1993 Minnesota Twins season

The 1993 Minnesota Twins underperformed in their last year in the old American League West Division, finishing with a 71-91 record, leaving the team tied for fifth place with the California Angels. There were bright spots for Manager Tom Kelly. This included Kirby Puckett winning the All-Star MVP award on July 13. Another bright spot was St. Paul native Dave Winfield getting his 3,000th hit in his first year back with his hometown team.

1993 Minnesota Twins
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Carl Pohlad
General manager(s)Andy MacPhail
Manager(s)Tom Kelly
Local televisionWCCO-TV
Midwest Sports Channel
(Jim Kaat, Dick Bremer)
Local radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, John Gordon, Jim Powell)
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Offseason

Regular season
  • At Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the Twins' All-Star representatives were outfielder Kirby Puckett and closer Rick Aguilera. Puckett was named the MVP following his 2-for-3 performance with a solo home run and a run-scoring double.
  • On September 16, Dave Winfield collected his 3000th major league hit, a run-scoring 9th-inning single off Oakland's Dennis Eckersley. Winfield was the first to do so wearing a Twins uniform, and the first-ever to do so indoors.
  • The highest paid Twin in 1993 was Puckett at $5,300,000, followed by Hrbek at $3,100,000.

Offense

Not only did Winfield get his 3,000th hit, but he also got his 500th double and 450th homer. He had a serviceable year as the team's primary designated hitter, hitting .271 with 21 home runs and 76 RBI. Other offensive highlights included Kent Hrbek becoming the second Twin (along with Harmon Killebrew) to reach 1,000 RBI and Brian Harper becoming only the fourth catcher in the prior 40 years to hit .300 in three consecutive seasons. Chuck Knoblauch continued his solid leadoff hitting, batting .277 and stealing a team-leading 29 bases. The weaker spots in the regular lineup included Pedro Muñoz (.233 average).

Team Leaders
StatisticPlayerQuantity
HRKent Hrbek25
RBIKirby Puckett89
BABrian Harper.304
RunsKirby Puckett89

Pitching

The starting rotation was reasonably competent, with Kevin Tapani, Willie Banks, and Jim Deshaies having ERAs in the low fours. Unfortunately, Scott Erickson was not able to follow up his very successful first three years in the majors, posting an ERA of 5.19 and leading the majors in losses (19). The fifth spot in the rotation was uncertain, with Eddie Guardado making 16 starts and Mike Trombley 10.

There were strong pitchers in the bullpen, starting with closer Rick Aguilera. He had 34 saves, and was American League Pitcher of the Month for June. Also having strong years were Larry Casian with an ERA of 3.02, Mike Hartley (4.00), and Carl Willis (3.10). This was not so much the case for pitchers such as George Tsamis (6.19) and Brett Merriman (9.67).

Team Leaders
StatisticPlayerQuantity
ERAWillie Banks4.04
WinsKevin Tapani12
SavesRick Aguilera34
StrikeoutsKevin Tapani150

Defense

The team was strong defensively. Harper was a strong catcher, with a .988 fielding percentage. Hrbek was always strong at first base as well, making only five errors in 1993. Knoblauch was a good second baseman at this point in his career. Mike Pagliarulo played in about half the team's games at third, with reasonable competence. (Jeff Reboulet and Terry Jorgensen also saw time at the position.) The team intended Scott Leius to be the starting shortstop, but an early injury prevented this from occurring. It paved the way for Pat Meares to man the position for several years. He surprised the team by playing reasonably well during his rookie year. Puckett always excelled in center field, while Shane Mack and Munoz did okay on either side of him.

Season standings
AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago White Sox 9468 0.580 — 45–36 49–32
Texas Rangers 8676 0.531 8 50–31 36–45
Kansas City Royals 8478 0.519 10 43–38 41–40
Seattle Mariners 8280 0.506 12 46–35 36–45
California Angels 7191 0.438 23 44–37 27–54
Minnesota Twins 7191 0.438 23 36–45 35–46
Oakland Athletics 6894 0.420 26 38–43 30–51

Record vs. opponents
1993 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —6–77–54–88–55–87–58–58–46–710–27–54–85–8
Boston 7–6—7–57–55–86–75–75–87–56–79–37–56–63–10
California 5–75–7—7–65–74–86–77–54–96–66–76–76–74–8
Chicago 8–45–76–7—9–37–56–79–310–34–87–69–48–56–6
Cleveland 5–88–57–53–9—6–77–58–54–86–78–43–97–54–9
Detroit 8–57–68–45–77–6—5–78–56–64–98–47–56–66–7
Kansas City 5–77–57–67–65–77–5—5–77–66–66–77–67–68–4
Milwaukee 5–88–55–73–95–85–87–5—7–54–97–54–84–85–8
Minnesota 4–85–79–43–108–46–66–75–7—4–88–54–97–62–10
New York 7–67–66–68–47–69–46–69–48–4—6–67–53–95–8
Oakland 2–103–97–66–74–84–87–65–75–86–6—9–45–85–7
Seattle 5–75–77–64–99–35–76–78–49–45–74–9—8–57–5
Texas 8–46–67–65–85–76–66–78–46–79–38–55–8—7–5
Toronto 8–510–38–46–69–47–64–88–510–28–57–55–75–7—

Notable transactions

Roster
1993 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers
  • 41 Rich Garces
 Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; 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 Puckett156622184.2962289
RFPedro Muñoz10432676.2331338

Other batters
Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Terry Jorgensen5915234.224112
Randy Bush35457.15603
Derek Parks7204.20001

Pitching

Starting pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA SO

Other pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA SO

Relief pitchers
Player G W L SV ERA SO

Other post-season awards
  • Calvin R. Griffith Award (Most Valuable Twin) – Brian Harper
  • Joseph W. Haynes Award (Twins Pitcher of the Year) – Rick Aguilera
  • Bill Boni Award (Twins Outstanding Rookie) – Pat Meares
  • Charles O. Johnson Award (Most Improved Twin) – Larry Casian
  • Dick Siebert Award (Upper Midwest Player of the Year) – Paul Molitor
    • The above awards are voted on by the Twin Cities chapter of the BBWAA
  • Carl R. Pohlad Award (Outstanding Community Service) – Brian Harper
  • Sherry Robertson Award (Twins Outstanding Farm System Player) – LaTroy Hawkins

Kirby Puckett won the Branch Rickey Award, given annually to an individual in Major League Baseball (MLB) in recognition of his exceptional community service. The award was inaugurated last year and was awarded to Toronto Blue Jay Dave Winfield. In 1998, Paul Molitor becomes the second Twin to win the award.

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Portland Beavers Pacific Coast League Scott Ullger
AA Nashville Xpress Southern League Phil Roof
A Fort Myers Miracle Florida State League Steve Liddle
A Fort Wayne Wizards Midwest League Jim Dwyer
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Ray Smith
Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Jose Marzan

[12]

References
  1. Mike Maksudian at Baseball Reference
  2. "Twins Re-Sign Puckett". Associated Press.
  3. David West at Baseball Reference
  4. Jim Deshaies at Baseball Reference
  5. Dave Winfield at Baseball Reference
  6. Randy Bush at Baseball Reference
  7. Jason Varitek at Baseball Reference
  8. Dan Perkins at Baseball Reference
  9. Javier Valentín at Baseball Reference
  10. Alan Newman at Baseball Reference
  11. Mike Pagliarulo at Baseball Reference
  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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