Wikipedia

1995 Minnesota Twins season

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 shortened 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.

1995 Minnesota Twins
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionCentral
BallparkHubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
CityMinneapolis
Record56-88 (.389)
Divisional place5th
OwnersCarl Pohlad
General managersTerry Ryan
ManagersTom Kelly
TelevisionWCCO-TV
KLGT-TV
Midwest Sports Channel
(Bert Blyleven, Dick Bremer, Gene Larkin, Chad Hartman, Tommy John, Kent Hrbek )
Radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, John Gordon)
← 1994 Seasons 1996 →

Offseason

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Regular season

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  • On May 7, the Twins played their longest game ever—in terms of time—losing in 17 innings to Cleveland after 6 hours and 36 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

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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
Statistic Player Quantity
HR Marty Cordova 24
RBI Kirby Puckett 99
BA Chuck Knoblauch .333
Runs Chuck Knoblauch 107

Pitching

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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
Statistic Player Quantity
ERA Kevin Tapani 4.92
Wins Brad Radke 11
Saves Rick Aguilera 12
Strikeouts Kevin Tapani 88

Defense

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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

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Season standings

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AL Central
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cleveland Indians 100 44 .694 — 54‍–‍18 46‍–‍26
Kansas City Royals 70 74 .486 30 35‍–‍37 35‍–‍37
Chicago White Sox 68 76 .472 32 38‍–‍34 30‍–‍42
Milwaukee Brewers 65 79 .451 35 33‍–‍39 32‍–‍40
Minnesota Twins 56 88 .389 44 29‍–‍43 27‍–‍45

Record vs. opponents

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1995 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore — 4–9 9–4 6–1 2–10 8–5 4–5 7–5 3–6 6–7 5–7 6–7 4–1 7–6
Boston 9–4 — 11–3 5–3 6–7 8–5 3–2 8–4 5–4 5–8 8–4 7–5 3–4 8–5
California 4–9 3–11 — 10–2 3–2 6–2 5–7 5–2 8–5 7–5 6–7 7–6 6–7 8–2
Chicago 1–6 3–5 2–10 — 5–8 8–4 8–5 6–7 10–3 3–2–1 7–5 4–9 5–7 6–5
Cleveland 10–2 7–6 2–3 8–5 — 10–3 11–1 9–4 9–4 6–6 7–0 5–4 6–3 10–3
Detroit 5–8 5–8 2–6 4–8 3–10 — 3–4 8–5 7–5 5–8 2–3 5–5 4–8 7–6
Kansas City 5–4 2–3 7–5 5–8 1–11 4–3 — 10–2 6–7 3–7 5–8 7–5 8–6 7–5
Milwaukee 5–7 4–8 2–5 7–6 4–9 5–8 2–10 — 9–4 5–6 7–2 3–2 5–7 7–5
Minnesota 6–3 4–5 5–8 3–10 4–9 5–7 7–6 4–9 — 3–4 5–7 4–8 5–8 1–4
New York 7–6 8–5 5–7 2–3–1 6–6 8–5 7–3 6–5 4–3 — 4–9 4–9 6–3 12–1
Oakland 7–5 4–8 7–6 5–7 0–7 3–2 8–5 2–7 7–5 9–4 — 7–6 5–8 3–7
Seattle 7–6 5–7 6–7 9–4 4–5 5–5 5–7 2–3 8–4 9–4 6–7 — 10–3 3–4
Texas 1–4 4–3 7–6 7–5 3–6 8–4 6–8 7–5 8–5 3–6 8–5 3–10 — 9–3
Toronto 6–7 5–8 2–8 5–6 3–10 6–7 5–7 5–7 4–1 1–12 7–3 4–3 3–9 —


Roster

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1995 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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
C Matt Walbeck 115 393 101 .257 1 44
1B Scott Stahoviak 94 263 70 .266 3 23
2B Chuck Knoblauch 136 538 179 .333 11 63
SS Pat Meares 116 390 105 .269 12 49
3B Scott Leius 117 372 92 .247 4 45
LF Marty Cordova 137 512 142 .277 24 84
CF Rich Becker 106 392 93 .237 2 33
RF Kirby Puckett 137 538 169 .314 23 99
DH Pedro Muñoz 104 376 113 .301 18 58

Other batters

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

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Jeff Reboulet 87 216 63 .292 4 23
Dan Masteller 71 198 47 .237 3 21
Matt Merullo 76 195 55 .282 1 27
Jerald Clark 36 109 37 .339 3 15
Chip Hale 69 103 27 .262 2 18
Ron Coomer 37 101 26 .257 5 19
Alex Cole 28 79 27 .342 1 14
Matt Lawton 21 60 19 .317 1 12
Kevin Maas 22 57 11 .193 1 5
Dave McCarty 25 55 12 .218 0 4
Denny Hocking 9 25 5 .200 0 3
Brian Raabe 6 14 3 .214 0 1
Riccardo Ingram 4 8 1 .125 0 1
Steve Dunn 5 6 0 .000 0 0
Bernardo Brito 5 5 1 .200 1 1

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Brad Radke 29 181.0 11 14 5.32 75
Kevin Tapani 20 133.2 6 11 4.92 88
Mike Trombley 20 97.2 4 8 5.62 68
Frank Rodriguez 16 90.1 5 6 5.38 45
Scott Erickson 15 87.2 4 6 5.95 45
José Parra 12 61.2 1 5 7.59 29
Greg W. Harris 7 32.2 0 5 8.82 21
LaTroy Hawkins 6 27.0 2 3 8.67 9

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Pat Mahomes 47 94.2 4 10 6.37 67
Rich Robertson 25 51.2 2 0 3.83 38
Scott Klingenbeck 18 48.1 0 2 8.57 27
Oscar Múñoz 10 35.1 2 1 5.60 25

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Dave Stevens 56 5 4 10 5.07 47
Eddie Guardado 51 4 9 2 5.12 71
Erik Schullstrom 37 0 0 0 6.89 21
Mark Guthrie 36 5 3 0 4.46 48
Scott Watkins 27 0 0 0 5.40 11
Rick Aguilera 22 1 1 12 2.52 29
Mo Sanford 11 0 0 0 5.30 17
Kevin Campbell 6 0 0 0 4.66 5
Vince Horsman 6 0 0 0 7.00 4
Carl Willis 3 0 0 0 94.50 0

Other post-season awards

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Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
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

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  1. ^ Rich Robertson at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Matt Merullo at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Kevin Maas at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ a b 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. ^ "Luis Rivas Stats".
  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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