Twins Greatest One Hit Wonders

In 1985 Mickey Hatcher maybe peaked getting 9 hits in a row but couldn't keep it up for some reason.    His peak year was 1983 though hitting .317.   Injury related, but Scott Erickson really only gave us one good year.

How about Chris Colabello? (Maybe for Toronto).

2009 Joe Mauer?

I KID, I KID!

My nominee would be Glenn Adams who hit .338 in 1977. His slash line was .338/.376/.468. He had 8 RBIs in a 19-12 win at Chicago White Sox, a game I listened to from my home in Toledo, OH on 670 WMAQ with Harry Carey announcing! In 1977 he had only 269 AB, playing for Gene Mauch, who was a proponent of platooning back when teams used less pitchers and you could afford to platoon. Mauch was a brilliant manager and who know-how great that 1977 team could have been if Griffith didn’t let go of via free agency and trade, all of the stars of the team, Carew being the last to depart after 1978 season, a dark moment in Twins history but Griffith made Carl Pohlad look like George Steinbrenner !!!!!

Fun topic. I would add Joe Mays, Jim Hughes and Bill Zepp for consideration.

Looked at Dave Engle's stats from 1984 and they don't look all that great, however, he was an All Star that year. I think he was a catcher though, so maybe his stats we're good for a catcher in 1984? Side note he finished 5th in rookie of the year voting in 1981.

Jaque Jones had more than one productive year though. He had multiple years of 20+ homeruns and he had multiple years where he hit decent he was a regular for multiple years, I see a Marty Cordova on this list way more than I see Jaque Jones.

Looked at Dave Engle's stats from 1984 and they don't look all that great, however, he was an All Star that year. I think he was a catcher though, so maybe his stats we're good for a catcher in 1984? Side note he finished 5th in rookie of the year voting in 1981.

Good catch (no pun intended!). I lived in Toledo OH and watched Engle play regularly where I think he edged out Wade Boggs for a batting title and played a great RF with a rifle arm! I don’t think he ever caught a game for the Mud Hens who were Twins farm team for about 8 years. I became fan as 8 yr old in Orlando FL when my young self was impressed by s spring training rout of the Reds. I was hooked until now with the real intense years coming from listening to Herb Carneal "A pleasant good evening to you from the Big A in Anaheim"

Brant Alyea 1970 comes to mind. As I recall, he got off to a torrid start and ended up hitting around .290 with around 20 home runs. He was out of MLB a couple of years later.

First person I thought of. I guess also Bobby Darwin.

To me for one-hit-wonders, I am would think of Scott Diamond, in 2012, who had 12-9 record with 3.54 era, 2.6 war.  Rest of his career was pretty much 1 full season after that where he produced negative war.  After that 1 inning three years later at MLB level.  That is a true one-hit-wonder.  

The list you put together, I would not even consider Phil Hughes as a one.  If you mean for the Twins, then yes, but he had a productive career before the Twins, not to level of that one season but he was productive.  Cordova, Punto, Jones, and Guzman I would not consider them one hit wonders either.  Yes, they had outlier seasons that had peak value, but they still played several years in the majors.  Lew Ford I would put on the list, because he pretty much came out of nowhere and returned to nowhere.  Else we could put Jack Morris on Twins one hit wonder.  He had 1 season with Twins and helped them win a WS, sure he was career HOF pitcher, but 1 season with Twins. 

Scott Diamond is my number one.  Super flash in the pan to never be heard from again after he fell back to his norm.  I see one-hit-wonders as coming out of no where, having big value, then nothing after that.  

To me for one-hit-wonders, I am would think of Scott Diamond, in 2012, who had 12-9 record with 3.54 era, 2.6 war.  Rest of his career was pretty much 1 full season after that where he produced negative war.  After that 1 inning three years later at MLB level.  That is a true one-hit-wonder.  

 

 

Scott Diamond is my number one.  Super flash in the pan to never be heard from again after he fell back to his norm.  I see one-hit-wonders as coming out of no where, having big value, then nothing after that.  

He is a great choice but I will defend him a little.   I don't think he went back to his norm.   I think he became a good pitcher as his 2012 year suggests and then had arm troubles which kept him from maintaining that.   He started the 2013 year on the 15 day disabled list but his curve ball just never had the same bite when he came back.   Much like Tyler Duffey though to his credit Duffey has come back from being a one and done  guy.

Anyone remember Allan Anderson he had a 2 year run including a 17 win season and an ERA title.

Tony Fiore had a good season as a reliever. I think he won 10 games.

Lyman Bostock 1977  RIP

He finished 4th in the AL in batting in 1976. Not really a one hit wonder.

I want to mention Henry Blanco, specifically for his performance during the month of April in the 2004 season. He turned back into Henry Blanco after that, but for a few magical weeks he replaced the injured rookie phenom, Joe Mauer, with a performance for the ages.

First thought when opening this thread was Joe Mays. Very surprised he wasn’t on the list

First person I thought of. I guess also Bobby Darwin.

Bobby Darwin seems a real good pick to me. I remember him and in the time I followed him he was good and powerful.

I would add Allan Anderson to the list, too. His 1988 season, where he led the AL in ERA was awesome, and he backed it up in 89 too, with another solid year.

But then, like Keyser Söze in Usual Suspects... Poof! He was gone...

Looked at Dave Engle's stats from 1984 and they don't look all that great, however, he was an All Star that year. I think he was a catcher though, so maybe his stats we're good for a catcher in 1984? Side note he finished 5th in rookie of the year voting in 1981.

Yeh, that was in the lean years, when it was a crapshoot for the AL to have to pick one guy from the Twins...

I wonder if they actually used a dartboard?

Fun topic. I would add Joe Mays, Jim Hughes and Bill Zepp for consideration.

Like the Jim Hughes inclusion as well.