1997 Minnesota Twins season

Last updated

1997  Minnesota Twins
League American League
Division Central
Ballpark Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
City Minneapolis
Record68-94 (.420)
Divisional place4th
Owners Carl Pohlad
General managers Terry Ryan
Managers Tom Kelly
Television WCCO-TV
Midwest Sports Channel
(Bert Blyleven, Dick Bremer, Ryan Lefebvre)
Radio 830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, John Gordon)
←  1996 Seasons 1998  →

The 1997 Minnesota Twins will not be remembered as the strongest team the Twins ever fielded. Manager Tom Kelly's team consisted of a few solid players, but mainly past-their-prime veterans and never-to-be-established prospects. One of the few bright spots was pitcher Brad Radke's breakout season, in which he won 20 games, at one point had 12 consecutive victories, tying a record Scott Erickson set in 1991. The team finished with a 68–94 record, good enough for fourth place in what proved to be the league's weakest division that season. The Cleveland Indians, who won the division that year, made it all the way to the World Series, but lost in seven games to the Florida Marlins.

Contents

Offseason

Offense

In 1996, catcher Terry Steinbach had a 35-home run, 100-RBI season with the Oakland Athletics in a contract year. Unfortunately for the Twins, he followed it up with a 12-home run, 54-RBI season with his hometown team. Scott Stahoviak played in half the games at first base but batted only .229. Second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, the team's lone all-star, had a great year with the Twins, batting .291 and stealing a career-high 62 bases; he won his second Silver Slugger Award. The contrast between his season and his team's season led him to demand a trade, a demand the team obliged by sending him to the New York Yankees the following February. Ron Coomer had a competent year at third, with 13 home runs. He declined to "ride the pines" to protect a .301 batting average, and finished 1 for his last 8 to end at .298. Pat Meares hit .276, an above-average season for him. The primary outfielders – Marty Cordova, Rich Becker, and Matt Lawton – had mediocre seasons. This was disappointing, because Cordova and Becker were coming off of the best years in their careers. Designated hitter Paul Molitor had a good year, batting .305 with 89 RBI, but it did not match his stellar 1996 numbers. Veterans like Roberto Kelly and Greg Colbrunn performed reasonably well off the bench.

Team Leaders
Statistic PlayerQuantity
HR Marty Cordova 15
RBI Paul Molitor 89
BA Paul Molitor .305
Runs Chuck Knoblauch 117

Pitching

Brad Radke had a breakout year, going 20–10 with an ERA of 3.87. His string of twelve consecutive wins in twelve consecutive starts had only been matched twice since 1950. Bob Tewksbury and Rich Robertson spent most of the year in the starting rotation, but both had losing records. In the final two spots, LaTroy Hawkins, Scott Aldred, and Frank Rodriguez respectively had 20, 15, and 15 starts. Of these three, Rodriguez was the only one with an ERA under 5. Rick Aguilera had a good year as the team's closer, earning 26 saves in not very many opportunities. Eddie Guardado, Mike Trombley, Greg Swindell, and Todd Ritchie had competent seasons in the bullpen. At the end of the season, Dan Serafini played well in six games, giving some hope for the future.

Team Leaders
Statistic PlayerQuantity
ERA Brad Radke 3.87
Wins Brad Radke 20
Saves Rick Aguilera 26
Strikeouts Brad Radke 174

Defense

Steinbach played well at catcher, backed up by Greg Myers. Stahoviak played in 81 games at first, with Colbrunn in 64. Knoblauch won a Gold Glove at second base in a season that gave no indication of his future throwing problems. Coomer (third base) and Meares (shortstop) were average at their positions. The three outfielders played well in the field.

