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1994 Minnesota Twins season

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1994 Minnesota Twins
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionCentral
BallparkHubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
CityMinneapolis
Record53-60 (.496)
Divisional place4th
OwnersCarl Pohlad
General managersAndy MacPhail
ManagersTom Kelly
TelevisionWCCO-TV
Midwest Sports Channel
(Al Newman, Dick Bremer, Chad Hartman, Tommy John )
Radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, John Gordon, Jim Powell)
← 1993 Seasons 1995 →

The 1994 Minnesota Twins played in an abbreviated, strike-shortened season. The strike overshadowed the season's accomplishments. These included Scott Erickson's no-hitter on April 27, Chuck Knoblauch's 85-game errorless streak and league-leading 45 doubles, Kirby Puckett's 2,000th hit, and Kent Hrbek's retirement. In 113 games, Manager Tom Kelly's team finished with a record of 53–60, for fourth place in the newly created American League Central.

Offseason

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Regular season

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On April 27 at home, Scott Erickson no-hit the Milwaukee Brewers—the Metrodome's first no-hitter—for a 6-0 win. His is the third Twins' no-hitter, 27 years after Dean Chance no-hit the Cleveland Indians in 1967.[4]

On May 20, the team put up 22 hits against the Boston Red Sox—not a record. But two club records were set in the fifth inning, when eight consecutive players hit safely, and a total of ten hits were recorded in the half-inning. The Twins won, 21-2.[5]

The Twins' All-Star representatives were outfielder Kirby Puckett and second baseman Chuck Knoblauch.

By Friday, August 12, the Twins had compiled a 53-60 record through 113 games. They had scored 594 runs (5.26 per game) and allowed 688 runs (6.09 per game).[6]

Throughout the strike-shortened season, the Twins pitching staff struggled and finished with a 5.68 ERA: the highest in the majors. In 1,005.0 innings pitched, they gave up 1,197 hits and 634 earned runs: the most among all 28 teams. They did, however, issue the fewest intentional walks in the Majors, with 20.[7]

Terry Ryan was named Twins General Manager, replacing Andy MacPhail, architect of the team's 1991 world champion team.

The highest paid Twin in 1994 was Puckett at $5,300,000, followed by Aguilera at $3,260,000.

Offense

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Despite the short season, Kirby Puckett managed to belt 20 home runs and drive in 112 runs, winning his sixth Silver Slugger Award. Outfielder Shane Mack had a solid year in his last year with the Twins, batting .333. Knoblauch and outfielder Alex Cole lit up the base paths, stealing 35 and 29 bases, respectively. Designated hitter Dave Winfield had a mediocre year in his last season with his hometown team. (He would play in 46 games for the Cleveland Indians in 1995 before announcing his retirement.)

Team Leaders
Statistic Player Quantity
HR Kirby Puckett 20
RBI Kirby Puckett 112
BA Shane Mack .333
Runs Chuck Knoblauch 85

Pitching

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The starting rotation was not a strong one, although the starters at least started consistently every fifth day, unlike in subsequent years for the Twins. Jim Deshaies, Kevin Tapani, Scott Erickson, Pat Mahomes, and Carlos Pulido started all but six games for the team. Despite the no-hitter, Erickson's year was disappointing, as he posted a 5.44 ERA. Rick Aguilera continued to be a reliable closer while the only reliable arm out of the bullpen was Kevin Campbell with an ERA of 2.92.

Team Leaders
Statistic Player Quantity
ERA Kevin Tapani 4.62
Wins Kevin Tapani 11
Saves Rick Aguilera 23
Strikeouts Scott Erickson 104

Defense

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Matt Walbeck and Derek Parks were a strong 1-2 punch at catcher, at least defensively. (Both had .993 fielding percentages.) Kent Hrbek ended his career with a solid one defensively with a .997 average. As mentioned, Knoblauch excelled defensively at this point in his career. Scott Leius and Pat Meares were defensively average on the left side of the infield. Puckett and Mack were strong in the outfield, while Alex Cole was average. Pedro Muñoz also saw substantial time in the outfield.

Season standings

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AL Central
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago White Sox 67 46 .593 — 34‍–‍19 33‍–‍27
Cleveland Indians 66 47 .584 1 35‍–‍16 31‍–‍31
Kansas City Royals 64 51 .557 4 35‍–‍24 29‍–‍27
Minnesota Twins 53 60 .469 14 32‍–‍27 21‍–‍33
Milwaukee Brewers 53 62 .461 15 24‍–‍32 29‍–‍30
Division leaders
Team W L Pct.
New York Yankees 70 43 .619
Chicago White Sox 67 46 .593
Texas Rangers 52 62 .456
Wild Card team
(Top team qualifies for postseason)
Team W L Pct. GB
Cleveland Indians 66 47 .584 —
Baltimore Orioles 63 49 .562 2½
Kansas City Royals 64 51 .557 3
Toronto Blue Jays 55 60 .478 12
Boston Red Sox 54 61 .470 13
Minnesota Twins 53 60 .469 13
Detroit Tigers 53 62 .461 14
Milwaukee Brewers 53 62 .461 14
Oakland Athletics 51 63 .447 15½
Seattle Mariners 49 63 .438 16½
California Angels 47 68 .409 20

