Search the Community

Daniel Palka enters the final weekend of the minor league season with 34 home runs. Can he rack up any more over the final four games of the season? 34 home runs is a pretty large number. I was chatting with Rochester radio man Josh Whetzel and we wondered aloud how often Twins minor leaguers have had that many home runs in a minor league season. You know me. I had to go do a little research, and it was a lot of fun! I went all the way back to 1961 when the Senators came to Minnesota and became the Twins. Do you remember the last time a Twins minor leaguer had as many as 34 home runs in a season?Well, give it some thought before continuing. Spend a couple of minutes thinking about the power hitting minor leaguers in your lifetime. If you’re my age you may remember that 1986 FLEER Major League Prospect card of Brewers prospect Billy Joe Robidoux and Twins prospect Mark Funderburk. Funderburk had debuted with the Twins late in the 1981 season and remained a prospect through the 1985 season. He had a little time with the Twins and hit a lot of minor league home runs. After Funderburk, you may remember Bernardo Brito. How about all those years when the Twins had some strong prospects in the late 90s in the Pacific Coast League? But how about minor leaguers in the ‘60s and ‘70s? How many of them hit 30 or more home runs? And, if you study the minor leagues from those early years, you’ll notice that there were a lot more minor league teams and levels like B, C and D and some A ball clubs and more. Here is a list of the Twins minor leaguers in their history who have hit 30 or more homers in a season. 1.) Tim Laudner - 42 in AA Orlando in 1981 2.) Moe Hill - 41 in A Wisconsin Rapids in 1977 3.) Stan Holmes - 37 in A Visalia in 1983 3.) Cotton Nash - 37 in AAA Portland in 1971 5.) Richard Means - 36 in A Charlotte in 1962 6.) Miguel Sano - 35 in FM/NB in 2013 6.) Danny Walton - 35 in AAA Tacoma in 1974 6.) Luis Lagunas - 35 in A WRK in 1966 9.) Daniel Palka - 34 in AA/AAA in 2016 9.) Mark Funderburk - 34 in AA Orlando in 1985 9.) Andy Kosco - 34 in AAA/WRK in 1965 12.) Cotton Nash - 33 in AAA Evansville in 1970 13.) Chad Rupp - 32 in AAA Salt Lake City in 1997 13.) Moe Hill - 32 in A Wisconsin Rapids in 1974 15.) Adam Brett Walker - 31 in AA Chattanooga in 2015 15.) Garrett Jones - 31 in A/AA (Ft. Myers/New Britain) in 2004 15.) Michael Ryan - 31 in AAA Edmonton in 2002 15.) David Ortiz - 31 in FM/NB/SLC in 1997 15.) Mark Funderburk - 31 in A Visalia in 1979 15.) Moe Hill - 31 in A Wisconsin Rapids in 1975 15.) Andy Kosco - 31 in A Wisconsin Rapids in 1964 15.) Chuck Weatherspoon - 31 in Class B Wilson in 1961 23.) Michael Cuddyer - 30 in AA New Britain in 2001 23.) David Ortiz - 30 in AAA Salt Lake City in 1999 23.) Matthew Lecroy - 30 in Ft. Myers/SLC in 1999 23.) Gary Gaetti - 30 in AA Orlando in 1981 23.) Moe Hill - 30 in A Wisconsin Rapids in 1976 23.) Randy Bass - 30 in A Lynchburg in 1974 23.) Gary Ward - 30 in A Wisconsin Rapids in 1974 23.) Bob Gorinsky - 30 in A Wisconsin Rapids in 1970 23.) Frank Leja - 30 in AAA Syracuse in 1961 So the answer to the question, who was the most recent Twins prospect to his 34 or more homers in a season is… Miguel Sano in 2013. Who knew? FSN Twins analyst, and 1987 World Champion Tim Laudner is on the top of this leaderboard with 42 home runs in AA in 1981. He debuted with the Twins in late August that year and in 14 big league games, he added two more home runs. In the 55 years since the Twins moved to Minnesota, 31 Twins minor leaguers have had seasons in which they hit 30 or more home runs. Some have done it multiple times, but the list of names is certainly interesting. There are some players who have become stars. Some have had solid MLB careers. A few had cups of coffee, and several never saw the big leagues. Some are familiar names to Twins fans and many likely have caused the word “Who?” to be uttered. MULTIPLE 25 HOME RUN SEASONS Did you know that there are ten players in Twins minor league history who have had multple seasons with 25 or more homers in the minor leagues? Here is that list. Andy Kosco - 1964-65 In 1964, Kosco hit 28 home runs in the Northern League. In 1965, he hit 27 in AAA Denver and seven more in Winter Rookie League ball. He had come to the Twins before the 1964 season . He played 89 games for the Twins between 1965 and 1967, hitting a combined 3 home runs. After leaving the Twins, he played for the Yankees, Dodgers, Brewers, Angels, Red Sox and Reds. He hit a combined 73 MLB home runs. Cotton Nash - 1970-71 The Twins have always had a connection to the University of Kentucky. . Cotton Nash played basketball for Adolph Rupp there and then played a year in the NBA. After two years, he played a season in the ABA. At the same time, he was playing minor league baseball in the White Sox system. He played three games with them, then came to the Twins organization. In 1970 in AA Evansville, he was 27 and hit 33 homers. He played four games for the Twins. The following year, he hit 37 homers in AAA Portland as a 28 year old but didn’t get called up to the Twins. In all, he played 10 games for the Twins between 1969 and 1970. He had no home runs in MLB. Randy Bass - 1974, 1977 Randy Bass was the Twins seventh-round pick in 1972. In 1974, he hit 30 homers for Lynchburg in the High-A Carolina League. He jumped to AAA and hit 18 and 21 in 1975 and 1976 , respectively. Then in 1977 at AAA Tacoma, he hit 25 homers. As a 23-year-old, he hit .321/.456/.560 (1.016). He was called up to the Twins late in the season and went 