Twins Amateur Draft Choices – The Griffith Years – Part II (1975 to 1984)

A month ago I posted an article on the results of the first 10 years of the amateur draft which would have been lead by team owner Clark Griffith.

I did an analysis of the first 5 rounds from 1965 to 1974 and found that:

• 11 of the 51 total picks played at least one game for the Twins

• 6 of the 51 picks never signed a contract with the Twins and were available in later drafts

• 34 of the 51 players drafted never played a Major League baseball game

• The best players drafted and signed by the Twins were: Graig Nettles, Dave Goltz, Bert Blyleven, Eddie Bane, and Butch Wynegar.

• During this 10 year period the Twins finished 2^nd (1), 3^rd (2), 4^th (4), 5^th (1), and 7^th (2)

The 2^nd 10 year period of the Griffith era (1975-1984) produced the following results:

• 1975

  • Of the 1^st 5 rounds only one player made it to the major leagues and with the Twins, it was 1^st round pick Rick Sofield.

  • The best player drafted by the Twins in that draft was Paul Mirabella, who did not sign with the Twins.

• 1976

  • 10^th overall pick in the draft, Jamie Allen, never signed with the Twins

  • 2^nd and 3^rd round picks, Terry Felton and John Castino played multiple seasons in Minnesota.

  • 4^th and 5^th round picks never made it to MLB

  • The best player drafted by the Twins in 1976 was John Castino

  • In the Secondary Phase of that draft the Twins drafted and signed Pete Redfern, who had a lengthy career with the Twins

• 1977

  • In rounds 1 through 5 only 1 player made the majors with the Twins and the other 4 never played an MLB game including 1^st round choice Paul Croft

  • The player who had a career with the Twins was Roger Erickson who played 4 ½ years with the Twins and was traded along with Butch Wynegar to the NY Yankees for Pete Filson, Larry Milbourne, John Pacella and Cash in 1982

  • Roger Erickson was the best player the Twins drafted in 1977

• 1978

  • First round pick (16^th overall pick) was Lenny Faedo, who played SS for 5 seasons with the Twins.

  • 3^rd round pick, Dave Leeper, never signed with Minnesota

  • The other 3 picks never made it to the majors.

  • Best players drafted were 9^th round pick, Tony Fossas, who did not sign and 17^th round pick, Kent Hrbek, who had a 14 year career with the Twins and hit a career total of 293 home runs. Kent was drafted out of high school from Kennedy High School in Bloominton.

• 1979

  • 2 of the 5 picks in the 1^st 5 rounds made it to Minnesota. They were 2^nd round pick, Randy Bush, and 3^rd round pick, Tim Laudner. Both had lengthy careers entirely with the Twins

  • 1^st round pick, Kevin Brandt (11^th overall) was one of the 3 players to never play a major league game

  • Best player drafted was Tim Laudner

• 1980

  • The 1980 draft saw 3 players never making it to the majors

  • First round pick, Jeff Reed and 3^rd round pick, Tim Teufel, both played for the Twins during their careers. Reed was traded with Al Cardwood, Neal Heaton and Yorkis Perez to the Montreal Expos for Tom Nieto and Jeff Reardon. Reed played an addition 14 years after the trade. Reardon had a 3 year career with the Twins racking up 104 saves.

  • Best players drafted were Tim Teufel (2^nd round) and 16^th round pick, Jim Eisenreich

• 1981

  • The Twins had 7 picks in the draft

  • Mike Sodders (11^th overall pick) and two other choices never made it to MLB

  • 3^rd round pick, John Marzano, never signed with the Twins

  • Frank Viola was drafted in the 2^nd round and had an 8 year career with the Twins and a 15 year career overall, where he was a 3 time All-Star, World Series MVP and Cy Young Award winner. Viola was traded to the New York Mets in July 1989 and the Twins received Rick Aguilera, Tim Drummond, Kevin Tapani, David West and Jack Savage.

  • Curt Wardle was drafted in the 3^rd round and played 1 ½ seasons with the Twins before being traded to the Cleveland Indians with Rich Yett, Jay Bell and Jim Weaver for Bert Blyleven. Blyleven was drafted by the Twins in the 3^rd round of the 1969 draft and would play with them for 6^th years before being traded to the Texas Rangers in 1976. He returned to play 3 ½ more years with the Twins in his Hall of Fame career

  • 5^th round choice, Dave Meier, had a short 2 year career with the Twins and even shorter history with the Rangers and Cubs.

  • Best Players drafter were Frank Viola and 9^th round pick, Steve Lombardozzi

• 1982

  • The 3^rd through 5^th choices in the draft never played in the majors.

  • 1^st choice (4^th overall pick) Bryan Oelkers had a short, one year (10 games pitched) career with the Twins before being traded to the Cleveland Indians along with Ken Schrom for Ramon Romero and Roy Smith. He would play one season with the Indians.

  • 2^nd round pick Allan Anderson would have a 6 year career with the Twins where he won the ERA title in 1988 (2.45).

  • The best pick in the draft would be 2^nd round pick, Allan Anderson.

• 1983

  • 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th round picks never played a major league game.

  • 1^st round pick, Tim Belcher, had a 14 year major league career, but none were with the Twins because he did not sign with them.

  • 2^nd round pick, Bill Swift, had a 13 year major league career, but none were with the Twins because he, also, did not sign with them.

  • Belcher and Swift were the best picks in the 1983 draft.

• 1984

  • 2^nd, 4^th and 5^th round picks never made it to the majors.

  • 3^rd round pick, John Verducci never signed.

  • 1^st round pick, Jay Bell signed with the Twins and had an 18 year major league career, but none with the Twins. The Twins traded Bell in August 1985 along with Curt Wardle (1981 3^rd round pick), and Jim Weaver to the Cleveland Indians for Hall of Famer, Burt Blyleven.

  • Jay Bell would be the best player drafted in 1984.

• Recap - This summarizes the 11^th through 20^th year of Calvin Griffith’s amateur draft history.

  • 1984 would be his last year as General Manager. 1985 would see Howard Fox as the team president and Andy McPhail as the General Manager.

  • 1975-1984 -

    • 15 of the 52 players drafted would appear in a major league game

    • 6 players would never sign with the Twins

    • 31 players would never appear in a major league game

  • Best Players Drafted who signed

    • Kent Hrbek, Roger Erickson, Tim Laudner, Randy Bush, Tim Teufel, Jim Eisenreich, Frank Viola, Steve Lombardozzi, Allan Anderson and Jay Bell

    • Best Players drafted who did not sign

      • Tim Belcher and Bill Swift

    • 1^st Round Picks

      • Rick Sofield, Jamie Allen, Paul Croft, Lenny Faedo, Kevin Brandt, Jeff Reed, Mike Sodders, Brian Oelkers, Tim Belcher and Jay Bell

• Recap 1965 to 1974 (Griffith’s 1^st 10 years)

  • 51 players drafted in rounds 1 – 5

    • 11 played in the majors

    • 6 did not sign

    • 34 never made a major league appearance

Conclusion – Neither of these decades produced a vast number of major league players. With the Amateur Draft providing most of the incoming talent for an organization the Twins never finished better than 2^nd place. Their best 1 – 5 draft pick was Frank Viola. They did draft Kent Hrbek in the 17^th round and traded Jay Bell and Curt Wardle for Bert Blyleven . Jeff Reed was included in a trade that brought Jeff Reardon to the Twins.