Record vs. opponents

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1994 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 — 4–2 8–4 2–4 4–6 3–4 4–1 7–3 4–5 4–6 7–5 4–6 3–3 7–2
Boston 2–4 — 7–5 2–4 3–7 4–2 4–2 5–5 1–8 3–7 9–3 6–6 1–5 7–3
California 4–8 5–7 — 5–5 0–5 3–4 6–4 3–3 3–3 4–8 3–6 2–7 6–4 3–4
Chicago 4–2 4–2 5–5 — 7–5 8–4 3–7 9–3 2–4 4–2 6–3 9–1 4–5 2–3
Cleveland 6–4 7–3 5–0 5–7 — 8–2 1–4 5–2 9–3 0–9 6–0 3–2 5–7 6–4
Detroit 4–3 2–4 4–3 4–8 2–8 — 4–8 6–4 3–3 3–3 5–4 6–3 5–7 5–4
Kansas City 1–4 2–4 4–6 7–3 4–1 8–4 — 5–7 6–4 4–2 7–3 6–4 4–3 6–6
Milwaukee 3–7 5–5 3–3 3–9 2–5 4–6 7–5 — 6–6 2–7 4–1 4–2 3–3 7–3
Minnesota 5–4 8–1 3–3 4–2 3–9 3–3 4–6 6–6 — 4–5 2–5 3–3 4–5 4–8
New York 6–4 7–3 8–4 2–4 9–0 3–3 2–4 7–2 5–4 — 7–5 8–4 3–2 3–4
Oakland 5–7 3–9 6–3 3–6 0–6 4–5 3–7 1–4 5–2 5–7 — 4–3 7–3 5–1
Seattle 4–6 6–6 7–2 1–9 2–3 3–6 4–6 2–4 3–3 4–8 3–4 — 9–1 1–5
Texas 3–3 5–1 4–6 5–4 7–5 7–5 3–4 3–3 5–4 2–3 3–7 1–9 — 4–8
Toronto 2–7 3–7 4–3 3–2 4–6 4–5 6–6 3–7 8–4 4–3 1–5 5–1 8–4 —


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1994 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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
C Matt Walbeck 97 338 69 .204 5 35
1B Kent Hrbek 81 274 74 .270 10 53
2B Chuck Knoblauch 109 445 139 .312 5 51
SS Pat Meares 80 229 61 .266 2 24
3B Scott Leius 97 350 86 .246 14 49
LF Shane Mack 81 303 101 .333 15 61
CF Alex Cole 105 345 102 .296 4 23
RF Kirby Puckett 108 439 139 .317 20 112
DH Dave Winfield 77 294 74 .252 10 43

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
Pedro Muñoz 75 244 72 .295 11 36
Jeff Reboulet 74 189 49 .259 3 23
Dave McCarty 44 131 34 .260 1 12
Chip Hale 67 118 31 .263 1 11
Rich Becker 28 98 26 .265 1 8
Derek Parks 31 89 17 .191 1 9
Steve Dunn 14 35 8 .229 0 4
Denny Hocking 11 31 10 .323 0 2

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
Kevin Tapani 24 156.0 11 7 4.62 91
Scott Erickson 23 144.0 8 11 5.44 104
Jim Deshaies 25 130.1 6 12 7.39 78
Pat Mahomes 21 120.0 9 5 4.73 53
Eddie Guardado 4 17.0 0 2 8.47 8

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
Carlos Pulido 19 84.1 3 7 5.98 32

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
Rick Aguilera 44 1 4 23 3.63 46
Mark Guthrie 50 4 2 1 6.14 38
Carl Willis 49 2 4 3 5.92 37
Larry Casian 33 1 3 1 7.08 18
Mike Trombley 24 2 0 0 6.33 32
Dave Stevens 24 5 2 0 6.80 24
Brett Merriman 15 0 1 0 6.35 10
Kevin Campbell 14 1 0 0 2.92 15
Erik Schullstrom 9 0 0 1 2.77 13
Keith Garagozzo 7 0 0 0 9.64 3

Other post-season awards

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Designated hitter Dave Winfield won the Roberto Clemente Award, given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) player who "best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team", as voted on by baseball fans and members of the media. Rod Carew in 1977 is the only Twin to have won this award in the past. Kirby Puckett will win it in 1996.

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Salt Lake Buzz 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

[17]

References

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  1. ^ Willie Banks at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Alex Cole at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Enrique Wilson at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ "Minnesota Twins 6, Milwaukee Brewers 0". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  5. ^ "Minnesota Twins 21, Boston Red Sox 2". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  6. ^ "1994 American League Season Summary".
  7. ^ "1994 Major League Baseball Season Summary".
  8. ^ Lenny Webster at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Todd Walker at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ Travis Miller at Baseball Reference
  11. ^ Cleatus Davidson at Baseball Reference
  12. ^ A. J. Pierzynski at Baseball Reference
  13. ^ David Dellucci at Baseball Reference
  14. ^ Corey Koskie at Baseball Reference
  15. ^ Larry Casian at Baseball Reference
  16. ^ Dave Winfield at Baseball Reference
  17. ^ 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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