Looking for the Best: Twins Hitters and 60-game Stretches

[Patrick Wozniak]

Baseball is back! There’s obviously a lot to be excited about in the 2020 Minnesota Twins and today we’ll channel that optimism by looking at the best 60-game stretches that current Twins hitters have produced.FanGraphs has made this exercise easy by releasing a 60-game span leaderboard. The board is customizable, making it possible to look at the best 60-game stretches of Minnesota’s position players. But before you click that link or continue reading, please take a moment to guess the Twins leaders in fWAR, home runs, stolen bases, and batting average over the course of 60 ball games. Got it? Okay, read on.

 

fWAR

 

Let’s start with Wins Above Replacement since it gives us the best snapshot of a player’s overall value. FanGraphs was kind enough to create the leaderboard, so naturally we’ll use fWAR.

 

1) Josh Donaldson – 4.5 fWAR (5/27/2016 – 8/5/2016)

2) Nelson Cruz – 3.4 fWAR (6/18/2015 – 8/26/2015)

3) Eddie Rosario – 3.3 fWAR (4/26/2018 – 7/1/2018) / Byron Buxton – 3.3 fWAR (7/1/2017 – 9/22/2017)

 

Finding Josh Donaldson and Nelson Cruz a top the list isn’t at all surprising. Donaldson followed up his 2015 AL MVP with another great season in 2016 that saw him finish with 7.6 fWAR. Cruz’s 2015 was his first season with the Seattle Mariners and he set career highs with 44 home runs and 5.0 fWAR.

 

Eddie Rosario and Byron Buxton finish in a tie for third place, just a tick behind Cruz at 3.3 fWAR. Rosario is as capable as anyone in the Twins lineup of going on a hot stretch and when Buxton is healthy he’s a WAR machine as his great defense and baserunning greatly contribute to his totals.

 

Home Runs

 

 

This is still the Bomba Squad, so we can’t go too far without getting into the dingers.

 

1) Nelson Cruz – 27 HR (5/3/2019 – 8/6/2019)

2) Josh Donaldson – 24 HR (7/21/2017 – 9/30/2017)

3) Mitch Garver – 22 HR (6/7/2019 – 9/20/2019)

 

Cruz and Donaldson flip flop at the top of the leaderboard. Juiced ball or not, it’s pretty remarkable that Cruz went on the best power run of this career in his age-39 season. Donaldson’s best home run stretch came the year after his best fWAR run in 2017.

 

Speaking of remarkable, who would have thought before the 2019 season that Mitch Garver would be included in a list like this?

 

Stolen Bases

 

I’ve included stolen bases for two reasons. First, to get a picture of how many bases Byron Buxton could potentially steal in a 60-game season. But the main reason was to include the player who places second. You’re lying if you claim to have guessed it.

 

1) Byron Buxton – 16 (5/22/2017 – 8/13/2017)

2) Nelson Cruz – 14 (4/20/2010 – 8/7/2010)

3) Who cares?

 

If Buxton was encouraged to run wild on the bases I’m pretty confident he could top 16 steals in 60 games, but that is unlikely. You know what else is unlikely? Nelson Cruz stealing 14 bases in 60 games! That’s only two behind Buxton’s career best stretch! Yes, it was way back in 2010, but I’m still flabbergasted. Let the man run Baldelli!

 

Batting Average

 

No one really cares about Batting Average anymore, but in a 60-game season .400 becomes a real possibility, and that’s fun. Plus the Twins have the best candidate to do so in Luis Arraez.

 

1) Luis Arraez – .355 (5/18/2019 – 8/15/2019)

2) Marwin Gonzalez – .350 (4/30/2017 – 7/23/2017)

3) Jorge Polanco – .346 (3/31/2019 – 6/11/2019)

 

Most projection systems have Luis Arraez winning the batting title, but it’s still really impressive that he tops this list. His career sample size is just 92 games, so finding a .355 60-game stretch is all the more impressive. .400 here we come!

 

Less impressive is Marwin Gonzalez at number two, as we now know we must take his results with a giant grain of trash can. However, Jorge Polanco is really interesting at number three. He’s a great young hitter who definitely wore down after playing in 153 games last year, but in a shortened season he could be a dark horse batting champion.

 

If you want to do more 60-game exploring, head on over to FanGraphs and play around with the leaderboard. You can also take a look at pitching or even the worst 60-game stretches if you’re yearning to curb your enthusiasm. And if you missed it yesterday, make sure to check out Ted Schwerzler's take on the best 60-game sprinters.

 

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