 – 9th over-all in 1965) was shortstop Eddie Leon from Arizona University but he chose not to sign with Minnesota. Leon went on to play for three big league teams but never hit it big playing in 601 games over 8 years hitting for a .236 batting average with 24 home runs.

The Twins have had the first pick over-all twice, in 1983 when they selected RHP Tim Belcher from Mount Vernon Nazarene University and again in 2001 when they selected catcher Joe Mauer from Cretin-Derham Hall High School. Tim Belcher chose not to sign with Minnesota but went on to have a long 14 year big-league career with 7 different teams putting up a 146-140 won/lost record. Joe Mauer has been with the Twins since 2004.

The current 25 man Minnesota roster has six players selected by the Twins in round one, RHP Kyle Gibson in 2009 was 21st over-all, outfielder Aaron Hicks in 2008 was 14th over-all, outfielder/Ib Chris Parmelee in 2006 was 20th over-all, 3B Trevor Plouffe in 2004 was 20th over-all, closer LHP Glen Perkins in 2004 was 22nd over-all, and 1B Joe Mauer who the Twins picked number one over-all in 2001.

A number of Twins first round picks have moved on such as outfielder Ben Revere who was 28th over-all in 2007, RHP Matt Garza who was picked in 2005 and the 25th over-all selection, outfielder Denard Span in 2002 number 20 over-all, outfielder Michael Cuddyer in 1997 was 9th over-all, and finally outfielder Torii Hunter who is still playing good ball with the Tigers was selected 20th over-all back in 1993. Hunter is playing in his 18th big league season at the age of 38. How time flies….

Brye, SteveThe first player to be drafted in the first round by Minnesota and make the Twins roster was outfielder Steve Brye who the Twins selected number one and 17th over-all in 1967. Brye debuted with Minnesota in September of 1970 and appeared in 697 games for the Twins between 1970 and 1978 hitting .258 with 30 home runs.

 

Five Years Ago – 2009 draft

The Twins selected Kyle Gibson number 1, catcher Chris Herrmann number 6, and 2B Brian Dozier number 8, all were picked after spending time in college. No other players drafted by Minnesota that year have made it to the big leagues.

Ten Years Ago – 2004 draft

The Twins selected Trevor Plouffe number 1-20, Glen Perkins number 1-22, RHP Kyle Waldrop 1-25, RHP Matt Fox 1s-35, RHP Anthony Swarzak in round 2, infielder Matt Tolbert in round 16, outfielder Rene Tosoni in round 34.

Travis Lee fiasco

Lee, TravisTravis Lee was a Steve Boras client and was initially drafted as the second pick over-all in the 1996 Major League draft by the Minnesota Twins, but was declared a free agent by MLB through a loophole after the Twins failed to tender him a contract within fifteen days of the end of the draft. He then signed a four-year, $10 million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Lee did not turn out to be the super-star everyone expected him to be but he did play in the big leagues from 1998 to 2006 appearing in 1,099 games hitting .256 with 115 home runs.

Will this years Minnesota Twins first round pick be stud or a dud? It could be years before we know.

A month to remember for Chris Colabello

Chris Colabello
Chris Colabello

Minnesota Twins 1B and outfielder Chris Colabello had a month to remember in April and now he ranks at the top of the list of some pretty good players that knew how to knock in runs for the Minnesota Twins. Some interesting names on this list of Twins that had 20 or more RBI in the first month of the season.

Rk Player Split Year G RBI PA AB R H 2B 3B HR SB BB SO BA OBP OPS
1 Chris Colabello April/March 2014 24 27 102 95 11 28 9 0 3 0 6 26 .295 .343 .827
2 Kirby Puckett April/March 1994 25 26 116 112 14 39 11 0 2 0 2 10 .348 .371 .871
3 Ron Coomer April/March 2000 22 23 92 83 14 22 4 0 5 0 7 9 .265 .326 .820
4 Brant Alyea April/March 1970 17 23 60 53 7 22 4 0 5 1 7 7 .415 .483 1.257
5 Justin Morneau April/March 2008 27 22 110 97 12 26 4 0 6 0 11 16 .268 .345 .840
6 Kent Hrbek April/March 1982 22 22 100 86 18 27 5 2 8 0 13 15 .314 .404 1.102
7 Dave Hollins April/March 1996 25 22 103 82 19 24 4 0 7 1 19 18 .293 .437 1.034
8 Matt Lawton April/March 2000 26 22 118 102 18 38 9 0 3 5 14 12 .373 .449 .998
9 Paul Molitor April/March 1996 25 21 114 101 24 39 7 1 2 5 11 10 .386 .439 .973
10 Pat Meares April/March 1996 24 21 95 84 16 27 4 3 3 3 6 19 .321 .372 .920
11 Doug Mientkiewicz April/March 2001 23 21 87 79 14 30 6 1 6 0 6 14 .380 .425 1.134
12 Harmon Killebrew April/March 1971 21 21 91 81 7 26 6 0 3 2 10 16 .321 .396 .902
13 Torii Hunter April/March 2002 27 20 115 105 23 39 5 0 9 5 8 21 .371 .409 1.085
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/2/2014.

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It will be interesting to see how many RBI Colabello will end up with in 2014. Harmon Killebrew wih 119 and Kirby Puckett with 112 ended up leading the league in RBI’s in the season they had 20 or more RBI’s in April. Dave Hollins on the other hand had 22 RBI in April and finished the season with 53. Strangely enough Dave Hollins, Paul Molitor, and Pat Meares all had 20 or more RBI in April of 1996 and yet the team finished the season at 78-84 with Paul Molitor and Marty Cordova ending up with over 100 RBI.

A nice record to have for Chris Colabello but it is a long season so it will be fun to watch to see if Colabello can maintain his RBI pace or if this past month is just an anomaly.

You can check out a nice article written about Colabello and his history by Dan Cook of WCCO Radio here.