1995 Minnesota Twins season

1995 Minnesota Twins
Kirby Puckett's final season
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Carl Pohlad
General manager(s) Terry Ryan
Manager(s) Tom Kelly
Local television WCCO-TV
KLGT-TV
Midwest Sports Channel
(Bert Blyleven, Dick Bremer, Gene Larkin, Chad Hartman, Tommy John, Kent Hrbek )
Local radio 830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, John Gordon)
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Although the 1995 Minnesota Twins were separated from a world championship by only four years, it seemed like eons. Because of the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike, the season got off to a late start. However, it did not end soon enough, as the team finished with a 56-88 record and in last place in its division. The team found it impossible to compete against the runaway Cleveland Indians who won 100 games despite the short season and finished 44 games ahead of the Twins. By July, the team was trading away its veterans in a fire sale. Manager Tom Kelly might have preferred that the strike had continued.

Offseason

Regular season

  • On May 7, the Twins played their longest game ever—in terms of time—losing in 17 innings to Cleveland after 6 hours and thirty-six minutes.
  • May 17 – Kirby Puckett scores his 1000th run, at the Metrodome.
  • May 26 – Kirby Puckett gets his 1000th RBI, at the Metrodome.
  • The lone representative of the Twins in the All-Star Game was outfielder Kirby Puckett.
  • On September 13, three Seattle pitchers struck out eighteen Twins, which set a team record for batting futility.
  • The highest paid Twin in 1995 was Kirby Puckett at $6,300,000, followed by Rick Aguilera at $4,3500,000.

Offense

Only three players had particularly solid years: second baseman Chuck Knoblauch and outfielders Kirby Puckett and Marty Cordova. Puckett did not know that this would be his last year, but it was a solid one. He would be the team's lone all-star representative. Knoblauch won his first Silver Slugger Award. Cordova had a great year for a rookie, and won the Rookie of the Year award.

Team Leaders
StatisticPlayerQuantity
HRMarty Cordova24
RBIKirby Puckett99
BAChuck Knoblauch.333
RunsChuck Knoblauch107

Pitching

The starting rotation was uncertain. Surprisingly, the only certainty was that rookie Brad Radke would get the ball every fifth game. He made 28 starts, but the other pitchers were either injury-prone, inconsistent, or traded by the end of the year, with Kevin Tapani making 20 starts, Mike Trombley 18, Frank Rodriguez 16, Scott Erickson 15, and Jose Parra 12. Closer Rick Aguilera would also be traded midway through the season. He earned 12 saves while Dave Stevens earned 10. Aguilera, Rich Robertson, and Mark Guthrie were the only regular pitchers with ERAs under 5.

Team Leaders
StatisticPlayerQuantity
ERAKevin Tapani4.92
WinsBrad Radke11
SavesRick Aguilera12
StrikeoutsKevin Tapani88

Defense

Like most of Tom Kelly's teams, the defense was capable. Matt Walbeck was the starting catcher, backed up by Matt Merullo. Scott Stahoviak played in 69 games at first base. Although he was not a good hitter, he had a .998 fielding percentage that year. Knoblauch capably manned second base. Scott Leius played reasonably well at third in his last year with the Twins. Pat Meares continued his decent play at shortstop in his third year with the Twins. The regular outfielders were Puckett, Cordova, and Rich Becker.

Notable Transactions

Season standings

AL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cleveland Indians 10044 0.694 — 54–18 46–26
Kansas City Royals 7074 0.486 30 35–37 35–37
Chicago White Sox 6876 0.472 32 38–34 30–42
Milwaukee Brewers 6579 0.451 35 33–39 32–40
Minnesota Twins 5688 0.389 44 29–43 27–45

Record vs. opponents

1995 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —4–99–46–12–108–54–57–53–66–75–76–74–17–6
Boston 9–4—11–35–36–78–53–28–45–45–88–47–53–48–5
California 4–93–11—10–23–26–25–75–28–57–56–77–66–78–2
Chicago 1–63–52–10—5–88–48–56–710–33–2–17–54–95–76–5
Cleveland 10–27–62–38–5—10–311–19–49–46–67–05–46–310–3
Detroit 5–85–82–64–83–10—3–48–57–55–82–35–54–87–6
Kansas City 5–42–37–55–81–114–3—10–26–73–75–87–58–67–5
Milwaukee 5–74–82–57–64–95–82–10—9–45–67–23–25–77–5
Minnesota 6–34–55–83–104–95–77–64–9—3–45–74–85–81–4
New York 7–68–55–72–3–16–68–57–36–54–3—4–94–96–312–1
Oakland 7–54–87–65–70–73–28–52–77–59–4—7–65–83–7
Seattle 7–65–76–79–44–55–55–72–38–49–46–7—10–33–4
Texas 1–44–37–67–53–68–46–87–58–53–68–53–10—9–3
Toronto 6–75–82–85–63–106–75–75–74–11–127–34–33–9—

Roster

1995 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
CFKirby Puckett137538169.3142399

Other batters

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Dan Masteller7119847.237321

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO

Other pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Rich Robertson2551.2203.8338

Relief pitchers

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Scott Watkins270005.4011
Kevin Campbell60004.665

Other post-season awards

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Salt Lake Buzz Pacific Coast League Phil Roof
AA Hardware City Rock Cats Eastern League Sal Butera
A Fort Myers Miracle Florida State League Al Newman
A Fort Wayne Wizards Midwest League Dan Rohn
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League John Russell
Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Mike Boulanger

[12]

References

  1. ↑ Rich Robertson at Baseball Reference
  2. ↑ Matt Merullo at Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ Kevin Maas at Baseball Reference
  4. 1 2 Carl Willis at Baseball Reference
  5. ↑ Kevin Campbell at Baseball Reference
  6. ↑ Mark Redman at Baseball Reference
  7. ↑ Doug Mientkiewicz at Baseball Reference
  8. ↑ Rick Aguilera at Baseball Reference
  9. ↑ Scott Erickson at Baseball Reference
  10. ↑ Chris Latham at Baseball Reference
  11. ↑ https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/rivaslu01.shtml
  12. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
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