Regular season

Season standings

AL Central
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cleveland Indians 8675.534—44‍–‍3742‍–‍38
Chicago White Sox 8081.497645‍–‍3635‍–‍45
Milwaukee Brewers 7883.484847‍–‍3331‍–‍50
Minnesota Twins 6894.42018½35‍–‍4633‍–‍48
Kansas City Royals 6794.4161933‍–‍4734‍–‍47

Record vs. opponents

1997 American League record

Sources:
TeamANABALBOSCWSCLEDETKCMILMINNYYOAKSEATEXTORNL 
Anaheim —4–76–56–57–45–66–57–44–74–711–16–68–46–54–12
Baltimore 7–4—5–75–66–56–67–45–610–18–48–37–410–16–68–7
Boston 5–67–5—3–86–55–73–88–38–34–87–47–43–86–66–9
Chicago 5–66–58–3—5–74–711–14–76–62–98–35–63–85–68–7
Cleveland 4–75–65–67–5—6–58–38–48–45–67–43–85–66–59–6
Detroit 6–56–67–57–45–6—6–54–74–72–107–44–77–46–68–7
Kansas City 5–64–78–31–113–85–6—6–67–53–83–85–66–55–66–9
Milwaukee 4–76–53–87–44–87–46–6—5–74–75–65–67–47–48–7
Minnesota 7–41–103–86–64–87–45–77–5—3–87–45–63–83–87–8
New York 7–44–88–49–26–510–28–37–48–3—6–54–77–47–55–10
Oakland 1–113–84–73–84–74–78–36–54–75–6—5–75–76–57–9
Seattle 6–64–74–76–58–37–46–56–56–57–47–5—8–48–37–9
Texas 4–81–108–38–36–54–75–64–78–34–77–54–8—4–710–6
Toronto 5–66–66–66–55–66–66–54–78–35–75–63–87–4—4–11

Roster

1997 Minnesota Twins
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Notable transactions

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

PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
C Terry Steinbach 122447111.2481254
1B Scott Stahoviak 9127563.2291033
2B Chuck Knoblauch 156611178.291958
SS Pat Meares 134439121.2761060
3B Ron Coomer 140523156.2981385
LF Marty Cordova 10337893.2461551
CF Rich Becker 132443117.2641045
RF Matt Lawton 142460114.2481460
DH Paul Molitor 135538164.3051089

Other batters

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

PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
Denny Hocking 11525365.257225
Roberto Kelly 7524771.287537
Greg Colbrunn 7021761.281526
Brent Brede 6119052.274321
Greg Myers 6216544.267528
Todd Walker 5215637.237316
Darrin Jackson 4913033.254321
Damian Miller 256618.273213
David Ortiz 154916.32716
Chris Latham 15224.18201
Javier Valentín 472.28600
Torii Hunter 100----00

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Brad Radke 35239.220103.87174
Bob Tewksbury 26168.28134.2292
Rich Robertson 31147.08125.6969
LaTroy Hawkins 20103.16125.8458
Scott Aldred 1777.12107.6833
Dave Stevens 623.0139.0016
Shane Bowers 519.0038.057

Other pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Frank Rodriguez 43142.1364.6265
Travis Miller 1348.1157.6326
Dan Serafini 626.1213.4215
Kevin Jarvis 613.00012.469

Relief pitchers

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

PlayerGWLSVERASO
Rick Aguilera 6154263.8268
Eddie Guardado 690413.9154
Mike Trombley 672314.3774
Greg Swindell 657413.5875
Todd Ritchie 422304.5844
Dan Naulty 291115.8723
Gregg Olson 1100018.366

Miscellaneous

Other post-season awards

All-Star Game : The lone representative of the Twins in the All-Star Game was second baseman Chuck Knoblauch. Knoblauch also won the Gold Glove Award and Silver Slugger Award.

Paul Molitor won the Lou Gehrig Award, given annually to a Major League Baseball (MLB) player who best exhibits the character and integrity of Lou Gehrig, both on the field and off.

Farm system

LevelTeamLeagueManager
AAA Salt Lake Buzz Pacific Coast League Phil Roof
AA New Britain Rock Cats Eastern League Al Newman
A Fort Myers Miracle Florida State League John Russell
A Fort Wayne Wizards Midwest League Mike Boulanger
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Jose Marzan
Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Steve Liddle

[5]

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References

  1. ↑ Greg Swindell Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  2. ↑ "Michael Cuddyer Stats".
  3. ↑ "Otis Nixon Stats".
  4. ↑ "Alex Ochoa Stats".
  5. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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