A Pointless Baldelli Question

[Riverbrian]

One of my favorite moments in Twins history was the Game 6 Kent Hrbek Grand Slam. The Twins were down 3 games to 2. I believe the Twins were ahead 6-5 in the 6th inning when Kent Hrbek came up to the plate with the bases juiced. 

Whitey Herzog sensibly predictably brought in the lefty Ken Dayley to Face Herbie. 

Hrbek had pretty deep splits in 1987. .660 OPS against lefties and a 1.042 OPS against right handers. In the 1987 playoffs... Hrbek was 0 for 17 against left handers when Dayley was called from the pen. 

I think it was one pitch and Boom... Over the CF wall. 

That's the setup... Here's the question. Do you think Baldelli would have pinch hit for Hrbek in that situation?

The switch hitting rookie Gene Larkin would have been available... over the course of the 1987 season. Larkin had a .752 OPS against lefties. He is a rookie and Kent Hrbek is Kent Hrbek. 

It's a pointless question to ask but I find myself wondering when a video of it came across my facebook video feed last night. 

[The Great Hambino]

Interesting question

Part of me says yes.  21-24 Baldelli even more likely.

What gives me pause is a) he seemed to back off the early pinch-hitting this year b) Hrbek was a much better hitter than any of the lefties that were getting the quick hook under Baldelli and c) they were already ahead even before the grand slam and Hrbek was also a better defender than the lefties subjected to Baldelli's quick hook

[Riverbrian]

497K views · 7.3K reactions | On This Date in 1987: With the bases...

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On This Date in 1987: With the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the sixth in Game 6 of the World Series, the Cardinals brought in lefty Ken Dayley to face Kent Hrbek, who deposited...

 

[jorgenswest]

18 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

One of my favorite moments in Twins history was the Game 6 Kent Hrbek Grand Slam. The Twins were down 3 games to 2. I believe the Twins were ahead 6-5 in the 6th inning when Kent Hrbek came up to the plate with the bases juiced. 

Whitey Herzog sensibly predictably brought in the lefty Ken Dayley to Face Herbie. 

Hrbek had pretty deep splits in 1987. .660 OPS against lefties and a 1.042 OPS against right handers. In the 1987 playoffs... Hrbek was 0 for 17 against left handers when Dayley was called from the pen. 

I think it was one pitch and Boom... Over the CF wall. 

That's the setup... Here's the question. Do you think Baldelli would have pinch hit for Hrbek in that situation?

The switch hitting rookie Gene Larkin would have been available... over the course of the 1987 season. Larkin had a .752 OPS against lefties. He is a rookie and Kent Hrbek is Kent Hrbek. 

It's a pointless question to ask but I find myself wondering when a video of it came across my facebook video feed last night. 

I think Hrbek would have been managed similarly to Kepler. Both were established veterans and really helped on defense. He rarely pinch hit for Kepler.

[Riverbrian]

12 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

I think Hrbek would have been managed similarly to Kepler. Both were established veterans and really helped on defense. He rarely pinch hit for Kepler.

You are probably right and we are talking about Hrbek who is one of the best players in Twins history.  

On the other hand. Even Kepler eventually got sucked into the vortex when the left handed hitter pile dwindled with those right handed hitting handcuffs needing to be fed. Kepler was able to avoid it for awhile when there were 3 or 4 other left handed hitters on the roster to pair up with the right handed hitting specialists.  

The 1987 Twins were extremely right handed. I could be wrong but I believe that Hrbek and Randy Bush were the only pure left handed hitters on the team come playoff time. 

This is question is impossible to answer and I appreciate your answer.   

[mnfireman]

St. Louis had 5 LHP in that series, and 3 of them started 5 of 7 games (Tudor 2, Magrane 2 and Mathews 1). LHP threw 29.2 IP, RHP threw 29.1 IP.

Hrbek faced a LHP in 17 of 29 PA in that WS; 2-16 (.125), 3/1 K/BB (his only 3 K's in the WS) 1 HR, 6 RBI, but came up big when needed. He was 3-8 (.375), 0/4 K/BB (.583 OBP), 0 HR, 0 RBI against RHP

Larkin PH 4 times, each of the 3 games in STL as the pitchers still hit in the NL park at that time, and once for Randy Bush (F-8 against Dayley in game 2, an 8-4 Twins win. If the game was closer I think Baylor, not Larkin, hits for Bush). He also played 1B in the 9th inning of game 1, a 10-1 blow out victory for the Twins. so his totals were; 5 GP, 0-3, 0/1 K/BB in the series. 

Even with all this information, it is hard to tell if Rocco PH's for Hrbek against Dayley in that spot, I don't think so because Hrbek was one of the core players, but he was struggling and the team was on the verge of elimination. Thank goodness TK let him hit!!

[Vanimal46]

On 10/30/2025 at 1:29 PM, Riverbrian said:

Do you think Baldelli would have pinch hit for Hrbek in that situation?

 

Rocco Baldelli was 6 years old in that situation. I think he'd probably be in bed sleeping at that time. Does 2025 Rocco Baldelli have 1987 data or 2025 data? Yamamoto just won the Dodgers the WS after throwing 96 pitches the day before. Would 1987 Baldelli or 2025 Baldelli have allowed that? Is this pointless? Yep. 

[USAFChief]

On 10/30/2025 at 1:21 PM, Riverbrian said:

497K views · 7.3K reactions | On This Date in 1987: With the bases...

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On This Date in 1987: With the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the sixth in Game 6 of the World Series, the Cardinals brought in lefty Ken Dayley to face Kent Hrbek, who deposited...

 

Still gives me chills.

[Riverbrian]

7 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Still gives me chills.

I remember exactly where I was. 

I was at a friends house. I remember I was standing not sitting. There was no way I could sit. 

When the ball left the bat... I knew. You watch enough baseball... you know when it leaves the bat.

My arms immediately started doing exactly what Hrbek's arms were doing as he rounded first but I was doing it before Kent even dropped the bat so I was doing it first. This will sound overly dramatic but I honestly felt a connection... at a different level. 

I remember high fiving my friend so hard that his German Shepherd started growling at me. 

[Riverbrian]

On 11/2/2025 at 12:20 AM, Vanimal46 said:

Rocco Baldelli was 6 years old in that situation. I think he'd probably be in bed sleeping at that time. Does 2025 Rocco Baldelli have 1987 data or 2025 data? Yamamoto just won the Dodgers the WS after throwing 96 pitches the day before. Would 1987 Baldelli or 2025 Baldelli have allowed that? Is this pointless? Yep. 

OK... Let's not use the 6 year old Baldelli. And let's use 2025 data since that is the Baldelli we knew. But since we are being specific. Baldelli will use 2025 data for his sensibility but making decisions based on the 1987 performance data. 

To answer your question. Game 7 is typically all hands on deck... every pitcher can rest tomorrow.  I think once Ohtani was pulled in the third inning and with the game close throughout. Nearly every manager in the world would have turned to Yamamoto because every path would have led to him. Of course this would be dependent on Yamamoto telling his pitching coach, Manager that I'm good to go. 

However... I don't believe Rocco leaves him in for 2 plus innings. I think Sasaki comes out for the 10th and 11th if Rocco was the manager.

  

[DocBauer]

The Twins had the lead. Hrbek was an excellent 1B and I don't believe Rocco would want him out of the game. Additionally, Hrbek was a veteran hitter and a decent OB% guy for his career. 

And with Hrbek really being the only big threat from the LH side, I believe he would have been given a long runway in regard to facing LHP all season long.

So no, I don't believe he would have been PH for.