2-19. He hit a total of nine MLB homers for the Twins, Royals, Expos, Padres and Rangers. In 1983, he went to play in Japan and over the next six seasons, he hit a lot of home runs . In 1986, he hit 54 homers, and he hit another 47 homers in 1987. Stan Holmes - 1983 -1984 In 1983, Holmes was a 23-year-old and hit .302/.397/.586 (.983) with 37 homers. In 1984, he moved to Orlando and hit .280/.358/.485 (.843) with 25 homers. He spent several more years in the minors but never played in the major leagues. Moe Hill - 1974-1978 In five straight seasons Moe Hill hit 25 or more home runs. For eight straight seasons, he played for Class A Wisconsin Rapids. He had been in the Orioles organization from 1965-1968. He started playing for Wisconsin Rapids in 1971 and stayed there through the 1978 season. Remember, it was Low Class A ball. As a 24-year-old in 1974, he hit .339/.418/.621 (1.038) with 32 homers. He hit 31 homers in 1975, and 30 homers as a 29-year-old in 1976. As a 30-year-old and still in Low A, he hit .304/.420/.610 (1.030) with 41 homers. Then he hit 25 homers in 1978. The Twins let him go and he spent the next two seasons in the Royals system. It was such a strange situation that I had to go to an expert on Twins history. I contacted 1500 ESPN personality and Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse. Apparently Hill was a folk hero in Wisconsin Rapids. Since the Twins didn’t see him as much of a prospect, they kept him there. Not that there weren’t a few big supporters for Hill getting a call up to the big leagues. According to Reusse: “Twins didn't like to take advice from sports writers in those days, so the more (Tribune writer Mike) Gelfand wrote about it, the less chance there was the Twins would embrace such a gesture to a minor-league legend.” Mark Funderburk - 1978-80, 1985, 1987 Funderburk certainly had an interesting career. In 1978, he was a 21-year-old in Wisconsin Rapids. He hit .258 (.774) with 25 homers. In 1979, he moved up to Visalia where he hit .310/.384/.548 (.931) with 31 homers. He was a 23-year-old in 1980, playing in AA Orlando. He hit .250 (.762) with 26 home runs. He spent most of 1981 in AAA before spending eight games at season’s end with the Twins. He then spent 1982 in AA Orlando. He went to the Royals system in 1983 and ended up playing in Mexico that year too. He was out of baseball in 1984. He returned to the Twins in 1985> He was 28-years-old and in AA Orlando. He hit .283/.343/.520 (.863) with 34 homers. He finished the season by hitting .314 with an .879 OPS, and two home runs , in the big leagues. He hit just ten combined home runs between AA and AAA in 1986. In 1987, he was 30 and hit .250/.306/.498 (.863) with 28 homers. And that was the end of his pro baseball career. Bernardo Brito - 1990-92, 1994 Brito came to the Twins organization following the 1987 season from Cleveland. In 1990, he was a 26-year-old at AAA Portand. He hit .282/.330/.566 (.897) with 25 homers. In 1991, he was 27. Still in Portland, he hit .259/.311/.498 (.808) with 27 homers. In 1992, Brito hit .270/.313/.480 (.794) with 26 homers. In 1993, he hit 20 AAA homers and added four in the big leagues for the Twins. In 1994, he was 30 and played for Salt Lake. There, he hit .309/.353/.572 (.925) with 30 homers. Brito played in 40 games for the Twins between 1992, 1993 and 1995. He hit .219/.237/.466 (.703) with five homers in 76 plate appearances. I recall hearing about how much he struck out in the minor leaguers. He struck out between 20% and 25% of his plate appearances. David Ortiz - 1997, 1999 In 1997, Ortiz was 21 years old and split the season between Ft. Myers, New Britain and Salt Lake. He hit .317/.372/.568 (.940) with 31 homers. He hit 13 for the Miracle, 14 for the Rock Cats, four for Salt Lake. And, he added one more with the Twins. He spent most of 1998 with the Twins but returned to AAA in 1999. There, the 23-year-old hit .315/.412/.590 (1.002) with 29 homers. Miguel Sano - 2012-2013 In 2012, Sano was a 19-year-old playing in Beloit. He hit 28 home runs and hit .258/.373/.521 (.893). 2013 was even better. .He split the season between Ft. Myers and New Britain and hit a combined .280/.382/.610 (.992) with 35 homers. 16 came with the Miracle. 19 came with New Britain. Since then he missed a year with Tommy John surgery. He came back in 2015 and by July 1st, he was in the big leagues. Still just 23, he should have years of 30 home run seasons. Adam Brett Walker - 2013-2016 Walker was drafted in the third round of the 2012 draft out of Jacksonville, and he’s been hitting homers ever since. In Cedar Rapids in 2013, he hit .278 (.844) with 27 homers. As a 22-year-old in Ft. Myers in 2014, he hit .246 (.743) with 25 homers. In 2015 he moved up to AA Chattanooga and hit .239 (.807) with 31 homers. He led his league in homers each of those years. He is currently one homer behind the International League leader with 27 home runs for Rochester this year. Four more games to go! The 24-year-old is on the Twins 40-man roster and could be up by Tuesday for September. SUMMARY So, Palka has been one of the most prodigious home run hitters in Twins minor league history. Does it mean he’ll be a big, power-hitting big leaguer? Maybe, or maybe not. These lists are a good reminder that even with major minor league success, big league success isn’t guaranteed. However, the Red Wings power combination of Daniel Palka and Adam Brett Walker is very, very exciting. Hopefully we’ll see them both spend the majority of September in a Twins uniform. Click here to view the article