Rusty Kuntz

Birth Date: 02/04/1955

Rusty Kuntz Autograph

Rusty Kuntz Bio

Twins Video

Rusty Kuntz had a lengthy career for himself, playing in the majors over parts of seven seasons, but let's be real: we're all here for the name.

Russell Jay Kuntz was born in 1955 and played most of his career for the Chicago White Sox. He was traded to the Twins mid-season in 1983 for minor league third baseman Mike Sodders, who never made the majors. While in Minnesota only a partial season, Kuntz collected 113 plate appearances over 31 games (59 OPS+) before moving to the Tigers in 1984 and becoming a peripheral part of their championship winning team.

Looking back at Kuntz's career, it's not hard to see why he stuck around in the majors but never received more than 168 plate appearances in the season: he was comically bad against right-handed pitchers. While he posted a respectable .741 OPS against southpaws in his career, his OPS against righties was an abysmal .483.

Notable Events & Trivia

80-grade baseball name
Absolutely, under no circumstances, could he hit righties

Baseball-Reference

Rusty Kuntz Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com

Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Rusty Kuntz. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
FanGraphs

Rusty Kuntz - Stats - Batting | FanGraphs Baseball

Rusty Kuntz career batting statistics for Major League, Minor League, and postseason baseball
Sabr.org

Rusty Kuntz – Society for American Baseball Research

Check out stories, photos, and highlights from the 2026 conference.
Wikipedia

Rusty Kuntz - Wikipedia

Russell Jay Kuntz (/ˈkuːnts/ KOONTS; born February 4, 1955) is an American baseball coach and former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder. He played for the Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers between 1979 and 1985. He never appeared in more than 84 games in any season during his playing career. In the final game of the 1984 World Series, Kuntz hit a pop fly to the second baseman that became the deciding run batted in (RBI).

Rusty Kuntz Statistics

Standard Batting
Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	Pos
1979	24	CHW	AL	5	13	11	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	6	.091	.231	.091	.322	-9	1	1	0	0	0	0	/987
1980	25	CHW	AL	36	67	62	5	14	4	0	0	3	1	0	5	13	.226	.284	.290	.574	59	18	2	0	0	0	0	78/9H
1981	26	CHW	AL	67	63	55	15	14	2	0	0	4	1	0	6	8	.255	.339	.291	.630	86	16	1	1	1	0	0	7H89D
1982	27	CHW	AL	21	28	26	4	5	1	0	0	3	0	0	2	8	.192	.250	.231	.481	34	6	1	0	0	0	0	8/H9
1983	28	TOT	AL	59	161	142	19	30	4	0	3	6	1	0	18	41	.211	.298	.303	.601	64	43	5	0	0	1	0	8/H97D
1983	28	CHW	AL	28	48	42	6	11	1	0	0	1	1	0	6	13	.262	.354	.286	.640	77	12	1	0	0	0	0	8/H7D
1983	28	MIN	AL	31	113	100	13	19	3	0	3	5	0	0	12	28	.190	.274	.310	.584	59	31	4	0	0	1	0	8/9H
1984	29	DET	AL	84	168	140	32	40	12	0	2	22	2	2	25	28	.286	.393	.414	.807	125	58	2	1	0	2	1	9H87D
1985	30	DET	AL	5	7	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	2	.000	.286	.000	.286	-12	0	0	0	0	0	0	/HD3
7 Yrs				277	507	441	75	104	23	0	5	38	5	3	60	106	.236	.328	.322	.650	81	142	12	2	1	3	1
162 Game Avg.				162	297	258	44	61	13	0	3	22	3	2	35	62	.236	.328	.322	.650	81	83	7	1	1	2	1

CHW (5 yrs)				157	219	196	30	45	8	0	0	11	3	0	21	48	.230	.307	.270	.578	63	53	6	1	1	0	0
DET (2 yrs)				89	175	145	32	40	12	0	2	22	2	3	27	30	.276	.389	.400	.789	120	58	2	1	0	2	1
MIN (1 yr)				31	113	100	13	19	3	0	3	5	0	0	12	28	.190	.274	.310	.584	59	31	4	0	0	1	0